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Search Results for: Victor Schwab

100 Good Advertising Headlines (by Victor Schwab)

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100 Good Advertising HeadlinesMany moons ago, one of the sharpest copywriters in the world wanted to drum up business for his ad agency.

What did he do?

He created a massive, two-page advertising spread of 100 headlines he handpicked as the most instructive ever written.

The copywriter was Victor Schwab and the timeless compilation of headlines and thumbnail analyses he put together are a must for anyone serious about creating great headlines.

It’s worth reading theses headlines in their original layout, so after you’ve scanned the scrumptious headlines below, you can print out the ad to keep on your desk for quick reference.

100 Good Advertising Headlines (1-megabyte PDF) This is a 3,000+ word ad, so if you choose to print it out, you’ll need larger paper or just use the magnifier in your PDF Reader.

1. THE SECRET OF MAKING PEOPLE LIKE YOU

Almost $500,000 was spent profitably to run keyed ads displaying this headline. It drew many hundreds of thousands of readers into the body matter of a “people-mover” advertisement — one which, by itself, built a big business. Pretty irresistible, isn’t it?

2. A LITTLE MISTAKE THAT COST A FARMER $3,000 A YEAR

A sizable appropriation was spent successfully in farm magazines on this ad. Sometimes the negative idea of offsetting, reducing, or eliminating the “risk of loss” is even more attractive to the reader than the “prospect of gain.”

As the great business executive Chauncey Depew once said, “I would not stay up all of one night to make $100; but I would stay up all of seven nights to keep from losing it.” As Walter Norvath says in Six Successful Selling Techniques, “People will fight much harder to avoid losing something they already own than to gain something of greater value that they do not own.” It is also true that they have the feeling that losses and waste can often be more easily retrieved than new profits can be gained.

What farmer could pass up reading the copy under such a headline — to find out: “What was the mistake? Why was it ‘little’? Am I making it? If it cost a farmer a loss of $3,000 a year, maybe it’s costing me a lot more? Perhaps the copy will also tell me about other mistakes I might be making.” [Read more…] about 100 Good Advertising Headlines (by Victor Schwab)

Filed Under: Magic Headlines

Victor Schwab Ad # 7: “How To Win Friends And Influence People”

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How_To_Win_FriendsWhen a book title is perfect, there’s no need for a copywriter to wrack his brain over a headline…even if he’s the best.

And that’s exactly what Victor Schwab did. He used Dale Carnegie’s book title, “How To Win Friends And Influence People,” as the headline for the now legendary space ad.

Even though the copy for this ad was written 72 years ago, the most formidable writer would be challenged to top it today.

The book, of course, remains one of the most influential self-help/business books of all time. So much so, it was even widely read in the former Soviet Union.

“How To Win Friends And Influence People”

Filed Under: Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

Victor Schwab and The Little Known Book That Launched A $100 Million Company

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Frank BettgerTwo powerhouse direct marketers credit the same little known book by Frank Bettger for their success: Gary Bencivenga, the world’s greatest living copywriter and Marty Edelston, the founder of the $100 million per annum company, Boardroom.

After reading Victor Schwab’s spectacular (for the 1950’s) bullets, I’ve pulled “How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success Through Selling” for a needed refresher.

I am making a guess that Victor Schwab not only wrote the ad for the book but also the chapter titles. Schwab’s extensive track record at that time included the world class ad for “How To Win Friends And Influence People.” That was also the headline for the ad. One of the few instances in which the title of the book is so good, it’s impossible to come up with something better.

Bettger understood the power of great copy and smartly turned the chapter titling over to one of the world’s best ad writers rather than a book editor.

Keep in mind these bullets were written in 1950. It’d be another twenty years until the modern bullet was crafted by Ralph Ginzburg and Mel Martin.

  • I was welcomed everywhere when I did this
  • An idea that helped me get into the “major leagues”
  • The biggest reason why salesman lose business
  • A $250,000 sale in 15 minutes
  • The most important word I have found in selling
  • How I find hidden objection
  • The secret of making appointments
  • This interview taught me how to overcome my fear of approaching big men
  • How I learned to outsmart secretaries and switchboard operators
  • How to let the customer help you make the sale
  • Seven rules I use in closing the sale

Here is Victor Schwab’s full page ad.

Filed Under: Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

Victor Schwab Ad #8: A Message to Bookkeepers Wishing To Earn

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Victor Schwab AdThis ad was written 89 years ago by 21-year-old copywriter, Victor Schwab, who now firmly belongs to the Pantheon of great advertising people of the 20th Century.

This example reminds us that great advertising is timeless.

Schwab laser targets his audience and dangles a realizable promise in front of them.

It’s sobering for fledgling ad writers today to see such direct response sophistication from a 21-year -old in the year  1919.

The results-based testimonials trump most that we encounter today.

$100 in 1919 translates to about $1,200 today.

To save the PDF to your hard drive, right click on the image and choose either “Save Target As” or “Save Link As.”

Filed Under: Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

A Tale Of Two Copywriters

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One late summer evening, two copywriters sat down at their keyboards to craft sales letters for almost identical products.

They were very much alike, these two copywriters.

Both had years of experience writing every type of ad and were dynamos at selling to their core markets.

Both writers were also dedicated students of direct response marketing and were up on the latest trends and techniques for making their clients (and themselves) ever larger profits.

But while one writer spent an entire week on writing and edits, his leisure-loving colleague cranked his final draft out within hours of sitting down that first evening.

And here’s the capper. [Read more…] about A Tale Of Two Copywriters

Filed Under: Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

How Long Should An Advertisement Be?

