I’m going to prove you right in a big way.
My name is Kevin Halbert and my brother Bond and I are going to prove to you that when our father passed away he took with him a massive amount of marketing secrets and know how with him.
It’s been a few years now and after much reflection Bond and I have come to the conclusion that there isn’t much point in keeping secret all the pearls of wisdom he shared with us that were never disclosed to the world.
While our father shared a massive amount of his knowledge… for a very good reason… much of the rest went undisclosed.
The reason a vast amount of his copywriting prowess remained in the dark was because there was WAY too much going on in his copy to explain it in any reasonable amount of time.
You see, when people are paying you anywhere from $10- 15,000 for a one to three day intensive seminar, there is a lot of ground to cover in a very short period of time.
I’m gonna tell you a little secret… at MOST of his seminars he didn’t teach copywriting… the larger part of his expertise was spent teaching people MARKETING… of course copywriting is a sub category of marketing, but most of the time Gary covered this over arching subject instead of focusing on drilling down to the intricacies of copywriting.
He covered such subjects as… dollar bill letters… ad placement… media buys… list selection… profiling your prospects… starving crowds… getting into the “A” pile… multi-step mailings… the arithmetic of marketing… tear sheet mailings… sales funnels… back end marketing and etc.
Don’t get me wrong… he definitely taught people copywriting and dare I say he taught more of it, and gave of his knowledge more freely than any marketer who has ever lived.
But I think it would blow many people away to know just how much was left unsaid. And the reason is simple. Like I said when he gave his high end seminars people were paying him a lot of money and it was his obligation to give them what they came for. And at his very last seminar he let the attendees ask him anything they wanted to know. And he gave them almost everything they wanted.
The problem is that all these people came to ask the world’s greatest copywriter mostly about MARKETING. Some definitely asked about copywriting but that wasn’t the main theme of what the audience came to learn about. Nor was it the theme of most of his seminars or even when he spoke at other people’s events. That’s because it’s a highly advanced topic and even after all these years, the majority of people’s questions are foundational.
And I can tell you the first of two reasons why people focus on the wrong things when paying a kings ransom for Gary’s sage advice. The first is that a lot of his copywriting wisdom is shared for free online… and because he shared so much, and greatly widened peoples understanding of what they THOUGHT they already knew about copywriting… many people didn’t know just how much more there was to know.
Granted, many people always suspected deep down that there was more in Gary’s tool box than just what was shared in his newsletters and seminars.
And he never really held anything back when people asked him questions… except one thing… there were times when someone would ask a question… that in essence asked him to basically write their ad. And our father would always politely shy away from the question… saying something like… “We all have a very short time together and what you are asking me is basically to write you an ad… that takes a lot more time than we have today… and It wouldn’t be fair to everyone else. If you like, you can hire me. My rate is $30,000 and 5% of gross.”
One thing he did as a compromise is, he would rattle off the top of his head, headlines for ads and intros for letters. Considering a headline makes up 90% of the power of your copy it was a VERY good compromise
But everyone came to his events with an idea of what they wanted to get out of seminar that was particular to their situation and it was almost always about a marketing strategy and not the finer details of writing seductive copy. They came mostly for step-by-step… matter of fact action plans. And NOT a clearer understanding of human nature on the deepest level.
Anyhow… moving on, there is the second reason why so much of Gary Halbert’s sage wisdom went unrevealed. Let me preface this by saying… if you type into Google “Gary Halbert…”… Google’s “auto complete” will say “Gary Halbert Swipe File.”
Now… one of the reasons people type that is good… and the other is bad.
The good reason is because Gary Halbert told his readers to take his ads and write them out in their own hand writing. And this is great advice, because it slows you down and makes you think about the copy a lot longer than the time it takes to just read it. Plus it makes to copy enter your eyeballs… pass through your brain… and come out your hand.
