Ben Settle

At the risk of going into fluffpreneur mode…

If you’re writing emails the way I teach, yes, all the extra sales are groovy. And, yes, it makes selling far more predictable and less stressful. But, you will also be affecting people — even changing their lives — without even realizing it or trying to.

Case in point:

One of my long time customers and copywriter Shawn Lebrun — whose ads have earned millions of buckaroos in sales for his own business and his clients — recently wrote:

Hey Ben

Thanks for the shout out in the email this morning, I appreciate it.

Truth is, you’ve helped me more than you’ll ever know.

Sure, your material is valuable to me, and I joined [a product no longer for sale).. even though I’ve been in this for 16 years and have people who work for me.

But I’ll always invest in your stuff… because of not just your material is valuable, but also because I resonate so much with you and your experience.

When you speak of trying your hand at MLM years ago.

Yep, that was me.

16 hour days and copywriter burn out. Yep, that was me.

Spending 11 years “figuring” things out. Yep, I’m raising my hand to that one too.

The fact is, I’ve been reading your emails for about 5 years now, or about that. Only Matt Furey have I read for a longer time.

And an email you sent out about how you went through burnout… and started doing the “one email a day” system… when I read that, it resonated so much… I thought “I can do that”

I was going through a rough patch.

Just had a $10,000 bill for skin cancer surgery. Was battling a painkiller addiction just so I could make it through another 15 hour work day.

My marriage was on the rocks, I was raising my son and spending as much time as I could.

And I was paying for not one, but TWO houses because of my wife having to move to a new city for a new job.

I was fucking in over my head, hating my copy life, and was so burnt out… I was lost.

But then I got that email you wrote, about your burn out and how your income went up, even when sending one email a day.

That email gave me hope.

And I started reading everything you had, investing in your books and some of your videos… specifically both of your “How to Make Six Figures a Day” products.

Like I said, they’ve given me hope again… at a time when shit looked pretty glum.

And even though I’m not quite at the “One email a day and six figures yet”… it’s mapped out and planned… and I’m implementing it.

I have an ad agency, and write copy for clients… so I’m using your materials and system to slowly get out of that.

And it’s working. I’ve gone from 15 hour days and close to 7 figures a year… to 2 hour days, closer to six figures… and slowly getting things down to super tight niches, where I’m building my list to get the “one email a day” system going.

So, thank you again for giving me hope, and letting me know that one email a day is doable.

It’s not magical unicorn and fairy shit like the slick goo-roos try and sell u…

like you said in your video… it takes work to get set up, but once in place… it’s all doable.

Thank you for what you’ve done… just wanted to let you know, you’ve mattered a lot to me, and my family, for slowly helping me slowly get my “balance” back.

See?

It’s not *just* about the sales.

I couldn’t do this if that was the case.

I’d be as miserable as Shawn was (been there, done that).

Anyway, if you want to learn my ways of writing emails (in just minutes per day) that your list looks forward to reading and buying from… the August “Email Players” issue goes to the printer in less than 48 hours.

It’s chock-full of sweet gooey-ness.

And, with the bonus and content, a good issue for people new to my “world.”

Here’s where to subscribe:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

P.S. The two “how to six figure” products Shawn mentioned will be available for purchase to “Email Players” subscribers eventually, not sure when (whenever I get off my bootay). But are not for sale right now.

Let’s talk about pain:

One of the things I taught (that I had never taught in depth before then) at world class supplement company Real Dose owner Buck Rizvi’s “Health Profits Summit” event in April was about why pain is your pal. In fact, I was going to name the slide for that part of the talk something about a “PainPal” account (instead of PayPal).

Why?

Because pain is your pal in marketing, babycakes.

It sucks to have it, but if someone’s in pain, they’re looking for a solution and it’s easier to sell to them than trying to convince someone that one day they *may* have pain. Plus, there’s a psychological side to it at work, too.

Here’s what I mean:

Remember Kevin Trudeau?

The infomercial guy who’s doing time?

Well, one of his *legitimately* helpful products was Mega Memory. Using the techniques in that program took me from straight C’s in college, to almost all A’s my last year. Anyway, one of the things the program teaches is using pain to remember things. For example, if you wanted to remember a hotdog (it could be anything), you mentally picture you or someone else taking a hammer and a long rusty nail and…

Hammering into your kneecap!