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Victor Schwab Ad 09Warning: if you want the long answer to this, it’ll take about 20 minutes to read this behemoth of an ad from Victor Schwab. Also, unless you’re comfortable working with electron microscopes, printing this on an 8 1/2 x 11 will be a slog

(Just click on the ad image to download the almost one megabyte PDF file.)

There are so many timeless observations in this piece, that it’s hard to beleive it first appeared in print 55 years ago.

Much of this ad was repurposed into Victor Schwab’s classic, “How To Write a Good Advertisement.”

Here is one of my favorite sections called:”

“22 Ways to Hold Interest Longer” [Read more…] about How Long Should An Advertisement Be?

Filed Under: Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

“How I raised myself from a failure at 29 to become a $250 per day success!”

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Here’s Victor Schwab’s ad for Frank Bettger’s landmark book: How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling.

“How I raised myself from a failure at 29 to become a $250 per day success!”

…that’s the amazing personal story FRANK BETTGER tells you clearly, simply, step by step in his great book, “How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling.” Says DALE CARNEGIE, “When I met Frank Bettger at 29, he was nearly down-and-out. . . Then something
happened that raised him from defeat and despair. I know. I saw it happen. I saw him rise from a total failure to become one of the foremost salesmen in the nation.”

NO MATTER who you are or what you do—Frank Bettger’s remarkable book can help you tremendously. For he tells you the secrets of getting ahead that he learned in his almost unbelievable rise from total failure at 29 to high paid and highly honored business success . . . “secrets” you can begin to use as soon as you receive his book—yours FREE when you mail coupon below.

Yes, Frank Bettger tells you how any salesman can double or triple his income, turn disappointments into triumphs, close a greater percentage of sales, and make more sales calls each day. He gives precise directions on how to multiply your earning power … PRACTICAL, PROVEN techniques on the art of selling … of getting others to do what you want them to. Remember, this is the same information Mr. Bettger is paid $250 a day to teach other men. But let’s take a look at some of the success secrets you’ll find in this great book:

[Read more…] about “How I raised myself from a failure at 29 to become a $250 per day success!”

Filed Under: Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

Should She Accept It?

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Perhaps, no early 20th Century copywriter is as unheralded as Lillian Eichler Watson.

With the exception of Victor Schwab, it’s hard to think of a contemporary of hers who sold more books.

Eichler shared office space with a veritable all star team of copy talent at the ad agency, Ruthrauff & Ryan, which including on staff at various times: John Caples, Maxwell Sackheim, Victor Schwab, and founder Wilbur Ruthrauff.

When you read her copy, you have to pinch yourself to recall she employed this ingenious “problem-agitate-solution” approach in the 1920s.

Notice how she sucks the reader into the copy with the story of the woman’s dilemma in the text box.

Then she redirects this at the prospect with the line:  “Suppose she had asked you for advice? Would you have known what to tell her?”

But for the decline in manners in the States since this ad was published, the copy seems as fresh and relevant today.

The promise of this passage is a good example.

“Here are two volumes that solve every social difficulty, that protect from impulsive blun­ders; that do away with embarrassment and self-consciousness, that give poise, ease, confidence. Here are two volumes that tell you precisely what to do on every social occasion; what to say in every social contingency.”

Should She Accept It?

He had come suddenly, unexpectedly into her life. With a breath of romance and a first promise of love he had rushed into the loneliness of her little world — and captured her heart. Now it is her birthday and he has come to her with a gift. A bracelet — so delicately. wrought of golden threads that is seems a fairy cobweb. And there is a great, glowing sapphire where the slender threads are joined. Exquisite!

With a little cry of pleasure she reaches out for the gift. But a sudden thought checks her hand. She is fond of this man who has been so kind to her, who has brought beauty and sunshine into her life, but… she has known him less than a month. Will she be committing herself by accepting this expensive gift? Is it fair to her? Fair to him? What is correct? What would a worldly girl do?

[Read more…] about Should She Accept It?

Filed Under: Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

9 Headline Templates That Have a Prayer

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Speak Spanish Like A DiplomatMany A-list copywriters argue headline templates, and swipe files in general, are a waste of time. They don’t work.

Most purveyors of copywriting material, on the other hand, praise the plug-and-play simplicity of templates for selling any product or service.

As in most cases with two disparate views (and agendas), the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Few A-list writers would consider submitting a direct mail package with a swiped headline, no matter how successful the original. Not even if the derivative headline were undetectable.

The A-listers may have synthesized the knowledge of hundreds of headline split tests but they’re generally bound to the creation-from-scratch mentality that their clients expect from them.

Almost without exception, the purveyors of copywriting material claim that creating winning advertising is an easy process. All you need to do is insert your details into a readymade template, smooth over a few patches and presto, out pops a profitable ad. [Read more…] about 9 Headline Templates That Have a Prayer

Filed Under: Magic Headlines

How I Made $100,000 With A Fool Idea

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This lead generation ad for how to get-rich-in-real-estate appeared in “Popular Mechanics” just a few weeks before Black Thursday and the eventual market crash of 1929.

That $100,000 in today’s dollars would be about $1.3 million, so that was quite a claim to make.  Reminiscent of the real estate gurus of our not so distant past?

This is one of the first recognizable to the 21st Century marketer’s eyes, get-rich-in-real-estate ads and it was published by a company called American Business Builders.

This ad and their biz-op ads in general were in a word — phenomenal.

You get the feeling that a heavyweight copywriter, like Victor Schwab, had a hand in this but since so much of Schwab’s oeuvre has never been identified, we may never know.

Notice the interesting coupon with the year the company was founded and its business capital.

Once again…nothing new under the sun.

Click the thumb to DL the PDF.

Filed Under: Real Estate Advertising

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