How would you like to write a piece of copy that pulls a 100 percent response rate?
In case you are wondering, a typical direct mailing produces a 1–5 percent response rate.
In 1925, Bruce Barton, one of the founders of the BBDO advertising agency, wrote a fundraising letter for Berea College in Berea, Kentucky. The letter, which was sent to 24 people, asked for each recipient to reply with a check for $1,000 ($1,000 was a lot of money in 1925). All 24 recipients of Barton’s letter responded—some even more generously than Barton requested—and Berea College was $30,000 richer.
How was Mr. Barton able to achieve this miraculous feat? He followed the three rules that should be tattooed on the foreheads of anyone who wants to communicate more effectively with his or her customers, colleagues, peers, or husband or wife.
1) Brevity: "About sixty years ago two men spoke at Gettysburg; one man spoke for two hours. I suppose there is not any one who could quote a single word of that oration. The other man spoke about three hundred words, and that address has become a part of the school training of almost every child."—Bruce Barton
—Being brief—concise, not short in length—means learning how to make every word count and every sentence impactful.
2) Simplicity: "I think it might be said, no advertisement is great that has anything that can't be understood by a child of intelligence. Certainly all the great things in life are one-syllable things—child, home, wife, fear, faith, love, God."—Bruce Barton
—Writing simply means knowing your audience and then carefully choosing language they will easily understand. If you want to show off your vocabulary, write for an academic journal.
3) Sincerity: "I believe the public has a sixth sense for detecting insincerity, and we run a tremendous risk if we try to make other people believe in something we don't believe in. Somehow our sin will find us out."—Bruce Barton
—Being sincere means always believing what you say.
Timeless Lesson: Be brief, simple, and clear in all of your communications.
If you want to read Mr. Barton's letter in full, and I highly recommend that you do, please click here.
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