Below is what many consider "The Greatest Sales Letter of All Time." It sold $2 billion worth of Wall St. Journal subscriptions & ran from 1975-2003 with...View More
only minor edits. What makes this letter particularly interesting is that there is strong evidence suggesting the narrative of the letter was swiped from older ads, specifically from ads for The Alexander Hamilton Institute (a popular correspondence school at the time). I've included those ads as well so you can see the similarities.
Now, let's get into the actual letter. The first three paragraphs are brimming with optimism. It starts like a feel good story of "two men" who graduated together 25 years ago & are very happy with key areas of their life.
Then we're hit with a down note. One man ended up being more "successful in business" than the other.
For Wall St. Journal readers, this is a soft spot. They crave to be the quintessential businessman that achieves great success & high status. Now they're faced with the idea that it could go downhill for them or seemingly already did - now, how can they avoid such a painful situation from moving forward.
This is where the Journal presents itself as the solution, stating that the special success factor is "applied knowledge".
What makes this "single" solution particularly believable is that the two men are portrayed as being the same in every other way.
It leads you to the assumption that there must be something very specific that is missing between the two.
If we were led to believe that there are many factors involved, the pitch wouldn't have the same effect.
The rest of the letter finished with the Journal selling itself & then presenting a soft, low-priced offer followed by a bigger yearly offer.
The end of the letter finishes the loop, reinforces the similarities between the men & how applied knowledge is what's the difference aka The Journal.
