But his legacy lives on  in the form of letters written from a jail cell to his sons.

Golden Nuggets from the Boron Letters

As Ed dale said the Boron Lettersby Gary Halbert are on of the best educations a direct marketer can ever get. Written to his son bond at a difficult time in Garys life  the letters sum up a philosophy on direct marketing and Direct Mailing

So I have tried to summarise as halbert would say the Golden Nuggets from those letters. They are indexed by the letter number , for anyone that wishes to go back to the originals.

This is another tribute to Gary , a flawed human being but a great marketer. His sons are keeping the website Gary Halbert Letter as a valuable resource.

I have also tried to bring some of this into modern context

The first letters talk about gary getting fit and training on a hill at the prison.

And here are the golden nuggets of wisdom from the rest

Gary Halbert – Boron Letter 5 – Become a student of markets

Become a student of markets, not products, techniques or copywriting

• The most important thing is to deduce what people want to buy, by observing what they already buy,
• Don’t be deceived by what they say they buy
• Most will say they buy premium beer – they don’t they buy regular!
• And the best way to do that is to see what they have bought by researching mailing lists
• An internet equivalent is looking at ebay pulse and affiliate sales on clickbank. Real people buiying real product.

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 6 -A starving crowd

What advantage would you want as a hamburger stall owner?
The biggest advantage is a STARVING CROWD

• Groups of people who have demonstrated by past behaviour they are hungry for the product or service
• Use the most targeted list you can have – the people in the right place who have bought a similar product recently

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 7 – Become a student of mailing lists

Become a student of mailing lists

• Recency – when did they buy
• Frequency – how often did they buy
• Unit of sale – how much did they buy
• Of these the most important is recency
• Sell people what they have shown by recent behaviour they will buy

Gary quotes from SRDS lists – A UK alternative is www.hilitedms.com

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 8 – What they say and what they do are two different things

Most people say They don’t buy mail order – they don’t read the enquirer But the statistics say they do!

Just as most people say they watch Plays not movies: They will say what they think they ought to do not what they actually do.

Always Keep awake to a possibility

See a list of 120000 per month new Pregnant women –
So Write a book: “how to raise your childs IQ before it is even born”

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 9 – The more specific you make it

Make it specific dont produce just “make extra money”

• Produce “Make extra money for chiropractors”
• Wheel out the same product to many tailored groups
• The more custom tailored the more successful

Talking to his 16 year old son he said which would succeed for you
“dear occupant ways to make money
Or
“dear 16 year old here are ways to make money”

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 10 – How to create a good ad
First Read “Scientific advertising” Hopkins and also “Colliers letterbook”

Halbert 2001 headlines

Read and take notes make a Swipe file, look through lists

Customise an offer to a specific group

Not “did you know there is a way to buy LA real estate
Customise the LA to a location in LA

Create a product

Take all the books extract all of the ideas as nuggets
Strip away the garbage and so produce a better product than all of the others.
“The amazing LA roadmap to real estate riches”

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 11 – Getting into the A Pile

How do you get it opened?

People sort mail into A Pile and B Pile
A Pile is personal, B pile is advertising.
They read all the A pile but not all the B
So make envelope look personal
No company name, and a real stamp

How do you get it read?
Attention and intrigue- Try a Bag filled with dirt to grab attention

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 12 -Making it personal
Date and time. – make it look personal

Make it a personal conversation and bond with the reader

• Write about where you are. ” I am sitting here and”
• Make it pleasant easy read interesting and not confusingNow envelopes matter
• SRE – stamped return envelope, wastes all those stamps
  Use for High ticket items
• And when you can make them feel guilty “those children need your help right now!”

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 13 -Guilt Inducer

Use a Guilt inducer
“Someone else will take advantage if you dont”
“I hope you can take advantage of the offer , but if you cant
Could you drop me a note so I can extend this offer to someone else?”

BRE business reply envelopes

Disadvantages of BRE–
They slow up response
Proves it is not personal
If you cant do good guilt with a SRE a BRE is better

PSH Place stamp here – the customer pays the stamp

- lose some, because of hassle and cost
- but gain because of personalisation over BRE

Test this it is probably best!
Gary Halbert Boron Letter 14 -Attention grab with a bag of dirt

The bag of dirt.
An Attention grabber must be relevant
“ a sumbmarine that flies” cheap shot wont work

Bag of dirt
“I am attaching this bag of dirt for two important reasons”
“First because what I have to say to you is very serious and I needed a way to grab your attention

“Secondly because what is in that bag could be your passport to complete financial independence

“Why is this? – because what is in that bag is a tiny amount of what the most valuable commodity on earth
Im talking about real estate, and in this case Hawaiian real eastate
Yes its true” And so on.

