Zeimer's Advertising Shoppe — Freelance Copywriting

Healthcare Copywriting is an exciting field and I’ve written for a myriad of healthcare products and services. Below are more examples of my healthcare copywriting expertise:

Portola Valley Health Center Brochure Copywriting

As a freelance healthcare copywriter, I was asked to create a new brochure for The Sequoias – Portola Valley Health Center. People who use this Skilled Nursing Rehabilitation Center are usually recovering from a heart attack, strokes, broken hip, reconstructive knee surgery, or other injuries. Download Health Center Brochure PDF. Healthcare copywriting by Gil Zeimer, art direction/design by Andre Cohen.

Newsletter Copywriting for NCPHS

Northern California Presbyterian Homes & Services Newsletters, San Francisco Bay Area: I wrote these bi-annual newsletters for three upscale Life Care communities through this non-profit that exists to serve older adults: The Sequoias – San Francisco, The Sequoias – Portola Valley, and The Tamalpais – Marin County.

• Download Spring/Summer 2010 Sequoias – San Francisco Newsletter;

• Download Fall/Winter 2009 Sequoias – Portola Valley Newsletter;

• Download Spring/Summer 2009 Tamalpais – Marin County Newsletter.

Newsletter Copywriting for Maxim Healthcare Services

• MAXIM HEALTHCARE SERVICES – This national healthcare, home care and nurse recruitment company based in Maryland contracted with me as a freelance healthcare copywriter. Here are some recent monthly articles I wrote for their two newsletters.

Caregiving Now — Offers advice on professional homecare, health and lifestyle tips, plus frequently asked questions.

• The Importance of Getting A Flu Shot, November 2009

• November is Home Care & Hospice Month, November 2009;

• Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October 2009;

• Travel Tips for Seniors, August 2009;

• Utilizing Long Distance Homecare for a Family Member, August 2009 ;

• Nursing Now–– Provides industry news, job search tips and lifestyle tips:

• Lifestyle Tips: What Are Your New Year’s Resolutions?, December 28, 2009;

• Career Advice: Using Social Media to Find A New Job, December 28, 2009

• How Technology Helps Nurses Respond to Patients Faster, December 27, 2009;

• Picking Up Extra Shifts During The Holidays, November 16;

• A Month To Honor Our Homecare & Hospice Heroes, November 13;

• Hassle-Free Recipes For Busy Nurses, November 13;

• The Current Status of H1N1 (Swine Flu), August;

• How To Boost A Nurse’s Immune System for Flu Season, August 24;

• Valuable Interviewing Tips for Nursing Careers, August 24;

• Recognizing National Adult Immunization Awareness Week, September;

• September is Healthy Aging Month, September 30;

• Post-Interview Tips for Nurses, September 30

Newsletter Copywriting for St. Joseph’s Medical Center

• St. Joseph’s Medical Center for Health Excellence — I created the freelance healthcare copywriting for this two-sided, eight-panel Centerings Newsletter about News, Events and Education for Holistic Health. Download Health Newsletter PDF This was just one of a number of direct response projects that I’ve written for Baltimore and Philadelphia area hospitals (St. Francis Hospital, St. Joseph’s Medical Center, Anne Arudel Medical Center, St. Mary Medical Center, Towson Health Express), including nurse recruitment direct response projects, emails for Web landing pages, and more.

Website Writing

for Online Drugstore

• drugstore.com – I wrote content on 18 Buying Guides which included these product areas: Breath Sprays, Toothbrushes, Sunscreens and Self Tanning Products, After Shaves, Hair Removal Products, Shaving Creams, Deodorants, Bar Soaps, Tissues/Cotton Swabs, Razors/Blades, and Children’s Sun Care Products.

Script Writing & Audio Production For Enclara Care Companion

• Enclara Care Companion – I wrote, directed and produced the script and audio track for this healthcare portal that helps families create online communities to help them through end-of-life issues for a loved one. This PPT script was turned into an online Flash-style presentation utilizing Adobe Presenter software by the very talented Sharon Schanzer at Red Letter Day Graphic Design and voiceover by the equally talented Johanna Parker. Listen to a portion of the audio track.

