#430 How to Write Ads That Sell

0:00 This book is not written as a personal history, but as a business story. I try to confine myself to matters of instructive interest. The chief object behind every episode is to offer helpful suggestions to those who will follow me. And to save them some of the midnight groping, which I did. Any man who by a lifetime of excessive application learns more about anything than others

0:22 owes a statement to his successors. The results of research should be recorded. Every pioneer should blaze his trail. That is all that I've tried to do. My only claim

0:34 Is that I have probably worked twice as long as anybody else in this field. I have lived for many years in a vortex of advertising. Naturally I learned more from that experience than those who had a lesser chance. I want that experience to help others avoid the same difficult climb. I set down these findings solely for that purpose of aiding others to start far up the heights that I scaled.

0:58 Had someone set down a record like this when I began, I would have blessed him for it. So that is Claude Hopkins. Right in the preface. of his autobiography, which is called My Life and I Advertising. When you buy This book it actually comes with

1:12 A second book that he wrote, a book that he wrote maybe four decades before he wrote his autobiography, which is called Scientific Advertising. So I actually I I reread these books. I read these both these books for the first time, I don't know, like probably like five years ago. And I found them because one of my personal heroes is this guy named David Ogrevy. And David Ogreby said essentially like he built the foundation for his giant advertising uh agency that he founded, just on the work alone of Claude Hawkins. And

1:38 I originally set out to write. So here's a crazy story for you. This will explain everything that I want to talk to you about today. So there is a book written by Claude Hopkins, which is called Scientific Advertising. Okay. It is sold. Like eight million, ten million copies. Probably the most important book ever written on advertising. If you f factor in who read the book and then what it influenced and to build after that.

1:59 The book was so valuable that when Claude first wrote it He showed it to The founder of the firm. that he is working for this guy named Albert Lasker. Now this is really important to follow because Albert Lasker

2:11 Is the person that made the most money. In Advertising. Ever. Albert Lasker read the book.

2:18 Told Claude Hopkins, absolutely not. You are not publishing this book. This is giving away all of our secrets. You have to wait until I'm done making all this money. Albert Lasker put the book into a safe for twenty years. Uh

2:33 quit his advertising agency. I think he wound up giving it to some of his employees and left. Then Claude Hopkins was allowed to published the book called Scientific Advertising, which is then over the last, you know, hundred years, because I think the book came out like 1920, maybe 1930, something like that. Uh his old you know, almost ten million copies. Okay, so then This week I was like oh

2:52 I I've been wanting to focus on headlines. And essentially Like How do you uh distill down the most important idea into, you know, Maxim, which you know you know I'm obsessed with.

3:03 Uh, and then how do I apply that to headlines? Because for my other show that the new show I started last year, where I'm actually you know, having conversations with some of the greatest living founders. A lot of the there's like so much Um so much of the value in the conversations is down into these like small clips of three, four, six minutes.

3:20 And personally, I was reading scientific advertising to get better at writing a way to distill a main message from like a three minute clip. into like a one sentence that would such a act as a headline for a clip, right? And so I'm like, I'm gonna read this whole book. I finished reading scientific advertising week.

3:35 God. Damn this is good. And then it made me go back. And start I didn't I wasn't planning on doing this episode the way I'm doing it right now. And then I go back and reread His

3:46 Autobiography. Which I wasn't planning to talk to you about today. I was just gonna talk to you about scientific graph, which I was like, damn it, there's too much good stuff in here. So then What I did is went back and compiled. All my notes and all my highlights. into this one book, which I just transferred. It spent in the last I don't know, like ten hours or something. It took a long time to do this.

4:03 Uh of all my notes and highlights for both books into the book that I'm holding into my hand. So that's what I'm going to go through. uh with you today. Not really. I I I skipped over large parts of His personal life. And his life story. I just want to tell you the fact that this guy probably spent more time. He's the arguably the greatest copyrighter in history.

4:23 And he spent more time doing that than anybody else. And he there's just these principles and these handful of ideas that he's gonna repeat over and over again. And I think it really w really will help you Better sell, better market, better advertise whatever product it is that you're building. So let's just jump right into this. He says I've supported myself since the age of nine. Uh, he started working sixteen hours a day when he was still in what we'd call junior high. Okay.

4:47 And then the reason that's important is because he also applied that when he starts into the advertising business. I did the same in business. I had no working hours. When I cease before midnight, that was a holiday for me. I often left my office at two o'clock in the morning. Sundays were my best working days because there was no interruptions. For sixteen years after entering business, I rarely had an evening or a Sunday not occupied by work. I am not advising others to follow my example. But the man who works twice as long as his fellows is bound to go twice as far, especially in advertising. There is some difference in brains, of course.

5:19 But it is not so important as the difference in industry. The man who does two or three times the work of others learns two or three times as much. He makes more mistakes and more successes, and he learns from both. If I have gone higher than others in advertising or done more. The fact is not due to exceptional ability, but to exceptional hours. So

5:38 I'm gonna interrupt my own self. Here because what I'm holding in my hand is, you know, three hundred and maybe three hundred and twenty pages Of The most important lessons From working sixteen hours a day

5:50 For five decades. Okay, so he says. fact if I've gone any higher than anywhere else, it's not because I had a bigger brain. It's just due it's not exceptional ability. It's just because I I I devoted exceptional hours to this trade. Says.

6:04 Uh, it means that a man and he's talking about himself, it means that a man has sacrificed all else in life to excel in this one profession. So I got to this part. You know, I've probably read that highlight I don't know, maybe half dozen times in my life. The thing that jumped out to me is th this this tr one of Charlie Munger's favorite founders, this guy named Les Schwab. Unless you

6:23 essentially did the same thing that Claude Hopkins did. In advertising less didn't building One of the most successful tire chains. In the United States history. And he says Um, whatever you do, you must do it with gusto. You must do it in volume. It is a case of repeat.

6:38 Repeat. Repeat. Talk about the fact that His mother Was left a widow.

6:44 uh when he but when Claude Hopkins was ten, that they Uh gre yeah he grew up in poverty and he says to poverty I owe the fact that I never went to college. I spent those four years in the school of experience. Instead of the school. A theory. And one of the most important lessons he learned in the school of experience and school of theory, he actually learned

7:01 From a guy that was a railroad section foreman. And that is the importance of bas using the most of every hour of the day and then treating your work as play. I'm gonna repe you'll find today I'm gonna repeat you know, he probably has about a half a dozen ideas, I would say. that he just repeats over and over again. And he repeats them in both books. And keep in mind, I think the books were written probably thirty to forty years apart. And so this is the idea of treating work as play and making most use of every hour of the day is a recurring theme that Claude's gonna repeat over and over again.

