I can recall watching Zoo Keeper when he was sweeping out big monkey enclosure. He was industriously sweeping up dead leaves and twigs and rest of litter monkeys had made and he was taking no notice at all of antics of noisy crew of monkeys. I guess he was used to their racket. Suddenly one of monkeys swung down from a branch and snatched Zoo Keeper’s cap right off his head. The Zoo Keeper hardly had time to react to what had happened before that monkey was out of reach in higher branches of tree.

The Zoo Keeper looked up, monkey bared its teeth in that special grin monkeys have and chattered quietly. The Zoo Keeper pantomimed a shrug for his audience: no point in him even thinking of climbing tree after that monkey. The Zoo Keeper carried on with his cleaning up and ignored chattering monkey.

The monkey tried cap on for size, on his head, then on one foot, then he sniffed hard at it. The crowd laughed but Zoo Keeper didn’t bother to look up. The monkey dropped from tree just a few feet behind Zoo Keeper, screeched in that way monkeys have and flourished cap when Zoo Keeper looked round startled. That sure got his attention!

The Zoo Keeper stood, hands on hips. The monkey did same, putting its head a little on one side as if he was waiting for an answer. The Zoo Keeper took a slow step towards monkey and monkey just stood there holding Zoo Keeper’s cap. The Zoo Keeper took another cautious step towards monkey and this time monkey took a step back. The Zoo Keeper tried another step, monkey stepped back, turned, let out a screech and leaped into lower branches of his favourite tree. The Zoo Keeper grabbed at his cap but he was no match for monkey’s swiftness.

It's not complicated. Companies that depend on making immediate sales from direct mail packages and ads are very good at doing math. They know how many sales they need to see a good profit from their investment.

As a result, they place enormous value on skills of a good copywriter. In fact, I can't think of any other situation where value of writer is so completely appreciated.

In direct marketing, writer is king or queen. Decades of testing have shown that words can make a huge different to response rates and sales.

And there's more good news. In fact, a number of pieces of good news:

1. Companies frequently outsource their direct marketing copywriting work to freelancers. How come? Because they are looking for best. They'll keep trying people, and paying them well, in their search for someone who can write a package that will perform just a little bit better.