Website Copywriting for PlanetRx.com

• planetrx.com - For this site’s launch, I was one of six Associate Creative Directors. My team of four experienced healthcare copywriters and me created over 210 pages of content for vitamins, minerals and dietary supplement products, while the overall the team of 22 writers cranked out over 1,500 pages in two months to meet the rapidly approaching launch date.

Direct Response Writing for CancerTrust

• cancertrust.com– I wrote the Web site and self-mailer to oncologists for CancerTrust.com. Though the company failed during the dot.com bust in 2000, this was an invaluable experience in working with a medical start-up by offering them healthcare copywriting. Download Front of Self-Mailer PDF. Download Back of Self-Mailer PDF.

To contact me as a freelance healthcare copywriter for your medical –– or even a non-medical — Website, contact me today via www.zeimer.com/contact.

For freelance direct response copywriting, I have over 20 years of experience across all media, including postcards, self-mailers, ads, radio, TV, online banners, and direct response packages. Below are a variety of examples of my creative skills for direct response copywriting.

To receive an estimate for your next direct response copywriting project, please contact me today.

Three-Dimensional Direct Response Project for Barclays Global Investors

Barclays Global Investors’ sales force wanted to send a mailing to Fortune 500 HR managers to expand their pension plan fund base. I was hired by a San Rafael direct marketing agency as a freelance direct response copywriter to help them solve the problem.

I wrote the copy for this three-dimensional package that was sent via 2-day priority mail requiring a receipt signature.The inside box’s headline was: “401(k) spoken here.” A personalized letter invited the prospect to call a toll-free number to schedule an appointment with a BGI rep. An inbound call center took the calls and scheduled the meetings. On the bottom of the box was one of a set of two two-way radios with the headline “Let’s Open a Line of Communication.”

In an industry where a 1% response rate is considered good, this mailing garnered an amazing 20%. Of those, almost 25% agreed to an appointment with BGI, resulting in several million dollars in invested funds.

Direct Response Postcards for Brainstorm Networks

Brainstorm Networks, a South Bay Internet Service Provider now owned by RCN, called on me to write and manage a direct marketing campaign as a freelance direct response copywriter. I branded them as “The Business-Only ISP,” then wrote a series of four postcards initially, and had the client mail them once every two weeks to its target audience: businesses in the South Bay and San Francisco.

Their response rates were 4% for the three postcards shown in the animated gif and 6% for the one titled “Does Your ISP Only Serve Business?” on the front and “We Do. They Don’t” on the back. Why? Because the latter postcard had a checklist for what brainstorm offered vs. the competitors, making it “interactive”.

Download Postcard #1 PDF: Our Competitive Advantage: We’re Dense, Have Fat Pipes, And Feast On Cold Potatoes.

Download Postcard #2 PDF: Dr. DSL’S Recommended Daily Allowance: More Fat & More Fiber.

Download Postcard #3 PDF : Most Businesses Worry About Getting Their Internet Service Up. They Should Really Worry About It Going Down.

Download Postcard #4 PDF: Does Your ISP Only Serve Business?

Direct Response Promotional Ad for DHL

This ad for DHL Worldwide Express delivery services featured $20 savings for “overnight service to 48 cities around the world.” The back of the ad featured all of the dozens of pick-up locations in downtown Atlanta to appeal to the recipients of this ad for a trade show. As a freelance direct response copywriter, I love this execution because it’s a fun headline married to a great layout for an international shipping company. DHL Promotion PDF.

Direct Response Promotional Ad for FedEx

As a freelance San Francisco copywriter, I’ve created campaigns for a variety of shipping companies, including Viking Freight, DHL, Emery Air Freight, Consolidated Freightways and Greyhound Package Express.

This ad was the announcement of a merger of Viking Freight in the Western states and American Freightways in the Midwest and Eastern states under the name of Fed Ex Freight.
Download Fed Ex Ad PDF.

Direct Response Copywriting for Bank of America

As an Associate Creative Director at Grey Advertising, San Francisco copywriter, I wrote this campaign of three newspaper ads for BofA’s Home Loan division. The ads were to have run for six weeks. But after only two, the client asked the agency to stop running them because the phone lines were swamped with a surplus of calls. Offering BofA’s lowest rates and the first ever refinancing adjustable rate home loans were also contributing factors to their success.