7:29 So he talks about he's like this man exerted a remarkable influence on me. He was a railroad section foreman. And so he was Claude's a young young person at the time. the the Robo Section Form is a little older and he's kinda just kinda schooling clawed to the game. He says he impressed with me the difference between him and his helpers.

7:46 The helpers worked from necessity. They did as little as possible. they counted the hours to quitting time and then on Saturday nights they'd go into the city and spend all their the money they had earned in that week. The foreman, on the other hand, worked with enthusiasm. He says uh the men would work as though work was a bore, but the foreman made the work a game.

8:04 That man built his home in the evenings after ten hour days on the railroad. He cultivated a garden around it. Then he married the prettiest girl in the section and lived a life of bliss. I learned great lessons from him. And then he's talking about he's reflecting on this conversation that he had

8:21 with this railroad section foreman. Look at those fellows whittling, discussing railroads, talking politics. The most that any of them know about a railroad is how to drive a spike. They will always do that and no more. Note what I have done while they loaf there this evening. built most of the porch on my home. So he worked all day.

8:38 Then he's trying to again just improve his station in life. I'm gonna build this own my own house. I'm done working on the railroad, I can then improve something that's important to me, something that will last a long time in my life. Which is the song. And he continues. So, you know, they're they're messing around, they're bullshitting. I'm building, I'm d making your better use of that time. I'm building this porch and extending and making my home more valuable. Soon I will be sitting on that porch in comfort. Making love to a pretty wife.

9:03 They will always be sitting on these soap boxes. Which is work and which is play. If a thing is useful, they call it work. If it's useless, they call it play. But one is hard as the other.

9:14 One can be just as much of a game as the other. In both there can be a rivalry. There is a struggle to excel. All the difference I see lies in the attitude of the mind. That is the end of the quote. from the railroad section foreman. Back to Claude writing in his autobiography. I've never forgot those talks. I came to love work as other men love golf.

9:35 I love it still. Many a time I beg off from a bridge game. A dinner or a dance to spend the evening in my office. Ай, стіла ве. From weekend parties at my country home to enjoy a few hours at my typewriter.

9:48 So the love of work can be cultivated just like the love of play. The terms are interchangeable. What others call work I call play and vice versa. We do best what we like best. Now how funny is this, okay? So this guy is named Claude.

10:02 Dedicated his life. to learning advertising. Last week you and I talked about another claude, Claude Shannon, dedicated his life. Obviously with things known for is Uh creating information theory. But you know, he invented the first wearable computer.

10:15 He's just he's just a very eccentric person. And again. What was the biography of Claude Channel? A mind at play. But It's funny that they both looked at work as play.

10:24 But even more interesting is there's a direct quote in Claude Jannon's uh biography. Well you said, you know, we what we do best is what we like best. And we see Claude Hopkins Saying the same thing as Claude Shannon. If that is chasing a polo ball, one will excel at that. If that means checkmating competitors are getting a home run.

10:41 He will excel in that. So it means a great deal when a young man can come to regard his life work as the most fascinating game that he knows. Awesome. And it should be. This is g just fantastic writing. And it should be. The applause of athletics dies In a moment.

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12:02 To learn how to help your business save time, save money, and grow revenue. That is ramp.com. Okay. So now we're gonna go back into I just told you that Uh I was gonna say we're gonna go back into some of his ideas for advertising, but this actually talks about the fact that His father died, his mother was left a a w a widow. But

12:20 So they're they're trying to find ways out of necessity, okay, to survive. And His mother starts making a home made silver polish, so For at the time a lot of housewives. You know, you had a bunch of things like you would present food or drink or whatever the case is.

12:36 In like these silver plates. And so his mom made a way to make the silver shiny. Okay. And so as a kid, I think he's ten, eleven years old when he's doing this. He's going door to door and trying to sell This silver polish at his Mother has

12:50 Essentially home manufacture, right? Since I went from house to house to sell it, I found that I sold about one woman in ten by merely talking about the polish. But when I could get into the house and demonstrate the polish, I sold to nearly all. That taught me another lesson I have never forgotten. A good product is its own best salesman.

13:08 It is uphill work. To sell goods without sample. So that's again Another idea that he's gonna repeat over and over again. That D y one great product demonstration.

13:18 Letting the person use it without payment, whatever the case is. It's it's very, very important. Now if you remember one of my favorite entrepreneurs of all time. is Estate Lauder. And Estee Lauder's autobiography, I think I've read three or four times. I've done probably two or three episodes on that book, if I remember correctly. And when she was starting out, she didn't have a lot of money. So

13:36 Her and her husband when they're starting the company, they're like, Okay, well, we have this advertising budget, right, but we don't have many very many customers. We know we we made a great product. So sh Estee made essentially the cornerstone of one of her of her empire was this idea of giving a free sample. So she actually took money. out of the advertising budget and decided hey I'm going to shift that money from my advertising budget into production, because I'm I have very limited means at the time. and I'm going to actually produce more of my product not to sell but to give away. And she would talk about the people and she would stop people on the street.

14:07 She would do this uh obviously when she had stores as well. But she said the benefit of that. is one, the product speaks for itself. If you think you have the best product then you're gonna win on that alone. But There's the there's an inherent uh desire to reciprocate in human nature.

14:20 So Estee goes up to a woman says, Here, try this lipstick, try this blush, whatever the case is. She tries it, she likes it. Not only will she come back to Estate to buy more of the thing that she was given for free, but then she'll tell all her friends about it. It's a very that that word of mouth. I forgot what she called it. She called like Phone phone a friend or phone a woman. in in her autobiography, but she said, you know, essentially she knew she was gonna do this for the rest of her life and she just let she knew word of mouth was going to be the engine that powered

14:46 you know, the business that she was trying to build over the the f the following uh decades. Uh And what I love about going back to this book, what I love about this is like he doesn't he just speaks and writes very plainly. It's like here's another lesson. Pay attention to this part. He literally says, There's another lesson. We must never judge humanity by ourselves. The things we want, the things we like may appeal to a small minority. The losses occasion in advertising by venturing on personal preference was eas would easily pay the national debt. There are divided opinions.

15:14 S and and so in every preference and every want. Only the obstinate And the boneheaded will venture far on personal opinion. We must submit all things in advertising to the court. A public. Opinion.

15:28 This Is the main theme of this book. I own an ocean going yacht. But do you suppose adventure across the ocean without a chart or a compass, so There's another idea.

15:40 He's already mentioned something. He's like, Well, you know, sometimes I'm at my country house and I wanna steal away everybody's else else's partying and I'm sitting back at the typewriter. Now he's like, Hey, I got a yacht too, by the way. How do you think I got that from sitting at the typewriter And coming up with words that make cash r the cash register ring. Okay. That

15:57 implied in there. Which I don't think you know unless you read the book first. He has this idea, he started out as like a bookkeeper. And he's like the problem is I'm on the expense side of a business. And he was like, Who's making all the money here?

