Ben Settle

A business-to-business marketer askeths:

Big fan….I’m looking into subscribing to email players and I was curious to know if you focus on teaching b2b email copy as well? (maybe industries where VP’s and Directors tend to take themselves a little too serious 🙂

For some reason people think *their* market/industry is different.

I can assure you it’s not.

It’s ALL the same at the end of the day.

I don’t care if you’re selling b2b, informational products, fiction, freelance services, commodities (like socks, for example), MLM, consumable products, or even if you’re raising money to save the friggin’ spotted owl.

It’s all the same in direct marketing.

Don’t believe me?

Well, maybe you’ll believe a couple direct marketers much smarter than I am then:

1. Publicity Grand Puba Paul Hartunian teaches people to write outrageous headlines in their press releases — yes, even to “stuffy” reporters who think their crap doesn’t stink and are super educated from major universities.

I am paraphrasing here.

But, basically, what he said was, if you think CEOs or reporters aren’t going home and watching Beavis & Butthead every night you’re fooling yourself.

I have long profited from this fact.

And, so have my more successful students.

(We never put our markets on a pedestal)

Obviously, you want to modulate your content to your market.

But, don’t think they aren’t as batshiit crazy as you are.

2. Dan Kennedy used to give a speech talking about his famous (and slightly nutty) Giorgio restaurant letters.

Ain’t nuttin’ “professional” about ‘em.

And (knowing the b2b objection was coming) he said right after telling it:

“Now, a few people are saying, ‘Now wait a minute. I sell very sophisticated stuff to very sophisticated people. I would never do anything like that. It’s unprofessional.’ Well, you can separate style from structure. I want you to know this works even in business to business then it does in consumer because everything else they get in business to business mail is dull, institutional and boring. But, if you like, you can separate style from structure. What’s most important is the structure.”

Preach it, Mr. Kennedy.

It’s the exact same thing with the methods I use, too.

Play around with them all you want to suit your market.

What’s most important is the structures.

The themes.

And, yes, the psychology behind the emails.

So there you go.

To learn my wicked ways go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

I like to rap about my ex-copywriting apprentice a lot in these emails.

(And in my “Email Players” newsletter)

And every once in a while someone will perk up and ask about why she is my EX-copywriting apprentice, and not still my actual copywriting apprentice. Especially since I sometimes do business with her (i.e. she pays me to consult her on projects, I spoke at her event, etc etc). What gives? Why not just let her still be the actual apprentice instead of the ex-apprentice?

Answer:

First, I hate being responsible for other people.

(I can barely take care of my dog.)

And secondly, because she stubbornly didn’t listen too many times.

It’s not entirely her fault, though. elBenbo is NOT a good one-on-one teacher. I’m crotchety, grumpy, impatient (at times), and hold people to my own impossibly high standards. (And make no mistake, I hold her to the highest standard possible, ask her all about it if you don’t believe me.) But don’t feel too sorry for her. She had a hand to play in it. Specifically, she ignored two of my commands repeatedly no matter how much I disciplined her.

The two commands?

1. Kept giving her time away for free (free consults, etc)

2. Kept doing rush jobs

Both are severe no-no’s if you’re working under elBenbo’s cruel tutelage.

But, lest you think I’m a monster, I didn’t just dump her apprenticeship.

I at least tried *disciplining* her first.

For example:

I tried the shock collar thing. Every time she hopped on skype to give someone free advice or even entertained the idea of doing a rush job, I pushed the button and she got a jolt of electricity. BZZZZT! She’d say, “But, Ben isn’t it okay because…” BZZZT! Or she’d try to rationalize, “Ben, this isn’t fair you said —“ BZZZT!

Did it work?

Nope!

So I tried something else less invasive but that I’ve seen work on cats:

The spray bottle.

She’d jump on skype to sneak in a free consult with someone and I’d spray her. SSSSST! Or, she’d talk to some other would-be client pleading with her to do a rush job “just this one time” not knowing I was hovering behind her and… SSSST! sprayed her.

This worked for a while.

(Certainly better than the shock collar.)