Download Ad #1 PDF

Download Ad #2 PDF

Download Ad #3 PDF

Bank of America/Nation’s Bank Animated Banners – For Carat Interactive Ad Agency, I wrote a bunch of banners for BofA after it became Nation’s Bank. (Of course, it’s now called Bank of America once again.) See the banners — scroll down to bottom of page.

Bank of America Priority Plus Home Loan :60 Radio Commercial and Newspaper Ad — This commercial needed to demonstrate that the bank was committed to approving applicants for adjustable rate home loans in only three business days, rather than weeks. So I found the world’s fastest talker in New York City, flew her to SF for a recording session, and hired a male voice actor as her “translator” for this script. You really can hear every word she says if you listen carefully. Click “PLAY NOW” below to hear the “Priority Plus Fast Home Loans” MP3.

Download Priority Plus Home Loan Ad PDF.

Direct Response Ad For Geneology Software

This is one of my favorite ads for two reasons. First, because it’s a fun direct response copywriter headline — “She Has Her Mother’s Eyes, Her Father’s Smile, And Her Uncle’s Website”. And second,  it features a photo of my daughter Sara when she was about two years old. Download Family Gathering Ad PDF.

Direct Response Postcards for Check Point

During 2006/2007, I wrote a variety of direct response projects for Check Point Software Technologies, an Israeli company with US headquarters in Redwood City, California. This company is a leader in securing the Internet with the worldwide enterprise firewall, personal firewall, data security and VPN markets. Here are some examples of their marketing toolkits, featuring a two-sided postcard, ad and email for each of their software and hardware products. Check Point VPN-1® UTM® Edge Appliances. Download Postcard Copy PDF Download Ad Copy PDF. View HTML Email Copy

To receive an estimate for your next direct response copywriting project, please contact me today.

Here are the fronts of the three postcards. (Click on any image to enlarge it.)

Download a PDF of this postcard campaign.

The Company: CorporatePhoneCards.com is a full-service provider of promotional phone cards. Its goal is to help clients achieve recognition and create consumer response by offering attractive, professional, and cost-effective advertisements in a space no larger than a business card.

The Challenge: The client wanted to reach executives in ad agencies across the U.S. to recommend that their clients give away promotional phone cards to advertise their services.

The Solution: As a freelance copywriter, I wrote and managed this project between a San Francisco Bay Area researcher with target market accuracy (Frank Jamieson of AppliedDMResearch.com), a very high-end direct marketing art director (Paschal Sabatella of SabatellaCreative.com, and the client in New York State.

Together, we created three postcards that were mailed to the top 1,600 ad agencies across the US. A follow-up effort by a top notch telemarketer (Linda Fadden of SalesRunner.com) was made by calling each recipient to ask if they’d received the mailings, what they remembered, and if they wanted to set an appointment to speak to someone about purchasing the best corporate promotional phone cards on the market for their advertising clients.

Freelance copywriters know the call to action on the back of each postcard is all-important. So I wrote: Get ROI, ASAP with an exclusive long-distance phone card program designed to help agencies obtain higher response rates for their clients’ incentive programs. The best part of this program? You only pay for the phone cards that are activated — not every single one of them.

The Results: The postcards received a 1% response rate in the spring of 2009 in the midst of one of the worse recessions for advertisers in recent history. But the follow-up telemarketing calls received results beyond everyone’s expectations. Though she had targeted reaching 13.3% of executives to prospects, Ms. Fadden actually reached 25.1% of them. This resulted in 5.7% of them setting phone appointments with our client and an additional 43.7% of them requesting more information from Corporate Phone Cards.

To inquire about my freelance copywriting services, contact me today.

I have a vast portfolio of financial copywriting expertise. Over the past 25 years, I’ve produced memorable print and broadcast work, attention-getting promotions, high-level Web site content, plus high-response print and email direct marketing campaigns for many financial institutions. Scroll down to read more and link to some of my success stories.

I’m versatile and prolific. I write dozens of projects a year, so I can handle a large volume of work –– from video-based banners, emails, print ads and radio to direct response letters, mini-sites, Website and even your annual report.

I’m a Direct Marketing expert. For most of writing career, I’ve focused on direct response. My highest response rates are 57% for a DMP and an open rate of 80% for an email with a 97% click-through.