16:10 And he's like, Well if I can go away from the ex be treated as an expense by the owner of this business to somebody that's bringing more sales to the owner of the business. I will get compensated because I can say, Hey, I brought you in a mil more than a million dollars of toothpaste sales. Let me get two hundred thousand dollars of the million I brought in. And so his whole thing w when he's counseling young men

16:31 And I guess young women too. to get away from the expense side of the business, stay close to the money. Stay close. to the money. Uh

16:39 Let's go back to the the section what he's what he what he's talking about though. He's like you have to study human nature. There's all kinds of things, products that you think He t mentions this over and over again, the points of testing. He's like, You know how many times somebody brought me a product that I was like, why do you want me to advertise this stupid thing that's never gonna sell? He does the best job he possibly can and it just sells like crazy because he didn't understand. That that didn't appeal to me, but the world is huge. There's billions of people.

17:03 And it appealed to them. She says some of the greatest successes I have ever known in advertising were on this is hilarious. So he's also talking about hiring. And some of the people that worked under him. And

17:14 Really that You'll just get way further. if you just understand human nature. He talks about the importance of studying psychology, st uh understanding incentives. understanding what drives people, understanding that what uh what in human nature never changes. And y he's he he tried to recruit people for his company.

17:31 from very common uneducated people. So these are you would say is like th these people were street smart. They had almost no book smarts, but they damn sure knew how humans thought. and what motivated them and how to influence them to buy the products that they're selling. And so he talks about two of them here. Some of the greatest successes I have ever known in advertising were ignorant men.

17:50 Two are now heads of agencies. One of them has made has made much money in advertising. A man who could hardly sign his name. But he knew people and the people bought what he had to sell. One of them, one of these men, wrote copy which would induce a farmer to mortgage his barn to respond. But every sentence had to be edited for grammar. So that's another thing he's gonna repeat over and over again.

18:12 Make sure you're understanding. He reads a lot of history, reads a lot of psychology, reads a lot of philosophy, understands people. Uh, it says no man can succeed in any line where he finds himself in disagreement and where an unhappiness results. I consider business as a game. How many times we're thirty four pages into this book. And I've already mentioned this at least once. It's probably appeared four different times by the time I get to this. I consider business a game.

18:36 And I play it as a game. That is why I have been and still am so devoted to it. It goes back to what Claude Shannon last week. You tend to Uh to like and to be good at things that you like. Uh the Charlie Munger's version of this is Intense he has this great line where he says intense interest in any subject is indispensable if you're really going to excel

18:56 At it. Uh when I first heard Charlie say that. I first read that Charlie said that. It's like love what you do or find another line of work. And again, you'cause you're gonna be s it's all these like little ed things on the edge where it's like Okay, I can work eight hours a day if you had a normal job. It's something I hate, or can work eight hours a day, it's something I love. And even if you only constrained yourself to those eight hours, you're gonna be thinking about it in your off time, you're gonna be reading.

19:19 you know, trade journals on it. You're gonna be seeking out other people and building relationships with people that are interested in the same things you are. It's just like that that love is so important. Um, I already mentioned this, but the importance of staying close to the money. He says the big salaries are paid to the salesmen, to the men who bought in orders or to the men in the factory who reduce costs. They could increase profits, and if you can show profits, then you can command a reasonable share of those profits. Uh everybody When you s I I've read, I don't know.

19:48 Probably six I've probably done six to ten different episodes on all the advertising agency founders. Uh, most of which I found through through David Ogie. But Wait, with all of them. They're all will talk about like there was a kind of like a blueprint. Or somebody they learn from.

20:04 Uh that then they use their ideas to build their company. Claude Hopkins is no different. He really admired this guy named John Powers. And what he learned about studying the the advertising that John Powers We create. the main principle of John Power is like tell the truth. You just have to tell in an interesting and fascinating way.

20:21 So it says John Powers created a new concept of advertising. He told the truth, but told it in a rugged and fascinating way. Yeah, at the time he's working for Wanamaker. Uh And that that company was paying John Powers twelve thousand dollars a year. So keep in mind, this is like the early nineteen hundreds. This is like a crazy high salary. And he says the principles of to which John Powers stood are still among our advertising fundamentals. And so he gives this example of

20:45 One of the most interesting things that he saw John Powers do. So this clothing company goes They're on the verge of bankruptcy. And they call powers. And

20:54 He immediately measures up the situation and this is what he says. He goes, There's only one way out. Tell the truth. Tell the people that you're bankrupt and that your only way to salvation lies through large and immediate sales. The clothing dealers argue that such an announcement would bring every creditor to their door. But Powers said, It doesn't matter, either tell the truth or I quit.

21:13 So this is the ad. Okay. So the ad read something like this. We are bankrupt. We owe a hundred and twenty five thousand dollars more than we can pay. This announcement will bring our creditors down on our necks. But if you come and buy tomorrow, We shall have the money to meet them.

21:28 If not. We g we're gonna go to the wall. These are the prices we are quoting to meet this situation. says truth was such a rarity in advertising that this announcement created a sensation. People flocked by the thousands of

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23:40 Go to vanta.com. four slash founders, and you'll get a thousand dollars off. That is Vanta.com. Four slash Founders. Another recurring theme in this book is just how much effort Claude just works more than anybody else. Even this is before he was rich. This is him trying to start out.

23:54 He he learns that this company there's there's a story that goes on from any page in the book, but I'm just gonna give you like this brief overview. So one of the companies that has one of the largest advertising budgets in the United States at the time. It's looking for a head of advertising. Claude hears about the job. And he doesn't do what normal people do. It's like okay I'm gonna apply or maybe like I'll call him like uh knock on the guy's door and see if I can, you know, talk to talk to him one oh one or something. Claude does all that, but then he also has dozens of people send letters to the head of hiring.

24:21 That testify to his skill, to Claude's skill as a copywriter and advertiser. He then starts writing a daily column in the newspaper. on advertising and sharing everything that he learned so that the person in charge of the hiring sees it. And of course you know the end result. Claude is gonna be the one that gets that job.

24:39 Another thing that he repeats over and over again. You don't want any distance between you and the end buyer. Like if you're if you're right up on top of them, you can hear You can see how what they reject.

24:51 You could see what appeal. uh like lights up their eyes, you have to stay close to the buyer. And his whole point And this is something that a lot of the advertising agency founders said it's like the best people were like door to door salesmen. uh direct response advertisers and so he says study and he even said like uh think about he he would spend time this is before there was lighting. You know, the people that would gather like in the town square, he said he s he spent hours under torchlight.

