If someone tells you they’re a writer, what instantly pops into your mind?

Both those words cover a lot of ground. Music can cover rock, country, jazz, classic and more. Writing can cover fiction, non-fiction, technical, marketing and more.

While not as wide-reaching as music and writing, the word magalog (or catazine as some people use) now covers a lot of territory. While it is commonly considered to be a combination of magazine and catalog, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

First, magalogs are not new. I’ve been seeing that assertion a lot recently. Magalogs have been around since at least the 80s, possibly earlier.

The reason magalogs might seem new to people is that other industries are starting to see their value. For them, magalogs are new.

If you’ve been in the health and financial industries, magalogs are far from new. Those magalogs tend to be what I call the sales letter style. They’re a long-form sales letter, supplemented by lots of sidebars, graphics and colors.

Some people looking at classic magalogs for the first time are a bit taken aback by that. “It looks so… sales-y,” they say. Yes!! That’s the point… to make a sale.

I realize it may not look high-class like a New York lifestyle magazine, but that’s not always the style we’re after in direct sales and marketing. In fact, I once had a client turn thumbs-down on a magalog cover draft I did because it looked too much like a magazine.

Having said that, new industries are adopting the magalog format and turning them into something more like a traditional, high-end magazine.

Both styles have their place, and both styles work. It’s simply a matter of what you’re going for and what your target audience responds to. You can’t dismiss any style based strictly on your own feelings of what marketing material has to look like.

I encourage you not to become a slave to the word magalog. Just this week I read someone’s blog where the writer got annoyed because the magalog he got in the mail was only selling one product.

He was getting hung up on the catalog portion of magalog. In his mind, if it’s a catalog, it must sell multiple products.

Again, don’t get hung-up on the word… focus on the purpose that we use a magalog for and go with the style your target will respond to.

But there’s an aspect to that project that I wanted to talk about today. And as someone who might need the services of a designer (or copywriter, for that matter) it’s important you be aware of this.

I’ve said in the past that projects that end with log can be more of an investment… magalog, issuelog, catalog, bookalog. These types of projects are typically more complex, especially from a design point of view. Naturally, that will cost more.

Having said that, a common rookie designer mistake (or, unfortunately, an intentional money grab by a more experienced designer) is to price a project based on what it’s called rather than the content.

This bookalog project I’m working on is a perfect example.

When the client contacted me and said he wanted a bookalog, I immediately thought of other bookalogs I’ve been involved with or seen. Many are quite complex.

However, in this case, the copy was very simple and the layout would be very simple. In fact, it wouldn’t be much different than a sales letter. It’s just that the size of the layout would be different. To top it off, there would be no graphics involved, and it was a single color.

So while the project is a bookalog, the layout work on my end is more like a sales letter. And based on that, the price I quoted the client was over 50% lower than the average price of a more complex bookalog. I priced the project more like my average sales letter work.

The point here is that the project price was based on the content and what needed to be done, not based on the format name.

If that seems obvious to you that it should be that way, I can assure you not all creative folks work like that.

Granted, it can be hard for you to know what a fair price is if you don’t have much experience working with designers or copywriters.

That’s why I always encourage you to talk directly with any designer or copywriter you might choose. Or ask business colleagues who they would recommend. In other words, do as much research as you can so you’re as confident as possible that you’re picking the right person.

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About Mike Klassen – The Magalog Guy

Why we should be working together

And I’m not the type who gives a you-know-what about a celebrity’s personal life because, in general, I have little interest in celebrities.

But it was hard to escape news coverage of Tiger’s public apology.

From the “post-apology analysis” I couldn’t escape, Tiger seemed to get good marks for being honest and taking responsibility.

But I was more drawn to his delivery, not so much the content. Part of that comes from a 14 year background in the media… radio, to be specific.

If I had no other skill in radio broadcasting, I could at least claim to be conversational on the air. That’s a vital trait for anyone in radio where there are no visuals to supplement the message. It’s all in your delivery which affects whether people want to listen to you or change the channel.

So when I look at Tiger’s apology in terms of delivery, I thought it was lacking. To be fair, admitting you messed up big-time on national television – with the added pressure of your mom sitting in the front row – isn’t going to bring out the best in anyone.

However, I couldn’t help but think how much more sincere it would have come across – and, thus, had more impact – if he had simply jotted down a bunch of bullet points (I messed up, it was all my fault, I’m sorry, leave my family alone) and let his unfiltered feelings fill in the blanks.

In radio, we called that speaking from the heart versus speaking from the script. There’s a difference, and people can feel it.

As it turns out, his apology sounded the way it was probably created: very scripted, with input by any number of handlers, and no words left to chance.

