Couple weeks ago, I got wind of a thread in a copywriting Facebook group about the frequency and quality of my emails.

The screen shots I saw of a few of the naysayers were perfect.

Especially since it just so happened on that exact same day I got this:

Speaking of which:

The deadline to get the January issue is tomorrow.

Once I send it to the printer, it’ll be too late to get it.

Here is the link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

To help promote one of AWAI’s Copywriting Job Fair & Bootcamp we both spoke at a couple years ago, the great Brian Kurtz gave a testimonial about me.

And, part of it said:

“In a world of self-promoters and people who constantly tell you how good they are at whatever they seem to be good at, Ben is the antitheses of that…he mostly stays home and simply produces e-mail that consistently delivers as both content and promotion…and frankly, he’s so skilled at it, you rarely know which he is doing since he is always doing both.”

Anyway, here’s why I bring this up:

(Other than shamelessly showing off the props…)

Brian is easily one of the most respected marketing minds on the planet.

He was the Executive Vice President of the mammoth direct marketing company Boardroom, Inc, was the right hand man of the great Marty Edelston (who built that company from $0 to hundreds of millions of dollars per year), and has overseen well over $100 million in advertising via direct mail, email, internet, TV, infomercials, and pretty much every kind of marketing media there is.

He also has worked with pretty much every A-list copywriter alive today.

And, also, quite a few of the long deceased ones.

There isn’t a single player in the direct marketing world who doesn’t know, like, and immensely respect Brian and his accomplishments. So, for him to talk about the importance of combining content with promotion (something he and the genius copywriters he worked with pioneered in a lot of cases) like this is a testament to how important this skill is. It’s a skill you can also apply to any other kind of persuasive communication, too—including social media, videos, podcasts, sales copy, blog posts, articles, books, public speaking, and anything else.

And you know what?

This is the “backbone” of my “Email Players” methodology.

I teach it in the book you get with your subscription.

I teach it — directly or indirectly — in each issue.

And, I demonstrate it in every email I send to this free list.

To learn exactly *how* I do it, and not just observe and get the *what* I do, you’ll have to subscribe to the newsletter. And, if you want it with the coming January issue (which shows even more ways to do this), you’ll have to be quick about it.

I’m sending it to the printer tomorrow.

After that?

It’ll be too late.

Here’s the link to get it while you still can:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Not too long ago, I got an email from one of my favorite customers.

She is in the “prepper” niche.

But, she also recently mentioned to me something she started in a niche-specific digital publishing company, where she says business is booming, and where a big chunk of her sales are coming from.

Anyway, one of the things she’s doing is having a special kind of sale that:

1. Makes lots of sales

2. And, in a weird way, “tricks” customers who think they are tricking her.

In fact, here is how she up it:

“I’ve been doing this for 6 months and I make hundreds of dollars each time from people who think they’ve pulled one over on me. Little do they know… Thanks for everything, Ben. You are a great teacher.”

And guess what?

I show you exactly what she is talking about on page 12 in the January “Email Players” issue.

It goes to the printer Tuesday.

After that, you won’t be able to get this issue.

Here is the link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

True story:

Once upon a time, back when I was still on social media, my woman was looking over my shoulder (I assumed at the time, she was making sure I wasn’t texting some ho…) while I was looking at my Twitter on my phone.

And, she did this often.

Often as in, every single time she noticed me doing it.

Well, guess what?

When I asked her why she’s constantly looking over my shoulder as I was Twitter-ing, she said it had nothing to do with seeing if I was consorting with the Enemy (i.e. other chicks). Instead, she says she was fascinated with how I “curate” my content.

i.e. I am very specific about what I read.

And, also, very specific about cutting out all other things I don’t want to read.

While, apparently, most people get sucked into various rabbit holes in the information they consume each day, wasting only God-knows-how-much-time, filling their head with the ideas, opinions, and virtue signaling grandstanding of random do-nothings and click bait on social media… I was always a “get in and get out as fast as possible” kinda guy.

Anyway, here’s why this matters to you:

As aggressively as I “curate” content I consume, I even more aggressively curate my customers.

Almost every email I write is intended to repel the wrong kind of customer.

(Including in *this* email already.)

In fact, I have found the more I repel the people I don’t want, the more I automatically turn on the people I do. And the more I do this, the more my sales go up. The less I do it, the less my sales go up.

More:

Customer curation is so powerful, I’ve created many emails for systematically doing so over the years.

Like, for example, the emails on pages 13 & 14 in the January “Email Players” issue.

I use this email idea a few times per year.