I turn MarCom into English. The body of work I’ve crafted enables me to be well-versed in financial terminology. This has always let me turn technical copy into layman’s copy to appeal to a broad audience of consumers and bank employees.

My specific financial copywriting experience includes:
Bank of America
• As Associate Creative Director at Grey Advertising, SF, I was the financial copywriter for :60 and :30 TV scripts that won the $6 million corporate banking division for the agency.
• I wrote an extremely successful financial copywriting newspaper ad campaign for BofA’s Home Loan Center’s division. It was so successful making the phones ring for ARMs, it had to be pulled after two weeks instead the proposed six.
- Download Ad #1 PDF
- Download Ad #2 PDF
- Download Ad #3 PDF

• I wrote, directed and produced a very funny :60 radio commercial that showcased how fast the BofA Home Loan process had become. Hear “Fast Home Loans” Radio MP3.

• Through Carat Interactive, I composed NationsBank online banners for their Platinum Card. View the banners — scroll down to bottom of the linked page.
• Through Cohn & Wells, I drafted a DMP with 17 cells and six million pieces of mail to introduce the Sunoco MasterCard to current and future BankAmericard customers (budget was approximately $1 million).

Wells Fargo
• For 360 Group, San Rafael, I wrote a project that launched an in-branch promotion for the Business Gateway. It included ease-backed counter cards, take-one brochures, in-branch posters and follow-up direct response letters for a referral program for its “Refer a Colleague” on-line checking services.
• I wrote a series of direct response letters to Equity Line Platinum Card owners with a promotional overlay from Home Depot with another agency, Damore Johan.
• As a freelance financial copywriter, I’ve written multiple direct mail projects for one of Wells Fargo’s contracted ad agencies in San Francisco for Home Equity Lines of Credit.

• I also worked for Wells Fargo during my college years at S.F.State University.
Download WF Seasonal Check Letter.pdf
Download-WF Tax Letter_p1.pdf
Download-Front-of-WF_FebIinsert.pdf
Download-Back-of-WF_FebInsert.pdf

Intuit
• Wrote the QuickBooks introductory Direct Marketing Package aimed at upgrading Quicken customers. Rather than cannibalizing the Quicken brand, this package showed potential users why they should use QuickBooks, and why they shouldn’t.
• Created the 32-page QuickBooks 32-page Catalog for Checks, Envelopes, Supplies and More with Landis Designs. Download Pages 1, 2-15 and 32 of the Catalog (.PDF). Download Pages 16-31 of the Catalog (.PDF).
• Edited a 77-page Web site to buy Intuit products at IntuitMarket.com/quickbooks. This site has been upgraded since.
• Wrote the QuickBooks New User Kit and six other projects during 2006, including a 32-page QuickBooks Catalog for Checks, Envelopes, Supplies and More. If you want to see these examples of freelance copywriting, I have hard copies or PDFs.

Charles Schwab
• As a freelance financial copywriter, I created six versions of letter and two versions of brochure for Schwab Stock Screener DMP through Landis Designs, San Francisco.
• Created a solicitation direct mail and all supporting materials (brochures, sign-up forms, letters) for Schwab’s OneSource International Portfolio – a fund of mutual funds.
• Wrote consumer materials to introduce Schwab’s program of Variable Annuities.
• Scripted a B2B email and Web landing page for the Schwab Mortgage Center through E-Loan.

Accenture.com Financial Services
• Was hired by Accenture.com to create content for each of the four key sections’ home pages (Banking, Capital Markets, Insurance and Health Services), plus each section’s seven vertical industry articles. A colleague did the rest –– animation, graphics, and XML.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Security & Privacy Solutions
• For three years, I did freelance financial copywriting, editing, Webmaster work and project management for PwC’s Security & Privacy site. I wrote hundreds of pages of site content, White Paper overviews, dozens of case studies, and delivered 32 issues of a monthly online newsletter (”The Tech Spotlight”) from 2002 through 2004.
– Download The Tech Spotlight Newsletter August 2004 PDF
– Download The Tech Spotlight Newsletter Nov/Dec 2004 PDF
– Download The Secure Solution October 2003 PDF (This was “The Tech Spotlight” original title.)