Now there is another FOOL REASON people Google “Gary Halbert Swipe File” and that is because either they…
were a straight “A” student…
or…
read a lot on marketing…
or…
are a member of Mensa and…
Think They Can Write A Gary Halbert Ad
Just Because They’ve Read One
Listen Buckwheat… if you’ve even been slightly paying attention to Gary Halbert’s wisdom you know from newsletters like the “Water Ad” and the “Coat-of-Arms” letter… there is a lot going on in his copy that isn’t apparent to the naked eye or naked mind. And everyone keeps writing us guessing at what the active hidden persuaders are in his copy.
Now I will admit… it’s better to have a Gary Halbert ad without getting all the details of what’s going on in them… than to not have his copy at all.
But now all that has changed… because a little while back… Bond and I came to the conclusion that we didn’t see much reason to continue keeping people in the dark about what our father taught us.
EXCEPT FOR ONE REASON…
And that is because… well let me swerve off the road to help me make make my point.
Let me start by saying this.
Gary Halbert had a crazy obsession with marketing and copywriting. He didn’t have to go to work everyday… where he had to force himself to think about marketing….
no…
HE LOVED THINKING ABOUT MARKETING!
Click Play to hear a candid conversation of me and Jay Abraham talking about my father
As kids and adults, Bond , myself… and John Carlton. And anyone else who lived in Gary Halbert’s world were forced to drive him around…
IN HIS OWN CAR!
And this was so that he could focus on his passion. Often it was a quiet drive. You could look over at him and see the wheels spinning around in his head. And a massive amount of the conversation in the car… anytime day or night… whether you were driving to the movies or the book store, was reserved for talking about marketing, copywriting, hooks and the big idea.
The point I’m trying to make is this… one of the reasons Gary Halbert was so great at what he did was because… he loved something… that many pedestrians would consider to be a very dry subject.
Perhaps you understand this… perhaps you have a passion for copywriting and when you try to share your passion with your friends and family… they give you that look that makes you feel like you are talking to a dog.
The bigger point I’m making is this…
If you want to write like Gary Halbert you are going to have to get deep down into the details and reasons why he wrote what he wrote if you are ever going to stand a chance of translating he genius into your copy.
And that means absorbing a lot of information. We live in a world where many people are looking for a magic pill, and aren’t ready to sit down for an intense crash course on how to write like one of the greats. In spite of the fact that it’s a massive short cut compared to the hours and hours Gary put into his masterpieces.
It’s because of the “magic pill” dreamers that we were hesitant to create the ad breakdown videos. Because this isn’t entertainment… this is the real deal.
Let me tell you a little story to Illustrate something.
One day Bond and I were watching a marketer teaching an audience something and Bond asked me… rhetorically… “Why is he telling people that.”
And I said “Because that’s what they want to hear…” I continued to say .
“If you are selfish…
you give people what they want…
If you are selfless…
you give them what they need.”
When writing to your audience… In the bigger picture… you have to ask yourself… what it is you are selling… are you selling the result… or just the dream of one.
If you are in a true Biz Op… nine times out of ten you are selling the latter.
And your parents were trying to give you the former by selling you the latter. “If you don’t eat your meat… you can’t have any pudding.”
Now… How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?
The point is this…
While Bond and I have made it as easy as pie to understand what we are revealing in our father’s copy… many people don’t want to take as much time as it takes to fully understand just one of Gary’s ads.
The last video ad breakdown of our father’s copy we did, took a little over two hours to complete!
And get this…
It was just a one page ad!
I’m not talking about a full page ad in a newspaper. I’m talking about one page, as in a single sided and typed… ONE PAGE LETTER!
Now get this…
The ad breakdown we did before that was a in fact a full page newspaper ad. And that one took over five hours!
But that’s nothing…
our latest ad breakdown… another full page ad… took over eight hours… (to be honest it’s more like nine).
Now, this fact is probably stirring either one of two reactions in you…
The first is… ’Oh shit… this thing is over 8 hours long.’
