Joe Karbo FAMOUS "Lazy Man's Way ..." Free Swipe File Copy Example

Ha, yeah...that's a great ad. That was the inspiration for the one I wrote below. It worked, and continues to work well (even with bad editing. Thanks for sharing that Drez.

That's a great ad. I like it's "outside the box" style, essentially writing the ad in reverse and effortlessly throwing in the zeigarnik effect at the beginning.

Just think what other ads appeared in the same publication as this. Do you think they asked for money before the 7th sentence? The way he does it is not only unique, it's like a damaging admission that gains trust and credibility.

Say this was published in a magazine, and you put all the ads from the magazine in a line... can you imagine the prospect trusting any ad more than this one after that damaging admission?

And notice his guarantee in the 9th paragraph. He doesn't say, "If you're not satisfied, I'll issue a refund immediately." No way, he never suggests there's a chance that you won't be satisfied.

Instead he says, "If you don't agree that it's worth 100 times what you invested, send it back..." So even if you like it, even if you're satisfied, but you don't think it's worth 100 times your investment - you can send it back.

That's similar to Makepeace's advice on guarantee language: "If you're anything but absolutely thrilled with your decision..."

And he doesn't ask you to make a decision now, "just try it" and he'll keep your money in "escrow."

It's essentially a blind offer with a list of "It's not's".

So much to learn from this ad. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Stephen Dean

Boy, I still remember buying that book....and learning all about 'Dyna-Psych'.
Halbert wrote about knowing Joe Karbo, I believe, when he lived near him in socal.
Thanks for the pdf!
_____
Bruce

Interesting thing is Karbo wrote the ad before he wrote the book. He ran a test to see what sort of demand there was. You can't do that today - you must actually have the product before advertising it for sale.

How many words are there in that ad?

How ever many, it doesn't feel like a lot.

It's easy to read.

Does anybody have the story on this book? Why is the Joe Karbo version no longer available?

Thanks Drez, for the swipe. I actually have a copy of the lazymans way to riches and I'll keep the swipe with the book. The video was difficult to hear so I just had to put on my headphones, kick back and enjoyed.

Rezbi, made a statement that the copy flowed well. However, I read Gary Halberts "Coat Of Arms" letter yesterday, it was the first time I have ever read it. It was fantastic. Well written, short and it was written to a friend from a friend, even though it was mass produced. I believe he got peoples names and addresses from the phone book too.

Wow, I'd forgotten all about this letter. Saw it a few years back and always thought it would make a great case study for my free newsletter. Thanks for sharing it.

Here is a link to a direct mail piece Joe sent out to his list...

ONCE he started keeping one. The first few thousand names got tossed out because Joe didn't have a back-end...it wasn't until Harvey Brody started his list management service (and he served almost everyone in DR) that Joe started keeping names and had back-end offers.

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/gjbiz/karbo7.jpg

just change the 7 to 6, then 5 etc.

This was a report for "Chatteling", before it was called that, a report on buying and selling personal property.

When I talked to Joe, he was into buying boats and making a profit...and in his early days, he sourced some of his TV products from Kristee Products of Akron, OH.

Anyhow, this ad WAS a hall of fame effort.

Joe Karbo, one of the GREATS.

gjabiz

When I first saw the ad in the 1980s I didn't go for it.

I was a sceptic.

I was young, had a decent job and didn't believe it was easy to make money the 'lazy way'.

Unfortunately, I got older, had a family and needed to make money...

And ended up losing more in my early days on the internet.

It's easy to be taken for a ride by sleazy snake-oil salesmen when you're desperate.

Especially by the ones who constantly call others snake-oil salesmen to make themselves out to be the good guys.

This is an awesome ad, thanks a lot for the share.

That's great news for people with a time machine that can go back three decades to a time when ads like this were still relevant to the masses. I don't understand the love for the obsolete ad concept.

There's a reason why you don't see these long format text ads anymore. Nobody of value responds to them.

You could use it if your target was a segment of seniors, but you'd be very limited in what you could do with it. Nobody else will respond at an optimal level. Youths (under 30) absolutely won't respond to it. Middle age would respond somewhat, but the level of skepticism would be too high.

Scroll through a Google images search for "1973 advertisement"

https://www.google.com/search?q=1973...ement&tbm=isch

And now "2010 advertisement" (a bit too much irrelevancy on 2012 searches)

Now https://www.google.com/search?q=2010...ement&tbm=isch

What really pops out at you in the differences between the two? The modern ads are minimalist and straight to the point. Especially look at old car ads. They put as much text on the page as they could fit. Now it's something like "Live" and a photo of a BMW. I know that doesn't sell the car, but it illustrates how simplistic the masses need things to be here in 2012.

There's a great breakdown of this ad in Joe Sugarman's book, Advertising Secrets of the Written Word. Karbo attended Joe's seminar and wrote this ad shortly after, I believe.

A great ad indeed.

Also, here's a related article from another guy named Joe. The Secrets of Joe Sugarman Revealed! A review of three new marketing books

Another thanks,
Appreciate your post...