Visa
• Wrote B2B Turnkey Marketing Program Kit introducing Debit Cards to member banks for their customers. Promotional/Direct Mail program included solicitation and activation materials: in-branch posters, counter cards, multi-purpose brochures, statement inserts, employee information sheets, prospect and customer letters to customers, overview letter from Visa to banks and the promotion kit.
• Created Blockbuster/Visa tie-in DMP with tiered consumer Gift Card program for using Visa Debit Cards.

Barclays Global Investors
• Through the 360 Group in San Rafael, I created a three-dimensional direct response lead generation piece aimed at HR Directors and in-house money managers. Using the headline “401(k) spoken here” and offering a two-way radio, this piece gained BGI millions of dollars in deposits. This campaign garnered a 20% response rate.

Irwin Financial Corporation/Premier Equity • For this major East Bay-based company, I was hired for freelance copywriting to create a series of four Home Equity Loan direct mail packages. They included a “Credit Card Challenge”. Sanwa Bank California • I wrote in-branch counter cards, take-one brochures, teller buttons, Duratrans posters, newspaper ads and direct mail targeted to Sanwa savings customers to promote the purchase of IRAs and CDs. Household Credit Services • Created direct mail packages for MasterCard credit card offerings, credit line increases, Balance Transfer offerings, Convenience Check offerings. First Hawaiian Bank • Was a freelance copywriter for Miller-Kadanoff SF for one DMP for home equity loans and another for personal equity loans for this Honolulu-based bank. Fair Isaac • Wrote a White Paper entitled “A Five-Step Approach To Stress Testing Your Portfolio –– How to Prepare Your Portfolio For Dynamic Times” • Wrote an August 2008 Viewpoints Newsletter article called “New TRIAD tool reduces strategy size, complexity by 25% or more.”

Other financial clients with whom I’ve completed financial copywriting projects include: • American Savings (in-branch promotions); • Bayview Bank (radio commercials); • Barbary Coast National Bank (ads, newsletters, DMP, outdoor); • Barron Mortgage Company (radio spots and newspaper ads) – download the radio commercial; • Farm Credit Bank Association (B2C magazine ad campaign, sales video); • First Texas Savings ( TV, radio, newspaper ads); • Freedom Debt Relief (View .mov TV commercial);

• Yodlee (edited various Data Sheets and a White Paper) Download Yodlee Advisor Data Sheet. Download Yodlee BillPay Data Sheet. Download Yodlee Account Opening Data Sheet. Download Yodlee Funds Transfer Data Sheet.

To see other examples of freelance copywriting, or to receive an estimate for your financial copywriter project, please contact me today.

Earlier this year, I worked as a freelance copywriter with the very talented San Francisco art director John Donaghue on a new direct marketing campaign for Midland National’s Annuities Division.

The goal was to create a new brand for this seven-year old division of a 100+-year-old insurance company to recruit insurance agents who could sell its best-of-breed annuities products.

This multi-channel campaign included B2B magazine ads like the one shown on the left, emails, and direct marketing packages to join the Midland National Team.

It was quite successful in recruiting dozens of agents across the U.S.

Download the Midland “Respect” Ad PDF.

About 10 years ago, I was called by a local ad agency who needed a freelance San Francisco copywriter to craft a promotional ad for DHL Worldwide Express delivery services.

The art director and I started kicking around some concepts. I asked if we could show snow globes of various cities where DHL delivered globally. He said, “That’s ironic. I have a huge snow globe collection and I’ve got about 100 of them here in the office.”

The rest is direct response history with this $20 savings ad for “overnight service to 48 cities around the world.” The back of the ad featured all of the dozens of pick-up locations in downtown Atlanta to appeal to the recipients of this ad for a trade show. As a freelance copywriter, I love this execution because it’s a fun headline married to a great layout for an international shipping company.

DHL Promotion PDF.

As a freelance copywriter, an ad agency called me recently to handle the copy and concepts for a few direct response projects for their hearing aid client, Zounds Hearing in Arizona. The thing I like best about this company is that it was started by an audio engineer who was trying to help his hearing-impaired daughter lead a more productive life.

This letter included a coupon for a free steak dinner. The recipient of the mailer was asked to visit a local Zounds Hearing Center, get a hearing test to see if he/she was a possible candidate for this great technology, and would then be able to test the hearing aid in a noisy place.