But, in the end, she didn’t break to my will.

And, thus, I had to fire her as the apprentice.

But you know what?

As much as my ego hates to admit it, she’s MUCH better off. For example, she’s now putting on her own successful marketing events (her first one, Biz N Brewz, was a big hit right out the gate), writing emails for hire (underpricing herself still considering how talented she is at it, good time to hire her…), has started her own writing business academy (it’s really cool what she’s putting together, and much needed in this industry), and she is one of the best copywriting critiquers you can hire.

But enough about her.

Let’s get back to me again, yo?

Sheesh.

Specifically:

How to get your hands on some valuable products dirt cheap.

Listen, I’m the first to admit most of my products are pricey. But, I do have some “bargain bin” products, too — that cover everything from copywriting and email, to affiliate marketing and traffic, to positioning and negotiation, to how to put together joint ventures, produce & profit from print newsletters, and, yes, my deranged monster novels.

They are practically all priced under $3.

And, well, here they is:

www.BenSettle.com/kindle

Ben Settle

The above subject line was written to me in a facebook message by one of my more successful marketing droogies.

He had just seen my blog for the first time.

And, was horrified by what he saw.

Specifically by two things:

1. My bare bones site design

2. My lack of social media share buttons.

Fact is, my site is as bare bones as it gets. No Facebook like buttons. No sharing links. Nothing pointing you to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any of the other social media sites. I don’t do anything to promote people sharing my content. And, in fact, I have my site designed so people spend LESS time on my site and not more time.

Anyway, he wanted to know why?

Why NOT go for that free traffic?

He’s had posts on his site that were shared 10k times.

Why would I not bother?

I thought that was a great question — and something I should talk about finally. Especially since my site is the exact opposite: Completely stripped-down, with no graphics to speak of, and devoid of any social media links (except on my contact page).

Enter today’s Ben Settle Show podcast.

It was too big a topic to talk about via an email.

So, I rapped about it with Producer Jonathan.

You will also find out why I have such a high quality list. In fact, if you were to ask anyone I’ve done JV’s with (Brian Kurtz, Ken McCarthy, Ryan Levesque, Scott Haines, etc, go ahead, ask ’em) they likely would tell you my list is one of the more responsive ones they’ve seen.

It’s all yours for the learning.

Completely free.

And, at this link right here:

www.BenSettleShow.com/115

Ben Settle

To paraphrase Captain Willard in the movie “Apocalypse Now”

The crap is piling so high in the facebook thread I talked about earlier today you need wings to stay above it. (If you’re just joining this party, I speaketh of one of my favorite copywriters Bob Bly’s Facebook page — where a bunch of people are responding to my claim from this mornings email about the only purpose of a website is to build a list.)

Yes, virtually all are people disagreeing with me.

(Few exceptions aside.)

But, that’s okay.

I’m happy to climb into the octagon (Bob-tagon?) about this.

Worry ye not, though.

This won’t just be a pissing match.

I’ll be pulling out the lessons from the comments like poison from a snake bite wound at the same time.

First comment:

“I disagree also. I agree that collecting data is important, but your website is a way to inform, educate and demonstrate credibility. It has to be more than a business card or brochure and if all it does is trap people into handing over info, they’ll just move on.”

And, kids, WHY do we inform, educate, and demonstrate ability on a website?

(A direct response marketing website, specifically)

Anyone?

C’mon, someone must know the answer?

No?

Okay, the answer is…

To build a list/make a sale (which builds a list)

Another person said:

“Ben Settle advocates emailing your list every day without fail, whether you have something worth reading or not, and if they unsubscribe then it’s their loss. I’m not a fan of this approach.”

Poor guy is seriously misinformed.

Either that, or he’s just a liar with an axe to grind.

I’ve never once advocated mailing if you don’t have something worth reading. In fact, just the opposite. I take the attitude I read in Ken McCarthy’s magnificent “System Club Letters” book: Before pushing send ask “is this worth interrupting someone’s day for a few minutes?” Now, obviously, my opinion of what’s worth reading may not jibe with everyone else’s. And those people are free to opt out (and they do). Anyone who’s bought any of my products or listened to any of my podcasts or consumed any of the podcasts and sites I’ve been interviewed on over the years (about this subject) knows this.

