How to Write a YouTube Video Sales Letter (VSL) Script for a Guru
I've written a TON of video sales letters for gurus (mostly in the financial, biz opp, and real estate spaces).
Why?
Because Youtube ads DONE WELL drive sales, generate leads, and grow email lists fast.
Here's a basic template that works well:
THE YOUTUBE AD TEMPLATE:
[Part 1]: Pattern Interrupt (Hook / “Headline”):
Your ad is unskippable for the first 5 seconds. You have a captive viewer and the way we usually leverage this is by using a native-style headline.
Here’s a Method That’s Helping [world class example] to [blank]
A Simple Way To [desired result] That Works For [world class example]
[World class example] is making $xxx,xxx,xxx every day because of [characteristic/view/strategy]
[PART 2]: Engage/Disqualify:
Use famous people your customers respect like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to get rid of the scammy feeling of a sleazy biz-op.
Use an existing narrative about these successful businessmen from the press or a book to highlight a core characteristic people need to succeed when [doing the thing they want, trading stocks, starting a biz, etc.].
[Part 3]: Hero's Journey:
Lead into the guru’s story explaining how they too use the aforementioned core principle (from Part 2) to do “the thing” your customer wants to do.
Make sure the guru's story is presented in a way that even a total beginner would understand. Walk them through how the guru started, how the guru has achieved what they want to achieve, and how the guru's success led them to create [your offer].
[Part 4]: Social Proof:
Show where [you/your product] have been featured in media etc
Show other customers who have these tools to achieve [the desire]
[Part 5]: Long CTA:
You don't want the video to end too quickly before the viewer has had a chance to click through to your offer page, so in this phase you'll want to elaborate on the features + benefits of what they're going to get.
EXAMPLES:
ALEX BECKER:
Here in My Garage (TAI LOPEZ)
THEMES & CONCEPTS:
a. Break / Rebuild belief patterns (Advice, Story)
What [the old way] used to look like. What the new breed looks like. How to adapt. Positioning yourself as the one who can show them the way. What will be covered in the webinar?
b. Tell them, don't show them (Advice)
Make a clear argument why the old way is broken but don't say how to implement the new way. That's for the webinar/course. It leaves it open-ended enough that if you want to learn how to survive you must advance through the funnel.
c. Behind The Scenes Lifestyle (Office Tour, Most Tai Lopez ads)
Tried and true Youtube formula. Just show off your lifestyle, office, etc. Meander from point to point.
d. Name Dropping and Borrowing Credibility (Bezos, Gates/Buffet, Icahn)
This has been shown to work best overall. For example, Sam Ovens will just reference people he's read about lately or… you can comb through books and find things that are in alignment with your training/offer and then pivot.
STRUCTURES & STYLE:
a. YouTube:
The average time frame of best ads is somewhere between 1-7 minutes.
Don't worry about length though… people will watch long ads on YT.
b. Selfie vs Vlog style vs Cinematic:
All 3 work. It depends on video/channel placement and age. Mix it up.
c. Shoot Multiple 5-second intros for same ad concept:
Possibly the biggest thing you can learn to make a lot of ads quickly. The initial 5 seconds that you can't skip is the most important part of the ad.
For instance, "Here in my garage" for Tai Lopez's famous book ad was take 8. The ad would have always ended the same but the first frame or words would have been different.
So, multiple intros for the same ad:
"Here in my garage"
"College is a scam, let me tell you why"
"Just got this new bookshelf"
"The biggest thing I learned from the billionaire Warren Buffett"
d. Shoot with demographics in mind to get more scale
Your account structure will always have 12 demographic groups per targeting (keyword/channel placement/interest/behavior). So film with diff demographics in mind.
THE INFAMOUS ALEX BECKER YouTube Script:
☝️☝️☝️ I've used this A LOT...
5 SEC - State Your Business:
Extract an audience. Not trying to sell to the biggest audience
Get everyone not interested in the Ad Off and everyone interested on because you don’t want to Pay More
Curiosity peaking statement that’s based around your product. Or call out the person
Do you run ads, if so this should terrify you.
