Thread by @FindJimClair

A few people seem to think I "talk shit" about Gary Halbert.
Here's my take on Halbert, and a few nuggets on his copy and the man.

1. I have a one-eyed cat named Halbert. Yep, named him after Gary Halbert. So no, I do not despise Gary Halbert, nor am I talking shit on him.

2. I'm critical of Gary Halbert, but I deeply respect Halbert. Halbert's copy method is good to know, but it's not the unicorn method it's believed to be. Here's what I mean, Gary Halbert basically hard-sold trinkets. The products he sold sucked. The only legitimate product...

He helped with, possibly Fishbein's furniture. Even still, it was more constant liquidation style selling.

Halbert's copy for products works well for a one-time transaction. Like liquidating old products. If you run a small used car store, and you have some ancient inventory...

His copy or method can work well for that. So for a one-off sale where you don't care much about a long term relationship with the customer, or word-of-mouth, his copy is good to know.

3. Again, Halbert mainly hard sold bullshit products. We remember the man, we remember a few ads, but what happened to those products? Gone. Poof. And a few people he wrote for, served time for fraud.

The issue?

This copy sells but it's short-term. It can cheapen your brand.

The copy hides information, and hammers the promise and hammers the sale. If you have a great product, whatever it is, these hyper sales messages hides the product. And the copy doesn't qualify for a good buyer. It tries to force anyone into buying. An important difference 2 know

4. David Ogilvy & Claude Hopkins, we remember the products they sold. In fact, you'd be hard to NOT find one of the products they wrote for in your household. They were good writers. They used various formulas, and what they created, still holds up. You can use their formula...

And it works. It's Lindy.

Now, we could say Halbert's method is still used and still sells. And you're right. Frank Kern, Ryan Deiss, Perry Belcher, Agora, and countless use Halbert's formula. So how is it not robust?

Zoom out a bit. Look at the business aspect.

Halbert influenced a large part of the digital marketing world we know. And many people print money in it. I made big bucks in this world. But, those adhering to the Halbert side, it's a constant scramble. It's like paycheck to paycheck. Or trying to win scratch tickets.

You need massive hits. You get a taste of a huge cash windfall, then it vanished. You go at it again, you keep playing and playing. Your email opens go down, your ad spend pissed away. You scramble for that cash hit. In this world, many go bust. Many live in constant scramble.

5. Halbert's life resembled that scramble. He died flat broke. He'd get a massive hit of cash, then with poor business sense, wild spending, or a bunch of flopped ads, he'd be absolutely flat broke. Yes, his copy can produce cash, but not quite income.

6. Halbert also knew when he was selling nonsense. I struggle with that. He supposedly tried to do right. And I gather he was a good man. But when you're scrambling you lose site. Halbert did time. Some claim it's because he told off a postmaster. Yeah, um, you don't serve...

14 months in the Federal Pen because you told off the postmaster.

Again, I'll clarify, I deeply respect and admire the man. But he comes with a lot of complications.

7. Halbert was a larger than life character. And it's fun reading his ads, his letters, and hearing the stories. But that's somewhat the blinding spot. The products, the trail of destruction, we miss the other side.

8. I'll leave it here, Halbert's copy is good to know..

As I said, sometimes you need to move something quick. But if you're selling a quality product, if you want long-term customers, at best maybe you steal a few phrasing tricks from Halbert. But it's best to stick to a formula that qualifies the buyer.

I'll say it till I'm in the grave, David Ogilvy and Claude Hopkins. You can't beat them. Halbert has limited capacity, but he certainly throws a few things to know.