Ben Settle

Recently, I confused some of my email subscribers.

It was in the email about all the reasons I like using email over blogs, videos, podcasts, etc, where I said email is “forgiving.” And apparently I wasn’t clear enough about what this meant (hey, my bad).

So maybe this will make it clearer:

Ever seen the movie Superman 2?

Specifically, the scene where Superman “threw the S”?

No?

Or maybe you just don’t remember?

That’s okay.

I’d gladly block the memory out too, if I could.

But in the final fight scene where Superman is battling three other Kryptonian criminals (who have his same powers), out of nowhere he rips off his “S” emblem and throws it at one of the villains — which grows and turns into what looks like a giant fruit roll-up that temporarily covers ye olde villain up like plastic wrap.

Yeah, it was as dumb as it sounds.

So dumb, you lose IQ points just watching it.

In fact, I recently saw it referred to as “throwing the S” — a term now applied to ANY bad movie scenes. (Kinda like “Wow, George Lucas sure threw the S with that Jar-Jar character!”)

What’s this got to do with email?

Well, if you do a lot of email, you’re gonna throw the S, too — where you send an email (you wish you hadn’t) with something stoopid in it or with an embarrassing mistake, etc.

It happens to me sometimes.

And chances are it’ll happen to you, too.

But guess what?

If you mess up and say something stoopid or whatever, you just roar back the next day with something cool and all is forgotten (or, at least, forgiven) which could possibly even result in a sale.

No harm, no foul.

So that’s what email being forgiving means.

If you throw the S, who cares?

You can easily make things right tomorrow.

And maybe even profit from it.

Ben Settle

P.S. I should get the proof for the Street-Smart Email course this week. I just have to whip up an ad for it and it’ll be for sale probably in a couple weeks (give or take).

You can jump on the notification list at:

Early bird customers get a juicy worm (i.e. huge discount).

Yesterday I had quite the nerdgasm.

A real doozie.

I was watching a documentary about comic book creator and legend Stan Lee (creator of Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, Ironman and many other “household name” characters).

And what tingled my spider sense?

The famous Marvel and DC Comics’ “rivalry.”

You see, Marvel has (from what I can tell) always outsold DC Comics. And the DC guys were always trying to geek information from the Marvel people about their big “secret.”

What did they do differently?

Why did fans FLOCK to Marvel like that?

And so they would study Marvel and, for example, notice them using lots of dialogue on their covers. Splashing flashy colors throughout their books. Placing word balloons a certain way, and so on and so forth.

And you know what happened?

The DC guys tried “swiping” all these techniques and tactics.

Did it work?

Apparently not.

You see, the REAL reasons for Marvel’s success had little to do with their “tactics” — like how they used colors, word balloons and dialogue.

The gold was in the intangible stuff.

The stuff you didn’t “see” in the comics.

Like how they created a sense of community for their readers, fleshed out their characters and structured their reader-publisher relationship.

To this day, Marvel STILL wipes the floor with DC.

And guess what?

The same thing happens online today.

People get so caught up in the “tactical” stuff they see from goo-roos or whatever — like headline colors, sales letter formats, launch techniques, search engine “loopholes”, short term test results (that may or may not apply to anyone else), etc — they forget the 100% principle-based fundamentals that build businesses and long term customers.

Like, for example positioning.

Telling the truth (the #1 sales”technique” you can use).

Respecting marketplace skepticism.

Relentless follow-up.

Rock solid customer service.

And all that other “un-sexy” stuff.

Bottom line?

Marvel figured this principles vs tactics thing out DECADES ago, and today, they’re a multi-billion dollar operation.

And the competition?

Most are pouting in Marvel’s giant shadow.

Ben Settle

P.S. For dozens of principle-based sales and marketing secrets that build businesses (and not just one time sales), find a phone booth, put on your cape & tights, and fly on over to:

By popular demand…

Here’s my top 10 favorite copywriting resources:

1. Gary Bencivenga’s “100 Seminar” DVD’s

2. Matt Furey’s original email course

3. Eugene Schwartz’s “Breakthrough Advertising”

4. Doug D’Anna’s “How To Write Long Copy That Makes Money” DVD

5. Gary Halbert’s “The Boron Letters”

6. All the copywriting issues of Gary Halbert’s newsletter

7. Paul Hartunian’s publicity system

8. John Carlton’s “Kick Ass Copywriting Secrets”

9. Ken McCarthy’s “Advanced Copywriting For Serious Info Marketers” course 

10. The Gene Schwartz Phillips Publishing speech

Some of these resources are unrepentantly expensive. Some are dirt cheap (and, in one case, free). But cheap or pricey, they’ve been worth their weight in platinum to me.

And have easily paid for themselves.

So I guess in that sense, they were technically “free.”