Does your business suck,
This sold 18k SAAS subscriptions
30 SEC - Tell A Story of your promise being fulfilled that ties in to previous 5 seconds:
If you run ads this should terrify you, BECAUSE when I work with clients their off by x amount and zyx happens but with Z we’ve solved all these problems
This is ZZZZ, he got X results in Y time, ---> he got these results by doing this weird thing with importing and exporting from china, so he was able to do this and this
This is a sneaky way Instagram influencers make money → through e-commerce marketing
Discuss fulfilling promises without the things they hate by taking advantage of this new opportunity in this time frame
5 SEC - CTA:
If you want to learn e-commerce marketing click here. No way I could explain it all here. It will take you to a page where you can opt-in in and get more information
30 SEC - Hammer benefits without the things they hate and show results of customers:
You’ll see how to save a ton of money on your ad, I'm going to show you how to scale your ads, and more importantly in just a few seconds you’ll be able to optimize your pixel to find customers. Just like this person and this person
5 SEC:
Call for the click again
Example Becker Ad:
If your business buys ads I can almost guarantee your sales tracking is off by 30-40% [5 SEC]
And I mean guarantee. And frankly this should terrify you because I work with businesses at Hyros every single day spending 1000, 5000, even 30,000 per day. Across the board the default is there sales tracking is off by 30-40%. This isn’t rocket science. When this happens you are going to turn off ads that are actually profitable. This happens all the time. It’s like giving yourself a demotion every single month. 2. You are going to spend money on ads that aren’t actually making you money. That’s losing 10-15% of your ad spend. And when the ad platforms can’t see the correct data they optimize around the wrong data resulting in their targeting being less efficient and spending way more to get a customer. The result of this is hamstring your business by 20% and also wasting 10-15% of your ad spend. That’s 5-6 figures lost every year that you don’t have to because [30 SEC]
You can click this ad to access a training that will show you step by step how to fix this in literally minutes. [5 SEC]
And I’ve done this for nearly 100 businesses. I’ve done this for large businesses like Dean Graziosi’s mastermind.com, I’ve done this for huge brands like Groove life. I’ve done this for Ecom Businesses, I've done this for info businesses, I've done if for business bases around sales calls.
Look if you are running ads on a good day, your data is going to be off by 30-40% if your not actively trying to find ways to solve this problem. I will show you how to solve this problem in literal minutes if you click this ad. And I'm not exaggerating when I say taking a few minutes to watch the hyper-quick training I’m trying to get you to watch right here, will save you 5-6 figures this year. Think about it. Take the ad spend you spend every single month. Take 10-30% [30 SEC]Final CTA and show screenshot of results and testimonials. For 30 seconds at end of ad so the person has time to click. [5 SEC]
Hope this all helps!
Stay frosty,
Brian
P.S. Download this as a PDF here
The Best Copywriting Books
Yeah, I know...
There are thousands of posts on this EXACT topic.
"What are the "best copywriting books?"
So I'll keep it short.
To be honest, I haven't read a lot of "copywriting" books.
I've read a lot of promotions and a lot of good copy, but not books ABOUT copy really.
Of course, there are the classics that EVERYONE ON THE WEB lists (Cialdini, Ogilvy, Schwartz, etc.).
Read them.
But I wrote this post to alert you to four books that typically fly under the radar (in my opinion). Each one helped me when I was first getting started (and I refer back to them from time to time also).
So...
Anyone who asks me for the "best copywriting books" always gets these 4 unexpected answers:
"Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krug
"Made to Stick" by Chip Heath
"Letting Go of the Words" by Janice (Ginny) Redish
"Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator" by Ryan Holiday
They aren't "copywriting" books.
But they'll each help you be a damn fine copywriter.
Stay frosty,
Brian
Direct Response... the List, the Offer, or the Copy (Which is Most Important)?
Have you heard of the 40/40/20 rule?
It's a good rule of thumb you need to heed when running, creating, or evaluating any direct response campaign.
It's not new and there are COUNTLESS blogs, articles, and videos about it.
It means this: the three things you need to nail to make money online as a direct response marketer are... the list, the offer, and the copy/creative.
40% importance goes to the list...
40% goes to the offer...
20% goes to the copy/creative...
Now...
As a direct response marketer who happens to specialize in direct response copywriting, you'd guess that I think "creative" is the most important..."
But you'd be wrong.
Because the real "difference maker" is in the list.
I'd say it's slightly MORE IMPORTANT than 40% even.
John Carlton told a story about this somewhere (I forgot where I saw it, but I remember the story).
In a nutshell, it goes like this:
If you were trying to sell a hamburger (and so was I), there's ONE THING I could use to guarantee that I'd sell more hamburgers than you...
... even if your hamburger was objectively BETTER (i.e. your offer)
... even if the way you pitched your hamburger was factually more effective (i.e. your creative)
The ONE THING?
Simple... a starving audience.
That's it.
Because if I can fill a room with people who are starving, I can sell them a shitty hamburger with relative ease.
That's because they already want what I have.
On the contrary, you can have a better offer (e.g. your burger has onion rings, grass-fed beef, gluten-free buns) and present your burger in a better way. But if your audience isn't starving, you'll lose.
Or worse yet, if your audience is vegan... oops.
This is why people will buy an offer with shitty creative (design, copywriting) all day long.
Nail the list and you can make money.
Nail the copy, design & offer with a BAD LIST... you lose.
Nail all three - now we're talking!
And of course, you want to nail all three to maximize profit:
Your list needs to be vetted, screened, and highly targeted...
Your offer needs to be irresistible to that list...
Your copy/creative needs to present your offer in the most effective (i.e. persuasive) way possible...
Don't use this as an excuse for bad copy and a less-than-irresistible offer though.
It'll work, but not for the long haul.
Instead - go for all three... because bad marketing *that makes money* isn't what we're after.
Cheers,
Brian