Ben Settle

I want to try something different today.

A “Do’s and Don’ts” list (about email marketing) — this’ll be fun for me to try this new email format, and hopefully you will be able to pick a few tips out of it.

Sound fair?

OK then, let’s boogie.

Your results may be different, but I am finding when it comes to email marketing, it’s best if you…

DO: Mail often (even every day).

DON’T: Only mail when you have something to sell.

DO: Be yourself — “warts” and all.

DON’T: Try to ape your favorite goo-oo.

DO: Give good information.

DON’T: Bore people with that good information.

DO: Plug something in every email.

DON’T: Cater to freebie seekers.

DO: Use controversy (if relevant).

DON’T: Let anyone who whines about it suck up your time.

DO: Keep your emails pithy.

DON’T: Think that longer emails can’t work, too.

Whew!

I’m getting dizzy writing in this “DO — DON’T” format.

Anyway, that’s all I know today.

If you want a more detailed email marketing lesson (by one of the Internet’s top email copywriters) check out The Affiliate Trump Card

Ben Settle

Once in a while I get asked about my favorite gurus.

No… not goo-roos.

I mean gurus — with a “u” instead of an “oo”.

There is a difference, ya know.

In my way of thinking, goo-roos are not the same as gurus.

That’s why you will often see me say “goo-roo” when pointing out something I believe you should probably NOT do, or a type of marketer whose claims and business practices I believe you should be skeptical of.

But it’s the exact opposite with “guru”.

Anyway, today I thought it’d be cool to list the “gurus” who I believe you can get mucho value from listening to.

This is all just my opinion, by the way.

Always do your homework before buying someone’s products or services (mine or anyone else’s).

I suspect one person’s guru is another’s goo-roo.

(And vice versa.)

Also, as a side note — I PURPOSELY omitted friends, mastermind members, etc to make this objective. I do not personally know most of the people on the following list and some are dead. But I am acquainted with a few of them (like Ken McCarthy, Terry Dean and Doug D’Anna, for example).

Ready?

OK, here goes… some of my favorite gurus:

• Gary Halbert
• John Caples
• Gary Bencivenga
• Terry Dean
• Jim Camp
• Doug D’Anna
• Paul Hartunian
• Ken McCarthy
• Eugene Schwartz
• Bruce Barton
• Michel Fortin
• John Carlton
• Jim Straw
• Dr. Glenn Livingston

There are more, but this should do for now.

These are some marketers who have A+ info and have never done me wrong on subjects like selling, marketing, copywriting and overall business success.

I suggest checking them all out (just google ’em).

You won’t be sorry.

Ben Settle

P.S. A quick update:

My books The Copywriting Grab Bag and Crackerjack Selling Secrets are still out of stock. Some people think I’m purposely not selling them to create “scarcity.”

Once again, my marketing just ain’t that sexy.

I’m simply in between printers right now and making sure the proofs are up to my standards before releasing the “hounds.”

Let’s have some fun today, shall we?

A little dissection of words even the marketing ex-spurts fear:

1. Work

Many marketers are terrified of admitting there might be work involved in using their product. And yet, I bet few (if any) have ever tested, you know, telling the TRUTH about their super duper way of making money or whatever they sell.

If they did, they may be surprised by the response.

2. Hard

As much as I despise the gummint mafia testimonial rules, I’m digging the way some people can’t just slap testimonials up of their bought-and-paid-for buddies saying how easy and effortless making a gazillion buckeroos is with their product.

It’s kind of amusing.

3. Expensive

I sometimes admit products are expensive up front in ads.

Why?

Because (A) it’s usually true.

And (2), saying it EARLY in the ad removes the objection later.

In the end, it often gets buyers who are “doers” and lovers of quality, instead of price shoppers always looking for cheap.

4. Don’t

Someone once said you should not use “negatives.”

Such as not saying stuff like, “Don’t Do XYZ” in a headline.

Is that true?

Maybe in some cases — but definitely not all of them. There have been many responsive headlines that were pure negative statements. Guess the copywriters writing those successful negative statement headlines never got the “memo.”

5. Effort

Ditto #1

6. Need

Lots of people say never to sell “needs”, just wants.

I don’t know about that.

When my car engine imploded a couple years ago, I NEEDED another car — and fast. I did not “want” one. In fact, I’d have been quite happy to not have had to think about it.

Needs vs wants is just semantics.

OK, so there they are — the 6 “Lord Voldemort” words even the ex-spurts dare not speaketh.

See?

They’re not so scary after all, are they?

Ben Settle

Lately, I’ve been hard at work on a supplement ad.

Totally new territory for me, though.

I’m more of an info product kinda copywriter and not liking these strangling rules I have to follow to make this ad FDA, FTC and probably even KGB compliant.

Bah!

It reminds me of what I call the “spider incident.”

