How to Get People to Put Money in Envelopes and Mail it To You
Published: Sun, 08/28/22
How to Get People to Put Money in Envelopes and Mail it To You
When I started out in the copywriting business, nobody knew what a copywriter was. Friends would think I wrote resumes, books, articles, etc.
When I would say "sales letters," they would scratch their heads thinking as if that were a business at all.
That's when
I would say, "I get people to put money in envelopes and mail it to me!"
That surely got their attention!
Today I get people to "click and buy." And instead of the money coming in the form of a check, it's gets transferred directly into my checking account.
Talk about a win.
Naturally people would ask me, "How to I get them to do that?"
My answer was simple, "I persuade them to."
Which brings me to what I wanted to talk to you today about: The process of using the power of your words to convince someone to buy what you are selling.
I've been blessed to learn the secrets of
doing this in my 30+ year copywriting career.
Thankfully I learned this from the ground up selling subscriptions for investment and trading newsletters.
Because I was selling "the golden dream of wealth and riches" it was quite easy.
That's because everyone wants MONEY.
Not just money, but more money...along with a simple pathway for making it happen.
Let me be honest. People are lazy. They are looking for shortcuts in business and in life. My style of copywriting gave them exactly what
they were looking for.
The great short-cut I was selling was investing in stocks or by trading them.
I did it by four ways, with:
Facts
Logic
Emotion
Storytelling
The storytelling was probably the most important component of all. That's because I would simply tell the story of "the secret
stock that would make you rich."
I would then cover every single fact about that stock that would convince someone that, yes, this stock was headed toward the moon.
Then I would paint the picture of the money it could make you...
In fact, I would even go as far as making the reader feel as if they had already made the money.
EXAMPLE:
You Could Be Living on Easy Street with These Biotech Breakthroughs
Own your own Florida beach condo. If you'd invested just $7,500 in ELAN (ELN), you'd have racked up a whopping $172,864 in profits. You'd be able to wake up each morning, sip coffee on your balcony, and stroll along the beach any time you wanted. You'd get to enjoy your life while your stocks made you money -just like the rich do!
Can you
imagine...
There you are in your own beach condo living the good life--all by simply buying the secret stocks that you would find contained my my sales message.
That was the key to my success.
Knowing my audience, knowing what they wanted, and then creating the messaging to do one thing: Get them to put the money in the envelope and mail it to me!
Not really to me...but to my publisher and then he send me my piece of the action.
I made millions of dollars doing this
and loved every single minute of it.
I credit the fine people at Phillips Publishing/InvestorPlace who saw my talent and coached me along the way.
This, I may remind you, was WAY before the internet.
For each project I was not only given a ton of research about investors and investing, but also many of their most successful control packages to study.
And boy did I study them!
I studied the the headlines, subheads, body copy, and calls-to-action...
I studied the transition words to best walk the reader to the order form...
I studied the tone of the writer's voice...
If my copy did not read like the great copywriter Gary Bencivenga wrote it, I would go back and re-write again and again and again.
This is how I got people "put the money in the envelope and mail it to me!"
All by studying my craft, reading great copy, and then working to emulate it.
I did it by collecting a swipe file of winning ads and then committing to memory the persuasive elements contained in them.
In fact, below my desk I kept of box of these winning pieces--my swipe file if you will--that I would dive into almost daily as I was writing.
No, I did not hand write these pieces like many copy coaches would tell you to do. I was more strategic. I would memorize the
arguments and transitions. As I wrote these ideas would pop into my brain at the right time--almost like magic.
As these magalogs and direct mail pieces started to get worn, I scanned them and put them into my computer so as I was writing I could do a simple search for what I was looking
for and BAMM--it was there.
As I started hitting home run after home run, I scanned my own pieces and started swiping from myself because I knew they were working and could then transfer my successes on one project to another.
If you don't have a swipe file that you are constantly diving into for winning market proven ideas, get one.
Because that is the fastest way you will learn how to get people to put money in envelopes and mail it to you.
Over the past 30 years, my direct mail and
email promotions have together generated over $100 million in subscription revenues.