Like I always say:

There are plenty of *legitimate* reasons to disagree with me.

No need to make any up…

Okay, here’s another comment:

“Disagree completely. I see the prime purpose of my site as establishing legitimacy for prospective customers. Sharing knowledge is a secondary purpose.”

Like rapping Ronald Reagan said:

“There you go again…”

What is the *reason* to establish legitimacy for prospective customers, exactly?

If you say:

“To build a list or make a sale”

Then you are correct.

(Again, we’re talking about direct response marketing companies)

Another one:

“Without understanding the business, distribution model etc. it would be premature to determine the #1 purpose of any tool. There are more than one important job of a website.”

We are talking about direct response marketing.

And not just an important job, but ultimately the purpose of the site.

i.e. why is the site really there?

The first and foremost activity of any big reputable direct response marketing-driven company I’ve ever studied (unless I’m missing something, and mayhaps I am…) is to build a list. Why? Because then they can sell other products to that list and, in some cases, rent that list to other direct response marketing companies to sell their stuff to so that those companies can continue to build *their* lists.

Everything is there to serve the building of those lists and make transactions.

Yes, including the outstanding products.

The impeccable customer service.

The genius ads used to sell the products.

The user-friendliness of the website.

The social media share buttons (although I disagree with putting those on a site, listen to my podcast tomorrow for the reasons why)

And so on, and so forth…

All of it serves to build lists and bring in customers to carry out the goals, visions, mission statements, etc. of that company.

One of my favorite comments:

“I think he has it backwards… You build an email list by earning it with quality content and positioning.”

I should be thanking this guy.

After all, he made my point for me even better than I did!

The purpose of all that quality content and positioning is to…?

Yes, you, in the back of the room raising your hand, what is it?

That’s right — build a list.

This is fun…

Here’s another:

“Wholeheartedly disagree, but to be expected from a direct marketing copywriter who doesn’t provide other forms of engagement or information value to a customer or user base. He forgot about things like applications for them to engage and interact – calendars, event registrations, data lookups, form downloads, support ticket requests, app installs, ad nauseum….”

Starting to sound like a broken record here…

But what exactly is the purpose of all those engagement and interactive thingamajiggies he mentioned?

They aren’t there just to exist for the sake of it, are they?

So why are they there?

That’s right:

To ultimately work towards building a list/make sales (which builds a list)

Here’s one of the more profound comments:

“Beware of statements that begin ‘The ONLY …’”

I just got the warm fuzzies reading that…

Another sweet one:

“I don’t know about you folks…but when I visit a URL, I hit the ‘contact’ tab to see if there is a physical address (if not, that’s a red flag for me) and then the ‘about’ tab and the ‘team’ tab if they have one. I then do a search on the person I want to contact. I don’t provide email add’s to just anyone, and yes, I do want to know their ‘skills’. But that’s just me.”

For a *direct response marketing* site, what is the point of that “about” page?

And putting the address on there so there are no “red flags”?

And building that credibility and showing their skills?

And putting info out there about the site owner?

Or answering a would-be customer’s questions?

Hm?

Yep, you got it:

To ultimately get people to trust you with their info so you can build a list/make a sale (which builds a list).

Here’s another one:

“We marketers don’t decide what the purpose of a website is. It’s the prospects and customers who decide. As marketers, we have to find out why they visit a website and what motivates them to take the next step. When we’ve found out that, we’ve found out the purpose of the website.”

Yikes.

He likes to ask the deer how to hunt it, instead of the hunter. I wonder if he start out by putting a blank html page that says “please tell me if you want me to collect your email address?”

No matter, we can still help him:

Why bother finding out why people are visiting your website?

Why bother finding out what motivates them?

What is the point of all the data gathering?

Drum roll…

To build a list/make a sale (which builds a list) to give them what they want.

(Again, if you are a direct response marketing company)

And here a question was posed:

“Why say only when you really mean primary?”

Tomato, tom-AH-toe.

