Catalog Doctor: Avoid the ‘Lazy Syndrome’ Epidemic
1. Answer this product question: What will this product do for me, and why should I care?
There’s way too little product analysis from the customer’s standpoint, and you can see the consequences in weak, unconvincing copy. With today’s tight dollars, customers need a lot more convincing to open their wallets. The analysis needed to write effective copy is hard work, but the results are worth the effort.
Susan J. McIntyre is Founder and Chief Strategist of McIntyre Direct, a catalog agency and consultancy in Portland, Oregon offering complete creative, strategic, circulation and production services since 1991. Susan's broad experience with cataloging in multi-channel environments, plus her common-sense, bottom-line approach, have won clients from Vermont Country Store to Nautilus to C.C. Filson. A three-time ECHO award winner, McIntyre has addressed marketers in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, has written and been quoted in publications worldwide, and is a regular columnist for Retail Online Integration magazine and ACMA. She can be reached at 503-286-1400 or susan@mcintyredirect.com.
