Resume: John Lutz, Internet Marketing Director, E-Newsletters, Brochures, Hardcopy Mailers, Standard E-Mail Replies

John H. Lutz III

911 Naudain Ave. Claymont DE 19703 and 6920 Roosevelt Way NE #207 Seattle WA 98115
Accepting interviews for: PA, NY, NJ, DE, MD, DC, VA, CA and WA.
Resume: www.johnlutz.com/resume/ecommerce/index.htm
Cell: 206-713-8182, E-mail: jl@johnlutz.com

E-Mail Replies, Message Board Postings, E-Newsletters, Mailers, Brochures

E-Mail Replies:

June, 2005 - Marketing E-mail Reply Sent to Prospective New Students: An outstanding example of a primarily soft sell (and highly effective) e-mail response to prospective new students. This e-mail successfully achieves the following goals:
1. Provides a personable response to the inquiry and a positive brand image,
2. Interacts effectively with the prospective new student,
3. Provides useful information while actively selling enrollment in the school's educational programs,
4. "Sells" the reader reasons to visit the web site (the business' most advanced marketing content).
Read the e-mail as a prospective new student. Do you feel like you are receiving a "hard sell" (almost useless) or simply receiving a personable response filled with useful links and useful information? I wrote all of the content of this e-mail and developed all of the web pages needed to match the marketing needs of the business. *For referencing the below 45 sales efforts within the single e-mail, it may be easier to print the e-mail then read the below content.*
1. Personable opening (using the recipient's name),
2. Thanks the prospective student for their inquiry,
3. Directs them back to the web site (the business' most advanced marketing content),
4. Provides reasons to check out the web site (user preferred content: Recipes and FAQ content),
5. Mentions the Academic Policies and FAQ page (the most advanced marketing page of the web site),
6. Provides a Course Details link (more info about "what is it")
7. Provides a link to Distance Learning options (providing purchasing options, while asking for the sale in a different way)
8. Mentions the Upcoming Events page (projects the image of a active business, while encouraging the visitor to plan now for future enrollment),
9. Mentions upcoming courses (asks for a purchase, with urgency - the courses are mentioned as upcoming events),
10. Mentions that the courses are popular (increases interest),
11. Mentions that the courses as Certified (adding legitimacy and a positive brand image),
12. Provides the link to course details for further information (closing big sales generally requires more information than closing smaller sales),
13. Provides instructions for registering online (asks for the purchase again - in a slightly different format - while continuously asking visitors to go to the web site/online marketing content),
14. Mentions that the courses are tax deductible (covers a common objection, price, while providing useful information; an example of win-win selling) - for a broad group of potential students and situations (healthcare and/or business related expenses), while utilizing an authoritative source of information to back this statement (a direct link to the exact section of the IRS web site which provides the specific details about deductibility of educational courses).
15. Addresses the possibility that the prospective student may have more questions (proactively offering helpful customer service - enhancing brand image)
16. Offers to answer additional questions by e-mail or phone (provides an image that the business is interested in actively helping with all steps related to admissions, providing outstanding customer service, and likely delivering an outstanding education; provides more than one option for contacting the business),
17. Provides direct access to the school's Director (the top salesperson for the course),
18. Mentions the school Director's name (so the prospective student knows who to ask for and becomes familiar with the school director's name; states that the school director is a doctor),
19. Provides the business and school Director's phone number (for easily and instantly contacting the business owner - the primary salesperson for the course),
20. Provides the school Director's his office hours (for easily and instantly contacting the business owner),
21. Identifies the recipient as a "student" rather than a prospective student (guiding closing of the sale),
22. Identifies the program name again (reinforcing recognition and processing of this information),
23. Identifies the program name in capital letters (reinforcing legitimacy of the program; used throughout the e-mail),
24. Mentions the doctor is currently available for appointments (open for business),
25. Uses "still conducting" patient consultations (indicating that the doctor may not be seeing patients much longer - implying urgency for the prospective student and/or patient, and indicating that his business is successful)
26. Mentions that he is a practicing physician (adding legitimacy to the school and medical clinic),
27. Mentions that he operates an Ayurvedic Medical Clinic (that such type of business exists - a potential future goal for prospective students),
28. Mentions the clinic's location (no questions left unanswered),
29. Mentions that the doctor is also available for phone consolations (asking for the sale in a different format),
30. Closes the communication (and multiple sales attempts) in an upbeat manner (the whole e-mail was positive, win-win and upbeat, no hard sell efforts; utilizes an exclamation point),
31. Mentions that "we" look forward to helping the prospective student achieve their goals (there's a "staff" available to help during enrollment and studies),
32. Signed the e-mail as Webmaster/Admissions Staff Support rather than Internet Marketing Director (more user friendly, while introducing myself as an Admissions contact for the school; also plants the admissions thought),
33. Identifies/reminds the prospective student of the school's name (name and brand recognition),
34. Reminds the prospective student that the business also owns a medical clinic (adding legitimacy to the school's courses and the e-mail content),
35. Provides the full address, phone and fax numbers (repeating this information),
36. Provides the e-mail address to contact the business as a hyperlink (if you are out of state, he's the info you need to contact us about distance learning; if you are in-state, here's the number again)),
37. Provides multiple links back to the business' web site (again directing the prospective student to the business' most advanced marketing content),
38. Provides the business' domain name (name recognition and reference info),
39. Mentions (with a "*" and underline) a 15% discount for enrolled students (an attempt to sell the online's store's products in addition to, or as an alternative to the school's courses and the clinic's services),
40. The 15% discount link directs visitors to the FAQ and Academic Policies web page (the most effective marketing page on the school's web site).
41. Mentions that this is a "members only" discount for enrolled students (encourages the interest in joining the members only area),
42. Provides a direct link to the online store's main page (formatted as a hyperlink) (there's additional marketing brand image content on this page),
43. All page hyperlinks are a different color that the page's text (identifying these area as being important),
44. Encourages prospective student to check out the school's message board (a cool feature for an alternative medicine school - the first of it's kind for a major alternative medicine school, as far as I could tell, in 2004 when it was installed - another attempt to send the prospective student to the web site, interact effectively with them, and direct them to useful marketing related content. See the message board reply example below. I continuously monitored the message board for opportunities to respond to questions with soft sell marketing related responses).
45. Mentions that health and Ayurveda are discussed on the message board (selling the program as a health enhancing program).
See Key Sales Steps of my Writing Samples and Internet Marketing Examples main web page to fully understand the content and marketing methods utilized within the above e-mail.
Jan., 2004 - Autoresponder sent to all visitors who sign up for the business' e-newsletter through the web site's e-news signup web page. Calls are forwarded to the Academy Director so he can evaluate whether the caller is a potential new student. If this is the case, he will attempt to sell one of the school's educational courses to the caller.