Ouch.

But you know what?

Your brain will never forget that.

It’s burned in forever if you choose.

And so it is in your marketing.

Want your list to never forget your emails?

Then simply learn how to (tastefully and correctly) incorporate physical pain into your emails, and not only can they not forget you, they won’t be able to “un-see” whatever it is you wrote.

Again, there’s a right and wrong way to do this.

(Most people who try do it completely wrong.)

But, in the video above I explain all this in detail (with subject line and concept examples) so it’s easy for you to write, hard for your list to forget you, and simple for them to buy from.

What?

You want to know where you can get that video?

Okay then, check out the August “Email Players” issue.

It includes a bonus transcript of my talk, and a link to a video where you can watch it.

Deadline to subscribe to get it is Sunday.

Hurry:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

One of the big “duh, Ben!” moments I had in business was when I rapped with Danny Iny a few years ago about lists.

Before Danny (B.D.) I was all about the list.

And, only the list.

After all, the money is in the list in direct response marketing.

And, I still believe that.

But, I also believe the *fortune* is in the audience. Your audience being much bigger than just your email list — like your blog readers, social media followers, people from other peoples’ audiences who hear you being interviewed, your podcast, those who watch you speak on stage, your customers, your direct mail list (you do have one of those, right?), and the list goes on.

Your email list is part of your audience.

(In my case it’s the part of the audience I talk to most.)

But, it’s much bigger than that.

And, my goal is to get as many people in my audience to get their bootays on my email list because email is my main customer acquisition method.

Enter the August “Email Players” issue:

A chunky part of it is about how to get your audience on your email list.

By that I mean, this:

1. You send your audience to your website
2. They opt in
3. You send them emails using my wicked ways

Very clean, and very simple.

And the next issue shows you how to convert those visitors into your email subscribers.

I won’t promise my methods will give you a huge list.

But, I do think it will give you a ridiculously *responsive* list.

She goes to the printer soon.

Subscribe here to get it while you still can:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Let me tell you about my copywriting pal Nate.

He’s a copywriter at Agora, and when I visited their offices a while back to teach some of their writers and editors some ideas about storytelling, infotainment, and email copywriting, I got to talking to him about their health offers. Specifically, how to make health offers compliant to steer clear of running afoul of any government rules or laws, etc.

Anyway, he offered to look at my copy selling a prostate product.

Of course, I jumped at the chance.

(They have strict lawyers there, making sure everything is kosher with the law.)

And, I sent him the ad.

A few days later I get an email from him worried about his prostate! Whether or not that was in his head (he seems kinda young to have those kind of problems), I don’t know. But he was convinced. And, in fact, he bought both my eBook and the supplement!

More:

When I originally wrote the ad, I sent it to some of my copywriting pals.

And, they too, wondered if they had prostate issues.

Anyway, usually I am more of a “sell to the sick, not the healthy” kinda guy.

But, there are ways to sell prevention.

And, in the August “Email Players” issue (on page 13) I reveal how.

This issue goes to the printer soon, though.

So time is short.

Subscribe here today, while you can still get it:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Reader Naomi S. writes:

Hi Ben,

I subscribed this week, but I must admit it: good stuff you’re writing! My compliments.

I think you made your point very clear with the goo-roo fanboy story – I will certainly keep this in mind during my email campaigns 😉

Also, your style of writing is appealing and I get that you also need to do the same when writing to possible/existing customers. I’m working for an IT company, and as you may assume, this is not as sexy as selling shoes for example. But I will make sure not to bore them with too much technical specifications (also something I learned from your tips).

Looking forward to the next one!

Sincere regards from Belgium

Reminds me of something I read in a Dan Kennedy book.

He had a customer who sold mechanical parts for something.

Real dry, and real boring.

So, the guy made his product exciting by writing an ad with a headline (and I am going on memory here) “69 things to do after you’ve bought your xyz part” — followed by a list of 69 sexually-themed things (within the bounds of good taste, I don’t think it went too crazy) they could do with their spouse that night after they didn’t have to worry about getting the part they ordered.

