GARY HALBERT: HISTORY'S HIGHEST PAID COPYWRITER

Morning!

Last week, I mentioned I’d nearly finished ‘The Boron Letters’.

Well, now I have.

And it’s safe to say it’s one of the best marketing books I have ever read.

It’s engaging, it’s actionable, and it has some of the best marketing advice I’ve ever been given.

I highly recommend reading it, but luckily you may not have to.

Because here are the top 8 marketing lessons I learned from Gary Halbert:

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BREAKING DOWN THE STRATEGY

In 1984, Gary Halbert was staring at the roof of his California jail cell as his two sons grew up without him.

For the last few decades, Gary Halbert had racked up well over $1 billion in sales through his infamous direct mail campaigns.

(He’s said to be the highest paid copywriter ever.)

But for some debatable reason, Gary had a bad habit of collecting money while never delivering products. As most people paid him using checks and money orders, refunds through a credit card weren’t possible, so he just didn’t bother.

Kind of crazy, but in the end it caught up with him and got him sent to prison.

Whilst there he wrote 25 letters to his youngest son in an attempt to pass his skills on.

Those 25 letters contained all of his best marketing & copywriting advice.

As well as in-depth breakdowns of the campaigns that brought in millions of dollars.

I read all 25 of those letters over the last few weeks.

Here are the top 8 lessons you need to know:

Lesson 1: Cheap Attention Never Pays

Modern-day marketing advice: Get people’s attention by any means necessary.

Yet Gary completely disagrees.

He says that nothing hurts a brand like an “Attention grabber” that isn’t relevant to the ad.

For example:

If your write an ad headline “A Submarine That Flies?”

Then follow it up with “No, we don’t have a submarine that flies but our new pink pillow covers, etc, etc…”

You may get someones attention.

But you’ve tricked them to get it and people hate being tricked.

They won’t buy from you, instead they’ll come to resent your brand.

Exactly what you don’t want to happen.

Lesson 2: The Best Marketers Steal

If you read the usual marketing garbage on social media, you’d think stealing concepts or ideas was one of the 10 deadly sins.

Every 2 seconds they’re trying to cancel a brand nowadays.

Yet Halbert is a huge advocate of studying and stealing great work.

In one of his early letters to his son he advises him to be constantly on the lookout for ads & direct mail pieces that are being run consistently.

(If they’re running consistently, it usually means they’re successful.)

Then he specifically advises him to “Take those pieces that hit a nerve, and do it better”.

I love this tip.

Because if isn’t broke, why fix it?

If short snappy hooks work on LinkedIn, why would you try long wordy hooks?

You shouldn’t - just use what works.

Lesson 3: Don’t Focus On Better Marketing, Focus On Better Deals

In the book Halbert talks about how many people would claim that he could “Sell ice to the Eskimos”.

But his approach was the exact opposite.

Halbert is a strong believer that the best marketers aren’t the ones able to sell the Eskimos ice - they’re the ones selling them heaters.

They don’t focus on writing the best copy ever, they focus on creating the best deals ever.

Yes, the copy plays a part in positioning that deal. But it’s the deal that’s at the core of why the marketing works.

So don’t focus on making your marketing campaign copy better.

Spend time making the offer behind the campaign better.

Lesson 4: Every Promotion Needs A Reason

A sale for the sake of it raises questions.

Is this a real sale?
Are they just trying to scam me?
Why would they offer a discount?

All questions a random sale will create in your customers head.

Which is why Halbert puts such an emphasis of always giving a reason for a promotion.

Maybe it’s because you’re low on stock or that you’ve had a space on the roster open up.

Here’s some other reasons Gary uses as examples:

Whatever the promotion is, give a reason for it.

Lesson 5: Curiosity Is Always A Great Hook

One of Halberts most famous campaigns ever was his dollar bill campaign.

He would clip 1 real dollar bill to every single letter.

His son later adapted this using an Iranian Rial.

These worked for a plethora of reasons, but mainly because it sparked curiosity.

Why has someone sent me a dollar bill?

That was the burning question that made this campaign worth millions.

But the same goes for your LinkedIn hooks, email subject lines, and ad headlines.

How can you spark curiosity with it?

A question every marketer should be asking themselves.

Lesson 6: Don’t Trust Feedback

Every brand loves feedback nowadays.

Yet Halbert believes that most feedback is absolute nonsense.

In one of his letters he advises his son to “Never trust what people say, trust what they buy.”

People love to talk a good game and talk about how much they love something.

But if they really loved it… they’d keep buying it.

An example of this:

People may claim they love their car and the brand that makes it… then they’ll buy a new car brand next time.

The feedback on paper was great, but peoples real thoughts are shown by their money.

Lesson 7: Tell Stories

When we started Ratcliffe Brothers I thought we were pretty early to using stories in your marketing.

Turns out Gary Halbert has being doing it for decades before I was even born.

He says, “If you want to get your reader interested, tell their story by telling your story with the problem your solution solves.”

He gives the example:

This is eerily similar to what works for our clients today.

It’s no wonder that Gary made a killing writing like this in the 70s!

Lesson 8: When You Can, ALWAYS Personalise & Customise

Customising & personalising are too very different things.

Very few brands get both right.

Yet ALL the big brands spend a lot of time & money on it.

First: Personalising

Halbert believes that every piece of direct marketing should be personalised to the recipient.

A really simple way to do this - always collect first names, always personalises emails & direct mail with their first name.

Second: Customising

Halbert also says that just personalising isn’t enough, each piece of direct marketing should be customised to the receiver.

Some simple ways you can customise your direct marketing:

• By industry

• By situation

• By age

• By country

Here’s an example Halbert uses in the book:

Everything about it is customised.

Whatever data you can collect, use it show the reader that they’re reading something specifically for them.

 🌱 THE GREENHOUSE

Things I’ve saved this week that are worth seeing:

• The Boron Letters book. (See here)

• In case you missed it: Last week’s breakdown. (See here)

• Apple's original marketing philosophy by Mike Markkula. (See here)

TL;DR

1/ Cheap attention never pays - hook with relevance.
2/ The best marketers steal - so do it.
3/ Focus on better deals - good deals > good copy.
4/ Every promotion needs a reason - so give it one.
5/ Curiosity is always a great hook - make them ask questions.
6/ Don’t trust feedback - trust what they spend money on.
7/ Tell stories - they sell better than you think.
8/ Personalise & customise - make it for them.

Out of of the 132 breakdowns I’ve written, I think this one may be my favourite.

I love Gary Halbert, I love this book, and I absolutely love the lessons I’ve broken down here.

No wonder he was the highest paid copywriter ever.

The guy knows his stuff and hopefully you now know your stuff too.

Until next Sunday.

— Niall

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THAT’S ALL!

This has been a breakdown of Gary Halbert’s marketing lessons. I hope you have learned something and can implement a similar strategy in your business!

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