Message Board Posting Replies:

July 2004 - School Message Board Posting: Wrote all content and posted the message online. Added the business owner's name to the "posted by" area of the message. Provided a concise, friendly introduction to the business, while selling the business' medical and educational services, and directing readers back to the web site's top marketing content web page. Signed the business owner's name with well-explained credentials to show that he and the business are authorities within the field.

E-Newsletter Samples:

Most of these E-newsletters were written with the following goals:

Provide content of interest to consumers (so they do not request to unsubscribe from our mail list!).
Provide business news and content marketing the business' products.
Maintain direct communication with the business' contacts.
Specific attempts to sell and/or market certain products.
Include multiple links to encourage recipients to go to the web site (which always presents the business' most well-developed marketing message and many opportunities for purchasing products and services).

Note: Many top web sites now send e-newsletters which are primarily text based with short paragraphs followed by links directing visitors to key sales related pages on the company's web site. This is due to the fact that the companies are developing their web sites into their most advanced marketing message -- with many income generating features placed throughout the site's web pages. E-newsletters I developed for Ayurvedaonline.com followed these design and marketing principles, usually with a few graphic files included. They were not advanced graphic design efforts. Rather, they were similar to standard e-mail messages, but they included multiple attempts to market the company's products and services - primarily by directing recipients to the company's web site.