Or… you’re thinking…
’Awesome! This thing is over 8 hours long!’
Why is it over eight hours long?
The short answer is…
Because it takes as long as it takes.
The long answer is…
because… while Gary Halbert ad’s are very unique from the rest of the world’s copy. And his are even unique from each other. There is a lot of stuff going on in this ad that is VERY DIFFERENT.
In this ad we have…
A celebrity…
A scientist…
Three doctors…
A manufacturer…
And testimonials…
Each Written In A VERY Different Voice!
All working together to sell the reader from different angles. And then there are the brilliant introductions… as each character passes the baton to the next as Gary brings them to the stage.
Not only that…
On this is occasion he wrote and integrated into the copy a PRESS RELEASE!
And there is very clever formatting going on in all of these cases… for the characters, the scientific data, the testimonials, and the press release… all used to create a tremendous amount of trust and credibility.
There is a whole lot going on in this ad that has never been covered before… anywhere.
So, if you come along with us… in this breakdown you’ll unearth a ton of nuances to help you take your copywriting from lackluster to brilliant.
As we delve deeper into the copy… you’ll discover just how and when to use …
* Power words — tap deep into your prospect’s emotional vocabulary to get them to buy
* Conversational tone — Or should you use another tone? This powerhouse letter shows how to use both for maximum impact…
* Transition words – to keep your readers glued to the page and moving briskly through you copy…
* Connotations — what’s better? An “ingredient” or a “nutrient”?
* Qualifiers — do words like “almost”, “nearly” and similar words belong in copy? Yes, and you’ll find out how and why!
* Repetition — how to say the EXACT same power word, three times in a row, with your reader barely noticing it
* Testimonials — and even 3 better ways of introducing them, without using that exact word…
Discover —
* The previously unknown details about how this promotion came about – From the premeditated and VERY strategic thinking behind the naming of the product and the company… to adding a celebrity… and more — the order will surprise you
* How to gain credibility with a unique, multi-voice letter (written seamlessly from different angles — each VITAL to the letter’s success)
* When NOT to use a conversational tone, to add believability and credibility to your copy
Something missing in your copy? You’ll see how to…
* Borrow “authority”
* Pass the reader’s “sniff test”
* Tap into the fads and concerns of the times to grab even more attention… we show how our father … answered questions he put in the reader’s mind before they ever asked.
* Write to capture the reader’s attention without seeming like an ad — boosting the credibility and engagement
* Use a powerful punctuation tactic to nearly forcing the reader to continue reading.
Even though this letter would have to be changed to keep the FTC happy, discover…
* How and why to use “puffery”
* What the FTC says about “re-writing” testimonials
* And much, much more… Every salesperson, marketer and copywriter knows AIDA — “attention, interest, desire, action.” We go way beyond the basics
* See how the copy effortlessly flows from one character to another
* The top questions your readers are asking themselves… that you need to know the answers to… when they are reading your promotion
* How artful name dropping significantly adds to credibility.