My designer and I decided to use a combination of and handwritten font to highlight certain parts of the letter.

Download Zounds Letter PDF.

Wells Fargo EquityLine Platinum Card Acquisition Letters
For one of Wells Fargo’s design agencies (Damore Johann), I wrote a series of direct response letters to Equity Line Platinum Card owners with a promotional overlay from Home Depot.

Download Wells Fargo EquityLine Platinum Card Acquisition Letters 3-Page PDF.

For Wells Fargo, I also wrote a project that launched an in-branch promotion for the bank’s Business Gateway program. It included:
• Easel-backed counter cards
• Take-one brochures
• In-branch posters and
• Follow-up direct response letters for its “Refer a Colleague” on-line checking services program.
Please contact me if you’d like to review these materials.

I also worked for Wells Fargo for several years while attending San Francisco State University and I’ve been a client of theirs since I was 16 years old.

Healthcare Copywriting is one of my specialties. Because I’m a San Francisco freelance copywriter with vast expertise across all media, I’ve had the good fortune of working with a wide variety of healthcare products and services over my 25-year career. Below are my specific healthcare copywriting credentials:

• As a Creative Director/Copywriter, I’m working with a start-up company in the San Francisco Bay Area to launch a new medical device that will be sold through health plans to Seniors. Details to come.

Online Newsletter For Financial District Dental

• Financial District Dental.com — Dr. Michael Hack runs this thriving cosmetic and general dentistry practice in San Francisco. Here’s an ad I wrote that included a testimonial, a client photo, and a Free Whitening offer (a $450 value). It was designed by Sharon Schanzer of Red Letter Day. Download Ad PDF. And here’s the link to the Premier Issue of Mental Floss, January 2009, Dr. Hack’s monthly newsletter that I wrote as a healthcare copywriter; designed by Bradley Charbonneau, Likoma.com; sent via Mail Chimp. Other issues: February 2009 issue; March/April 2009 issue; May/June 2009 issue; July 2009 issue; Fall 2009 issue.

Website for Silicon Valley Cosmetic & Restorative Dentist

• Dr. Richard Evans — This Cosmetic and Restorative Dentistry practice is located in Los Gatos, in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area near San Jose. For this site, I coined the phrase “Where Art and Dentistry Converge.”

Website For Get Third Eye Retroscope

• GetThirdEye is a site for Avantis Medical Systems, the inventors of the Get Third Eye Retroscope colonoscopy device. The home page is a portal page for two sites: one for patients; one for physicians.

Website for Northgate Chiropractic

• Northgate Chiropractic — Dr. Marilyn Lindauer is an award-winning chiropractor, highly rated chiropractor in San Rafael. I write and manage her site because of my specialty in healthcare copywriting. It was recently revised to now reside on the WordPress software platform so I can quickly update its contents.

Website for Hantel Technologies

• Hantel Technologies –– A site that went live in August 2009 is Hantel Technologies, which is your resource for medical and biotech product engineering and manufacturing, from concept through commercialization.

Self-Mailer for Blue Shield of California

• Blue Shield of California wanted to send a direct mail piece to potential beneficiaries to remind them that they no longer have to wait six months to get coverage for a pre-existing medical condition. We decided to use a self-mailer approach. This blue, black and white six-panel mailer utilized an arresting headline, straightforward copy, competitive Blue Shield personal HMO rate charts, and a tear-off postcard so recipients could request a call. It was very successful by returning a high response rate.
Download side 1 of Self-Mailer PDF.
Download side 2 of Self-Mailer PDF.

Catalog for U.S. Dentek

• U.S. Dentek dental products — I wrote a 12-page catalog/sales brochure for U.S. Dentek to introduce its Breath Remedy line of products, which we called “The World’s First Fresh Breath Kit.” It included a complete home oral breath care system with a daily regimen kit with the entire line of Breath Remedy products: Toothpaste, Tongue Scraper, Tongue Spray, Breath Drops and Mouth Rinse. The last few pages of the catalog were for the company’s established products like Dental Piks, Tartar Scrapers, Dental First Aid Kits, and more. My strength in healthcare copywriting, as well as catalog copywriting, helped me complete this successful product launch.Download Catalog Covers PDF. Download Catalog Inside Pages PDF.

