“Email Players” subscriber Michael Collins notices something I’ve been highly amused by for several months now too:
Seeing “principals vs tactics” EVERYWHERE now, I think your emails drip feeds the guru scene.
I wouldn’t be surprised.
Now, to be fair, I didn’t invent these things, either. I simply introduced them to the community via my podcast, newsletter, emails, etc. I take no credit for it other than to expose Mr. Jim Camp’s ideas to world of people who desperately need it.
That said:
I have also noticed “suddenly” people acting as if they did invent these ideas.
“Principles vs tactics, man! It’s so RAD and BAD ASS!”
Yet, they rarely (if ever) give Jim Camp the credit for it.
And, the people I’ve seen talk about it still have no clue what they’re talking about. They simply haven’t thought about it deeply enough — and seem incapable of thinking beyond the shallow.
Thus, instead of going deep, it’s:
1. See new idea that seems popular and trendy
2. Parrot it
3. *Try* (emphasis on try) to teach it to their clueless “tribes” who don’t know better and think that goo-roo invented it, and then they start parroting it to each other… until the next “badass” thing comes along and it ceases being trendy
Think I’m exaggerating?
Go ahead and watch.
Give it a few months.
It’s a phenomenon in the IM world that’s as predictable as a new product launch every few months from the same gaggle of ex-spurts.
I’ve seen it with email for 15 years now.
One month everyone says email doesn’t work, sucks for engagement, nobody is opening emails, Gmail is destroying it, the government is destroying it, Facebook/social media is gonna kill it, whatever.
The next month?
Those same blokes are *teaching* it.
Again, people in this space are simply incapable of thinking deeply about anything.
Thinking is hard work, after all.
And, it’s even harder to stick with something when everyone is bandwagon jumping to something else.
Thus, the few of us who do think and are committed, are always ahead of the curve.
If you want to learn the timeless email copywriting methods I’ve been using since long before email became trendy, then not trendy, then trendy again… and so on… check out my “Email Players” newsletter.
It’s chock-full of powerful principles that always work.
(And not just for email — but video, audio, anything).
Here’s where to subscribe:
Ben Settle