25:15 Reading and some of these people were like snake oil salesmen, kinda like Rockefeller's dad. If you study the history of Rockefeller, his dad would go town to town and kind of sell like Literally snake oil, like uh Remedies for everlasting life or a way to cure cancer if you drink this thing. And they would stand on top of a essentially like a box and they would preach and try to sell. And Claude said he would spend hours under torchlight listening and seeing how like what appeals worked for them. So

25:39 Uh Basically, the advice is like stay as close as possible to the end buyer to study salesmen, canvasers, and fakers if you want to know how to sell goods. No argument in the world. Can ever compare. with one dramatic demonstration. Another thing he says over and over again, I'm gonna quote

25:55 Henry Ford, one of my favorite maxims from history of entrepreneurship, money comes naturally as a result of service. I see this all the time. You can look at ads. I I see this especially when I uh fly into San Francisco. I do a lot of recording there now. And You look at the billboards, they have the worst e it's like some of the most valuable companies in the world. And some of the worst billboards you've ever seen because all the billboards talk about is me, me, me, me.

26:17 Buy my product. And his whole thing is just like No one cares about your company. No one cares about your product. you should be positioning your ads to not about you or your product or your company, about what you can do for them. The basic this is a basic conception of selling. This is what Claude Hopkins says.

26:33 The average salesman seeks favors. He seeks profit for himself. His plea is buy my goods. He makes a selfish appeal to selfish people, and of course, he meets resistance. I was selling service. So he's talking about w the the m some of the success that he had early in his career. says I was selling service.

26:50 The whole basis of what I would talk about was to help them get more business. The advantage to myself was covered up in my efforts to please him. All good salesmanship, which is all he considers advertising. says advertising is just salesmanship in print. All good salesmanship is based on appealing to service.

27:09 says it over and over again. He will repeat that dozens of times in the book. That's not an exaggeration. Everywhere we see advertisers merely crying a name. They say buy my brand. Their whole evident desire is some selfish advantage. Such advertising may sometimes pay to an extent. But it can never pay like appeals.

27:26 Which appear un Selfish. Another one of his main lessons, his main idea is create your ad advertising as if a single person was standing in front of you. says my everlasting argument was against dealing with people in the mess. For instance, a woman once wrote to us

27:42 Inquiring about a sewing machine. She had that on her mind and nothing else. The general plan of the business that Hopkins was working for. Was to send her So she writes a letter inquiring about a sewing machine that the company's selling, right? The company before Claude Hopkins

27:56 Would then return her a catalogue. Of everything. says treating all inquiries alike. Big mistake. I urge that every inquirer should be treated like a prospect who came into a store. We had a special catalog on sewing machines, showing every style and price.

28:11 We sent that sowing so if you call in uh excuse me, if you wrote in about sewing machines, this is what Claude Hopkins changed, right? We we have a catalogue dedicated to that shows everything we're doing. Shows every style and price. Send that to her. Okay.

28:24 Then We also sent the names. Of everybody in her town in her vicinity who had bought our showing machine. We then asked her, Hey, go see the machines. In person for yourself if you'd like. And then talk with the owners about whether they like it or not.

28:39 He says this is another valuable principle. We are too apt to regard people in the mass. We must get down to individuals. We must treat people in advertising as we treat them in person. He's gonna say that a million times. That's I think that's the summary right there. Just act if you're writing an ad.

28:54 You're writing a headline, you're making a billboard. J making a thirty second podcast ad for God's sake. We must treat people in advertising as we treat them in person, center on their desires. Now he's combining those ideas. It's not about you. What do they want? Consider the person who stands before you with certain expressed desires. However big your business, get down to the units, for those units are all that make size.

29:16 Now. There's another idea that he has that I've never forgotten since the first time. This is probably the the main idea I learned from him last time. And It's this idea that You really need to tell the pains.

29:28 That you take to excel. And to create your product even if They're not unique to your business. This is fascinating. So He he gets hired by Schlitz Beer. Okay.

29:38 the time Schlitzbeer was had the fifth most market share. So There f you know, there's four other beers that are out selling them. And they hire Hopkins, like, Hey, how can you help us in increase our sales, right? And so he goes okay, well First step of any great ad is research. I gotta figure out like

29:53 what your business is about, why your product is good, how you make it, everything else. So he goes and visits them at their brewery. He says I saw a plate glass rooms where beer was dripping over pipes and I asked a reason for them. They told me that those rooms were filled with filtered air. So the beer could be cooled in purity. I saw great filters filled with white wood pulp.

30:10 They explained how that filtered the beer. They show how they clean every pump and pipe twice daily to avoid contaminations. Every bottle was cleaned four times by machinery. They showed me artisan Wells.

30:22 Where they went four thousand feet deep for pure water. They show me the vats where the beer was aged for six months before it went out to the user. They took me to their laboratory and showed me their original mother yeast cell. It had been developed by twelve hundred experiments to bring out the utmost in flavor. Guys, what are you doing? This is amazing. Why have you not told people these things? Why do you not why do you merely try to cry cry louder than others that your beer is pure?

30:49 Why don't you tell the reasons? The response from the company is, Well, the processes we use are just the same as others. No one can make good beer without them. And this is the most important part of the story. But I replied, others have never told the story. It amazes everyone who goes to your brewery.

31:03 it will start startle everyone in print. So then he takes what he learned and puts it into an ad. So I pictured in print those plate glass rooms and every other factor in purity. I told A story common to all good brewers, but a story which had never been told.

31:20 I gave purity a meaning. Schlitz jump from fifth place to neck and neck with first place. And a few Months. And he says this doesn't just work for beer, it works for

31:30 Any company. Any product again and again I have told simple facts common to all makers in that industry. Too common to be told. But they have given the product first allied with them an exclusive and lasting prestige. That situation occurs in many, many lines. The maker is too close to his product.

31:49 He sees in his methods all Only the ordinary. He does not realize That the world at large might marvel at those methods. And that facts which seem commonplace to him might give him vast distinction.

32:02 Tell the pains. That you take. To excel. And then a few pages later he repeats one of his main ideas. Serve better than others.

32:09 Offer more help than others. And you are pretty sure to win. And a few pages after that, he hits back on service. Think only from your customers' perspective. There are other ways to win in selling and in advertising, but they are slow and uncertain. Ask a person to take a chance on you. And you have a fight.

32:26 Offer to take a chance on him and the way is easy. So then he gets to the point where he's working advertising, he's built up a little bit of talent. And then he meets Everybody met Albert Lasker, this is the guy I mentioned earlier that Claude's gonna work for for seventeen years, I think.

32:43 And who hides Claude's original manuscript in his safe? But everybody met him and said he was just like had some of the most charisma. This is the guy that made more money in advertising than anybody else. And This quick story is just too funny, and you might be use it as an idea in your business when you're recruiting somebody, but this is just how Albert Lasker recruits. And so it says Mr. Lasker said, I have searched the country for copies talking about copyright.

33:05 Okay. This is the copy I got in New York. This is the copy I got in Philadelphia. I spent thousands of dollars to get the best copy obtainable. You see the result.

33:14 Neither knew nor I would submit it. Now I ask you to help me. Give me three ads which will start this campaign. And your wife may go down to Michigan Avenue And select any car on the street and have it charge to me.

33:28 And then this is now what Claude says. So far as I know, no ordinary human being has ever resisted Albert Lasker. He has commanded what he would in this world. Presidents have made him their pal. Nothing he desired.

33:42 Has ever been forbidden him. So I yielded as all do to his persuasiveness. Now, a few pages later, he goes back to one of his favorite ideas. That's another big point to consider. Argue anything for your own advantage, and people will resist to the limit. But seem unselfishly to consider your customers' desires and they will naturally Flock to you.

34:01 The greatest two faults in advertising. Lion boasts. And in selfishness. People will listen if you talk service to them. They will turn their backs.

34:10 when you seek to impress an advantage for yourself This is important. And again, both these books, it's just him documenting the mistakes and the successes that he see people that he sees people make over and over again. We just went to Schlitzbeer beer. He's like, This is amazing, why aren't you telling people about this? And they're like, Well

34:26 'Cause like we do it, but everybody does it. And he's about to Mention that the the the you actually should not write your own advertising because you're too close To your own company.

34:37 And Again, he ties that idea to another idea that you always need to think from the customers perspective. There lies the chief reason why no manufacturer should ever conduct his own advertising. He's too close to his factory. His own interests tend to blind him to the interest of his customers. He fails to appreciate the customers side. He tells of things that he takes pride in, the size of his plant, or how or the age of his business, for example. The advertising man must study the consumer and tell the consumer. What he wants to know. Again. Everything from the customer's perspective. When you hear this over and ever again.

35:09 after you're done listening to this, just go look at you know, flip through a magazine, go look at a billboard. See any ad that you see on social media. It's like the good ads are appealing to you. They talk about what you want there from your perspective and you will see it will be shocking. Once you realize this how many companies just fail to do that very basic premise. Again. These are words in many cases are hundred years old. This is not new information.

35:32 Uh Oh, I love this part. This is just a a random thing that I think uh has to do with like the circle of competence that Buffett talks about a lot. And Called uh

35:42 Hopkins sees it in, you know, his customers too, where they'll be very successful with one product and one business and they're like, Hey, I'm a genius. And so therefore they try to go off and do a completely unrelated business and they fall flat on their face. He says it is curious how we all desire to excel in something outside of our own province. This leads many men astray. Men make money in one business and lose it in others. They seem to feel that one success makes them super businessmen. So Let me back up about how I found Collin Hopkins years ago. I was it had nothing to do with advertising. I was reading Warren Buffett's shareholder letters. I'm about to do another episode on this. It's gonna take me like uh

36:17 You know, this is like a encyclopedia now that uh Warren has written his last shareholders letter, so it's just gonna take me it's gonna be the longest founders episode ever due. Uh, the one the the previous time I did this is still the longest episode I ever did. I think it's like back in the eight episode in the eighties or something. It's like three hours long. But anyways. I'm reading Warren Buffett's Share Hall letters many, many years ago.

36:39 And he keeps calling this guy David Ogreby a genius. I'm like, what the hell's going on here? Who's David Ogreby? So then I look into him. Read David Ogrevey, read everything about him, read everything he wrote and he'll Like everybody else. He'll tell you who his heroes were and I kinda like chased that you know path down.

36:55 And um There's something in this interaction between Buffett, who was a shareholder, because Ogre V and Mather was a public company and Buffett was making buying up the stock. In fact, interesting enough, Buffett made more money on Ogre V's company than Ogrevie did because Og V got scared and sold his equity too early before it appreciated. That's interesting. But Buffett was giving them advice because at the time Ogy and Mather was going around and they were on this acquisition spree and they were like buying up all these a agencies. And

37:21 Buffett. Instead of buying other agencies. Why not buy the best agency, your own? And he was telling me he was like you should buy back your own stock.

37:33 Uh I thought that slight tangent, but I thought that was really interesting. Nothing that Claude Hopkins repeats over and over again, like Let people try your product, give samples, give demonstrations, but there's a right way and a wrong way to do it. I have never found that it paid to give samples to people who do not request it. We must arouse interest in our product before it has value to anybody.

37:53 I consider promiscuous sampling a very bad plan indeed. Products handed out without asking Lose respect. It is different when you force people to make an effort. So Put an ad, say, hey, if you want to learn more about this, or you wanna, you know, you get a free month or whatever the case is, or I'll send the this vacuum cleaner to your house and you can use it for a month or whatever.

38:13 And all you have to do is fill out the thing. There. They have to do something first. And it may c you see this online, you can give your email, whatever the case is. But it's like just don't airdrop it on them.'Cause it's like, hey I'm gonna send You know, three million vacuum cleaners to people, if you wanna use the vacuum cleaner example that he uses in the book.

38:28 It's like what the hell does a vacuum cleaner show up my door for? So that's that would be an example of promiscuous sampling. It's like no, just ask them. They have to do a little bit of effort, but then give them a lot in return. It is different when you force people to make an effort. Um Here we go again. He's already mentioned a dozen variations of this same idea. It's impossible to get to the end of the book or even really the end of this episode with not this this idea being seared into your brain. You cannot go into a well occupied field on the simple appeal of buy my brand.

38:57 That is a selfish appeal. It's repugnant. One must offer exceptional service to induce people to change from favorite brands to yours. The usual advertisers does not offer that exceptional service. He's talking about he's just he's in a C. It's an industry of second rate talent.

39:11 He says if you give service where others fail to supply it, you can establish a great advantage for yourself. So again goes back to It's not about you. It's about service over and over and over again.

39:23 Is And they use examples, uh many examples in the book. Where let's say you have, you know, Acme Furniture Company. Or you have Mrs. B's Furniture mark.

39:34 That if you can give your product and your advertising personality make it an individual. So you should be speaking to them as an individual. But if it comes from an individual. And then hopefully there's a real person behind it. People

39:46 love companies or should be people love people way more than they love companies. And so in one of his brands he established a personality And it's this guy named Professor Anderson and there's an actual Okay. And he says, I've always done that wherever possible. Personalities appeal while soulless corporations do not.