But at the end of the day, for a direct response marketing website, the whole point is to get a response. For the people I am talking to, that means building a list and making a transaction.

Allllll that other stuff on a website exists to help build the list.

Otherwise, there’s no point in having the site if it wasn’t geared towards building a list or making a sale (which builds a list). Might as well not use the Internet and go with direct mail, or radio, or TV.

All right, enough.

That thread has many more comments, way too many to address here.

But, here’s the bottom line:

Like I told Bob privately today, he gave me one of the most valuable gifts he could by posting my opinion on his page for the social media grandstanders to chime in on, giving me endless amounts of fodder to create emails and content to, yes, build a list and make more sales (which builds my list). So much value I almost want to PayPal him some dough.

That kind of exposure is a powerful marketing weapon if you know how to wield it.

But, ironically, only if you have a *list*…

Finally:

Since we’re talking lists I decided to extend the deadline window to get the April “Email Players” issue which is all about… (wait for it…)

Building a list.

Specifically, a free list.

And, even more specifically:

A free list of leads who are likely to be responsive, and make up the best kind of leads I have ever sold to. Since the printer doesn’t open again until Monday anyway, I’m extending the deadline to get in on this issue to tomorrow (Sunday) at midnight.

Here’s where to subscribe in time:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

P.S. Not everyone was battling elBenbo in the Bob-tagon.

My boy Luis Congdon chimed in the thread, too, with:

“Ben and I had a good discussion about this. He clearly knows his stuff. I like what Ray and I talked about – it’s to give value and collect that email and convert to buyers. And if they don’t convert or buy – maybe they become fans and share, or they just get some value. For me, that’s more in alignment with my values but I’ll say this – many people need to swing more towards Bens way, simply because big hearted people often don’t understand that having a big heart also needs some give and take, end goal, and so for this I really appreciate Bens way.”

Correct ^^

And about this part:

“maybe they become fans and share, or they just get some value”

And the reason we want them to become fans and share or get value? So that other people will find us through them… so we can build a list/make a sale (which builds a list).

One of the few reasons I read my Facebook newsfeed (most of my time on there is spent in groups) is because of A-list copywriter Bob Bly.

He and I don’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of things.

(He has privately scolded me several times on my wicked ways.)

But, he’s always been one of my favorite copywriters.

And, I have always liked how he gets people thinking and talking in social media.

Case in point:

He asked his FB friends what they thought of my claim in this morning’s email about the only purpose of a website being to build a list. Of course, he disagreed. And, of course, pretty much all the people replying to his post were against what I said, a few (gasp!) even taking what I said out of context.

Speaking of context, for the record:

My email Bob quoted from was talking to direct response marketers who sell with email already (or who want to). Not people who don’t use direct response marketing, don’t use email, couldn’t care less about using email, or who are Coca-Cola or some Fortune 1000 company or whatever.

Okay, so, now that we got that out of the way, on to the fun stuff.

It’s very easy to test out what I claim:

For the next 30 days leave all your education, demonstration, content, branding, articles, videos, testimonials, etc up on your website, but take down all your opt in forms, stop mailing your list offers during that same time frame, and see how your sales stack up to the prior 3 months’ sales. Then, if you want to further test it out, for the next 30 days after that, put your opt in forms back on your site, but take all the content, branding, teaching, demonstration, articles, testimonials, and anything else you think is more important than building a list down, resume mailing offers as usual, and see how your sales go.

Very simple.

But, I doubt anyone will test that out.

Or even consider it.

Why?

Because all the noble appeals to building credibility, demonstration, education, providing value, establishing trust, etc notwithstanding (all of which are important precisely **because they help you build your list**), if you had nothing else going for you but knowing how to use email correctly, you could build a decent business just running traffic to an opt in page, building that list, and then mailing it each day.

No blog, articles, pages of content, videos, personal branding, etc necessary.

No, it’s not ideal.

And, yes, you will almost certainly make MORE sales using the above on your site, too.

(i.e. I do all the above on my sites)

But, you could get by without them if you had nothing but the list, an offer people want, and email.

