"How to
Write a Million Dollar Sales Letter!"
By Joe Vitale
Bruce Barton, cofounder of the legendary BBDO
ad agency, wrote letters that got staggering results. He wrote
a letter for Berea College that brought in an amazing 100% response!
(You can read the entire letter in The Seven Lost Secrets Of Success.)
When you consider that the average successful letter gets about
a 0.02% response, Barton clearly leaped past anyone else in his
letter writing skills. But what was his secret? After studying
Barton's letters, books, private memos, speeches, and advertising
campaigns, I've discovered Barton's method. I've used his technique to
write my own letters and I've been astonished at the results.
One letter got a 20% response. Another nailed a 10% response.
Still another is approaching a 97% response (ninety-seven per cent!)!
(It, too, is in The Seven Lost Secrets Of Success.)
I will now reveal the technique I've been using: Bruce Barton's
"Secret Formula."
Barton said that good advertising copy (and letters are advertisements)
had to be three things: (1) Brief. (2) Simple. (3). Sincere. In
an eye-opening essay he wrote back in 1925, Barton said the following:
About Brevity:
"About sixty years ago two men spoke at Gettysburg; one man
spoke for two hours. I suppose there is not any one who could
quote a single word of that oration. The other man spoke about
three hundred words, and that address has become a part of the
school training of almost every child." About Simplicity:
"I think it might be said, no advertisement is great that
has anything that can't be understood by a child of intelligence.
Certainly all the great things in life are one-syllable things
-- child, home, wife, fear, faith, love, God." About Sincerity:
"I believe the public has a sixth sense for detecting insincerity,
and we run a tremendous risk if we try to make other people believe
in something we don't believe in. Somehow our sin will find us
out." Let's look at these three steps a little more closely.
Brevity. A short letter isn't necessarily what Barton meant. I've
read many of his letters and memos. Most of them were so brief
they were blunt. But those were not sales letters. When Barton
wanted to persuade you to donate money to a good cause or buy
something he was selling, his letters were longer, sometimes several
pages long. (Again, see that sample letter in The Seven Lost Secrets
Of Success.) Barton knew you had to give people a complete explanation
before they would buy.
Simplicity. Barton's letters were always simple and easy to read.
He strove for clarity of communication. No big words, long sentences,
or convoluted passages. He was clear and direct and conversational.
Sincerity. Barton was always sincere. He once dropped a million
dollar advertising account because he didn't support the client.
That sincerity came through in everything he wrote. Readers could
pick up on it.
Finally, Barton's letters were "... phrased in terms of the
other man's interest." Barton said your letters had to go
straight to the reader's selfish interest. He said the favorite
song of every reader is "I Love Me." As Barton said
in 1924, "The reader is interested first of all in himself...
Tie your appeal up to his own interests."
The next time you have to write a sales letter, consider Barton's
formula. It helped him write letters that are still talked about
today, and it helps me write letters that are making my clients
rich. Now use it and see what the formula will do for YOU!
|
Marketing specialist Joe "Mr. Fire!" Vitale is the
author of nine books, including "Hypnotic
Writing", which answers the question, "What will
*you* do when you learn to hypnotize people with the power of
words alone and get them to obey your commands?" |