Does this work for everyone?

On every market?

For every customer?

Of course not.

And it’s the same with my email system:

Always *modulate* to your market.

Don’t get caught up with what you see me do to *this* list. I can assure you that, for example, when I wrote to overweight females in the weight loss market I didn’t write with this exact kind of flair and attitude, etc. I adapted the system for them. And, in the voice of the author of the products I was selling. But, I still made them interesting and stand out in the inbox using my methods.

Anyway, important email safety tip.

More:

I talk more about this in the bonus video/transcript that goes out with the August “Email Players” issue which goes to the printer in less than a week.

Get your lovin’ here while there’s still time:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Last month I finally ate at a Benihana restaurant.

(Yes, I know I’m late to this party, shush.)

And, I must admit, I was fascinated by the kind of talent it must take for the chefs to do what they do without losing a finger or accidentally impaling a customer’s eyeball with a steak knife. I watched this bloke work what looked to me like magic with the food and cutlery.

It was like watching a magician.

And then…

He started talking.

Just wouldn’t shut up.

Was one badly timed and executed sarcastic joke after another. At one point I had to use a few techniques I use to shut people up on social media who act like idiots on the guy, just so I could enjoy the meal and experience.

(I always say nothing will ruin a good meal like dumb people.)

Anyway, here’s why I bring this up:

I couldn’t help but be reminded of how much this was like a super talented copywriter or email writer who can dazzle someone with all kinds of persuasion and sales choke holds… only to have the entire sale ruined by a crappy offer. The offer is 40% (some say 30%, tomato to-MAH-to) of the battle. Without a good offer people want even the most talented copywriter is dead in the water.

Too basic for your advanced marketing bootay?

Tough.

We can never get enough of the basics.

And, I daresay even the Benihana chefs practice their basics each and every day.

It’s also why, in the August “Email Players” issue (which goes to the printer in less than a week) I show a very basic (yet hardly anyone I know of does it) way to do daily emails, podcasts, articles, videos, etc without slicing and dicing and chopping and chipping at your brain.

It’s VERY fundamental stuff.

Yet, again, I would be that chef’s left testicle you aren’t doing it.

Subscribe before it goes to the printer here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Full disclosure:

I have nothing against him, but I couldn’t care less about Tony Robbins, have never been one of his fanboys, have never resonated with his teachings (NLP, etc) or walking on hot coals, and haven’t bothered watching his new documentary — and probably never will. (Cue all the Tony Robbins fanboys telling me why I *must* watch it, how it’s “life changing!”, and bragging about how it made them cry, etc.)

He’s just not my bag, baby.

That said:

I keep hearing about how the video is full of f-bombs.

As in every other word.

And, I keep hearing how it was necessary as a “pattern interrupt.”

And, how there is science behind doing it, etc.

That very well may be true.

In fact, General Patton used to say when he had to keep his men alive, he gave his orders dirty. The dirtier the language the better. And he said it saved lives because it got their attention. (i.e. pattern interrupt). And back then it probably was more of a shock. But today, you probably get ten times worse just logging into Facebook where it’s now trendy to drop f-bombs constantly, without any real context or congruence with the person’s personality. (They observe someone else doing it, and think “oh that’s totes what works now!” and then follow suit.)

My point?

I couldn’t care less what words you use.

And, if dropping ye olde f’bombs works for you, remember this Chinese proverb:

(props to the great Matt Furey who I heard it from)

“A strength overextended becomes a weakness”

And, I hereby predict that, at this rate, it won’t be long before *not* dropping f-bombs in your marketing, seminars, emails, copy, videos, social media posts, etc will be the NEW pattern interrupt.

We shalt see.

In the meantime, here’s something to chew on:

The August “Email Players” issue goes to the printer in about a week. It contains a vital list-building teaching that has made my lists far more responsive than a lot of other lists (judging by how well I do when competing against other affiliates). It also has a bonus video (and transcript) of a valuable teaching I did in Boulder, CO revealing some email tactics I’ve used to make a lot of sales in hyper competitive health-related niches (that work just as well in non-health related niches).

There’s a helluva lot of value packed in this issue.

