trains, trains, and automo-trains

I got "derailed" while writing yesterday's email. 
 
(You'll get this joke in a minute.)
 
I'd meant to tell you about the train magazine, but instead I got all rhapsodic about the cocoa bean silos. 
 
So here's the sitch: 
 
I was poking around on the internet a couple weeks ago, looking to see whatever happened to that RFP to develop the Hershey cocoa bean silos into condos or whatever. 
 
Turns out a fat lot o' nothin' happened. 
 
But I discovered, pretty high up in the google rankings, a magazine article about the construction of the silos. 
 
And since this is a topic of interest to me (see also: yesterday's email), I took a closer look. 
 
This article appeared in a magazine called Railpace Newsmagazine, and the back issue was available online. 
 
Eager to read a little bit about this big construction project, I ordered the magazine. 
 
Would Grandpa be in any of the pictures? 
 
This was the main question for me. 
 
So when the magazine arrived, I tore into it looking for the pictures. 
 
Joke was on me. 
 
This is a train magazine. 
 
All the pictures are of trains. 
 
Here's a train on a snowy bridge. 
 
Here's a 100-year-old picture of a train in this small midwestern town. 
 
Here's a waaaaaay zoomed out picture of the cocoa bean silo construction, with the train parked over on the left. 
 
So was Grandpa in any of the pictures?
 
Best I can say is... probably yes. 
 
But he'd be a blurry dot, if anything. 
 
Because trains. 
 
This was a two-pronged reminder for me: 
 
Reminder #1: Know your audience.  
 
The audience for this magazine is train enthusiasts. The magazine is about trains. Not about the cute story of how Ashley's grandparents met. In fact, this article about the cocoa bean silos isn't even about the silos as much as it is about the planning of the silos with the train function incorporated and the rail line placement etc. etc. etc. 
 
Trains. 
 
Reminder #2: Set expectations.  
 
I stumbled across an article about the Hershey cocoa silos located on the Railpace Newsmagazine website. And yet it did not for one second occur to me that the only thing this magazine cared about was trains. 
 
In hindsight, yes, it was a head-slap moment and I am a dink. 
 
But here's the thing: 
 
We are all dinks.
 
The makers of this train magazine website seemed to assume that I knew what they were all about and what they did and what to expect.
 
They assumed wrong. 
 
So even if it seems ridiculously straightforward and stupid-simple and DUH... set expectations. Say who you are and what you do, all the freaking time. Make it aaaabbbbbsolutely clear what to expect. 
 
Do not assume people will just sort of get it by way of executive functioning and deductive reasoning. 
 
Assume people are dinks and act accordingly. 
 
This, by the way, is what the Call to Action is all about. 
 
A fundamental principle of direct response copywriting is to spell out to the reader, in excruciating detail, exactly what next steps to take.
 
"Included with this letter is an orange form and a pink envelope. Fill out your information on the orange form. Check the box beside your preferred payment method and include the details. Then place the completed orange form into the pink envelope and mail it to us. All you need to do is add first class postage." 
 
Stuff like that is in every direct response mailing worth its weight in stamps. 
 
Because people are dinks and we want to leave nothing to chance. 
 
For more on this and a thousand other ways to de-dink-ify your marketing, you should join Copy Chief. 
 
It's basically all we talk about. 
 
Just... maybe in nicer terms. 
 
Here's my link to join: 
 
gainer.ink/chief