Back when I lived in humid “swamp land” Illinois, we had just sprayed the hell out of the apartment and thought we were “safe” from any spiders and other critters.

But guess what?

That very night, around 3 am, a big ol fatty spider dropped right onto my bare chest and started scurrying down towards my belly.

I instinctively came awake and flung it off me.

Tanna woke up.

“What’s wrong?”

“A f*%*$! spider just landed on my chest!”

She flipped the light on and yep, there it was — hunched on top of the thin sheet she had over her legs (apparently, I flung it right on her — sorry baby!)

I STILL get the creeps thinking about that.

Anyway, all these gummint boogeymen are like that spider.

Even if you think you’ve “sprayed” your business with bureaucrat-repellant… even if you think your marketing is “hounds tooth” clean… and even if the lawyers knight your operation “compliant”… it really doesn’t matter.

If the mafia wants to make an example out of you, they will.

And there ain’t nothing you can do about it.

What’s that?

You aren’t worried because you’re a freelancer and have a “no fault” contract with your clients?

I wouldn’t get too comfy.

Chase Revel (founder of Entrepreneur Magazine and freelance copywriter) got nailed for making a 100% true and documented claim in his ad — even with a solid “no fault” clause in his contract

Yikes.

Something to think about when going to bed tonight 😉

Ben Settle

P.S. Just because you break the law every time you turn your computer on doesn’t mean you can’t try and stay off the goon radar.

For example, The Affiliate Trump Card includes an interview with Ray Edwards that reveals something he does (when selling as an affiliate) that can not only keep you off the “grid”, but can increase your sales, to boot.

It can be good to know this kind of stuff…

Recently got this question about selling on the Internet:

“Ben, I’m just not having any success selling online. I’ve tried everything but no luck. Any advice?“

I can’t really help you without more info.

But usually people who ask this are complicating things.

In most cases, people who say they’ve “tried everything” are simply not taking marketing and sales to the primal level the great persuasion expert Bernard Baruch did when he said:

It’s sort of like the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

George Bailey got himself in quite a mess, didn’t he?

Old man Potter put him in a financial bind and he was facing scandal and jail and worse. The dude was so scared and miserable he even considered suicide!

But remember what happened?

George got paid a visit by his guardian angel: Clarence.

And while Clarence may not have been the “coolest” cat in heaven, he knew how to help George out by showing him what the world would be like had he never been born.

In the end, Clarence saved George’s bacon.

And guess what?

That’s all you have to do when you’re selling.

You just gotta be like Clarence looking around for “George Bailey’s” to help. Prospects who are desperate to end a problem your product solves.

And once you find your George Baileys, go after ’em.

Show them you understand their problem and demonstrate how your product or service is the best way to solve it.

Do that enough times and you can’t help but be successful.

Doesn’t matter if you sell online, offline or on the sidelines, either. In fact, when you get this, and I mean really “get” it, I think you’ll find sales and marketing easy.

Maybe even “routine”, in some cases.

OK, that’s it for today, my friend.

See ya in the funny papers.

Ben Settle

P.S. I feel like plugging a product.

One of my best selling products (that I hardly ever promote) is my Affiliate Trump Card product.

You can read more at:

I’m gonna get medieval on you today.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about info-publishing.

Not only how to create extremely high quality (and high ticket) info products… but how to create them really FAST.

As in 24 hours or less fast.

Because if there’s one cool thing about all this technology right now, it’s that you can make a product today and literally sell it online tomorrow.

Would you like to be able to do this?

Then let me ask you a question:

Remember King Arthur and the Knights of the round table?

According to some legends, whenever “Arty” had a problem that needed solving, and didn’t know where to turn (I guess maybe when Merlin was too busy or on vacation) he would turn to his trusty knights. And they’d gather around King Arthur’s “round table” and, one by one, take a whack at the problem with their solutions.

By the time everyone was done, the king had his answer.

And guess what?

You can do the same thing to create your products:

If you want to create a valuable product that sells like hot cakes really fast, just gather a panel of experts in your niche on a teleconference (your cyber “round table”) and have them each answer a series of questions about whatever problem it is your market wants solved.

Everyone answers each question.

And, when you’ve gone around the table with all the questions, you got yourself a hot little info product you can (depending on the market) charge a premium for.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

Hey, it IS simple.

Maybe not necessarily easy.

But definitely simple.

And if you want some exact “how to’s” to guide you along, check out this free 80 minute training I did with audio marketing “maestro” Michael Senoff:

Ben Settle

P.S. Also, don’t forget, I’m interviewing copywriting superstar Scott Haines soon. If you’d like to submit a question for me to ask him, shoot me an email by clicking here.

I’m gonna go into copywriting “fanboy” mode here.

Like most people, I’ve got my favorite copywriters.

The ones whose ads I read over and over and over, trying to deconstruct what they were thinking and doing every step of the way.

And one of my favorites is a guy named Scott Haines.