And, every time it (1) weeds out the people I don’t want buying (2) demonstrates zero neediness (something people unconsciously look for before buying, which is why you want to demonstrate it constantly by, well, not being needy…) and (3) builds a roster of customers I like and want to deal with and continue helping.

Customer curation is extremely profitable when done right.

If you want to see one of the many ways I do it, subscribe before the looming deadline.

Here is the link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

The very first lesson I learned in Wing Chun Kung fu was:

“When you know the system, you don’t worry about getting hit”

If anything, someone trying to attack you is a gift.

Something you almost thank the person for.

And the reason why is, you are completely safe in the system, and can use the power and energy directed at you to cause devastating damage to whoever is directing it at you.

The late, great Jim Camp said something similar:

(About his system for negotiation)

He said (paraphrased):

“As long as you stay in the system, you’re always safe in a negotiation. There is no reason to panic, worry, get emotional, or wonder what to do next.”

His example was the pilot who landed a plane in the Hudson several years ago.

The captain had a system to follow.

And, even at the most dire part of the hair-raising experience, the pilot had complete control of his emotions, ran through the check list of the system he had been taught, and landed the plane safely in a river.

And you know what?

So it is with copywriting, email, or anything else.

I often write not just one, but 2, and sometimes 3 or more emails per day.

As I write *this* email, I am writing 14 emails in a single day.

And there is zero “OMG! What am I going to write about???” panic.

I’m simply going through a system I have been refining, honing, and perfecting for over 10 years — that almost anyone else should be able to follow and pound out as many (or more) emails, too. You simply don’t need to worry about these things. You’re safe as long as you stay in the system — and specifically, the book I sent to all new “Email Players” subscribers, which is my evergreen methodology that has always worked, works now, and will work for years in the future. A system, incidentally, that works just as well for other media too — like video, social media, content writing, podcasting, public speaking, and anything else.

The only people who panic over these things are people who don’t have a system.

Or, if they are following a system, it’s not very refined.

Probably, those are system relying on lame tactics that may or may not work for anyone but the person who teaches them.

Anyway, whatever you learn, find a proven system.

Something that works like a Swiss watch, every time.

And, that is proven to also work for people other than those who created it.

Which brings me to my shameless plug:

My “Email Players” system has not only worked for me, for multiple kinds of markets, products, and services (I focus only on my own business these days, but cut my teeth and experimented with what I do in lots of other markets — both consumer and B2B, and it’s all the same at the end of the day, if you follow the system)… but other people, too.

And not just selling information.

But physical products, eCommerce, coaching, and other services.

i.e. my email system works if you work it.

Anyway, it’s something new subscribers learn right off the bat with the book I send them when subscribing.

It keeps them safe.

Keeps them on track.

And, keeps them profitable, if they use it correctly.

To learn my system and do it in time for the January “Email Players” issue, go ye here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Back when I was writing a lot of sales letters and emails for the prostate problem and weight loss niches, I found the research part to be tedious and time consuming.

I was in a position where I had to write a LOT.

As in, a combined 20 or so emails, articles, and blog posts per day.

(For those two markets, my own projects, and also for a client who had me on retainer. It was brutal, but also one of the best things that ever happened for my writing, in many ways. But I digress…)

Then one day, I had an Obvious Adams moment.

I was on a lot of direct mail lists for those markets.

And, I was getting a lot of great promotions.

While reading these promotions it occurred to me:

A lot of research for these markets was already done… by some of the best writers in the game… and already “vetted” by the powers that be for accuracy and claims. And, well, I was not too proud to take the scientific and other research these other writers had worked so hard to compile for me (how generous of them!), use it for my purposes, and, yes, in my own words (not copy & paste — lest you get the wrong idea). They even went through the trouble to source their findings, so I could see and access them myself.

Shameless?

Yes.

But profitable.

And, also quite the time saver, too.

And, that’s the lesson:

If you are in a market with lot of direct mail, realize some very smart copywriters have very likely done a lot of research for you. This won’t apply to a lot of markets outside of health-related.

But, it’s something to keep in mind.

Anyway, there is much to learn from great direct mail.

And, in the January “Email Players” issue, I show you how to “adapt” great magalogs especially into great emails, without plagiarizing, copying & pasting, or foolishly trying to swipe someone else’s personality.

This puppy goes to the printer in 4 days.

Here’s the link to get it before the deadline:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

The book I am currently reading is called:

“The Name Above The Title”

It’s the autobiography of the great filmmaker Frank Capra. And there are so many lessons embedded within, I’m spending almost as much time taking notes as reading the dang thing.

