Ben Settle

Yesterday’s email to newbies sure rattled some cages!

And the part that made the most noise was when I said:

What did I mean by this, exactly?

Well, I’m not saying ALL launch letters suck. Some are incredibly good and thoroughly tested. But, you gotta be careful with which ones you choose to study, too.

And here are a few reasons why:

1. They Are Sometimes Altered

I personally know at least two top copywriters who slaved away on a big launch sales letter only to see their copy butchered by the client to the point where you had to wonder if a wee kindergardener wrote the dang thing.

2. Some Are (Literally) “Slapped” Together Last Minute

In fact, not long ago, an extremely savvy marketer (a “household name”) even admitted he only spent 3 hours on his big launch sales letter.

The copy was a mere afterthought.

3. Some Work In SPITE Of The Copy

Many launches are brilliantly marketed to the point where people don’t even READ the sales letters. Customers are buying due to brilliant marketing, launch strategy, pre-selling, JV partners and other factors besides copywriting.

Frankly, they’d probably get away with just an “order here” link.

So anyway, I’m not “poo-pooing” ALL launch letters.

Just be careful what you study.

Ben Settle

P.S. Want another reason to “look before you swipe”?

This is from “A List” copywriter Doug D’Anna’s “Copywriting Grab Bag” interview (on pages 255-256):

“You mentioned a swipe file. You had asked me earlier what people do wrong. When I first started out I had a swipe file too. You know what the first thing I discovered was when I realized who Gary Bencivenga was and the game I was in? I threw everybody else’s piece away.

“Why would I do that?

“Because I might have been thinking that I was swiping something that was good or using a model that was a winner when it wasn’t.

“That was the first thing.

“You need to have control pieces in your swipe file. But, you’ve got to remember that control piece worked for that piece at that time in that market in that environment.

“So it’s really more of a case study to look at.”

Today’s email is for raw, “wriggling” newbies.

The ones who are brand spanking new to marketing and don’t have a lot of time, resources or patience to deal with nonsense and fluff.

If that’s you, then following is a list of ideas to consider.

This list is by no means exhaustive.

And there ARE exceptions to everything.

But this is something lots of people have requested lately.

OK, enough dilly-dally.

As the Joker would say… “And here. we. GO —

• If someone’s ads are full of empty hype and contain no substance, you can (usually) bank on their PRODUCT being the same.

• Don’t swipe “big launch” sales letters.

• Consume a good “how to” product at least 10x’s before buying the next one.

• When in doubt, do the OPPOSITE of what the “crowd” is doing.

• Take lists like this one with a grain of salt. (Bet ya didn’t see this one coming, did you? Believe it or not, some people will do stuff like what I’m doing here to prove how “good” they are, while secretly plotting to fleece you.)

Messed up world, ain’t it?

Anyway, those are just some ideas to consider.

I hope you found them helpful.

Ben Settle

No email tip today.

Instead, I got something a whole lot better.

Check out these apples:

Last Friday I was on Internet radio yapping about how to write emails and sales letters. We also talked about how to tell stories, the single most powerful emotion you can target in your ads and emails (and no, it has NOTHING to do with the “usual suspect” emotions the goo-roos talk about) and how to write email subject lines that stick in peoples’ “psychology.”

Anyway, pretty interesting stuff.

And it’s all yours for the taking at:

Ben Settle

P.S. If you want more copywriting and email tips, check out my Copywriting Grab Bag book at:

I don’t know about you…

But the above drivel gets my vote for the business world’s dumbest quote.

Why?

Because, in most cases, customers are dead wrong.

And unless you realize this “quirk” of human nature, you’re not only leaving a pile of smackeroos on the table, but you’re doing a tremendous disservice to your customers and/or clients.

Let me give you an example:

While back, someone emailed me about writing an ad for him.

He was a classy dude who was a pleasure to talk with. And he said he wanted to hire me, didn’t care what my fees were and when could I start?

Hot diggedy dawg!

A new client handed to me on a silver platter!

In my hungry days, I’d have been on this like white on rice.

But now I know better.

Which is why (instead of slobbering all over the phone and popping the Champagne), I asked him questions about his business and operation, first.

And guess what?

Turns out he was NOT looking for a copywriter after all.

