Talk is Cheap!

The Strange Story of the "Crackpot" Mail-Order Prophet

(or)

Five Things You Can Learn about Advertising from

Dr. Frank B. Robinson

by Joe Vitale

Are you having trouble selling your product or service?

Are you feeling like the chaotic state of the world

prevents you from succeeding? Are you wondering how you

can increase your sales in the most cost effective ways?

Are you feeling like your competition is breathing down

your neck?

Many of my clients feel the same way. They want to succeed,

to make a nice living in their business, but they feel

overwhelmed, uncertain, and even despondent. They feel they

have too much competition. They feel marketing doesn't work,

or takes too much work. They feel people don't have enough

money today to spend on what they are selling.

And that's why I think it's time to reveal the strange story

of the long forgotten "crackpot" mail-order prophet.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s the average person

didn't have enough money to feed themselves or their family,

let alone enough extra cash to order books through the mail.

Yet during those lean years one man made a fortune selling

books and courses entirely by mail. His name was

Frank B. Robinson. He founded "Psychiana," the world's

eighth largest religion and the world's largest mail-order

religion.

You may never have heard of him or his movement before today.

But during the 1930s and 40s, Robinson's name traveled around

the world. Millions of people read his books, studied his

lessons, and practiced his methods. The press called his

positive thinking, new thought religion a "media business"

because Robinson advertised so heavily.

In 1928 Robinson wrote an ad for his new philosophy that began

with the headline, "I TALKED WITH GOD." An advertising agency

in Spokane, Washington said the ad would never work. But Frank

believed in his message and trusted his hunches. He borrowed

$2,500 from people he barely knew, spent most of it on

printing his lessons, and invested $400 to place his ad in

"Psychology Magazine."

That ad pulled 5,300 responses. Robinson ran it in numerous

magazines and it always pulled a 3% to 21% response. Within a

year he had a full-time job fulfilling requests for his books

and lessons, soon shipping a million pieces of mail a year

out of his office in Moscow, Idaho. The post office in that

little town had to move into a bigger building to handle all

the mail.

Robinson's ads appeared in 140 newspapers, 180 magazines,

and on 60 radio stations, all at the same time. His postal

bill in 1938 amounted to $16,000 and his printing bill hit

$40,000. He received 60,000 pieces of mail a day, reached

more than two million people, and sent his message to 67

countries---all within one year of running his first ad.

"Advertising is educating the public to who you are, where

you are, and what service you have to offer," Robinson wrote.

"The only man or organization who should not advertise is

the one who has nothing to offer."

What can we learn from Frank B. Robinson?

1. He believed in his product. When you don't believe in what

you are trying to sell, it shows. It'll show in your lack of

commitment to your marketing, in poor advertising, in poor

service, or in other ways. As I mention in my book, The Seven

Lost Secrets of Success, sincerity is one of the "lost

secrets" to success. Robinson had sincerity. While his

movement made tons of money, Robinson accepted only $9,000

a year as his salary. Whether you call him a crackpot or

a savior, he believed in his product. He knew he had something

people wanted. In fact, Robinson sold his religious lessons

with a money-back guarantee.

2. He advertised relentlessly. If you don't tell people that

you exist, they won't know it. The reason you aren't aware of

Robinson or his movement today is because he's dead. (He died

in 1948). No one is advertising his message. Without consistent

and persistent advertising to educate the public, the world

won't know of your business.

3. He tracked his results. Robinson believed in the spiritual

world, but he also knew he lived on the earth plane where

numbers matter. He tracked responses from his ads to know what

worked and what didn't. For example, astrology magazines brought

him an 18% response to his ads while national weekly papers

brought 3%. Knowing that, Robinson could invest more money in

larger ads in the better pulling magazines. Find out where your

business comes from and focus more advertising in that area.

4. He continued to create products. Robinson knew once people

tasted his goods, they would want more. He wrote 28 books during

his short lifetime. These, along with his correspondence courses,

gave him a deep product line. Your current satisfied customers

will always be your goldmine. Create more for them to buy.

5. He remained optimistic. Despite the harsh reality of the Great

Depression years, and despite competition from religious

institutions that had been around for centuries, Robinson

flourished. He didn't believe anyone or anything could stop him.

When you have that strong of an inner conviction, nothing CAN

stop you. If you think you have competition with a similar

business in the same town, consider what it must have been like

for Robinson to have such empires as the Catholic Church, the

US government, and famous ministers and politicians trying to

close him down!

Whatever you may think of Robinson or "Psychiana," you have to

admit he knew how to advertise his business.

"After all, it's the results in human lives that count," he

wrote in his 1941 book, The Strange Autobiography of

Frank B. Robinson. "Talk is cheap."

What are you going to do now to increase your business?

Remember, talk is cheap!

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Joe Vitale is widely recognized by many as the greatest

copywriter in America. Can you beat him? Try out the

"World's Shortest Advertising IQ Test" and see how you

stack up: http://www.createadvertisingthatsells.com

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