Marketing with PURLs (part 1 of 3)

By Mike Capuzzi | January 29, 2013

shout1No business owner or entrepreneur can stand on the sideline when it comes to the topic of getting the attention of their customers, clients, patients and target prospects.

Every single business owner reading this is in the same boat.  We’re all fighting for mind-share and attention and if you’re failing to create marketing and promotional campaigns that are relevant and have a personalized, “me to you” look and feel, you’re leaving money on the table.

In today’s crazy busy, gadget-filled, noisy world getting attention is harder than ever before.  Think about your own habits


  • How many emails do you ignore?
  • How many TV commercials do you turn off?
  • How much direct mail do you recycle without even reading it?

The challenge of capturing your target market’s attention is at the highest level in the history of mankind.  We simply have too many distractions and things vying for our attention.  The Super Bowl later this week will be a classic example of big-time marketers trying to get attention.

I cannot, in good faith, tell you I have THE solution.  Frankly, there is no one solution to this growing problem.

However, I can share specific marketing tactics and strategies which will help you make incremental progress, get more attention and ultimately better results from your marketing.

I believe an IMPORTANT marketing strategy we can all use is to make the look, feel and language appear as if we’re communicating “from me to you” with our readers.  Meaning I created this email/letter/postcard/web site for you and only you.

If you can make it feel as if the marketing piece was crafted for the one ideal target recipient who needs what you have, you will be a huge marketing success!  Imagine your marketing:

  • Having the look and feel of a personal message
  • Getting the attention of your recipient
  • Getting your recipient to read and respond to it

Creating personalized, “me to you” marketing that is different from all the “me to many” marketing you’re may be doing today. You can no longer afford to create marketing that isn’t personalized-looking, lacks any sort of distinctive features and was simply put together for the masses.

One very cool strategy I’ve used since 2004 are personalized URLs or PURLs.

PURLs allows you to embed a personalized web link in either an email campaign or direct mail campaign to drive the recipient to a personalized and customized web site created specifically for them.  The PURL typically contains either the recipient’s first name or first name and last name, like this:

http://Julie.ProfitsWithPurls.com

http://Julie.Smith.ProfitsWithPurls.com

One reason PURLs work so well is because they tap into the ego-centric mindset we all have and even though it may seem trivial in this high-tech world, people still like seeing their name.  It was infamous Dale Carnegie who said


“Remember that a man’s name is to him
the sweetest and most important sound in the English language.”

A properly designed PURL campaign arouses curiosity for Julie and with the right motivation will get her to visit the PURL. Once she arrives at her site, she will see a page that was designed just for her.

Want to see how this could work for you?  Open up a new browser window and type in http://yourfirstname.ProfitsWithPurls.com and watch the magic!

Study after study have shown PURLs to be effective in increasing response rates to email and direct mail campaigns and I like using them so much, I personally built three different PURL software applications over the years, including my brand new Simple PURLs (www.SimplePurls.com).

One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that often time’s marketers use PURLs incorrectly and fail to get the response rate they could achieve. One simple reason for this is the format of their PURL.

Consider these PURL examples (these are NON working examples):

GOOD:     http://www.copydoodles.com/mike-capuzzi

BETTER:    http://mike-capuzzi.copydoodles.com

BEST:    http://Mike-Capuzzi.ProfitsFromCopyDoodles.com

The first one misses the mark because the personalization occurs at the end, and I’m sure most readers never even see their own names in the PURL.

The second one is a better because it starts with the prospect’s name, which is an eye magnet for them. The problem is PURL really doesn’t create any type of urgency or excitement.  Read it out loud and see what I mean.

The real key to an effective PURL is to lead with your prospect’s name and then state a benefit, action item or question as the remainder of it. Seeing my name gets my attention, and then seeing the benefit “profits from CopyDoodles” makes me far more likely to check this out.

In part 2 of this series on marketing with PURLs, I’ll show you specific ways you can use PURLs in your marketing, including some very smart campaigns.

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The Simple PURL system uses the best PURL format and is truly the easiest-to-use PURL system in the world. It was designed to be used by time-crunched business owners and entrepreneurs who want to tap into the power of personalized marketing.  Visit www.SimplePurls.com for more information.