Bored by punctuation and Grammar, you won’t be after you discover these secrets…
* How to write complete sentences, but incomplete thoughts…
* Using commas for conversational tone
Understanding your readers…
* What they REALLY want (the answer may surprise you)
* Who men and women prefer to look at (important when using pictures)
* Underground tactics for fleshing out buyer objections before ever writing a word of copy… a subliminal tour de force…
* If you think you should always use “you”, see how Gary breaks this rule, and why
* How to NOT sound like an ad…until it’s too late
* When to introduce the name of the product, and what you must do once you have…
* Make lemons out of lemonade — how Gary used even a weak testimonial to greatly ad to the selling power of his copy
* Three ways to get the testimonials you want and need — legally and ethically
* The truth about “re-writing” testimonials — how to play by the rules yet still have crackerjack testimonials
* Getting your prospects to read on…
* How you can practically take over your reader’s thoughts and actions…much easier with this one secret
* The secret of Hidden “calls to action”
* The art of promising, yet gently delaying them… so you can make a strong case…
* How the art of “not saying” something can be more powerful than being explicit
* Adding “small descriptions” to add vital elements to your copy
* See how to pepper in ideas to drive desire (seldom, if ever, talked about in copywriting) Specialized language tactics …
* When to use technical jargon, and why, even if your audience has no clue what it means (and what to do next)
* How to build a connection to the reader without using the word “you”
* “Dimensionalizing” — how to stimulate your reader’s imagination for fun and profit… Tactics to enhance believability…
* A specific formattting tactic that adds credibility
* How to give your reader reasons to believe (they want to, this technique pushes them over the edge)
Why you MUST use logic to “seal the deal” See how Gary fulfills the desires for instant gratification…
* With the product’s promised benefits
*With ordering, and…
* Even with added assurances for refunds
* Add a powerhouse of transitional words…
* Discover the “ultimate” benefit, and when, where and how often to bring this into play
* When to use “you” so powerfully the reader immediately associates the product benefits to themselves.. Testimonials on tap…
*How to get the testimonials you want, at least 3 ways!
* Choosing and ordering your authorities for maximal impact
* Formatting tricks to grab attention
* At least half a dozen ways to make testimonials more powerful
* These reasons explain why it’s a must to “diversify” your testimonials
* How to turn even a “bad” testimonial into your favor…
* Why (and how) to “reverse edit” a testimonial …and you can use many of these tactics to empower today’s latest trend: sales videos… Amazing “motivational” secrets…
* What buyers of weight loss products REALLY want to hear
* How to make your solution seem like it works for EVERYONE.
* Guarantees that sound good, but will actually discourage buyers from using…* How to write a guarantee so people will read it
* Use this meaningless term to increase your reader’s security
* How to give a guarantee 4 ways in one sentence.
* How to emphasize the “benefits” (and knocking down the barriers) even when describing the phone number…
* How to get picking up the phone seem safe and innocuous… (and why you want them to.)
* How Gary spelled out, and made it oh, so easy for the reader to act… Making Testing and tracking trivial…to ramp up your best campaigns, you need to know which ones are working. Here’s how to do this “no sweat” with direct mail and print ads…
* How Gary used this ESSENTIAL ingredient in tracking sales.
* Cheap and quick tracking tactics used for newspaper ads
* What to call that tracking number so your prospects will be sure to use it…
* The 33% difference — how to state your price
* Including shipping and handling — should you do the math for your reader? Here’s the answer…
* When to suggest (and you definitely should) the idea of continuity…
Pictures and locations…
* The secret of the right location — advantages and benefits that stimulate imagination and engage your reader
* 3 ways a picture involves the reader most powerfully
* Picture size and placement — why they are so vitally important — this takes the guesswork out! Honing in on the prospect…
* How to leave nothing to chance when the reader acts…
* Do this to painting a picture of the buying experience to slide the reader into action
* Give the reader the illusion of choice – use this, and you win either way.
* How to subliminally associate one simple action with the deepest benefits your prospect desires — that gets them to happily buy
* Sign off secrets to make sure your reader buys…
* A rose is a rose is a rose — how to write your name to not sound like an assassin
* How to transition copy…
* The “must have” post scripts (P.S.’s) — how to appeal to multiple types of readers…
* The very unique P.S. that ramps up the writer’s credibility
* Inside secrets to how Gary Halbert thought and wrote
* How this contrasts with other copy Gary wrote
* Even discover secret Halbert ring tones and whether Kevin prefers Pepsi or Coke… Special hidden bonus … Kevin’s cool tactic for getting video (!) into an email!
As you can tell… there is so much going on in this ad that makes it a treasure trove of goodies that can take a copywriter to the next level.
But… for the general public… this video breakdown… as our father always used to say… it will be…
“Pearls before swine”
I’m not talking about you.
