From The Golden Thread Mailbag …
Premiums and Testimonials
Morning Katie and AWAI staff,
I just wanted to drop a quick note to say how excited I am about the New & Improved $10K Challenge. This is one of things I love about AWAI. You are always coming up with new ways to help us improve our writing skills, challenge us to step outside our comfort zones and offer us opportunities to get paid assignments.
Fran M
Dear Fran
Thank you for your note. Katie tells me she’s already received about dozen submissions and there are at least two she’s going to test. She’ll tell us all about them in next week’s issue.
For anyone who hasn’t heard about this opportunity to work on paying assignments for AWAI, click here: https://www.awai.com/10k/
Hello Pat,
I’m working on the Men’s Supplement assignment, and have a few questions I need answered.
First, in Part IV, Section 4, there is an assignment to come up with a premium for the product. I’m not clear on whether this should be a “real” premium available somewhere, or whether it can be a “made up” premium.
Also, Part IV, Section 34 concludes with the task of writing a lift note for your sales letter. I’m not sure I understand the difference between using an excerpt from a testimonial and a lift note. Are they not the same thing? And if so, could I not simply use a section of one of the testimonials?
Thanks in advance for your help
Nicoline L.
Hello Nicoline,
Good questions. It sounds like you’re taking the program very seriously.
Premiums are an important part of a promotion. The company you’re writing for may already know what they want to use as a premium – however, copywriters are often given a lot of leeway to come up with ideas for them. You can propose almost anything you like in your copy (such as a special report), as long as it makes sense in terms of the product you are offering and the company’s budget. Your client will make the final call. And, in this case, since the Men’s Supplement assignment is fictitious, you can be creative here.
As for your other question, a lift note can be a testimonial, which would be a note from a satisfied customer … or it can come from a recognized expert in the field, such as a doctor, publisher, CEO, etc. You need to think about what would give your letter the greatest “lift” … the greatest credibility.
Pat
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