Last month I did a deal with Email Players subscriber and syndicated talk radio show host Mark Kaye — where I gave him an hour of consulting in exchange for him plugging my opt-in page to his entire audience.
i.e., one long testimonial about lil’ ol’ me.
And I liked it so much I decided to swipe some of it.
Here goes:
Ben is a very reclusive, highly conservative business buddy of mine who is trapped in a very red part of a very blue state. He’s also the leading authority on email marketing and has written some of the most entertaining books I’ve ever consumed.
Re: what he said about how I’m trapped in a very blue state.
He is absolutely right about that.
This is the state that recently thought it was racist to make graduating students prove they can read and write. That’s what the pronoun socialist brigade bending to the will of the teachers union here think is a good idea — just like they thought decriminalizing hard drugs, tying the hands of law enforcement to stop a lot of crime, and a laundry list of other truly idiotic policies that have caused a great deal of pain, violence, and death are a good idea.
All in the name of equality and virtue, of course.
Whatever the case:
Yes, I am in a state so blue it makes the smurfs look albino.
But, to be truthful about it, I don’t really see the truly horrifying stuff.
Like I was telling a buddy recently:
“I’m more likely to see a Bigfoot than a drag queen in my neck of the woods”
Not yet, at least.
Although the California transplants work hard to turn wherever they land into what they fled from.
Back to Mark’s point though:
Another thing he talked about was how I sometimes go on tangents away from email, marketing, copywriting at times. And he’s right. And the reason I do that is because I write what I want to write and what pleases me to write, which also turns on and serves the kind of customers I want, while utterly repelling (or at least generating some free troll fodder from) the dingbats I don’t want anywhere near me – not online or offline.
The result?
A very curated list and customer base.
The kind that is the envy of many of my pals up in this niche.
And no, it’s not about veering into culture wars or whatever.
It’s not the “what” — it’s the mindset and approach.
I don’t care if you’re selling to that love child Castro had who runs Canada or to Trump himself — it’s not about “ooh! I need to talk about culture wars!” It’s about you writing what’s on your mind, making it relevant to those you want to sell to, and not giving a rat’s puckering bung hole if anyone else who is not your ideal customer or clients likes it, approves of it, or will whine and snark about it.
When you understand how this approach works a whole new world opens up.
You no longer fear the crowd’s disapproval you all but seek that disapproval out.
When that happens, in my experience, the real sales happen.
And possibly, very quickly.
Something to think about.
Especially if you’re interested in the Email Players newsletter.
Here’s the link:
Ben Settle