Now… you may be asking yourself ‘how does Kevin know who I am?’
The answer is simple… because you wouldn’t still be reading.
Facebook or the phone would have called you away a long time ago.
When I say pearls before swine… I’m talking about people who have very little creative imagination.
For example… In this case we are breaking down the Berry Trim ad. An ad that brought in an avalanche of cash.
But alas…for some… they will never be able to get past the fact that…
This is a “Diet Ad”!
Making them think… “I sell and service widgets… how the hell does a breakdown of a diet ad help me sell more widgets.”
Listen… do you think your copywriting… no matter what you are selling… might become a lot more powerful if you learn from Gary Halbert…
How to take over your reader’s thoughts and actions like a televangelist.
Watch as he creates more desire for instant gratification than a teenager with a Playboy and is more seductive than a pickup artist wearing a feather boa, manacle, lit sparklers and a cape.
Testimonials
Three ways to get better testimonials without waterboarding your customers (totally legal and ethical).
How to whip weak testimonials into shape and make them your bitch and multiply their power by making them all work together.
Why using bad grammar ain’t only a rapper’s best friend (momma will be so proud).
What the prospect is really buying… the articles… or the pictures. The drill… or the hole.
The simple technique to keep your reader’s glued to the page like a laser pointer used on a cat.
You get to watch as Dr. Halbert (in vitro fertilization expert) impregnates a question into the reader’s mind… just so he can answer it.
And how he gets the reader to go to the phone faster than Mel Gibson running through Harlem.
And we’ll show you how Gary…
while prospects are becoming more and more wary and guarded about offers, run for cover…
from a house of straw…
to a house of sticks…
to a house of bricks…
You’ll see Gary… like Godzilla… rip the roof off… snatch them up by the feet and shake them upside down until all the money falls out of their pockets into his clients bank account.
Not to mention…we are going to detail for you a wildly different P.S.
And so much more.
Again… the bottom line is… this is an in depth training… and… it’s gonna takes as long as it takes…
You get it all. No drive by outlines here. Bond and I are giving you a complete and through breakdown.
Sure we could shorten it. But wouldn’t that just be dumbing it down?
We don’t’ see much reason in giving you the diet version.
I guess we could do that… and then upsell people to the “premium” or “platinum” version… but that just isn’t our style.
Listen, I promise you, along with some big eye openers… there is going to be basics in here that overlap with what you’ve already heard somewhere before. This is because Bond and I have no idea where you are in your copywriting prowess. And we’ve made a promise to hold nothing back and give you everything. And while this ad breakdown won’t teach you the entire sphere of copywriting… it will teach you every last unique tactic and strategy Gary Halbert brought to bare upon the reader of this particular ad.
Like I said…
You Can’t Write A Gary Halbert Ad… Just Because You’ve Read One!
No one can…
That includes Bond and Myself.
But you just know there is some English Literature student out there… on a full ride scholarship no less… who thinks he can.
Whenever I hear about some fool going on about how he’s an expert on all things Gary Halbert all I can think about is that scene in “A fish called Wanda” where Kevin Klein’s character says “Apes don’t read philosophy.” to which Jamie Curtis’ character says “Yes they do Otto. They just don’t understand it.”
It,s pretty arrogant for anyone to act as if they understand every last nuance of Gary’s genius, but Bond and I know a hell of a lot of it.
Moving on…
Ok… I made a pretty bold statement in the beginning when I said Gary Halbert took a lot of his secrets to the grave before sharing them with the public and that Bond and I know a lot of them.
And…
we are willing to prove it to you in a big way.
The truth is… we already have… several times.
But we are willing to prove it once more.