This might be a stretch, but I think Tiger’s delivery can be a bit of teachable moment for marketers, especially those using long-form copy.

Do your promotions come across as stiff and written by committee? Or do they feel like a one-on-one conversation between you and the reader?

Recently, someone on Twitter mentioned the importance of using page 2 of a catalog for a personal letter. The same applies for a magalog. The letter may come from the company president or someone else in authority.

That letter can set the whole tone for the promotion. And when done properly, it can also provide insight into the company, helping the buyer to feel a deeper connection with the company and the product/service they sell.

It’s your chance to go “off script” and become a person the reader can really relate to. I might even go so far as to say it makes you and the message that follows more believable, or at least more worthy of being given a chance to make your case.

Yet it seems like some companies either don’t bother with a personal letter at all, or give it little effort compared to the main copy. That’s a mistake.

That letter is your chance to “speak from your heart” and let your prospects understand your passion and reason behind it.

Sure, that can also be done in the main copy. But many times that copy becomes a mixture of input from different people, the things you feel you have to include, and all the other ingredients that go into a successful message. And that’s assuming the reader invests the time in the main portion of your message.

Unfortunately, the personal element in the main copy sometimes gets sacrificed for the other “must haves” in the copy.

The “hello” letter, meanwhile, can be more personal. Usually only one page in length, it’s a quick and easy read.

It gives you a chance to let people know why they should even bother to start reading page 3 and keep going until the end. You’re sharing your passion without the sales techniques that are most likely going to be a part of your main copy.

It’s the feeling of someone sitting down across from you and saying, “In a moment, I’m going to share some exciting news. But first, let me tell you how I got to this point where I believe, with all my heart, that I can make a real difference in your life.”

A little over-the-top? Not really.

It’s what happens when you throw away the structure of a script to share your unfiltered passion for what you do.

Otherwise, your audience can get distracted if your message comes off as too scripted or too fake. It can happen in print just as easily as it can when someone is apologizing to the public.

People can sense when your message is real and has authenticity. That’s the value of a “Page 2″ letter. If you succeed there, the reader is more willing to give you a chance to tell your full story.

I’m not one to get too hung up on terminology. Part of my job is to listen to what you need, then we can put a label on it if we need to. (Steering someone away from a magalog, and it’s relatively large financial investment, is something I’ve done a few times. I’ll discuss that in a future article.)

As you’ve probably guessed, the word magalog is traditionally considered to be a cross between magazine and catalog. I say traditionally because the way words and names evolve over time, I have no doubt that someone has another origin for the word. But for now, magalog + catalog is good enough for us in the realm of direct marketing.

When I was interviewed for Print Professional Magazine, I gave my own definition that I thought direct marketers could relate to:

I tend to describe [a magalog] as a sales letter on steroids. Like many sales letters, a magalog will start with a ‘big idea’ or ‘promise’ headline, include graphics and charts, some sidebars and an order form to go along with the main body copy. But with the magalog, we’re usually creating something with a stronger visual appeal, much like you’d notice in a magazine or even a high-end newsletter.

Magalogs also remind me of theater actors who have to project and make bigger movements so people all the way in the back can see and hear. In this case, the magalog has to stand out from the other mail that people get and that’s why you often see bold headlines and large cover photos.

Of course, there’s no law that says we have to do things a fixed way. In fact, the magalog has a few variations including slim jims, issuelogs and bookalogs. (Again, something else I’ll be tackling in the future.)

But the “sales letter on steroids” phrase seems to click with most direct marketers I talk to who are learning about magalogs for the first time.

At that point, the sky’s the limit… or more accurately, the budget is the limit.

We want the magalog to be something appealing to read. Obviously there will be sales copy, but a great copywriter is going to find nuggets of information to sprinkle throughout the magalog… info that people might actually want to share with other people.

In my prior career in a radio newsroom, it’s what we’d call the “Hey, Martha” story. You’ve probably heard that phrase before. You can read a bit more about that in my free book, Increase Sales & Build Deeper Connections: How To Get Prospects To Pay Attention To The Story They Want And Need To Hear Before They Buy, on the MagalogGuy.com homepage.

Designers take all that and put it into something that’s going to stand out when the recipient gets his or her mail.

Magalogs can sell a single product or service, or many. Most I’ve dealt with have been a single product, with the copy focused on creating the desire and supporting the claims that are being made.

Magalogs have no set size or page count, although 8.5 x 11 is a common size and 12-16 pages is a common page count. Once you start significantly changing those variables, the discussion moves into things like slim jims and bookalogs. Yet another topic for another day.

For today, I just want to keep things as simple as possible and give you a fairly common definition of a magalog.