How did struggling copywriter Gary Halbert turn one letter into a $90,000,000 empire? It was 1971 when young Gary decided to throw out all the rules and try something radically different. He crafted a 381 word letter that would go down in history as one of the most mailed sales letter ever written.
The Coat of Arms letter was sent over 600,000,000 times and reportedly brought in as much as $250,000 per day. It was one of the most profitable direct mail campaigns ever crafted. The orders came in nonstop.
The crazy part is, The Coat of Arms letter merely sold a $2.00 product. Yes, you read that correctly, two dollars. Gary knew the fortune was in the follow up. Even though his initial offer was only 2 bucks, he followed up with back end offers nonstop.
Podcasting is a lot like that Coat of Arms letter. At first, your show won't bring in a huge pay day. But, if you plan correctly, and follow up, it will bring in sales nonstop.
In today's article we'll cover:
- Everything depends on them opening
- It's a reinforcer
- Getting more sales
Everything depends on them opening
When Halbert was crafting his Coat of Arms letter he knew the first battle he faced was getting people to open his letter. If no one opened it, there was no chance they'd buy. He kept things simple and mailed it in a #10 envelope with only the persons name an address printed on it. It didn't look like a typical sales piece, so people opened it.
Its the same with podcasting. A podcast is a great carrier of your message. You're recording a show to get your message into the ears of eager listeners. It's a sales piece wrapped in an entertainment container. People will open and listen, without being afraid of being “sold.”
Now let's look at how we can turn this attention into nonstop sales.
“The people who listen the most, already know me. It's a reinforcer.”
Shawna, host of The Consensual Sales Show, told me her best listeners are the people who know her. She says her show is like having a coach in her pocket ready to deploy any time her clients need her. Whenever her clients have a question about a topic, she gives them an episode to listen to where she has already talked about that topic. The podcast reinforces her message and keeps her clients engaged. In the next section we'll bring it all together.
How does reinforcing your message lead to more sales?
Most marketers are obsessed with front end sales. Young Gary knew front end sales weren't as important as lifetime value (LTV) of a customer. His two dollar offer brought in paying customers who were eager to spend more money on similar items. His buyers list became his most valuable asset. Gary made all his profits on the back end.
If we want to profit from our podcast, we must be like Gary. Think in terms of lifetime value of our clients. The people who pay, pay attention. If we're selling a recurring service, the podcast helps keep our clients engaged. If we're selling multiple different products, the podcast gives us a platform to put those products in front of our best customers. We covered a lot, so why don't we do a quick review.
Gary Halbert famously said, “One idea, properly executed, is worth 10 lifetimes of hard work.”
He proved this to be true with his Coat of Arms Letter. He eventually sold his company for $90,000,000 mostly because of the success of that one single letter. Our podcast is an elegant device to carry our sales message to our clients, repeatedly. A podcast reinforces everything we say. The people who pay, will pay attention to us more than anyone else. That's why a podcast is a great tool to increase the lifetime value of our clients.
That's great, but what's next?
In today's article we talked about podcasting being a great reinforcer of your message. The people who will benefit most are typically your clients. For more ideas on how you can use podcasting to pickup clients, check out this podcast https://thepodcastfactory.com/dwp014/
When you're ready to make nonstop sales with a podcast, I can show you how it all works in a quick 30 minute call. Book a time to talk at https://thepodcastfactory.com/start/