SEO Keywords For LAPSF Website

• I’ve rewritten www.LAPSF.com with SEO keywords copy for its main pages. These bariatric surgery leaders in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Honolulu offer Laparoscopic techniques for superior weight-loss surgery procedures, gastric bypass and LapBand surgery. This site even offers a Body Mass Index (BMI) Calculator.

Copy Editing for Asuka Laser Website

• Asuka Laser — This site was written in Japanese for veterinarians, then translated loosely in English. I then edited the content for a North American audience with my healthcare copywriting experience — and as a dog owner. It offers versatile applications for diode laser use.

Articles for Alert Diver Magazine

• Finally, I’ve written four magazine articles that were published in Alert Diver Magazine by Diver’s Alert Network. You can read them on my Web site at these links:

• The Sun Also Burns; May 2001

• Low Anxiety: Getting Narked in Belize’s Great Blue Hole; June 2001

• To Dive or Not To Dive: A California Diver’s Experience in Florida Waters; April 2002

• Equipment Upgrade 2.0: Your Gear May Be Years Old. It Still Works. But Is It Safe?; May 2002

To contact me as a freelance healthcare copywriter for your medical –– or even a non-medical — Website, contact me today via www.zeimer.com/contact.

View More Healthcare Copywriting Samples.

THE PROBLEM
Brainstorm Networks, a South Bay Internet Service Provider now owned by RCN, called on me to write and manage a direct marketing campaign. But they didn’t know if they should mail letter packages, postcards or what.

THE SOLUTION
I branded them as “The Business-Only ISP,” then wrote a series of four postcards initially, produced them, gang printed them, and had the client mail them once every two weeks to its target audience: businesses in the South Bay and San Francisco.

THE RESULTS
Their response rates were 4% for the three postcards shown in the animated gif and 6% for the one titled “Does Your ISP Only Serve Business?” on the front and “We Do. They Don’t” on the back. Why? Because the latter postcard had a checklist for what brainstorm offered vs. the competitors, making it “interactive”.

Download Postcard #1 PDF: Our Competitive Advantage: We’re Dense, Have Fat Pipes, And Feast On Cold Potatoes.

Download Postcard #2 PDF: Dr. DSL’S Recommended Daily Allowance: More Fat & More Fiber.

Download Postcard #3 PDF: Most Businesses Worry About Getting Their Internet Service Up. They Should Really Worry About It Going Down.

Download Postcard #4 PDF: Does Your ISP Only Serve Business?

The Company: Barclays Global Investors is an investment management subsidiary of U.K.–based Barclays Bank. It’s the largest corporate money manager in the world, with over £1.04 trillion (US$2.08 trillion) under management as of October 2007. The division is headquartered in San Francisco with research and portfolio management teams in London, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and other cities.

The Challenge: BGI’s sales force wanted to send a mailing to HR managers to expand their pension plan fund base. They targeted Fortune 500 companies. I was hired by a San Rafael direct marketing agency as a freelance direct response copywriter to help them solve the problem.

The Solution: I wrote the copy for this three- dimensional package that was sent via 2-day priority mail requiring a receipt signature. As you can see, the inside box’s headline was: “401(k) spoken here.”

Inside the oversized box, a personalized letter was taped to the inside top of the box. The letter invited the prospect to call a toll-free number to schedule an appointment with a BGI rep. An inbound call center took the calls and scheduled the meetings.

On the bottom of the box was one of a set of two two-way radios with the headline “Let’s Open a Line of Communication.”

The Results: In an industry where a 1% response rate is considered good, this mailing garnered an amazing 20%. Of those, almost 25% agreed to an appointment with BGI, resulting in several million dollars in invested funds.

Personally, this was one of my most honored projects as a freelance direct response copywriter, earning the agency a 2001 Gold International Echo Award for B-2-B Financial Products and Services, Dimensional Mail. It also was recognized with:
• A Finalist in the 2000 John Caples International Awards
• A Silver in the 2001 Showcase of Print Excellence
• A Bronze from the International Association of Printing House Craftsman 2001 International Gallery of Superb Printing.