Dec. 15, 2004: Holiday spa gift certificate promotion, very straight forward.
May 31, 2005: This one is a little different. It is more informational, and longer. For this reason, it is linked to from most web site pages as a demo E-newsletter (under the "view our previous e-newsletter" links; a shorter version was actually sent as the e-newsletter version). Displaying this type of newsletter under a "view our previous e-newsletter" link gives the impression to potential new e-news recipients that our e-newsletters are more informative than sales orientated. Also, the content of this e-newsletter is popular with consumers and full of words which are easily recognized by search engines.
June 9, 2005: E-newsletter to the school's students, providing basic class related information, then attempting to sell the Level 1 students enrollment in the Summer Intensives and Level 2 courses.
March 1, 2005: E-newsletter to the whole contact database, informing members of an Open House Event (used to promote the business' new Spa services), recent news articles about the business (marketing materials presented in a slightly different format), the business' new course format option (three 1-week Intensives), links to the online store for product purchases, links to the site's "give away content" (recipes, health articles, dosha quiz...used to entice recipients to go to the web site, the business' most advanced marketing message), direct attempt to sell the business' high dollar educational courses, and a call to action type letter at the bottom of the e-mail...another attempt to sell the educational courses. The business owner formatted most of the last section. The question format and Dear Friends title are not my style of writing.
Oct. 2002 Whole Foods Market: I wrote all of the informational and marketing content in the e-newsletter, and designed title graphic and other graphic files.

Hardcopy Mailer Samples:

December, 2005: I wrote or co-wrote most of the marketing content in this brochure, and co-developed the sales presentation format. The News, Herb of the month, and Recipe of the Month articles (along with the general layout) were developed by the business owner, and the pdf file was produced by a graphic designer. Shown here primarily as an example of the business' current newsletter.
May, 2005: I wrote or co-wrote most of the marketing content of this brochure, and co-developed the sales presentation format. The pdf file was produced by a graphic designer.
2001: The most current newsletter sent by the business before I began working for the business (developed two years prior...meaning the business was not developing seasonal newsletters and marketing to business contacts effectively at the time).

Brochure Samples:

2005, Ayurvedic Academy Course Catalog: I co-produced all of the marketing related content in this document (with the business owner/School Director), provided final content editing and formatting of the sales message to be communicated by the brochure, and provided feedback into the design (completed by a graphic designer).
2005, AYU Ayurvedic Products Catalog: I co-produced all of the marketing related content in this document. I suggested and formatted the product bundles (upsells), and provided final content editing and formatting of the sales message to be communicated by the brochure. I provided feedback into the design (completed by a graphic designer).
2005, Ayurvedic Wellness Center Spa Brochure: I co-produced all of the marketing related content in this document. I suggested and formatted many of the bundles of spa services (upsells), and provided final content editing and formatting of the sales message to be communicated by the brochure. I provided feedback into the design (completed by a graphic designer).

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Other Writing Samples and Internet Marketing Examples:

Before and After Web Page Comparison Views - Highlighting brand image improvements, improvements in readability, improvements in usability and improvements in the overall effectiveness of the web site as the marketing tool for the business.
Sample E-mail Replies: Directing questions back to content on the web site, as mentioned in Item #4 on the Writing Samples and Internet Marketing Examples web page, which discusses the importance of generating a high number of page views per visitor.
Sample Message Board Postings: Providing a personal impression of the business, marketing content and links back to the web site.
Sample E-newsletters: I had design, writing, and final editing responsibilities for all of the business' e-newsletters.
Hard Copy Brochures and Mailers: I had design, writing and final editing responsibilities for all of the business' hard copy mailers. Utilized a graphics designer to occasionally help produce these - as I was primarily responsible for generating web traffic. Developed the 9000 member Outlook contact database from scratch. Utilized Word/Excel/Outlook mail merge feature to generate hard copy labels for mailers. Printed labels by zip code to reduce mailing expenses.