From:
W-A-Y West of Jewfish Creek

Dear Friend & Subscriber,

      Joe Cossman is one of my heroes.

      He has been for a long time. Back in 1968, Joe wrote a book called How I Made $1,000,000 In Mail Order and that book is still very much worth reading today. In fact, I just finished re-reading it for the umpteenth time... and... as always, it stimulated a storm of hot ideas!

      Anyway, one of the stories Joe tells in that book is about a guy who comes out with a new cat food and he pays a lot of attention to his marketing strategy, his package design and so forth. However, the venture still flops because he neglected one critical element of market research. You see, this cat food failed because...

The Cats Hated It!

      I love cats. I've owned dozens over the years (actually, somehow, they seem to end up owning me) and I like to keep them happy. So anyway, some time ago, I discovered my cats like a product called "Moist Meals" better than dry cat food and I start buying it for them. Everybody's happy. Me and the cats. But, not being one to leave good enough alone, there I am bubbling merrily along when, I see a TV commercial for a cat food called "Fancy Feast" and, feeling adventurous, I get some and I give it to my cats.

      Big mistake. Wow! I don't know what they put in this stuff. High-tech cat-nip? Kitty Kat Kocaine? Whatever it is, my cats love this stuff. In fact, they are crazy for it! Believe it or not, it turns them into animals! I'm telling you: As soon as Paulette or I would walk downstairs to the kitchen, the little monsters would start yeowing and jumping up and down and pacing back and forth and they'd never leave us alone until we'd crack open several cans of that stuff and put it in their greedy little faces.

      So, what's the marketing moral of this story? Simply this...

You Can't Multiply Zeros!

      You know, I can teach you every trick and technique I know and it won't make one iota of difference if you are running around...

Making Offers
Everybody Can Refuse!

      And what kind of offers can we make that people will really and truly find interesting, enticing and desirable? Enough so they'll actually send money? To a stranger? Who lives 3,000 miles away?

      Let's begin circling around this crucial core question by tapping into the mind of Eugene M. Schwartz who is another one my heroes. Here's what Gene writes in the very first paragraph of the first chapter of his brilliant book called Break-Through Advertising":

    "Let's get right down to the heart of the matter. The power, the force, the overwhelming urge to own that makes advertising work, comes from the market itself, and not from the copy. Copy cannot create desire for a product. It can only take the hopes, dreams, fears and desires that already exist in the hearts of millions of people, and focus those already existing desires onto a particular product. This is the copywriter's task: Not to create this mass desire - but to channel and direct it."

      Bravo. Well said, Gene.

      Now, I bet you think you're already all tuned in to the almost universal mass desires of the American people, don't you? Well, in a sense, you're probably right... you probably do know what most people want. They want more money and less work; they want to eat more and weigh less; they want instant solutions, instant wisdom; they want eternal youth; recognition of their peers; fitness without sweat; and, in general, what most of us want in every troublesome area of our lives is...

An Effortless
Quick Fix!

      However, it's not enough to know in a general way people want more money. You've got to know what specific money-making offers will be currently appealing. Listen: Our core innermost desires (i.e., to lose weight) never change till the problem is solved... but... the weight-loss offers we will believe and buy do go in and out of fashion.

      For example, amphetamines were once in vogue but we, as a nation, won't buy those anymore. It's hard to sell us a plain old diet plan these days too. That's because, we now want (and many seem to offer) magic. We've lost our belief in protein drinks but we can still (for the time being) be sold subliminal tapes. And, if you talk to us just right, you can convince us to buy something called a "diet patch."

      All this is very tricky. To get it right, you've got to be able to recognize or create a viable timely appeal which will satisfy one of our timeless desires.

      Let's find out how good you are at this. Let's find out right now. Maybe you'll be surprised. And, who knows, maybe you'll surprise me. Whatever. Anyway, yet another of my heroes is a man named Robert Allen who wrote Nothing Down, the #1 non-fiction financial best seller of all time. Bob is not only one of my heroes, he's also a friend and a client. Recently, Bob decided to test 50 related but different appeals. These appeals are capsulized in the titles of 50 different reports he has in the initial planning stages. What he wanted to discover is which of those 50 conceptualized reports had the most appeal to his customers and prospects. Now, as you read over the titles of these proposed reports, you will notice that, having been highly influenced by Sir Gary of Halbert, Bob Allen is now one of those people who has started thinking in headlines.

      Hark unto me. You are about to take a test. And, if you score higher than any of my other subscribers, you are going to win a free 1-year extension to your subscription of this newsletter. What I want you to do is read all 50 titles of Bob Allen's proposed reports and try to pick out the top ten (the ones his customers want most) and the bottom ten (the ones they want least) and mail your picks to me.