Also some of these are hard to find.

That means, don’t ask me where to find it, ask Google.

To learn more about the paid Email Players newsletter go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Let’s rap about sales today.

No… not “selling.”

But sales — as in having a sales event.

Sometimes people ask why I rarely do sales.

Is there an ethical reason?

A strategical reason?

Otherwise why not get on the stick and have a sale???

First off, it’s true, I don’t do many sales. But, not because they’re inherently “wrong.” It’s just, in my way of thinking, most people buy when they’re ready to buy — sale or not. (Otherwise, nobody would buy anything from retail stores here in the US all year until “Black Friday”).

Another reason is discounting ain’t selling.

Sadly, many think it is.

But in most cases (especially in my market) the more someone pays for something, the better the chances they’ll USE it, and the more VALUE they’ll likely get from it.

That doesn’t mean I “gouge” anyone.

But I don’t want my products rotting on shelves, either.

I want them to be used.

Otherwise, what’s the point?

However, I do make exceptions when launching new products.

Mostly because I LOVE rewarding action takers.

Just like what I’m going to do with my coming Street-Smart Email System in a few weeks. The regular price will probably be anywhere from $695.00 to $995.00 (haven’t decided yet).

But not for launch day customers.

They’ll get it for at LEAST $300.00 or $400.00 off.

To be notified when it’s ready, hop over to…

Ben Settle

P.S. By the way, this is just how I do business now, and could change. I’ve worked with businesses where having sales is a major (very important) part of the sales funnel.

There’s no one-size-fits-all biz model.

No matter what ye olde goo-roos say.

Every now and then, someone asks…

“Ben, why are you so obsessed with email? With all the Web 2.0 technology why do you think email is best?”

Good question.

These days you’re almost considered the village idiot if you focus on “plain vanilla” email… instead social media, videos, podcasts, blogs and all the fancy pants apps and sites.

But to me, email blows all that fluff away.

And here are a FEW reasons why…

1. Email is visible

People check their emails 2, 3, 5, even 10 times per day. Let’s face it… your message’s chances of at least being seen are extremely high.

2. Email is intimate

It can be like getting passed a note in study hall. And if you do them right, you will have people not only anxiously tuning in to your emails… but looking forward to them.

3. Email makes your OTHER writings better

Since writing daily emails my other (non-business) writings have gotten much more crisp and FAR more persuasive. Methinks yours will, too.

4. Email increases response

’nuff said.

5. Email is forgiving

It’s kind of like dressing “business casual” — informal… yet still serious enough to take care of business. Plus, if you mess up, you come back the next day without missing a beat.

6. Email is fast

Want to test an idea? Get feedback? Take the “pulse” of your list? You can do so at the speed of a mouse click.

7. Email is fun

One of my “big secrets” to writing lots of emails is only writing about things that are fun to write about. How can you NOT have fun if you only write about fun things?

Again, just a FEW reasons I’m an email kinda guy.

Frankly, if I only had ONE tool to sell with online… I’d pick email every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

What about you, though?

Want to learn more about using email?

Then fear ye not.

My Street-Smart Email system is almost ready, where I lay everything I know about email marketing and writing on a plate.

It won’t be cheap, of course.

But launch day customers get a big discount.

To be notified when it’s ready, go to…

Ben Settle

Once upon a time someone wrote a magnifico ad.

It was packed with great bullets, had a superbly crafted headline, and had prospects salivating like Pavlov’s dogs.

Yet, the ad BOMBED.

But it had nothing to do with the “usual suspects” — like the market, list, traffic, or offer.

No… it was the bonuses that done killed it.

Here’s what I mean:

You see, word around the campfire is, the bonuses included free products that would have made customers’ lives MORE stressful. (Like products that required you to buy other (expensive) things to really use them.)

Gifts that can be more stressful TO have than NOT have.

Kinda like the “evil clown” gift:

In Switzerland, there’s a place to order up an “evil clown” who, over 7 days, stalks, terrifies and freaks out the person being gifted — by leaving spooky phone calls, sending threatening text messages, tampering with their mailbox, etc.

Then, when he finds you…

He smashes a cake in your face!

Now I’d LOVE if someone did this for me (bring it!), but for some people, this gets pretty stressful and is NOT fun.

Anyway, the point?

Don’t give “evil clown” bonuses that stress people out.

They don’t just scare away customers.

They literally kill the sale.

Ben Settle

P.S. Since we’re talking about gifts, don’t forget the 12 beauties you get when you subscribe to ye olde Crypto Marketing Newsletter:

Got asked an interesting sales question recently.

The guy who asked it is trying to land a potentially very lucrative client (he’s in the marketing coaching business) but can’t seem to close the deal. He’s tried everything he can think of — calling the client, sending stuff through the mail, stopping buy (as well as using all the popular sales “tips and tricks” from the best-selling books) but is getting nowhere fast.