Each one has been hand-picked by me to give you a bank of winning headlines, leads, transitions, and arguments that you can turn to whenever you need inspiration for your next email, landing page, or video sales letter. They include:
The Great Retirement Betrayal. This was my first grand slam promotion. As you'll see, it's written like a grandfather whose only goal is to make sure you don’t
get ripped off by bankers, brokers, and the government. When you read it, you’ll see how you, too, can add this same friendly/fatherly tone to your sales letters, landing pages, and webinars.
One Nation Under China is one of my best examples of using the Trojan Horse. Written like a highly-charged
news article, it slowly walks you down the order form using a combination of fear and greed. It is one of my best examples of using the news hook to move your readers to do a swan dive to the order form.
Tap the Hidden Wealth Inside Your Paycheck was written and targeted at regular everyday people who are trying to
get ahead in life and just don’t know how. You’ll read how I speak to them in a to-a-friend-from-a-friend tone. This launch package beat a well-known A-list writer’s effort and was money for me for two years.
The One Stock That Will Make You a Marijuana Millionaire is one of my best examples of using a single stock
story to sell a subscription to an investment newsletter. The big takeaway here is how I use undeniable proof to make the case for owning this incredible stock. Another two-year control.
The New Science of Getting What You Want was self-promotion for a book I authored 15 years ago. In it, you’ll read how I use my credibility, track record, and the dream of achieving success to walk the reader to the order form. You’ll also see how I integrate a no-risk money-back guarantee throughout.
The Fast Money 2020 $1 Million Giveaway is the transcript for a highly successful two-person webinar/VSL. You’ll see how I use a conversational back-and-forth
style to keep viewers engaged in learning the secret trading strategy that will make them rich.
Oil Time Bomb to Blindside U.S. Investors was one of my favorite all-time promotions. REASON: It uses my famous “either-or” news approach to bring in
readers on both sides of the argument. Prospects read every last word to see if they are right. This was a three-year control using various headlines and was converted to a highly successful VSL.
The Lightning-Fast Profits Summit is the transcript for another highly successful trading service VSL I wrote. Here you will see one of my biggest secrets at work: How explaining how the trading mechanism works to prove to readers that this system will make readers money. So powerful, you may forget this is an example and subscribe!
The Retirement Club is one of my legendary email promotions that ran in various formats for over a decade using a simple e-vite and landing page that transformed
a publication into a club by repositioning the offer.
The Master Key to Marijuana Profits relaunched a struggling publication to incredible success. The key to success was taking a macro-economic view and then
drilling down into the individual stock picks.
Individually, you’ll see first hand:
My headline formula for grabbing readers by the throat
How I use subheads and bullet points to keep the readers' interest
throughout each promotion
How I drop “cookies” throughout each piece to build desire.
How I close sale after sale with time-proven calls-to-action that
work!
Together, you’ll find 233-pages filled with dozens of headline, subhead, landing page, and call-to-action ideas and offers you can use to keep your copywriting strategies fresh and engaging.
My hope is that you can use the structure and format of my winning
promotions as a step-by-step guide to writing your next big winning email, landing page, or VSL.
When you consider that each one is packed with 38-years of copywriting knowledge and million-dollar results...you really can't go wrong.
SPECIAL OFFER
Considering the millions of dollars my promotions have generated, you would think it would cost thousands of dollars to acquire copies of my winningest promotions.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact, the regular price for these 10 multi-million dollar winners is just $350.
That comes to just $35 each.
Why so little?
Because I promised myself when I reached the pinnacle of my career, I would help other work their way to the top. Offering them at a reasonable price is my way of doing just that.
But you won't pay that price.
As part of a special offer, I'm offering it to you for just $299, that's a savings of $51 off the regular price and a small investment to make for a swipe file of winning promotions you can steal ideas from!
When you add everything up, I think you'll agree that's an irresistibly attractive offer and a diamond-studded opportunity to learn how you use my winning copywriting techniques to get more people to put
money in envelopes and mail it to you!
There's just one catch.
This special offer is good for just 24 hours only.
You can purchase my swipe file in complete confidence knowing that I will give you full credit towards my coaching or mentoring programs when you sign up.
As a seasoned direct response copywriter, Doug has created hundreds of profitable
direct mail packages, emails, and video sales letters for the world's largest specialized information
publishers—generating over $100 million in direct sales.