The last time we did it we revealed…
ALL OF HIS SECRETS TO THE COAT-OF-ARMS LETTER
And no one can deny that we revealed all of the secrets contained in that ad that are hidden in plain sight. And no one can deny the obviousness of what is there once we’ve pointed it out. And it’s not a matter of opinion, that we think we know what he is doing. Once we point it out to you… you know it’s a fact. And the facts of whats going on in that letter have never ever been pointed out by anyone else… EVER!
Why? Because people don’t look anywhere beyond the common strategies of marketing taught by everybody and their brother. All people are able to point out is AIDA principles, calls to action and things like scarcity, bla… bla bla. Yes we point those out too… but we go WAY beyond that…we give you EVERYTHING! And that’s why people keep coming back for more… and trust me… it’s not because we are just talking about the same old stuff.
Bond and I love to see the look on people’s faces when we reveal in person the hidden seduction at work in our father’s copy… that’s just sitting there… in naked light of day. We get to see that “ah ha” moment enter their eyes… when it dawns on them there is a lot they didn’t see… after they thought they knew everything… when we’ve instantly transported them from just a player down on the field to up inside the Sky Box..
It’s a turning point when they no longer look at us as just Gary Halbert’s kids and realize as John Carlton puts it “they have the Gary Halbert Mojo.” It makes us proud of our father and the profound effect he’s made on this, and the next generation’s marketers.
And we get to continue the sharing of his true wisdom.
Listen… to the experience marketer… the undeniable fact is that today’s backdoor marketing fad will quickly be replaced by the next one…
but…
All Of Them
Will Eternally Pale
In The Light Of The Almighty “Word”
Here’s your chance to learn how to string together words in the most powerful, profitable and compelling way possible.
And as always we initially introduce our ad breakdowns for half their regular price.
If you want… you don’t have to pick it up right now… it’s still worth it at full price.
Anyhow… if you want… you can pick it up before the 10th for only $97.00
I’m not even going to go on about the iron-clad…90-day…no questions asked… 100% money back guarantee… because… personally I hope people wait until after the 10th to get this product… after the doors to this ridiculously priced introductory offer slams shut… tighter than a Nun’s knees on Christmas Eve.
Here is our microscopic link to this offer (don’t buy it now… buy it after the 10th when the price doubles).
Gary broke all the rules with this one…
From…
writing in multiple different voices…
And…
integrating a press release…
To…
using a VERY unconventional PS.
And his instincts were right on the money… because the marketer he wrote this monster hit for, made millions and millions of dollars… enough to buy a senior league baseball team.
Who knows…
Perhaps…
Just perhaps… there’s a nugget or two inside those eight hours that might bump up your response by just a smidgen.
Peace,
Kevin Halbert
P.S. I have one confession… When we created the first
video it was over five hours detailing the secret psychology
behind that ad. And when we did the Coat-of-Arms ad breakdown…
we took over two hours to dissect an ad that was only 381 words.
But we didn’t change the price on either. The philosophy being
“We don’t sell our products by the pound.” Well this time we took
8 hours to do Berry Trim… and other than about 10 minutes of
getting side tracked, the whole thing is pure content.
Some may be scared away thinking to themselves wow 8 hours…
that’s way too much. Well, it doesn’t take much talent to give you less… but we
believe most people don’t want a lot of Gary Halbert’s secrets
and strategies….
THEY WANT ALL OF THEM!
Listen, you can read Gary Halbert swipes all day long…
Wouldn’t you agree its foolish for people to think they can write a Gary Halbert ad just because they’ve read one.
The question is… do you just want to go to the magic show to watch a master at work… and “think” you have a pretty good idea of how he does it… or do you want his kids… who lived and breathed the same air as their father everyday of their lives… simply lay it all out for you in chapter and verse.
PPS. Of course there is a lot hidden within Gary’s writing. His advertorials were especially never meant for the reader to think they were reading sales copy. They were always intended to read as if he was sharing information with the reader that would greatly benefit their life and he was just doing it as a public service. This meant… for the powerful salesmanship within them to work… the salesmanship had to be completely imperceptible until the very last moment.