40:03 Make a man famous and you make his creation famous. All of us love to study men and their accomplishments. I'm you've seen this a lot. Uh my friend Lulu Maserve. uh advises m you know many of the tech, uh like the most elite founders of tech. She she handles their personal comms. And a lot her her manifesto is just like you should go direct, like you're the one

40:24 Very similar to the advice that James Dyson's Uh mentor gave him. You know Half a century ago. It's like

40:31 You came up with the product, you you know in every single in and out of the product. You you're you're the guardian of the company's soul. You should be the one doing the selling. You should be the one out there making the case. for why people should either work for your company, buy your product. What uh invest in your company all this.

40:47 Uh again. Like It's a people relate to people, not companies. Um another thing. Prevention is not A

40:56 an appeal is gonna work. That you should be selling painkillers, not vitamins. He made a ton of money off pepsident toothpaste. Which I'll get to in a minute. And so he's talking about this entire chapter of everything he did for Pepsodin.

41:09 And he says, I resolved to advertise this toothpaste as a creator of beauty. The natural idea in respect to a toothpaste at the time was to make it preventative. So you know, y use it now so your teeth don't fall out, or your teeth don't decay. He says, but my experience has taught me that preventative measures were not popular. People will do anything to cure a trouble, but little to prevent it. Countless advertising ideas have been wrecked by not understanding that phase of human nature. Prevention offers slight appeal to humanity in general.

41:34 They want to be told people want to be told of rewards. People want to be told the ways to be happy, to be happier and to be more cheerful, to be more beautiful. This point is important. Every advertising campaign depends on its psychology. Success or failure is determined by the right or wrong appeal. Folks give little thought to warding off disasters.

41:53 Their main ambition is to attain more success, more happiness, more beauty, more cheer. I recognize that fundamental belief. I've never referred to disasters. I have never pictured the afflicted. Every illustration I've ever used, rather, showed attractive people and beautiful. Teeth. And he says

42:11 I made for myself a million dollars on Pepsi. This is an insane amount of money at this time in history, by the way. Just because I learned. The right Human Psychology.

42:21 And then one of my favorite maxims that I've come across is that genius has the fewest moving parts. What I love about Claude Hopkins and this speaks to also Albert Lasker because Albert Lasker made more money in everybody advertising, like I've told you a few times already, but he also did in a simple way. He didn't have art departments, he didn't have all the staff. His whole thing was like, Well, if I can just write the best If I can find the best copyrighting. That

42:43 Increase the sales. That's the only thing. My business has to do. And so he just hired and the best copywriters in the world and let them write copy that made sales and then they made all the money. And he wouldn't even make them work in the office. So in many times Uh

42:58 Hopkins has a uh like a country house. And he was talking about earning, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. at the time so that'd be making, you know, twenty, thirty million, something like that in today's dollars. It's just a lot of money. And he's he says it was all earned at a typewriter, which I operated myself without a clerk or a secretary. That's incredible.

43:18 And then he talks about how he learned how to do this. How have I been able to win from this situation so many great successes? Simply because I made so many mistakes in a small way. And learn something from each. I made no mistake twice. Every once in a while I develop some great advertising principle. That endured.

43:34 That method cost me an enormous amount of time. more time than other men are apt to devote. Much more time and much more sacrifice than other men are apt to devote. That is the purpose of this autobiography. To help other men start. Where I

43:48 Ended. goes back to one of his maxims that you should forget yourself entirely. I have seen many an ad killed by a single unfortunate face. Usually a selfish phrase. Phrases like insist on buying this brand, avoid imitations.

44:03 Look out for substitution. Such appeals have no good effect. And they indicate a motive. Від війшка симпатиз. Forget yourself entirely. Seek in every word to increase your good impression. Say only what you think a good salesman should say.

44:19 If that prospect stood before him. Do not boast. He repeats that over and over again. Do not boast. Not about anything more interesting to you than your prospect. Boasting. Is

44:30 Repulsive. Another thing that all the great advertisers and copywriters through history will repeat. is once you have an ad that works, stick to it. Stop changing it. Stop jumping around. They say this over and over again. You see people, modern day people make this mistake over and over again. The um the way that David Ogie summarized this for me and I never forgot. He says, You're not advertising to standing army, you're advertising to moving parade. Claude Hopkins says the advertising man clings to the methods he established. He fears to change. He's talking about the good people.

44:56 As a matter of fact, it's seldom wise to change. The best way to win new customers is usually the way that won millions. but the advertising becomes monotonous to the men who read every ad. They always come to want something new. So his whole point is like you should stick with what you're work uh stick with what is working. Don't let that your impression cloud the effectiveness.

45:17 You're reading every single ad, but your customers are not. You're advertising you aren't advertising to standing armor, you're advertising to a moving Parade. Uh, then he also talks about the fact that if you're staying close to the money and you're increasing sales, you will be very, very rich. but you have to capture the value help create.

45:34 So he talks about with Pepsodent toothpaste. He's like, Hey, I know my copywriting and my advertising is going to increase your sales, and I'm gonna put my money where my mouth is. So he goes, I've bought shares. At the beginning of the project. For thirteen thousand dollars. Okay. So

45:48 I'm I'm gonna put up thirteen grand, I'm gonna buy your own sh buy your shares, right? And my advertising is gonna make that more valuable that thirteen thousand for that those shares, it paid him two hundred thousand dollars of dividends. And then he also sold that that thirteen thousand many years later for five hundred grand. goes back to the importance of focusing, of spending more hours. Focused on one thing. If you have this singular focus, like Claude Hapkins had, you will derive insights to the people that did not dedicate all the time and effort and Midnight Oil that you did.

46:16 They'll never get the same uh knowledge. They won't have the same insights. They just will not have the same effectiveness as you do. I've always been an addict to work. I love work as other men love play. It is both my occupation and my recreation. As a boy, the necessity for self-support after school hours kept me from the playgrounds. As a man, my desire to learn all that I could about salesmanship has kept me from wasting time. The only game I ever learned is business, but To me, it has been all absorbing. And then I reference that Claude just writes in a very simple way. He doesn't kinda hide his points from me at all. He has a chapter in scientific advertising that's called Just Salesmanship. And that's he's like that's all advertising is.

46:53 Advertising is salesmanship. Its principles are the principles of salesmanship. Thus every advertising question should be answered by the salesman's standards. Advertising is multiplied salesmanship. It may appeal to thousands while the salesman will talk to one. A mediocre salesman may affect a small part of your business.

47:10 Mediocre advertising affects it all. And so he continues, there's one simple and right way to answer many advertising questions. Ask yourself, would this help a salesman sell the goods? Would it help me sell if I met the buyer in person? Some tell you to be very brief, that people will read, but they'll read very little. Would you say that to a salesman?

47:31 With prospects standing before him, would you confine him to a certain number of words? That would be an unthinkable handicap. Consider them as prospects standing before you. So it goes back to again that idea approaching the salesman. Salesmanship. All your ads should be like

47:45 directed to one person as if that person was standing in front of you. They've expressed interest already. Right? That's with your headline grabbed them or your the image that you use grabbed them. Now that you have their attention. How would you talk to them if it's just one person? Don't speak to them as don't consider them a mass. I love this idea. Consider them as pros prospects standing before you, seeking information. Give them enough to get action. So this idea of like, hey,

48:08 Everybody says they're not gonna read or they won't listen to uh watch a commercial, whatever the case is. It's like people will give time to what they're interested in if You make it interesting too. And the line that Uh, Claude Hopkins uses it on this that David Ogrieby would repeat is that the more you tell, the more you sell. In fact, in some cases, their most successful ads are like fifteen thousand words long, but it's

48:29 An interesting story interesting information about a product that the person's already indicated interest in because they they read the headline and decide to read the body copy. Do not think of people a mess. It's like Over and over again, just says the same stuff. Think of a typical individual who is likely to want what you sell.

48:45 Money spending is a serious. Do not boast. He said that before. Don't try to show off. Do what you think a good salesman should do. With a half souled person before him. The advertising man studies the consumer.

48:58 He tries to place himself in the position of the buyer. His success Largely depends on doing that. To the exclusion Of every

49:07 Else. Now he has another chapter in scientific advertising, which is if you buy the his audio book, he includes scientific advertising in the back of this book. And he has a chapter. Again, the chapters are very simple and I think it really illustrates the principles that he think are he thinks very important, the ones that he learned for decades of experience. Offer service.

49:25 Service, service, service. Remember that people you address are selfish. We all are. They care nothing about your interest or your profit. They seek service for themselves. Ignoring this fact is a common mistake and it's very costly in advertising. Ads say in effect. Buy my brand. Give me the trade you give others. Let me have the money. This is not a popular appeal. The best ads ask no one to buy.

49:45 The ads are based entirely on service. They offer wanted information. They cite advantages to users. Some of these ads can seem altruistic. but they're based on a knowledge of human nature. The writers of those ads know how people are led to buy. The good salesman does not say buy my product. He pictures the customer side of his service. Until the natural result is to buy.

50:06 And so he gives us example of At the time. This guy made hairbrushes, right? And his distribution strategies he hired two thousand door to door salespeople, but they didn't knock on the door and say, Hey, look, I have a brush. Do you want, you know You try to brush your hair, it brushes your hair better, it does XYZ. This is very fascinating.

50:23 So he says he is enormously successful in an industry which would seem very difficult. And it would be if his men asked the housewives to buy. Remember he said the best ads asked no one to buy. But they don't. They go door to door and say, I was sent here to give you a brush. I have samples here and I want you to take your choice.

50:41 In picking out one brush She sees several that she wants. She's also anxious to reciprocate the gift. So the salesman gets An order.

50:51 And this is the summary of the chapter. People can be coaxed, but not driven. Whatever they do, they do to please themselves. Many fewer mistakes would be made in advertising if these facts were not. Forgotten. You know how it's funny how he says, Hey, don't change your ads, just repeat it over and over again. The best way to get new customers is the way that you got the customers before them.

51:12 uh the fact that he just repeats these ideas. He he used that same idea because he just repeats them these same ideas over and over again throughout the book. And so a few pages later he says the motto is, The more you tell, the more you sell. It has never f failed to prove out in any test we know. It's almost like he's like Wondering if you're paying attention. He'll say the same idea. Sometimes he uses different words, but it'll illustrate the same concept over and over again. And then he gets to headlines and this is what uh sparked my initial interest. And it's like, you know, I'm obsessed with the the best and most memorable way to

51:41 Which I think you and I do a lot on this podcast together. Uh one one of the things that I stumbled upon was when I was reading the the autobiography, The Four Seasons, the founder of Four Seasons, Isidore Sharp. And he described, you know, he talks about the process of of building one of the most valuable and and historic brands of all time, companies of all time.

52:01 He kinda summarises in one word for us. He says Excellence is the capacity to take pain. And if you read that book. Really is just all the pain that he had to persevere through. And he started

52:13 wanted to build here this ridiculous idea at the time what other people thought ridiculous like I'm gonna build the most premier luxury hotel brand in the world and I've never built a hotel before so it's obviously between that thought and the realization of that dream is going to be a lot of pain. And a lot of people obviously run from that pain and can't persevere through it. So excellence is the capacity to take pain. And so what it spawned me and I had this idea I was thinking about this week about why I wanted to read scientific advertising was For Claude Hopkins insights on headlines. And so this is the chapter on headlines. The purpose of a headline is to pick out people you could interest.

52:44 You wish to talk to someone in a crowd. So the first thing you say is hey there, Bill Jones. to get the right person's attention. Headlines on ads are like headlines on news items. Nobody reads a whole newspaper. We pick out what we wish to read by headlines and we don't want those headlines

53:00 To be misleading. The writing of headlines is one of the greatest journalistic arts. They either conceal or reveal An interest. Always bear these facts in mind.

53:10 People are hurried. They want to be amused or benefited. There may be products which interest them more than anything else, but they will never know it unless the headline tells them. The writer of this chapter, meaning himself, spends far more time on headlines than on writing. Og the same thing. He said something like um

53:29 eighty eighty or ninety percent of people We'll read The headline Then The body copy.

53:37 So therefore it follows that you should spend the majority of your time writing the headline. Right. So she says I spend more for t more time on Headlines and in writing. Uh I often spend hours on a single headline. Often scores of headlines are discarded before the right one is selected. For the entire return from an ad depends on attracting the right sort of readers.

53:57 The best of salesmanship has no chance. Whatever unless we get a hearing. So His point is that What's the point of the year? explaining your product or describing the benefits, right?

54:09 The headline. gets them interested. It is with the door that opens up so they come inside and they actually like read and and and or in this case listen or watch or whatever the case is about your product. Right. the way I think about this and why it has to be entertaining and can't be misleading.

54:27 Oh, David Lilby has another great maximum. He says we can't save souls in an empty church. Right. This is what infuriates me about other like business podcasts, for example. I think entrepreneurship is the most fascinating subject in the world. I think founders, people that create things that did not exist in the world are the most important people in the world. It is There all kinds of crazy characters and stories and fascinating ideas they have and the way they live their lives. It's insane. I'm still uh uh this podcast

54:51 We started next month. So September two thousand sixteen was when I started founders. So that's what, a month from next month, it'll be ten years. I'm still m I'm more interested in entrepreneurship today than I was when I started. I don't think I'll ever not be interested in it. How the hell you make that subject Boring. It's insane to me. So you can't say souls in an empty church.

55:08 We can educate and inspire. Right? But Like the first thing you have to do is entertain. before you educate and inspire. So I think that's what they're h hitting out here.