On the other hand:

You can have the best content, the most teaching, tons of educational videos, and all the usual website bells & whistles… but have no list you’re sending offers to, and you might make *some* sales I suppose. Maybe even a lot of sales if you have a huge brand/blog/site/audience already. But, that’d be a tough row to hoe for most of us mere mortals who don’t live in magic facebook fairy dust land where direct response marketing businesses aren’t first and foremost dependent upon having a list.

Anyway, that’s my take on the matter.

You can obviously do what you want.

But, if you want to try things my way using email, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

More:

Since we’re talking lists… and since the April issue is all about list building… and since the printer won’t be in until Monday anyway… I am extending the deadline to get the April issue until tomorrow (Sunday) at midnight.

Now get out of here before I change my mind…

Ben Settle

P.S. tl;dr version…

One of the commenters said:

“A website is a vehicle of influence that enables one to build credibility, establish trust, and quickly bond.”

And the *reason* for a direct response marketing business to build credibility, establish trust, and quickly bond with website visitors is, what?

Show of hands?

Anyone?

Fine, then I’ll spell it out for the class:

To build a list or make a sale (which builds a list)

So I recently did the unthinkable:

I took on a copywriting client.

Yes, even though I despise doing client work (prefer to be my own client and work on my own projects only) and even though I haven’t done a client project in about 5 years. I was actually hired by the copywriter who was supposed to do it to just consult but ended up taking it over and doing it all (except the product research — i.e. I didn’t even personally go through the product, someone else did and then told me what it said). Reason why is, I’m pals with the client, had this “bug” to make sure it kicked bootay, and, of course, because elBenbo is a dictator at heart.

Anyway, the result?

Well, as of the time of *this* writing:

It was launched on a small scale to ice cold leads.

And, it is nabbing a whopping two sales per day.

Ooh.

Not much to write home about is it?

Unless, of course, you take off the goo-roo fanboy hat and look at the context and numbers. It’s a $997 product and ye olde client is spending just $150 per day in ad spend. Thus, he’s making $1994.00 per day. Of course, he’s gonna ramp that spend up and scale the crap out of it and, if it stays like this, it’s game over.

Nobody will be able to touch him in that market.

(With his competitors scrambling to catch up and looking like wannabes.)

Why am I telling you about this?

I mean, really, who cares?

Mayhaps you should.

At least, if you are frustrated with copywriting, overwhelmed with the process, and want to write ads in just hours that bring in world class results without having to be a “world class” copywriter.

Here’s what I mean:

I wrote that letter in probably less than 10 hours (market research, writing, and editing). And, I did it without even seeing the product… without spending weeks and months slaving over my computer… and without losing so much as a minute of sleep over it.

I didn’t obsess over the headline.

Didn’t worry about the “writing.”

And, couldn’t have been bothered to stress over it in any way.

Yet, the client is making almost $2,000 per day just in the *testing* phase using the letter, without me having to lose months of my life sweating over every jot and tittle like a lot of copywriters do. Instead, I simply used my Copy Slacker method that I have used for every ad I’ve written in the past decade — including on ads that have been controls for 8 years straight.

Moral of the story?

The Copy is only 20% of the battle here.

(I don’t take credit for all these numbers by any means.)

But, if you know your market, know how to structure a pitch, offer something people want, have a great product, and generate quality traffic (all of which is more important than the “copy”)… then this is what a Copy Slacker-created sales letter can do.

And, it can do it without you having to be a great copywriter.

(I’m certainly not one.)

To learn my Copy Slacker system (it only takes about 4 hours) go here:

www.CopySlacker.com

Word up.

Ben Settle

On the plane ride home this week I finally saw a movie I am socking myself for not seeing earlier:

“Creed”

Oh how I dig on this movie!

Not just because I’m a huge “Rocky” movie fan… or because Apollo Creed is one of my all-time favorite movie characters… or because Stallone is brilliant in it. But also because of all the success principles embedded inside the movie. They are classic Rocky movie themes. But, this character (Apollo Creed’s love child wanting to prove he wasn’t a mistake) is plagued by a whole different set of demons than Rocky was. I won’t give any spoilers. But, there’s one line of advice from Rocky in the movie that can make you successful at ANYTHING you want in life — yes, especially email copywriting:

‘One Step, One Punch, One Round at a Time’

Soooo simple, isn’t it.

