The Jerry Huntsinger tutorials

This special showcase within the direct mail section of SOFII comprises a complete series of tutorials from the dean of direct mail fundraising, the USA’s legendary Jerry Huntsinger. In 57 parts plus supporting materials, this insightful, practical series is building, over time, into the complete step-by-step guide to direct mail fundraising.

Tutorial 11: How to design a fundraising letter: the function of design

by Jerry Huntsinger

Letters are not supposed to be pretty or attractive, or large or small, or long or short, or colourful or stylish... they are supposed to be read. That’s all.

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Tutorial 12: Principles of layout

by Jerry Huntsinger

There are four critical principles: space importance, eye movement, right dominance, and horizontal and vertical lines.

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Tutorial 13: The PS – how to have the final word

by Jerry Huntsinger

Your PS is a vital selling tool – just as important as the headline. In fact, the PS is often the first and last words your donors read! Why? Human nature, I guess. A postscript arouses curiosity. It’s irresistible.

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Tutorial 14: How to communicate with photographs

by Jerry Huntsinger

If ‘a picture is worth a thousands words’ why do nonprofits persist in creating appeals with 2,000 words, or more, with no pictures?

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Tutorial 15: Creating a chemical reaction

by Jerry Huntsinger

When you put a letter, a reply card, a reply envelope and an enclosure in a carrier envelope, you are mixing together five separate elements. But suddenly, when they are all in the package, you no longer have five separate items. Instead you have a chemical reaction.

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Tutorial 16: How to write in a warm personal style

by Jerry Huntsinger

A professional writer knows that a letter must have more than technical exactness. Personality has to radiate through the words. But what kind of personality?

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Tutorial 17: Write the way you speak – 10 suggestions

by Jerry Huntsinger

Remember, an oral style is not just recording your ordinary speech patterns. It’s much more. To repeat: it’s writing like you talk, if you edited your ordinary speech patterns. Here are some ways to achieve that goal.

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