During 2006/2007, I wrote a variety of direct response projects for Check Point Software Technologies, an Israeli company with US headquarters in Redwood City, California. This company is a leader in securing the Internet with the worldwide enterprise firewall, personal firewall, data security and VPN markets.

Here are some examples of their marketing toolkits, featuring a two-sided postcard, ad and email for each of their software and hardware products.

1) Check Point VPN-1® UTM® Edge Appliances.
Download Postcard Copy PDF

Download Ad Copy PDF.

View HTML Email Copy

I’ve written direct response packages, promotional postcards, self-mailers, conference announcement mailers, and HTML emails for a wide variety of software clients, including Oracle, Symantec (Norton), PalmOne, Intuit, and more.

Here are samples of some of my favorites:

1) Intuit QuickBooks Software Direct Response Package — I’m proud to say that I introduced QuickBooks software to Quicken users in 1994. Here’s the outside envelope of this package. It included a personalized letter, a huge fold-out poster explaining why QuickBooks is the right software for certain types of businesses and why Quicken is still the right product for other businesses, a response form, a BRE, and a lift note.

This was a very strategic mailing, because QuickBooks wanted to sell small businesses without cannibalizing sales to Quicken users who were very loyal to the world's #1-selling financial management software. After several attempts by others to introduce QuickBooks software to Quicken users had failed, I wrote the package that became the Control. Intuit doesn't release results, but the Creative Director for Intuit told us this package was the control for at least 18 months and solidified QuickBooks' position in the market as the right software for small businesses, while Quicken was the software of choice for individuals.

2) Norton Ghost 6.0 Direct Mail Package — For Norton, this direct response package with an OE, personalized letter, three-panel brochure, response device and BRE was mailed to IT Managers, offering a 30-day free trial on a product that would help them “Fix PC user problems now before they became IT problems later.” Download Norton Ghost 6.0 PDF.

3) Oracle OLAP Self-Mailer — To me, OLAP always sounded like a Swedish person. But it’s actually an acronym for “On-Line Analytical Processing.” This was a very technical self-mailer about Oracle’s OLAP Solution. To draw in the audience, we showed a few traffic arrows and the headline, originally by baseball great Yogi Berra, “When you get to the fork in the road, take it.” The copy continued, “After all, both roads lead to Oracle, The Open OLAP Solution.”

4) Oracle iDevelop ‘99 Self-Mailer — To announce a worldwide series of conferences in 13 cities, I wrote this six-panel self-mailer that only required a black plate change on one side to update the host city. Larry Ellison personally approved this direct mail project. It also included information about Oracle 8i, the world’s first Internet database, info about 3 technical tracks, 6 hands-on sessions, a $200 Early Bird software savings with a $200 limited-time offer on software, and a registration form. Download Oracle iDevelop ‘99 Self Mailer PDF.

5) Phone.com’s Unwired Universe Conference Self-Mailer — This 12-page mailer was sent to thousands and thousands of telecom industry leaders globally — and sold out in a few weeks. It included a list of speakers from about 40 major telcos worldwide, an overview of this annual event, summaries of the dozens of sessions and seminars, plus a pre-registration form. Download Phone.com’s Conference Self-Mailer PDF.

6) Phoenix Technologies Annual Conference Program — This large-format 9 x 12 folder was accompanied by a personal letter from the president of the company, inviting their special guests to a weekend of golf and socializing in Carmel’s Pebble Beach Resort. Robert Lewis Stevenson once called this area “the most felicitous meeting of land and sea in the world.” Download Phoenix Technologies Conference Program.

This was a direct response letter sent to owners of previous models of PalmOne’s Treo smartphones, asking them to upgrade to the newest model that had more bells and whistles than anything Palm had ever created. As a freelance copywriter, I was hired by Carat Interactive, a leading San Francisco ad agency, to wordsmith this project.

This promotion had a lot going for it:
• A great smartphone bundle (FREE Bluetooth Wireless Headset, FREE 1-year subscription to Express Wireless Weather software, and FREE Express Shipping).
• A limited-time offer (the expiration date was about one month from the date of the mailing).
•  A strong, clean layout by Kuleana Design.
• And a long list of new features.

The result? PalmOne sold over $150K worth of Treo smartphones in one month during this promotion.
Download PalmOne Treo 650 smartphone letter PDF.