One of the lessons everyone in email should take to heart is:

“There are no rules in filmmaking, only sins. And the cardinal sin is Dullness.”

Swap out “filmmaking” with “email” and you have the key to the whole game.

In fact, dullness is the cardinal sin that’ll send your sales straight to hell.

And, one of the best ways to not be dull is with the intelligent and strategic use of:

Teasing!

I looooove to tease.

And, while people never admit liking being teased, and will insist it does not “work” on them… it does. In fact, I’ve often found those are the people it works best on. It’s like people with a “No Solicitations” sign on their front door. One of the greatest sales trainers who ever lived (the great Stan Billue) observed many years ago the reason people have that on their door is precisely because they are such easy sells, and they know it, and that’s their way to protect themselves.

So it is whenever you hear someone say “that would never work on me!”

Okay, Chuckles.

You keep thinking that…

And this is especially true with the proper use of teasing — which gets people to pay for zero benefits in strip clubs every day, if that tells you anything.

Anyway, I talk about teasing in the January Email Players issue.

In fact, all the examples I show in there use tease to the hilt.

And they do it because it works.

Deadline to get the January issue approaches fast.

To get it in time, zip on over to this link today:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

One of my favorite lines about swipe files comes from the great Dan Kennedy.

In his 7-Figure Academy course, he said:

(paraphrased)

If you use swipe files, that is fine, but don’t delude yourself into thinking you have any kind of mastery of copywriting if you have to use one.

See some copywriter ex-spurt blatantly swiping?

Especially large swaths of copy?

And, word-for-word?

They’re straight-up amateurs.

And this is even more true with email.

In fact, one of the most foolish things anyone can do is “swipe” email copy. Not only because it’s illegal and plagiarism. But, also, because the best emails are heavily personality-based. You cannot “swipe” a personality. You can try, of course. And many dummies do just that with my emails all the time, despite me warning them of this very thing, and how it’s going to destroy their relationship with their lists. This was especially rampant with people on Twitter, from what I remember when I was on there.

On that note, some words of wisdom on swiping.

Not my words, but an A-list copywriter you may never heard of.

His name is Doug D’Anna.

And, here’s what this great man of copywriting told me over 10 years ago:

“When I first started out I had a swipe file too. You know what the first thing I discovered was when I realized who Gary Bencivenga was and the game I was in? I threw everybody else’s piece away. Why would I do that? Because I might have been thinking that I was swiping something that was good or using a model that was a winner when it wasn’t. That was the first thing. You need to have control pieces in your swipe file. But, you’ve got to remember that control piece worked for that piece at that time in that market in that environment. So it’s really more of a case study to look at.”

That advice has been worth everything to me over the years.

And, may it be just as valuable to you, too…

Speaking of A-list copywriters:

The January “Email Players” issue has many examples from A-list copywriters, and how I have “adapted” their genius to my own emails — without copy & pasting, plagiarizing, or compromising my personality in my copy.

The deadline to get it is in 5 short days.

Here’s the link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

To punch off 2019 with a bang (before it even arrives), I want to show you where arguably the single best email “swipe files” can be found, studied, and modeled.

Swipe files that aren’t “emails.”

But, that I have extracted many profitable email ideas from over the years.

Specifically, in consumer-based niches.

(i.e. prostate problems, weight loss, financial-related, etc)

But, that can also just as easily be adapted to any other kind of market.

Anyway, what swipe files am I referring to?

None other than magalogs written by the best A-list copywriters.

Interesting fact:

There are at least three — that I know of — “A List” copywriters who subscribe to “Email Players.” Presumably, they do so to get a different perspective on how to write emails. Especially since, all three are old school direct mail copywriters (and one is retired from the game, but like all masters of their craft, still keeps a hand in what’s going on). And the irony of this is, I have probably learned more about email from them than they ever will from me.

And the reason why is, certain magalogs are perfect email swipe files if you know what to look for.

(And what to ignore.)

And guess what?

If you know which parts are great for adapting to emails (and which parts aren’t), you can use magalogs to help pound out some of the most profitable emails you’ll ever use.

At least, that’s been the case with me.

But, I suspect it can apply to you, too.

And, no matter what niche you sell in.

Enter the January “Email Players” issue:

I not only explain this in far more detail, but I show you — word for word — four examples of exactly how it works, so you can just as easily model and adapt (not copy & paste) some of the greatest, most responsive magalogs ever written into emails that pay you a pretty penny, too. (And, yes, I show you where to find them — both free and paid resources.)

So that’s one of the many lessons in the January issue.

It goes to the printer on New Years Eve.

After that, it’ll be too late to get it.

Here is the link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle