Internet Marketing &
Business Promotion
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"
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