He doesn’t want to lose this one, though.

As it could mean MEGA green stuff in his piggy bank.

My advice?

Put the phone down and watch Seinfeld, instead.

Specifically, the episode where George is obsessed when Jerry’s girlfriend doesn’t like him, and so tries extra hard to get her to like him, which only makes her hate him even more.

Why watch this?

Because it perfectly illustrates the power of indifference.

And of what happens when you slobber all over someone to get their attention. (Such as when George says, “Jerry… this woman hates me so much I’m starting to like her…She just dislikes me so much… It’s irresistable.”)

That happens all the time in business.

ALL the time.

People want the sale so bad, they drive the customer away and obsess over why they said no.

Why does this happen?

It’s the law of the jungle:

When you hunt something down, the hunted prey tends to get scared and run away (his survival depends on it, after all). And so the advice to him was nothing more than:

Ease up.

Quit hovering over the would-be client.

And don’t act so needy.

Otherwise you’ll scare the customer away.

And end up with nothing.

Ben Settle

P.S. Best way to be “indifferent” like this (so you can attract instead of repel) is to simply know how to sell. That’s it. Doesn’t matter if you’re a copywriter, a coach, consultant, an MLM distributor or direct marketer — learn to sell and you simply won’t come off as eager or make the blunders that turn customers away like this.

You can learn 101 different ways to sell over yonder at:

We’re long overdo for some Q&A.

Let’s roll…

QUESTION: When is the best time to send emails?

BEN: That’s like asking how many licks it takes to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop. (If that snarky Mr. Owl couldn’t figure it out, what makes you think I can?) Seriously though, every list, market, and emailer is different. Anyone who tells you there’s one overall “best time” for everyone is either lying or selling something (or both).

Personally, I don’t sweat it either way.

I just focus on:

1. Getting emails out regularly
2. Building a relationship with my list

The rest takes care of itself.

QUESTION: Do you use NLP in your sales copy?

BEN: Maybe, I dunno. Daniel Levis recently said I do on a mastermind call. But it’s not conscious. I focus on knowing my market and excelling at these 5 things: Headline, lead, story, bullets, close — the subject (ironically) of the current crop of Crypto Marketing Newsletter issues.

QUESTION: Will you take a quick look at my ad?

BEN: Time to nip this question in the bud…

It’s $995.00 (paid up front) to do copywriting critiques. Sometimes people think I’m being a jerk or snob or whatever about this. But if I “took a quick look” at everyone’s ad I’d never get anything done.

For free critiques, sally forth to ye olde copywriting forums.

QUESTION: How do I join your beer level copywriters team?

BEN: First, you must own my Copywriting Grab Bag book. Even then, there are no guarantees. But that gets your name sent over to the copywriter doing the deal (if you request it).

QUESTION: Do you have an email swipe file I can download?

BEN: My Street Smart Email System will include TONS of email samples (including subject lines, body copy and even emails launching a new product).

Other than that, just read through my blog posts.

Or opt-in to the lists at:

QUESTION: Are long scrolling sales letters really dead?

BEN: I’ve been hearing a lot about that lately.

All I can say is that’s not been my experience, although adding pages just for the sake of it is completely loco.

But that’s why we test.

Right?

Ben Settle

Well, it’s official.

I’m insane.

Or at least within farting distance of insanity.

And before you laugh, just know YOU are probably insane, too — especially if you’re a long time reader of my emails.

I ain’t just “whistlin’ dixie” here, either.

Check this out:

Recently, I saw an article about a study saying the line between genius and insanity is “wafer thin”, and that the ability to make bizarre and unusual associations is often possessed by both the insane and so-called “creative geniuses.”

Interesting, isn’t it?

Now, I don’t claim to be a genius by any means.

Not even close.

So please don’t misunderstand.

That word “genius” gets way overused — and applies more to the likes of Mozart, Shakespeare and Edison, than to fanboy copywriters with a love of popular entertainment and bad jokes.

But, I do make LOTS of bizarre associations.

Especially in my daily emails and ads.

It’s my “mark”, so to speak.

The thing I do that few other marketers either know how to do or are too “professional” to do. In fact, in my upcoming Street Smart Email System I spend time on this very subject (complete with examples).

But I don’t do it just because it’s fun.

I do it because it’s profitable.

It keeps people interested.

And it sticks out in the inbox like an honest man in Washington, DC when surrounded by goo-roo emails beating their chests about their latest launch or sale.

And you know what?

You can write “insanely” profitable emails, too.

Just grab your straightjacket and wiggle on over to my email marketing “asylum” at:

Be sure to jump on the nofication list.

Launch day customers get a crazy big discount.

Ben Settle