So the formula is.
Picked list – a product – envelopes – attention – first para

Now you need an order card,
But Don’t want reader to see order card and brochure why?
They go straight to the coupon

So fold up with message– “open paper to find special info promised inmy letter”
The mailing needs to be business like personal, not just personal – some typeset – brochures etc
Reader to see at the proper time
Gary Halbert Boron Letter 15 -The technical side of copy

Now technical side of copy – first research

Read Everything you can about product
Books, Old DM pieces Headlines – reading and taking notes
These are the golden nuggets- Reread Put stars by best

Then leave for a while.
Gary Halbert Boron Letter 16 – AIDA

Get the right kind of ATTENTION dont use cheap shots.

INTEREST – feed some facts
eg maui proprerty – amount of sand, pretty girls and so on

Then DESIRE -
The benefits Eg more money – Or attract the opposite sex

ACTION
Be Very clear and specific what you want the customer to do.

Right now today
Gary Halbert Boron Letter 17 -Copy good copy in your own hand

Copy the “tova facelift ad “in your own handwriting
Do it just as if you were taking to the typing pool

It allows you to internalise the thought process.
You will have a big advantage of those who are lazy and dont.

Gary lists a number of important ads – including all time best such as

The original coat of arms letter
The famous dollar bill letter from the Robert collier letterbook

Notice the construction

Use simple words “Get not Procure”
Transitions – “Well as a matter fo fact” -”Now naturally we don’t want to”
Ask questions – “Can you imaine that? I know it seemsunbelievable”
Word pictures – “And just wait till you step in”

The best way of becoming a good writer is by writing good writing
Gary Halbert Boron Letter 18 Make it easy to read

The layout should catch the attention of your reader, but not in a way that causes him to notice the layout

Use Editorial look
No long paragraphs
Make it look appealing

Gary says that he once produced a catalogue as a back end to the coat of arms letter, and it bombed
But a letter advertising another product to the same group turned in $40m
Moral, you do better when it appears youa aren’t trying to sell

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 19 You Never get a second chance for a first impression

Juries, lovers, interviewers make up their minds in minutes
Then spend the rest of the time trying to justify that decision

You can hook a reader before they read, just when they look at it
So the look is very important – they spend the rest of the time trying to convince themselves for a decision that has already been made

So use a crisp look , clean layout

If using labels Bright white label on matching envelope
Use commemoratives
Letterhead dignified and non distracting
Use red to underline
Gary Halbert Boron Letter 20 Bad times to do things

Dont take decisions on ego – and remember HALT
Never make a decision when “Hungry Angry Lonely Tired”
Gary Halbert Boron Letter 21 The deal and propositions

You need an explanation to make a good deal believable

Fire sale
Out of business
Taxes
Lost the lease

A reason why.

Offering you this deal because of a unique circumstance eg “Only if you write a review”

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 22 Read copy out loud

Read your own copy out loud to look for places you stumble and reword them
Read good copy out loud to imprint in your memory

So a project summary

Identify the list
Define a product of interest Car owners, “heres how to fix your car to get 50% more miles”
Then got to financer ask for $5000 to kick off the project
Do a small test mailing and if it works
Roll out to 50000
If it still works finance big rollout from cashflow
Split profit with funder

And the formula is

Find a hot market
Create a product
Direct mail piece with benefits
Test mailing
Roll out

Don’t make it complicated it is not.

Someone showed gary a product wood machine and asked if he could sell it.
He said “It’s the single biggest mistake”, “Find market first – Then concentrate on a product the market is asking for”

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 23 Awareness

Difference in success is awareness
Being ready when the opportunity comes
“so stay up to date”

He said If people are right and I am best copywriter, it is because “I work like crazy”

Take card players
Everyone gets the same hands over a long period, it is being ready for the good hands that matters.
Sweat the details, be ready for opportunity

Try fuessing the Time and check it – are you aware enough?

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 24 Impact

IMPACT
The impression of attaching to top of letter something like a Classic dollar bill – 90%
Or a Japanese penny – It Must tie in with promotion

If you try something novel and make it look like a driving ticket
They will remember you with distaste – so No sale
Dont use cheap tricks