And, it’s a great jumping on issue for people new to my world.

Subscribe here to get it in time, while you still can:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

In one of the great Bob Bly’s ezines, he recently quoted:

“How long should your blog posts be? According to research by web design firm Orbit Media, the optimal length for a blog post as far as SEO goes is 1,500 words. SEOmoz, found that blog posts with between 1,800 and 3,000 words attract 15 times more inbound links from other web sites than posts with less than 600 words. HubSpot reports that blog posts of 2,500 words or longer get the most shares on social media.”

Which then prompted this question from one of our mutual readers:

“Ben, did you read Bob’s email how come you only put your short emails up on your blog and not make them longer”

My answer:

Because I don’t blog for inbound links or shares or SEO.

I blog to build an email list.

Funny story about this:

My pal Jim Yaghi (a for-real computer scientist who understands the rigorous discipline it takes to do a for-real scientific test) did some experiments with this, where he put valuable content-filled articles on sites that encourage use-generated content. And, he tracked the number of views his content got with the number of shares it got.

Turns out more people (way more) shared it than viewed it!

(Much less read it.)

How can that be?

Well, it could be because people don’t share content, they share headlines. And/or, it could also just be that people are more into sharing 3,000+ word articles than they are *reading* them, much less buying from them, or responding to them.

Really, I don’t know.

(This is just me brain farting and your results may be completely opposite.)

And, I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to get shares or SEO if that works for you.

I don’t believe in the mythical one-best-way of doing things.

Whatever the case:

I don’t worry about length. What I focus on is how to get the visitors I do get to opt-in. And, not only opt-in, but opt-in in such a way where they are “prepped” to buy. (Or, at least, be prepped for my daily emails they know, going in, are going to offer them something.)

And guess what?

I discuss this in far more detail in the August “Email Players” issue.

I can probably count the number of people on four fingers who agree with my ways of doing this sort of thing. But, I can assure you we have higher quality lists than most people (although admittedly smaller lists). Get way less spam complaints. And, have hefty conversions for both our own products and products we sell as affiliates.

You can, too.

And, with just your current traffic.

Details in the August issue which goes to the printer in about a week.

Subscribe ye here today to get it in time:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Once upon a time, child elBenbo watched a show called “Ren & Stimpy”.

The two main characters are a cat named Stimpy and an “asthma hound” chihuahua named Ren. Anyway, in one of the episodes, Ren got angry at Stimpy and his cousin Sven and decided to pee on their board game which was called:

“Don’t Whiz On The Electric Fence”

(Yes, these are the kind of shows I was influenced by…)

Then, the house blows up, they all end up in hell, and the devil says:

“You whizzed on the electric fence didn’t ya?”

Anyway, here’s the point:

Whenever I think of that, I can’t help but realize what an apt metaphor it makes for what we talked about a couple days ago — with all the I’m-gonna-pretend-I’m-not-gonna-sell-you-anything email campaigns and playing “Twister” with trying not look like you have anything to (gasp!) offer. I do understand for some people these tactics sound sexy from the stage — especially to people who are scared to death of selling (or looking like they are selling anything). After all, it sounds new, it lets you look like a nice bloke, and it gets applause and praise from the social media fluffpreneurs.

(Who are the most vocal.)

So I get it if you are scared of selling.

I feelz for you.

Really, I do.

I used to do the exact same thing many years ago.

But then, I started realizing how I was turning perfectly good leads into non-buyers (who then bought from someone who actually did sell them), lost a lot of leads who got bored and impatient with all my fabulous “content” they never valued (much less used)… created swarms of hostile freebie seekers who cursed me when I finally did sell something (I remember only the second time in about 4 years of sending emails I sold something — I got accused of being a “list pimp” ooh)… and I didn’t help any of my would-be customers at all because I didn’t have the balls to sell them the solution they were on my list to have in the first place.

In other words:

I was whizzing on the electric fence.

And, it blew up on me.

Moral of the story?

Don’t whiz on the electric fence.

Whizzing on the electric fence is bad.

And it kinda *stings* too…

For a better, proven, and more fun way, check out my “Email Players” newsletter.

August issue is right around the corner.

Subscribe here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle