Ben Settle

The Obama secret to putting your email list “in heat” to buy from you

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

Here’s a taste of what’s waiting inside:

• The Obama secret to putting your email list “in heat” to buy from you. (I picked up this little ditty after talking at length with someone from a rather large direct response marketing company, and it was also taught by the late great copywriter Jim Rutz. Works for any niche, market, or product, too.)

• How to use negative emotions to leap frog over your competition.

• Why email marketers who smile make less dough than those who don’t.

• How to sell and gain trust in markets awash in scams and BS.

• Exactly how to structure your sentences (whether in ads or emails) to have them ooooooze with proof and credibility.

• The difference between informational emails and educational emails… and which one makes the most sales. (With examples.)

• A secret way of writing emails where, after someone reads it, he’s near desperate to find, click, and buy from a link. (Which, if you follow my system, will be waiting for him with a smile on its face…)

• A big mistake people make in their email’s PS that practically guarantees they get ignored by lots of people who would otherwise buy.

• How to meet, connect with, and do business with (almost) anyone you want in the Internet marketing community. (Including the email address of a man who might be able to help connect you with virtually anyone you want in the industry.)

• How to tap into the current “zombie craze” in your emails. (Complete with a successful example in a niche most people would think a zombie-themed email would be inappropriate and irrelevant.)

• And a ho’ bunch more…

Including a valuable bonus training revealing how one of Canada’s top copywriters uses a little-known email secret to drag in tens of thousands of extra dollars per year while hardly even breaking a sweat…

I’m sending the list to the printer tonight.

If you want in, best hop to it and subscribe.

Ain’t no time to lose:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

In this week’s “Ben Settle Show” my Facebook advertising guy Shane Hunter walks us through some of his advanced Facebook ad secrets, such as:

• What a “pattern interrupt” is… and how to use them to get a ton more clicks on your Facebook ads.

• Why pissing off people with your Facebook ads can exponentially increase your response (and exactly how to do it).

• How to use the “just the tip” game to avoid scaring away your audience, clients, list, and leads.

• How to use “naughty” language (without getting in trouble with Facebook) to almost force qualified leads to read your ads.

• How to use your market’s favorite movies to get their attention and eagerly want to click your Facebook ads.

• Why most Facebook advertisers are basically doing the equivalent of spam (and then wonder why they get so few clicks).

• The single best way ever invented (so far) to advertise on Facebook to the biz-opp market.

• How to write ads that are far more likely to get shared with peoples’ friends and families (so you get leads you aren’t even paying for).

• How to raise money for virtually any cause you want using Facebook ads (and without having to invest hardly any money).

• How to use “alternate realities” to get away with using taboo and offensive ideas in your ads. (If you have a crazy idea to test, and want to avoid mass fallout or bad publicity from testing that ad, just do this and you’ll be good to go.)

• How to merge politics and Facebook advertising to explode your sales.

• And a lot more…

Show Shane some lovin’ here:

www.BenSettleShow.com/antipreneur

Ben Settle

A few months back I was at an event in Phoenix speaking, and got together with my pal Shane Hunter to help give some of the attendees tips on making their ads better.

One of the Facebook ads we analyzed went like this:

• Picture of a baby
• Asks if the reader wants more reps (for MLM)
• Call to action

Shane and I called nah boo on that one.

The advertiser needed to go darker.

More disturbing.

And, more scary.

My advice?

Change the copy to “why does this creepy man smile every time you drop your child off at daycare?” (For some reason that guy didn’t want to have dinner with me and Shane that night when we invited him… heh.)

Anyway, the point?

Shane and I are on the exact page with advertising.

He is like the Ben Settle of Facebook advertising.

And I’m the Shane Hunter of email.

And since you already hear from me every day, I’m gonna switch it up and have him on as a guest on tomorrow’s “Ben Settle Show” podcast.

He shares all kinds of cool stuff, too.

Including how to get a lot more clicks.

A lot more leads.

And, yes, a lot more sales.

Anyway, it’ll be up tomorrow morning.

In the meantime:

Dip in to some past episodes here:

www.BenSettleShow.com/antipreneur

Ben Settle

Came a question from an “Email Players” subscriber:

“Was wondering if you had any pointers on hooks. I’m in the weight loss and muscle building niche. As you know there is a lot of hype and false claims. I don’t want to go down that road. I don’t want to say stuff like lose 8lbs in 8 days and have women fall over you. Do you have any pointers on developing a hook with some umph yet not a load of bull or hype. I really want to stay away form the lose xlbs in x days or crazy abz in x days.”

Now, his question is about his specific niche.

But, really, a lot of markets have this problem.

And there are two answers:

1. Realize there are many other “hot buttons” you can be hitting other than dropping pounds, picking up chicks, etc. There’s a whole breadth of human emotions, and each one is an email/hook

2. See the April “Email Players” issue

(Which goes to print next week.)

Why?

Because I reveal how to not only use all the big, bold claims in your emails and still be 100% believed and trusted… but also how to “harness” all the lies, deceit, and nonsense your competitors are using to put more shiny new rupees in your hot little pocketseseses.

I don’t care what market you’re in, either.

The tip I reveal works for all of them.

And, believe it or not, it has worked for decades — in fact, part of it is something I learned while studying some Eugene Schwartz ads. (Even though he slathered some of his ads with hypey language  — complete with a fat exclamation point at the end of each sentence).

OK.

’nuff of this clap-trapping.

If you want in in time, do the hustle on over to:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Plot twist:

Practically any study you read on the subject will almost certainly tell you that smiling makes you more trustworthy in a variety of different situations (including sales). People who scowl or don’t smile, on the other hand, tend to be less trusted.

(I am generalizing of course, but you get the gist.)

But, guess what?

I believe it’s the exact opposite for email marketers.

And by smiling I mean smilies, emojis, etc.

But, why would I say this?

What gives?

Shouldn’t smiling help, not hurt your trustworthiness?

(And, thus, your sales?)

That’s a good question.

Glad you axed.

The short answer is, I think a LOT (not all) of email marketers should test ix-naying any and all smilies in emails selling something (not personal correspondence emails, etc, let’s keep this in context) for a few months and see what it does to your sales over time. On the other hand… there are some for whom smiling helps put more dough in their piggy banks, and they might try adding smilies in.

But most of us?

Nah-boo.

What about you?

Do you think those smilies boost your sales?

Not sure?

Then, check ye out the April “Email Players” issue.

One of the DUO’s (dull unpolished objects) inside this issue is not only who should (and shouldn’t) be using smilies in their emails selling stuff, but the *psychology* (and historical context) behind why smiling can potentially hurt (even destroy) your brand, your positioning, and, yes, your sales.

But, she goes to print next week.

So there’s no time to lose.

Subscribe ye here to get it while you still can:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

I don’t know who invented the term:

“Bright shiny objects” (BSO’s)

But, it’s dead on accurate.

And lately more blokes on the prowl for BSO’s have been sneaking onto the “Email Players” newsletter. And, predictably, they’re disappointed when they realize it’s not a bright shiny object (BSO) at all.

If anything it’s a dull unpolished object.

(DUO)

Kinda like a slinky.

Remember slinkies?

They are basically “springs” that do things like travel down a flight of steps or appear to levitate for a period of time after it has been dropped, etc. Boring on the surface, but endlessly fun to play with. (Which is why over 350 million have been sold in the past 70 years.)

That’s what my newsletter is:

A slinky.

It ain’t sexy at all on the surface.

But, once you get the hang of it, it’s endlessly fun. (What’s not fun about writing emails that are a blast to write, make lots of sales, and only takes about 15 minutes per day?)

Unlike BSO’s, there are few “tactics” to celebrate.

Nothing “ninja” to brag about.

No “push button riches” claims in sight.

But, everything inside is designed to put lots of extra sales in your pocket.

Example:

The April issue (which goes to print next week).

It has a bonus training from one of Canada’s top copywriters (who also learned at the feet of the great Ted Nicholas and used to write for Clayton Makepeace’s site — he ain’t no fluke) showing you how he bangs out hundreds — if not thousands — of extremely profitable emails each year for himself and his clients using no hard mental effort whatsoever. It’s a strategy billion dollar companies like Hallmark use, and if you are someone who struggles with ideas and just wants to write your emails fast and move on with your day (while still making way more sales) it’s gonna open a whole new world of easy profits for you.