So non-goo-roo-ey.

So non-sexy, non-ninja, non-epic.

Yet, Rocky keeps Adonis on track and competing with far better, more experienced, and more naturally gifted fighters with those words. And now, my dear little fledging, elBenbo is giving you the same advice when you’re writing emails:

‘One Step, One Punch, One Round at a Time’

Don’t get overwhelmed with panic over a blank page.

Don’t get bogged down with pointless metrics unrelated to ROI.

Don’t worry about what anyone thinks of your opinions or ideas.

Just one step, one punch, one round at a time.

Open your computer and start writing (one step), soon a story or theme will emerge (one punch), send it to your list (one round). Do that day after day and you will be successful — even if you’re not the most talented copywriter or salesman in the room.

The only thing that can stop you will be not having a list.

And that, my little droogie, is the subject of the April “Email Players” issue.

It’s all about building a list of responsive buyers.

Without spending any money.

(Although it will take time and energy.)

And, bringing the to you in a way where they are ready to buy.

But tonight’s the deadline.

To get it in time, put your sweat suit and hoodie on, and run over here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Today is the deadline to get the April “Email Players” issue.

Here are a few tidbits inside:

• The cheapskate’s guide to to building a hot list of leads who are anxious to read and buy from you — sometimes before they even opt in.

• A secret way of writing ezine article resource boxes that can as much as double (even triple) the clicks to your opt in pages.

• Why guys must play all the mind games chicks claim to hate if they want to be successful in the dating world these days. (Nothing to do with email, but…)

• How to use YouTube videos to bring leads to your site without you having to be on camera.

• Where to hire a teenage kid who will submit your daily emails and other content to 50+ social media sites.

• How to ethically “siphon” traffic from high traffic blogs right into your opt in pages.

• How to use Kindle to get people to essentially pay you to be on your free opt in list.

• An almost forgotten way to use old school press releases to drive traffic to your website. (Complete with an example you can model for what you sell.)

• How to “barter” for traffic.

• How to get people to write a free solo ad about your business to their list.

• A never-talked-about way to use podcast and other audio interviews you’ve done to get highly targeted traffic to your website.

• And a ho’ bunch much more…

Bottom line:

I grow tired of people complaining about having a small list. (You know what they say about peeps with small lists…) After this issue, list size should never be a problem again.

But, today’s the deadline to get the April issue.

Get your lovin’ here while you still can:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Back when Child elBenbo was but a mere tyke he did something that got him in a lot of trouble (my mom may even have broke another wooden paddle over my bubble butt at the time, don’t remember) but that has also made me lots of sales in the last several years, too.

Here’s the story:

I was probably around 9 or 10.

And, my mom stopped at my aunt’s house for something.

She left me in the car (gee, I wonder why…) and I got impatient. I don’t remember why I was so impatient, but I do remember honking the car horn to get her attention. When that didn’t work to get my mom to hurry up, I honked it again. And again. And again… probably a good 10 or so times until…

The horn got stuck!

It just kept blaring.

Well, needless to say, that go momma elBenbo’s attention.

And, needless to say, got me in a ton of trouble.

But, I will say my persistence worked.

She did run out, she did do something (flagged a neighbor down) to fix the horn, and we did high tail it out of there lickety split. And, I did get grounded to room for several days where all my toys were to play with (I rather enjoyed getting grounded — I’ve always enjoyed my own company over others’, what can I say?)

The lesson?

Persistence gets you what you want.

And you know what else?

The April “Email Players” issue shows you a way to use good, old fashioned persistence to build a big, thriving list of leads on your email list who look forward to hearing from you and, yes, buying from you, each day. It takes about 1-2 hours per day (give or take). And, again, if you persistently go after it, I don’t see how you can possibly not build such a list.

Anyway, she goes to the printer in a few days.

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

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle