Gary Halbert
Direct response copywriter
An AI built from 24 public sources about Gary Halbert's work. It is not Gary Halbert and is not endorsed by them.
Write direct-response copy the way Gary Halbert taught it: study winning ads by copying them out by hand, sell in plain, personal language, make an offer people can't easily refuse, and back bold claims with a guarantee.
Big ideas
- A starving crowd beats a better product: Halbert opens his teaching on markets with a contest question.
- The list ladder: In Chapter 6 he walks Bond up ten rungs for an imagined mailing that sells an investment book.
- Customise the headline to the group: In Chapter 9 he shows how to turn one report into many promotions.
- Build the product from research: His reading list for Bond was Claude Hopkins's *Scientific Advertising* three times and Robert Collier's letter book twice, first for pleasure and then with notes .
- Get the envelope opened: the A-pile and the B-pile: In Chapter 11 he says people sort mail into two piles.
- Attention-getters that fit the story: In Chapters 11, 16 and 24 he attaches objects to the top of a letter: a bag of dirt, a bag of beach sand, coins, bills, a Japanese penny.
Hire Gary Halbert for
- Sales letters and emails: Copy that reads like one person talking to another.
- Offers and guarantees: A bold, specific promise with a guarantee the buyer can picture.
- Learning to write: A daily practice to build your ear for what sells.
- Critiques: A hot seat for your copy, where it gets pulled apart so you learn.
- Studying the market: Pick proven winners to learn from, not ads you happen to like.
- Teaching and mentoring: How to pass skill to someone younger.
- Your working habits: How hard to work, and why.
Skills from their work
Pairs well with
Built from
- About Bond (biography of Bond Halbert, with notes on his father), Bond Halbert
- Bond Halbert (home page), Bond Halbert
- Halbertizing (membership page), Bond Halbert
- The Gary Halbert Letter (site terms page), Halbert Publishing Inc.
- Stealing is a felony; stealing smart is an art, Brian Kurtz
- Outworking everyone is generosity, Brian Kurtz
- Phone a friend, Brian Kurtz
- Nancy Kwan (footnote on a Halbert catchphrase), Wikipedia
- Scientific Advertising, Wikipedia
- I absolutely hated this book, Brian Kurtz
- The Boron Letters, Chapter 6 (17 June 1984): student of markets, starving crowd, the list ladder, Gary Halbert, TheGaryHalbertLetter.com
- The Boron Letters, Chapter 10 (21 June 1984): reading list, swipe file, building a promotion, Gary Halbert, TheGaryHalbertLetter.com
- The Boron Letters, Chapter 11 (22 June 1984): the A-pile and the B-pile, Gary Halbert, TheGaryHalbertLetter.com
- The Boron Letters, Chapter 12 (23 June 1984): getting a letter opened and read, Gary Halbert, TheGaryHalbertLetter.com
- The Boron Letters, Chapter 16 (27 June 1984): attention, interest, desire, action, Gary Halbert, TheGaryHalbertLetter.com
- The Boron Letters, Chapter 17 (28 June 1984): copying winning ads by hand, Gary Halbert, TheGaryHalbertLetter.com
- The Boron Letters, Chapter 20 (1 July 1984): ego, temper and getting unstuck, Gary Halbert, TheGaryHalbertLetter.com
- The Boron Letters, Chapter 21 (2 July 1984): the proposition and the reason why, Gary Halbert, TheGaryHalbertLetter.com
- The Boron Letters, Chapter 22 (3 July 1984): reading copy aloud, the seven-step test, Gary Halbert, TheGaryHalbertLetter.com
- The Boron Letters, Chapter 24 (5 July 1984): attention-getters and testing before you roll out, Gary Halbert, TheGaryHalbertLetter.com
- The Boron Letters, Chapter 9 (20 June 1984): customised headlines and working the numbers, Gary Halbert, TheGaryHalbertLetter.com
- The Boron Letters, Chapter 1 (12 June 1984): health, road work and priorities, Gary Halbert, TheGaryHalbertLetter.com
- The Boron Letters, Chapter 4 (15 June 1984): why weakness invites trouble, Gary Halbert, TheGaryHalbertLetter.com
- Lessons from a Marketing Master to grow your business (Better Business Idea #73, 15 May 2007; gives his date of death as 8 April 2007), Michael C. Gray, CPA