But, a word of warning:

This bonus training is not a BSO at all.

It’s pure DUO.

(The whole issue is DUO.)

’tis a slinky, not a Lego Space Port or whatever.

Subscribe here to get it, while there’s still time:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

The world’s simplest marketing plan

In today’s “meat & potatoes” Ben Settle Show, Producer Jonathan and I wrestle over such complicated concepts as:

• Why a certain 8-figure business studies my business model.

• Why I don’t take coaching students on (with one exception)… and why you wouldn’t want to be a coaching student of mine anyway.

• 5 steps to running a simple “steak and eggs” online business that pays you lots of money with minimal time investment.

• A simple diet (created by an old school body builder) that quickly melted a bunch of fat off my righteous bootay.

• The one time it makes zero sense to “test” anything in your marketing (despite what people who profit off of making things complicated will tell you).

• Why I don’t trust Google’s testing software.

• What a professional statician says about testing online. (And why guys like him laugh at a lot of people online bragging about their so-called tests.)

• A sales letter structure that is so simple even a raw newbie can do it, yet so effective even 15+ year copywriting veterans profit from it.

• When you don’t need to tell a story in your ads.

• Why the wealthiest businesses build pipelines instead of carrying buckets. (This is straight from one of the world’s most respected and successful financial authors & coaches.)

• And lots mo’…

Download today’s show here:

www.BenSettleShow.com/antipreneur

Ben Settle

Not long ago I had a brief discussion with one of my business partners (I have a lot of bid’niz partners these days) who admitted:

“I’m Ben Settle-izing my business this year.”

Now, this bloke is already very successful.

Already makes lots of the green stuff.

And, is one of the top marketing minds I ever done met.

Still, there is something about the sheer simplicity of how I’ve set up my business (and how I advise newbies to set theirs up) that, I guess, is attractive to the overworked marketer who wants to free up more of this precious commodity we all know of as “time.”

Well, guess what?

I have heard everyone’s cries about this.

And, I am granting mercy on them.

Here’s how:

Tomorrow’s “Ben Settle Show” podcast is about what I consider to be one of the world’s simplest marketing plans broken down into 5-steps.

I did not “invent” any of these steps.

I picked them up from various people.

If I did anything, I simply put them all together.

(For my own benefit, not yours, but now you get to benefit from it if’n you are so inclined…)

It’ll be posted tomorrow.

Until then, download past episodes here:

www.BenSettleShow.com/antipreneur

Ben Settle

Comes a website reader question:

“you talk about invester mindset and opportunity mindset alot. what is the difference? I think I know what you mean but can you give an example of a investor mind? Thanks.”

Why, yes, I can.

In fact, here’s a recent example:

In the private Flakebook group Ryan Healy and I have for our *paying* customers, “Email Players” subscriber Nicholas Lal said:

“My theory is if you can learn one thing that you can implement in your business it always covers the cost. One issue of Ben Settle’s newsletter and I created my own solo ads business. That makes me a subscriber for life.”

Pretty self explanatory, no?

What?

You want a side-by-side comparison of the mindsets?

Okay:

Last August I got two very different bits of feedback to that month’s “Email Players” issue. One was from someone very active on the Warrior Forum (over 2,000 posts). The other, Pete Godfrey — one of Australia’s top copywriting and marketing minds, who commands $30k for a spot in his private coaching group.

Warrior Forum guy’s comment?

A snarky “this wasn’t worth $97…”

And Pete?

A note saying how much he enjoyed that issue.

The former haunts the Warrior Forum, complains about the info (without even implementing), and (gasp!) cancelled within a couple weeks. The latter is a world famous and widely respected copywriter, marketing strategist, speaker, and author who’s been subscribed to “Email Players” for 3 straight years.

One guy snarks, doesn’t implement, and quits.

The other implements, profits, and keeps using the info.

’nuff said.

I’ll leave you with this:

As you can see, my “Email Players” newsletter ain’t for the opportunity-minded. Frankly, it does them zero good. And is a waste of their money and time.

But the investor-minded?

Well, they make out like bandits with it.

Subscription info here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle