THE MASTERS · HALBERT
Gary Halbert: who he was and what to take from him
Market. List. Offer. Copy.
Gary Halbert (1938 to 2007) wrote direct mail and taught copywriting by newsletter and by letter. This page covers who he was, five ideas worth keeping, how to use them online and where they need care.
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who he was
Who Gary Halbert was
Gary Halbert was an American direct mail copywriter. He wrote sales letters for clients, published a newsletter called The Gary Halbert Letter and taught copywriting.
He is best remembered for a long-running mailing built around family coats of arms, and for The Boron Letters, which he wrote to his son in 1984 from a federal prison camp.
five ideas
Five ideas that still hold
| Idea | What it says | How to use it now |
|---|---|---|
| The starving crowd | A hungry market matters more than a better product. | Before you write, find people who already want what you sell. See how to find a hungry market. |
| Market, list, offer, copy | The order of work. Copy comes last. | Check the audience and the offer before you edit sentences. |
| The A-pile and the B-pile | People open mail that looks personal and bin mail that looks like advertising. | Write emails and letters that read as a note to one person, not a brochure. |
| The offer | Halbert put the offer ahead of the sentences. | Add a guarantee, a bonus or a deadline before you rewrite the page. |
| Write to one person | Plain words and short sentences, with one reader in mind. | Read the draft aloud, and cut anything you would not say to that person. |
the order
Market, list, offer, copy: the order of work
- Market: who wants this badly enough to act? Look for people already spending money or time on the problem.
- List: where do those people already gather or buy, and can you reach them? Today that is a mailing list, a search term, a community or an ad audience.
- Offer: what do they get, for how much and on what terms? Put proof and the guarantee here.
- Copy: only now write the words that present the offer.
A weak result is easy to blame on the copy. Check the first three steps before you rewrite it.
online
Using Halbert online
- Landing page: open on the reader’s situation, and show the offer and the guarantee early.
- Email: write it as a note to one person, from a named sender, with one link.
- Ads: pick the audience first, and write for the hungriest segment.
- Testing: change the offer before you change the adjectives.
the limits
Where Halbert needs care
- His examples are mailed letters. Email, search and social have different costs and rules.
- Long personal letters suit some offers and not others, so test length in your market.
- Urgency and strong claims need proof behind them. Check what you can back up before you borrow a tone.
- Take the order of work, and test the style.
reading him
Where to start reading
The Boron Letters is the usual first book. The best copywriting books page puts it in a reading order with the other masters.
the full method
Halbert is one of eight masters
In the playbook his page covers the core idea, what to borrow today and the limit to respect. His line is market, list, offer, copy, and principle no. 16 puts the offer first: strengthen the offer before decorating the copy.
the playbook
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before you go
Common questions
Who was Gary Halbert?
An American direct mail copywriter, born in 1938 and died in 2007. He is known for his newsletter, The Gary Halbert Letter, and for The Boron Letters, which he wrote to his son.
What are The Boron Letters?
A set of letters Halbert wrote to his son Bond in 1984, while he was in a federal prison camp at Boron, California. They cover copywriting, marketing and how to work.
What is the starving crowd?
Halbert’s example for the power of the market. If you could have one advantage when selling hamburgers, he said, take a starving crowd over a better hamburger.
What are the A-pile and the B-pile?
Halbert’s way to describe how people sort mail. The A-pile is mail that looks personal and gets opened. The B-pile is mail that looks like advertising and gets thrown away.
Is Gary Halbert still worth reading?
Yes, for the order of work and the habit of settling market and offer before copy. His mail examples need translating to email, search and landing pages.
Where does Halbert fit in Ink & Signal?
He is one of the eight masters, with the line market, list, offer, copy. Principle no. 16 reads: strengthen the offer before decorating the copy.
keep reading
Related
Best copywriting books
The books behind the eight masters, in a reading order.
Scientific advertising
Claude Hopkins on testing every claim.
How to find a hungry market
Check demand before you write a single ad.