Today, as I was sorting through my email, I read an interesting advertisement from one of the marketing lists I am on. In it they quote Gary Halbert. In case you have never heard of Gary Halbert let me take a few minutes to detail a little. Gary Halbert was a copywriter. In fact, Gary Halbert was arguably THE copywriter. And when he spoke marketers listened. I think the quote below speaks volumes. Remember, when you research a niche market, make sure you are looking for a starving crowd.


Scott Sheen

Onward. No more messing around. Let’s dive right in. Listen: As you may or may not know, every once in a while I give a class on copy writing and/or selling by mail. During these classes, one of the questions I like to ask my students is: “If you and I both owned a hamburger stand and we were in a contest to see who could sell the most hamburgers, what advantages would you most like to have on your side to help you win?”

The answers vary. Some of the students say they would like to have the advantage of having superior meat from which to make their burgers. Others say they want sesame seed buns. Others mention location. Someone usually wants to be able to offer the lowest prices.

And so on.

Whatever. In any case, after my students are finished telling me what advantages they would most like to have, I usually say to them something like this: “O.K., I’ll give you every single advantage you have asked for. I, myself, only want one advantage and, if you will give it to me, I will (when it comes to selling burgers) whip the pants off all of you!”

“What advantage do you want?” they ask.

“The only advantage I want,” I reply…

“Is…
A Starving Crowd!”

Think about it. When it comes to direct marketing, the most profitable habit you can cultivate is the habit of constantly being on the lookout for groups of people (markets) who have demonstrated that they are starving (or, at least hungry) for some particular product or service.

Copywriting is a skill that must be learned.

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