Bruce Bartons Secret Formula For Writing Record Breaking Letters!

By Joe Vitale Bruce Barton, legendary advertising giant, wrote letters that got staggering results. He wrote fund raising letters for Deerfield Academy that broke all records and helped raise enough money to secure that Academys future. He wrote a letter for Berea College that brought in an amazing 100% response! (You can read the entire letter in the new book, The Seven Lost Secrets of Success.) When you consider that the average successful letter gets about a 0.02% response, Barton clearly leaped way past anyone else in his letter writing skills. But what was his secret? How in the world did he ever get such high responses from his letters when so many of us barely nudge up to that 0.02% response rate? After studying Bartons letters, books, private memos, speeches and advertising campaigns, Ive discovered Bartons secret formula. Ive used this method to write my own letters and Ive 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 percent!)! I havent told any of my clients this secret method. Now, for the first time, I will reveal here the technique Ive been using: Bruce Bartons Secret Formula. Bartons Magic Formula Bruce 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 about two hours. I suppose there is not anyone 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 cant be understood by a child of intelligence. Certainly all the great things in life are one-syllable things child, home, 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 dont believe in. Somehow, our sin will find us out. He Used All Seven Secrets

Bartons letters followed every one of the seven secrets revealed in the book The Seven Lost Secrets Of Success. But his letter writing skills revolved around the three steps mentioned above. Lets look at those three steps a little more closely. Brevity. A short letter isnt necessarily what Barton meant. Ive 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. His letters were long enough to state his case and not a word longer. Simplicity. Bartons letters were always simple and easy to read. As with everything he wrote, he strove for clarify 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 didnt support the client. That sincerity came through in everything he wrote. You could feel it in his letters. Finally, Bartons letters were phrased in terms of the other mans interest. Barton said your letters had to go straight to the readers selfish interest to be successful. 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 letter, consider Bartons 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!

How To Write A Million Dollar Letter!

************************************************************************ HOW TO WRITE A MILLION DOLLAR LETTER: Joe Vitales 8 Power Secrets For Writing Sales Letters That Hypnotize People and Force Them To Buy - - NOW!

A Special Report by Joe Vitale Can you really influence people with only five hundred or so words? Some of the worlds greatest speeches, sales letters and advertisements had less than a couple hundred words in them. Theres a rumor going around (some say its a law) that a sales letter has to have a lot of words to be effective. Not true. Think about it. Do YOU like to read a letter that is ten pages long? Not hardly. Its much more powerful to be short, clear, direct and persuasive. Say what you have to say, in the most mesmerizing way you can, and stop. Your rule of thumb is: use all the words you need to sell your product or service. No more. No less. Creating a long letter just because youve heard long letters pull better than short ones is a ticket for failure. Theres more to it than that, of course. If you want to make people act, if you want to force people to respond to your offer NOW, if you want them to drop everything they are doing and write you a check, then you MUST follow the following principles. Theres no way around it, either. Trying to fudge on any of these secrets will cripple your sales campaign. I know. I found out the hard way. Heed these guidelines or walk straight to the soup line and start begging. These power secrets are the ONLY way to write letters that make people do what you want! And I can prove it! Ive written letters using these principles for major companies and Ive gotten staggering results. But when I tried to skip any of the rules, the results were embarrassing. Ive learned from my mistakes and from my successes. Now its your turn. As a sort of disclaimer (and as a sales plug) I want to encourage you to read my booklet, TURBOCHARGE YOUR WRITING. That work contains a 7-step formula proven effective for all types of writing. That book and this special report will give you the tools you need to knock out million dollar letters fast and easy! Ready? Turn the page and you will discover my eight power secrets for creating irresistible letters

Secret #1: MAKE YOUR LETTER PERSONAL Think back to the last time you went to your mailbox. You pulled out a handful of mail. You thumbed through it all. What did you open immediately? Without a doubt, you opened your PERSONAL mail. If the envelope had your name handwritten or typed on it, you knew it was for you and not a sales letter for anyone at your address. Any time an envelope has teaser copy on it (Special Offer For You Alone!) or a mailing label on it (a dead giveaway) or a bulk rate stamp on it (another giveaway), you knew the letter was probably junk mail. And you probably tossed it in the trash. Most people do. To influence people you have to make your letter look personal. How do you do that? Its easier than you think. Lets start with the envelope: First, dont put any teaser copy on the envelope. Let the envelope look like something that has a real letter from a real person in it. Second, put a hand-affixed first-class stamp on the envelope. Bulk rate and even meters make the envelope look impersonal, cheap and cold. (I once received a colorful, impressive and official looking envelope with the words Overnight Express Mail on it. The bulk rate stamp told me the envelope was a lie. It was really a sales piece.) Third, address the envelope in hand, or with a typewriter. I know labels are simpler and faster. But dont think of yourself, think of your client. If you want to make your client buy, then spend another penny per envelope and hire someone to address the envelope. The personal touch has much more impact. Fourth, address the envelope to someone in particular. Dont send your letter to occupant or personnel manager or The Boss. Send it to Joe Vitale or Jeffrey Lant. Send it to a real person and use his or her real name. (How personal and powerful is Dear Buyer anyway?)

As for the letter itself, it, too, MUST be personal or at least personal looking. Heres how to do it: First, type the letter. Dont use a laser printer. Dont have the letter typeset. Dont use colors. Personal letters are TYPED. So type your letter. It doesnt matter that youll copy the letter later. Type the original. And dont forget to sign it! Second, use your letterhead. Personal letters are done on your stationery. Use it. If you dont have a photograph of yourself on your letterhead, get one. People want to know who they are dealing with. Third, as with your envelope, address the letter to an individual. You can do this with your mail merge program and your computer. If thats not possible for you, a weak second choice is to address the letter to the particular group of people you are after. If you are writing to computer programmers, you can begin the letter with Dear Computer Programmer. Its obviously not as effective as Dear Joe Vitale but it will work.

Secret #2: USE EMOTIONAL APPEAL People are busy. Whether they are busy with work or busy daydreaming, they are always preoccupied. Your letter is an intrusion into their world. They arent expecting your letter and arent really excited about reading it (not yet, anyway). How do you make these zombies wait up and read and act on your words? You have to create emotional appeal. You have to tell the reader what you have that will make his or her life better. The only way to do this is to appeal to your readers emotions and you have to do it right away. The best way to accomplish this is to use a kick-butt headline and opening sentence. Something sort and catchy that speaks directly to your clients interests. Let me show you how to do this: First, every person who gets your letter will ask themselves, consciously or unconsciously, a few basic questions. They are: Who cares? So what? Whats in it for me? You have to be able to answer those questions. What IS in it for your reader> Too many writers think of themselves, not their customers. I say get out of your ego and into the readers ego! What does your customer want? Second, turn their desire into a headline. For example, if your particular clients are speakers who want to get a book published for added credibility, a headline might be GET YOUR OWN BOOK PUBLISHED - - - FAST, EASY AND IN TIME FOR YOUR NEXT EVENT! Rather than offering your publishing services, you are thinking of what your clients want and focusing on it. See the difference? Third, put the headline on the left side of the page, at the top, under your letterhead and above your opening. Your readers will see the headline and, if you made a headline that speaks to their interests, it will pull them right into your letter. NOTE: If your business practice doesnt allow headlines, then the first sentence of your letter should be the headline. Fourth, be sure that your letters opening line also tickles your readers interest. A few powerful ways to begin a letter are: With a question. (Would you like to have your own book published for added credibility, more publicity and more money?) With a quote. (A book is the only immortality. Rufus Choate.) With a statistic. (There are over 1,000 books published every week. But very few are by popular speakers like yourself.)