      Whether you win the contest or not, this will be a very illuminating exercise for you. All of the titles are numbered so, what I want you to do is: Write the word "Winners" on a piece of paper and then write the numbers of what you believe are the 10 most saleable reports. Next write "Losers" and then the numbers of the 10 reports you believe have the least sales appeal.

      Then, mail your picks to me and read next month's issue to see if you've won. (I've got Bob's results; I already know the answers.)

Go!

      Enough of that. We'll come back to this subject next month. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, let's get back to writing copy. OK? OK. Now, I want you to imagine something. I want you to imagine what the best thing in the world would be, that could happen to you from a sales point-of-view.

      How about this? What if some hotshot reporter who works for the L.A. Times, the New York Times, or some other big circulation magazine, happens to purchase one or more of your products and/or services... and...

He Falls In Love
With What You Are
Selling!

      Whooee! He loves your goods so much he races back to his typewriter and he writes a full-page "rave review" about whatever it is you are selling. Let's say it's a book about how to make money in real estate, OK?

      What would our reporter do as he starts to write his rave review? Well, maybe he'd start with a headline like this:

New Book By San Diego
Man Reveals An Almost
Magical Way To Make Money
In Today's Real Estate Market!

      Hmn? How'd ya like it so far? OK, what would our rave review writer write next? Maybe something like... DATELINE SAN DIEGO.

      And, after that, maybe his first sentence will be something like...

    "If you are interested in making money in real estate, there is a new book you must read."

      And what would our rave reviewer say next? Maybe something like...

    "Here's why."

      And what would he tell them next? He'd tell them... why.

      He'd tell how the book clearly and succinctly explains a new but proven technique that lets you buy income-producing real estate with no money down even if your credit is lousy... how this book reveals how you can always be the very first vulture at the widow's doorstep... how this book reveals an almost completely unknown and unique financing method that lets you get 110% financing on the equity of the property... how a new "radar technique" lets you identify properties in distress in advance of when they go into foreclosure... how this reporter himself tested out the technique on page 93 and made $17,531.19 just last Tuesday... how...

      Hey, you've got the idea, don't you?

      And what would our rave review writer after all this? Simply this: What he would do as a public service is, he would tell you where and how to order this wonderful book.

      There's just one problem. You see...

All This Is Very
Unlikely To Happen!

      Sadly, there probably isn't a reporter who is going to crawl out of the woodwork and write a "rave review" of your product or service. So what should you do? Simply this.

      You be that reporter; you write that rave review. You publish (buy) that full-page in the L.A. Times or whatever.

      And you make damn sure your "rave review" looks like just that and not an ad. You use relevant photos just like in a hot news story. And you use an editorial type format...

Just Like The Rest
Of The News Stories
In That Publication!

      In the meantime, you get busy and mail your test into me.

You Will Be Graded!

            Peace,

	Sincerely,
	Gary C. Halbert

UPDATE: My father just finished explaining that even though the core desires of prospects never change, what solutions they are willing to buy does change over time.

Keep that in mind if you are taking the headline challenge. These were written back in the 80s so factor this into your choices. I know I will because...

It's been a long time since I took this test and I'm about to take it again because it really hammers home the need for more testing and less assuming.

The only other thing I want to add to this letter is about editorial style ads.

There is an even better way to enhance this idea and put loads of instant credibility in your promotions.

Here is how it works.

Write a press release just as if you are a journalist who discovered and wants to brag about your great business.

Format and write your press release just like it came out of a newspaper only... prioritize what you say in the release like you would an ad or sales letter.

Mention your most enticing benefits first.

Add a sense of urgency and all the rest of it.

But, make sure you write it like a reporter would. Now go run the release on PR Newsire or any news service. This will set you back like $60.

If a news outlet picks up the story great but...

What you really want to do is grab a screen shot of that press release after it has been published and use it in all your marketing.

In fact, Kevin and I recently created a video explaining the secrets behind the wild success of our father's record-breaking diet promotion in which he used this technique and boy did it work.

Back in those days it was only profitable to mail diet offers to lists of previous diet buyers but that ad was so powerful for so many reasons, they made a profit on any list with a large number of overweight people.

If you haven't seen our breakdown of that ad you should think about getting it because... we also use the ad as an example to explain tons of powerful techniques like this which will work in your industry or you get your money back..

You can find out more about what's indside this epic ad breakdown here:

http://halbertising.com/gary-halbert-ad-breakdown-berry-trim-10/

All the best, Bond PS Keep this email or bookmark the webpage so you can compare results in the next issue.

Copyright © 2003 Gary C. Halbert.  All Rights Reserved.