55:17 You have to figure out what is the headline, what's the hook that's gonna get people interested in what you want to teach them about. And in in his case, like he's writing for For products. Those products All product is so as an idea that's makes somebody else's life better.

55:30 So spend a lot of time figuring out what that main appeal is. to your your um your your prospect, your the c the customer that you want to actually buy. You and st and you do that obviously through a lot of research, he talks about that a lot too. But the reason this is so important And I think w what's one of the best examples of this when he just said, Hey

55:47 Um, you know Uh spend so much time on a single headline. Uh the entire return. could depend on just attracting

55:56 The right person. And you do that through the headline. I don't know why, but when I read that I think of what Steve Jobs did with the iPod. He It's like He explained the the entire value prop in a handful of words. Thousand songs in your pocket.

56:09 That peaks you up. That gets me interested. What? I want a thousand songs in my pocket. How is that even possible? What'd you make? Then I'll listen to your whole presentation and I'll watch the product demo or read the ad or whatever the case is. I think that's really, really fascinating. So again, salesmanship has no chance whatsoever. unless we get here and you can't save souls in an empty church. The identical ad run with various headlines differs tremendously in its returns. It's not uncommon for a change in headlines to multiply returns from five to ten times over. So Claude Hopkins says changing the headline can multiply returns by five to ten times. In Ogrevis books, which are written probably two or three decades after this one, He says uh He's seen nineteen to one. A difference. That's insane. Returns vary enormously due to headlines.

56:50 Address the people you seek and them Only. He will return to this idea later. Then he talks about psychology, which he again, he has entire chapters on this. This is very, very important. The competent advertising man must understand psychology. Human nature is perpetual. It is the same today in today's time as it was in the time of Caesar. So the principles of psychology are fixed and enduring. You will never need to unlearn what you learn about them. We learn for instance that curiosity is one of the strongest human incentives. We employ it whenever we can.

57:20 So w then you give some examples of these psychological quirks that Uh winter and then you'll stay open over again. People judge things largely by price. Uh so he m gives us an example where this this painting was announced that it costs seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

57:36 Before you tell people that that painting cost seven hundred fifty thousand dollars, which at the time, you know, would be let's say a hundred million today. I'm just making the number up, but a big number, right? He says most people. Pass it by, don't even give it a second glance. Then you tell them.

57:49 Hey, that painting's seven hundred fifty grand. Uh And they learn what the painting costs, they return and then surround it. It actually creates a crowd because it's so expensive. Another thing that he found was that we are tribal by nature and we like to belong to groups. So he says.

58:07 It is found that if an offer is limited to a certain class of people, it is far more effective than a general offer. For instance, An offer limited to veterans of the war, or to members of a lodge, or to executives. Those who are entitled to any seemingly advantage advantage by being part of a group. Will go long way not to lose That

58:26 advantage. Another one. An identical offer. And then he he makes this he makes this point again. About why like

58:34 Again, just slight. Slightly different positioning on the same ad is so important because these things are very important. An identical offer made in different ways may bring multiplied returns. And that could be through something like changing that the the headline, could be changing the way it's presented, it could be changing the fact that it needs to belong to a specific group, or it could be be more expensive. Another way to uh increased and multiply the returns. of your advertising is you be specific.

58:58 use actual numbers and he gives great examples here. So You'll see this like hey You know you go into some town. It's like, We're the best cheesecake in the world or something like that. Says platitudes and generalities roll off the human understanding like water from a duck. They have no impression whatsoever. To say best in the world, lowest prices, et cetera, are all at best simply claiming the expected. A definitive statement is usually accepted, however.

59:21 Actual figures are not generally discounted. Specific facts have their full weight and effect. The weight of an argument may often be multiplied by making it specific. So he gives the example of Lot of people would sell.

59:34 Uh clothing, for example. And they would say, Hey, we have the lowest prices in America. That's not really an effective appeal. One guy who was selling a bunch of clothing says my net profit is three percent. That was a definitive statement and it proved very impressive. So again

59:49 Like we have really low prices. We're saying low price in America. Okay. I only make three percent profit. Well if you're a customer's like, Okay, that that's pretty well, that means

59:59 They're barely scraping by. I probably can't get this article of clothing for cheaper. than anybody else that it's essentially selling at almost no profit margin. gives another example of people a lot of different people are selling razors to shave your face.

1:00:13 Many uh makers of razors have long advertised quick shaves. One maker advertis a seventy eight second shave. That was the definitive statement. It indicated actual test results. That man made a sensational, sensational advance in his sales. And then he goes back to the importance of headlines, and this is a great way of summarizing his main idea. Your main appeal should lie in your headline. Whatever promise, the best promise. That you have Which is the

1:00:40 Actual benefit. that the customer gets from using your product. Make sure it's in the headline. Go back to Steve Jobs. One thousand songs. In your pocket.

1:00:49 His main appeal was in the headline. And then he ends with effort. An ad writer to have a chance of success must gain full information on his subject. A painstaking advertising man will often read for weeks. On some problem which comes up.

1:01:05 Perhaps in many volumes he will find few facts to use, but But some one fact may be the keystone. Of his success. To advertise a toothpaste. This writer has also read many volumes of scientific matter that was dry as dust.

1:01:21 But in the middle of one volume He found the idea. Which has helped make millions for that toothpaste maker. Genius. Is the art of taking

1:01:31 pains. That is too good not to say again. Genius Is the art of taking pains. The advertising man who spares the Midnight Oil will never get very far. Let me interrupt this, where he says, Hey. I'm reading through volume after volume of the scientific matter. It's dry as dust. It's boring. But I just found one single sentence, one idea that was the basis, the cornerstone of this advertising campaign that made My customer, my client, millions. Og the same thing happen. He was reading to

1:02:00 Hundreds of pages if I remember correctly. About his c his customer Rolls Royce. And he said it was like some obscure engineering document. Wasn't even meant for consumption of advertising, had n wasn't even meant to be seen by the outside world. And he's found a line that was the basis for one of his most successful advertising campaigns of all time. And it says at sixty miles an hour, the loudest noise in this new Rolls Royce Comes from the electric.

1:02:23 Clock. Genius is the art of taking pain. The advertising man who spares the Midnight Oil will never get very far. An advertising campaign is usually preceded by a very large volume of data.

1:02:37 The uninformed Would be staggered. to know the amount of work involved in a single ad. Weeks of work. The ad seems so simple.

1:02:45 And it must be simple to appeal. But back of that ad may lie reams of data. volumes of information And months of research. This

1:02:56 Is no lazy man's Field. And that is where I'll leave it. Highly recommend reading both his autobiography, My Life and Advertising. And his book on advertising called Scientific Advertising that is four hundred. And thirty books down, one thousand to go.

1:03:11 And I'll talk to you again soon.

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