Secret #3: SPEAK IT Articulate, naturally lively people often turn into wordy bores when they write. Far too many writers still think they have to use big words when expressing themselves on paper. What a mistake! People like to read short sentences, short paragraphs and short words. The average reading ability (of those Americans who can even read at all) is on a ninth grade level. Complicated writing and long letters dont make sense, dont get action and usually dont even get read. The way around this is to write the way you speak. Thats not to say its okay for you to say anything you want however you want to say it. Rather, this is a suggestion for you to write in a colloquial way. Write as naturally and as easily as you speak. Use contractions, use I and you, and be yourself. Dont write to impress, write to express. Here are some ways to do this: First, pretend your client is standing in front of you. What would you say? How would you speak? Write THAT. (Its a good idea to tape-record the actual talk, transcribe it and then edit it.) Second, go through your letter and delete every word that you dont normally use - - - or hear used - - - in conversation. A rule of thumb is to be sure your letter can be understood by a ten year old. Third, present your sales pitch as an explanation. Focus on what the customer gets, not on what you want to sell. Giving reasons for buying and stating benefits for buying sound much more persuasive. Fourth, paint a vivid picture of your clients life after hes bought from you. What will be easier for him? Give an example of someone else who bought from you and is now glad he did.

Secret #4: GIVE PROOF Whats the number one reason people dont buy from you (or anyone else)? They dont trust you! You and I and everyone else have had the experience of reading a great letter, buying the product and then being disappointed when the item didnt live up to what the letter claimed. People have been burned too many times to trust you now. To handle this, offer a guarantee (you should ALWAYS offer a guarantee) and offer proof. Give testimonials in your letter. You need 3 to 5 quotes from people. These have to be REAL people. Saying J.W. in Kansas City like your product isnt believable. Saying John Williams, President of Flight Control Operations, Kansas City liked it is persuasive. And if you can get a testimonial from someone the reader may know and respect, all the better. (Thats why celebrities are used in TV commercials.)

Secret #5: ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT Its amazing how many people dont ask for what they want. Just the other day I read a powerful two-page letter from a Houston businessman that had me ready to cut off a leg to buy his product. But I didnt buy. Why? Because he didnt ask me to! He failed to ask for the order. What do you want your readers to do? TELL THEM! Tip: Its most persuasive if you remind the reader of his problem, or remind him of what hell get when he buys (or what will happen if he DOESNT buy), and THEN ask for the order. Secret #6: USE A PS Whats often read first, last and remember longest? The PS! Put your strongest selling point in the PS and your message will last longer. Copywriters spend hours, even days, writing powerful letters. They have plenty of time to put their message in the body of the letter. But they always use a PS! And for good reason. Its your opportunity to hit the reader - - - hard! - - - with the strongest reason for buying. Secret #7: MAKE IT ATTRACTIVE Visual impact accounts for 70% of your letters effectiveness. (Imagine!) A letter dense with type, with small margins, no paragraphs breaks and no bullets, doesnt get read. Make your letter attractive. Make it inviting. Heres how: Use ragged right margins. Readers unconsciously use the right margin to guide their eyes as they read. Leave it ragged. Use wide margins. Not too wide. One inch all around is fine. Skip a space between paragraphs. Also, speaking of paragraphs, indent the first sentence of each paragraph and keep the paragraphs short. Use bullets. You can list important points, or benefits, in a grabbing way by using a star or a dash before each point. To highlight a point, put it in a box. Like This!

Secret #8: SHARPEN THE KNIFE Writing a letter that makes people do what you want takes skill. By following the above principles you will create a letter that people will read. But theres one more thing you have to do to complete the process: you have to edit your work to perfection.

How do you know if your letter will get the results you want? Make ten copies of your letter. Hand them to ten friends and associates. Ask for their feedback. Youll get free editing (people love to mark up drafts). Youll also find out if your letter pulls. If these ten people dont express any interest in your offer, rewrite your letter. Make your letter persuade. Make it a MILLION DOLLAR LETTER! TO RECAP: Be sure you (a) Hit readers with the emotional reasons your product or Service will benefit them; (b) Give your evidence (testimonials and a solid guarantee); (c) Write in a simple, clear style (so a kid can read it); (d) Ask for what you want (or dont expect any results); (e) Use a PS (to restate your strongest benefit); (f) Make it visually inviting, and last, (g) Edit and rewrite your letter to perfection. Do it and watch out! Your letters will pull in business as never before!