What he really wanted was a “wizard” to magically conjure up an entire business with ONLY a single sales letter.

Which, as far as I know, ain’t possible.

Yes, I COULD have snatched his money and wrote his ad anyway.

But what good would that have done?

For one thing, he would have wasted a bunch of cash with nothing to show for it. And for another, I’d have looked like a schmuck when it flopped from his lack of traffic and marketing plan (copywriters often get blamed for failed ads no matter the reason). Plus, by refusing this project, I was able to work on another (more lucrative) project, instead. Which meant, this seemingly “lost” sale actually lead to a much bigger one.

Anyway, here’s the point:

The customer was WRONG.

In fact, most customers are wrong.

That’s why they need YOU to guide them through the sale.

Ben Settle

P.S. For 101 ways to make selling as easy as 1-2-3, check out my upcoming book and CD club at:

I got the “bug” to rap about copywriting today.

Lots of people are frustrated by it.

And yet, it’s actually pretty simple.

In fact, what I want to do is apply the famous “KISS” (i.e. keep it simple stupid) mantra to this subject and see about taking some of the “sting” out of it.

And I’m going to use a recent frustrating experience as an example.

Sound good?

OK then, check this out:

Lately I’ve been spending a LOT of time at the golf driving range. Mostly because I’m heavily involved with a golf info-publishing business and want to get cozy with the market. And also because I’m enjoying it.

But for some reason, I had a really sucky time at it last week.

No matter what I did, I just couldn’t make a solid shot and was getting extremely frustrated.

In fact, I got SO frustrated I made an especially stupid movement swinging the club that sent a streak of pain up my side.

Arrggh!

But that’s when the “light bulb” went on (pain’ll do that).

And I remembered the golf dude I’m learning from saying:

In other words, it’s easier to use a swing with fewer angles than a swing with lots of angles. So I drew a deep breath, mentally walked through his (simple) swing and — BOOM! — hit the next dozen balls straight as an arrow.

All just from keeping it SIMPLE instead of keeping it complicated.

And you know what?

Copywriting is the exact same way.

Keep it to as few “angles” as possible, and it’s MUCH easier.

And that’s what I want to do now — strip copywriting down to as few angles as possible with an almost laughably simple “formula” that works like crazy.

And here it is (drum roll…):

• Headline

• Lead

• Story

• Bullets

• Close

That’s it?

Yep.

It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that.

And it’s how I write 99% of my ads these days.

Nothing fancy. No bells and whistles. Nothing complicated. And yet, in most cases they pull like gangbusters.

It just don’t get more simple than that, does it?

Ben Settle

P.S. For 122+ MORE simple copywriting tips (used by some of the world’s highest paid copywriters) sally forth over to:

I see dead people.

Seriously, I really do.

Not in a “Sixth Sense” kinda way (sorry to disappoint).

But whenever I want to bone up on my sales and marketing skills, I usually skip the latest goo-roo launch, and dust off one of my old school marketing books (written by people long dead), instead.

In fact, you want to know something weird?

Something that may even sound (to some) like marketing “blasphemy”?

I once heard a wise man say you can get a better education spending $1k on amazon and studying for 6 months, than you can by spending $100k on all the mega expensive marketing courses and studying for 6 years.

Could that really be true?

I honestly don’t know.

But one thing is for sure:

These old time fellas knew their stuff.

They often sold things under FAR more unpleasant conditions (imagine no merchant accounts or websites) to customers who truly were hurting for cash (with no easy access to credit cards) during times when there wasn’t much marketing education out there (it was all “school of hard knocks”).

Anyway, below is a list of some of these old masters.

Every single one of them is deceased.

Yet, almost everything they taught is 100% applicable today.

And you know what?

Next time you’re looking for a new sales, marketing or copywriting resource, you could do worse than checking one of these authors’ books or teachings out instead…

• Ed Mayer (discovered the classic “40-40-20” rule

• John Caples

• Dale Carnegie

• Victor Schwab

• Claude Hopkins

• Maxwell Sackheim

There are LOTS more than this, of course.

(I can already hear my fellow marketing geeks pounding their desks for not mentioning their favorite sales genius.)

But this small list alone should keep you busy for a while 😉

Giddy-up.

Ben Settle

P.S. For more “tried and true” sales & marketing tips, check out: