International Talk Like A Pirate Day is September 19

A quick joke to start out. What’s a pirate’s favorite letter? The answer is at the bottom of this page.

If you’ve read any of the articles on this blog, you know we preach and encourage you to use holidays in your marketing. While this month’s example may not be a true holiday, it’s a great way to cut the clutter and get attention. In many cases, these more obscure holidays are even better than traditional holidays.

You simply don’t have the same amount competition that you do during Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine’s Day. In this example we’re using international “Talk Like a Pirate” day, which is Sept. 19.

The letter was adapted from a letter we created for dentists to use in our 3D Mail Direct Marketing System for Dentists. In the original letter we used the message-in-a-bottle, with similar copy, layout, design, and theme. Now we’re introducing the pirate eye-patch.

These two pieces would be a great one-two punch in a mailing sequence used in early September. The letter was specifically used as a follow-up letter to leads previously generated via other forms of marketing. I was sure to mention that in the letter itself, in the second paragraph:

You may remember me; I sent you the really cool travel dental kit you requested a few weeks ago. However, we haven’t had the chance to have you into our office yet!

This same grabber could easily be adapted to be used in other segments of your list(s) or even in cold prospecting or cold selling. I inserted a stock pirate image in the letter. But I would encourage you do take a picture of yourself or your staff in pirate gear. This gives them a face with the name.

You can keep the main headline for just about any offer. Simply change the subhead for your specific offer or promotion. I really like the call-to-action at the end of the letter:

So help us celebrate “International Talk Like a Pirate Day.” Call our office at XXX-XXX-XXXX and ask for your personal dental concierge, Tonya, to schedule your Captain’s Dental Treatment. It’s a $129 Value, for just $10!

The use of a ‘personal concierge’ (or whatever term you want to give it) is a great way to make the recipient feel exclusive and important. It’s a simple yet effective strategy. Should you set up a separate phone line for your ‘A’ level clients?

Let’s take a look at the envelope. We used “teaser copy” on outside. Since this isn’t 3D in the literal sense of the word, it’s a ‘flat’ grabber (much like the million dollar bill), we need to do a little more to ensure its opened. I use teaser copy quite a bit, but when it’s not true ‘3D,’ I almost always use it to entice the recipient to open it. The pirate image and copy go with the theme of the entire package.

The one page letter with the eye patch and envelope is only 0.5 oz., making the 1st class postage $0.55 for under 1 oz (as of July, 2021, contact us here for current postage rates). You can very likely get 1-2 more pages and still be under 1 oz. You can decrease your postage rates by 25-50% if you’re mailing more than 250 pieces and use pre-sort mail (a.k.a. ‘bulk’ mail).

So what’s a pirate’s favorite letter? (in your best gravelly pirate voice) You may be thinking it’s the “R” but it’s actually the “C” (the sea, get it… insert rim shot here)

You can get 15% off the felt pirate eye patch or the message in a bottle by using promo code pirate