You may not be aware of him because he keeps himself out of the limelight and doesn’t want to do the guru thing. Yet, he is easily one of the top copywriters on the planet, and was one of just a SMALL handful of the late (great) Gary Halbert’s personally trained students.

His client list is crazy impressive, too.

Scott’s written for everyone from infomercial gurus and New York Times Bestselling Authors… to $100+ million per year direct marketing companies… to even marketing and business giants like Jay Abraham and Donald Trump.

And guess what?

Scott has agreed to let me interview him (via email) about his most profitable copywriting tips.

But here’s the thing.

I don’t want to just ask him any old questions.

I want to ask him YOUR questions.

What is your most burning hot copywriting problem right now?

If you could sit down with a guy like Scott — whose copy has literally created fortunes selling everything from $19.95 books to $10k investment courses, in every field known to marketing kind (business opportoonity… business improvement… health… financial, etc) — what would you ask him?

No question is off limits.

And he won’t just answer the “easy” ones.

This is an extremely rare event, as again, he shuns the spotlight and doesn’t grant many interviews.

Just send your question(s) to:

Obviously, Scott won’t be able to answer every question.

But I’ll send him all the best ones.

And you never know, he may very well answer yours.

Ben Settle

Last night was our 9th wedding anniversary.

We’re talking nine looooong, grueling years of such hell and nagging… if she doesn’t behave herself I may not be renewing her contract next year at anniversary numero 10 —

Just kidding… just kidding 😉

Actually, it ain’t easy being married to me.

Take, for example, the weekend we got married.

We were in a little jerk water town near the church where we were hitched and I (in my infinite wisdom) picked this little hole in the wall motel to stay that week.

The motel was called… “The Bel Air.”

But it wasn’t anything like the 5-star version in LA.

This one was stinky, trashy and cramped.

And those who came to watch us get married couldn’t understand why I picked such a joint.

Why not go to a “real” hotel?

My answer?

Because I didn’t know their WERE any real hotels around there until my brother and dad said, “yeah, we’re staying at the Holiday Inn Express nearby…”

Doh!

Nice travel detective work there, Batman.

Anyway, while chatting about this last night, I got to thinking:

How many times does this happen to marketers in business?

Why do people stay with accountants who can’t count before realizing there are a million (plus one) others to choose from? Or keep doing business with banks that treat us like igits? Or continue to dish out hard earned smackeroos for advice that is either worthless or even makes things worse?

This stuff happens all the time.

And you know what?

Unless you’re dealing with the DMV here in the ‘states you’re usually not forced to put up with mediocre (or bad) service.

Choices abound these days.

And if you don’t take a moment to look around, you may never realize that, instead of swatting flies and mosquitos all night at that fleabag motel, you could be kicking back in the hot tub at the Ritz Carlton down the street.

Just something to think about.

Ben Settle

P.S. My Copywriting Grab Bag book is out of stock for the next week or so. And the Crackerjack Selling Secrets book launch has been delayed by about that long, too.

I’ll send an announcement when things are back online.

While back, I wrote a about “bizarro world” marketers.

They are basically like Bizarro Superman, but in business.

Bizarro Superman (in case you don’t know) is Superman’s exact opposite who lives in the backwards Bizarro world — where up is down, down is up, he says hello when he leaves, says goodbye when he arrives, has freeze vision (instead of heat vision), flame breath (instead of frost breath), etc.

And Bizarro marketers are the same way:

They do the exact OPPOSITE of what they should be doing when it comes to marketing, customer service, etc.

But guess what?

There are also Bizarro customers, too.

And if you aren’t prepared for them, they’ll make you think you are indeed living on a backwards planet!

Take this dude who recently accused me of using “tricks.”

He said I had “planned” for 6 months to launch The Crackerjack Selling CD Club only to end it after the first lesson on purpose… as some grand scheme to get more money out of my hapless, unsuspecting customers. Kinda like a scheming Lex Luthor criminal mastermind rubbing my hands together and laughing all the way to the bank.

Muw-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Except, there are a few holes in that theory.

Like, for example, how can someone make more profit selling a $67 book one time via forced continuity (which pretty much always translates to less sales) vs selling it for as much as $97 (the cost when re-released) without forced continuity?

Answer:

You probably can’t.

Unless, of course, you live in Bizarro customer world — where up is down, right is left and, apparently, $67 is more than $97.

Anyway, why am I telling you about this?

Because like it or not, sooner or later you’re going to run into your own version of a bizarro customer.

Might as well expect it.

And when it happens, don’t let them rattle you.

Just recognize ’em for what they are, and don’t let them buy again.

Who knows?

Maybe they’ll go away and haunt your competition, instead.

Ben Settle

P.S. By the way, the Crackerjack Selling Secrets book might be ready this week. And there will be a $20 discount for anyone ordering on launch day.

I’ll make an announcement when it’s ready.