Gary Halbert Came By Last Night...

Soaked...

Halbert was whining...

cause it was pouring rain outside...plus Ogilvy had parked his Rolls Royce taking up three spots in the driveway.

Halbert asked him if the clock had been so loud that he'd lost his sense of how to park. Ogilvy didn't find that amusing since he'd written the ad about the loudest thing in the car at 60 miles per hour was the clock. He reminded Halbert how he was the only guy he knew that had to write an ad in the paper to find a woman.

Victor Schwab was his usual grumpy self even though he'd had three cups of coffee before he got there.

We'd planned the meeting last month.

Wanted to get together and brainstorm a post here on the forum that would help you make some big money this year.

Finally, round about 9 P.M. Maxwell Sakheim reminded everyone how he'd made a fortune off his "Gloucester Fisherman" story. Victor Scwabb still grumpy, reminded Sakheim how he'd been the one to first hire Sakheim as his secretary and probably started his career as a copywriter.

Hopkins was visibly upset as he kept tapping his fingers rather loudly on the table.

Rosser Reeves liked the "story" idea but reminded us how since he invented the USP idea so make sure the story included one...after all, he'd made Listerine a household name.

Napoleon Hill showed up late talking about how his carriage wheel had broke. Who the heck rides in a carriage anymore Caples asked.

Round about midnight Halbert was obviously drunk. Said he was broke again so he needed to have another seminar (his secret weapon for raising some quick cash). Robert Collier became upset and told Gary to please try and focus on the matter at hand.

A little after 2 A.M. we finally drafted a post. Here it is:

To you:

yes you. As you're sitting there reading this we've got some great news.

Regardless of the economy or your personal situation, you can make a fortune this year using this secret.

Napoleon Hill wants to remind you he wrote his famous book "Think And Grow Rich", during the great depression. It's sold over a hundred million copies and made more millionaires than any other book in history.

He also wanted to remind you his friend Charles Scwabb turned the steel industry into a multi-billion dollar industry all during the bleakest times in the world using this.

Caples wants to remind you that during the depression he wrote the ad that has been copied and copied and copied. "They all laughed when I sat down at the piano...But when I started to play!"

Hopkins wants to remind you how he was hired by a company started by a 34-year-old and turned it into the number 1 selling beer company in the world by telling a story about how they used filtered water.

Leo Burnett wants to remind you he built one of the world's greatest advertising agencies...all during the great depression using this.

anyways, here's the secret we want you to know--

Stories...

Nothing ever gets through your potential customers' minds like a story.

Words tell stories sell.

You can study every copywriting formula ever written (which is ok), but take your favorite formula and incorporate it into a story.

You can read a sales letter that drones on and on with the all the proper formulas...usually putting you into a coma, but the same info, when put into an interesting story, can hold your attention.

Want to be a good copywriter? Learn how to tell a good story.

So much advertising now. A good story is memorable and sneaks into your customer's mind.

If you can write a good story, you win over your competitors.

Make everything you write this year a story.

A little imagination and creativity are all it takes to be successful.

If you haven't read "Think And Grow Rich" you probably won't understand this post...

and if you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.

Have a successful year!