Ben Settle

Last weekend I took a long day trip for kicks.

Nothing exciting happened (which was kinda the point).

But I did see one whopper of a dumb business mistake.

In fact, if you were to look up the definition of “big dumb stupid business mistake” you’d probably see a picture of the place I saw this blunder take place.

Here’s what happened:

I was in this small, “jerk-water” town in the middle of the woods (in northern California) and wanted a juice so I headed into this dinky little espresso joint. While the lady was getting the drink, I glanced down and saw the handwritten sign…

“Stop!” I said.

“What’s wrong?”

“Your sign says you don’t take plastic.”

“No problem, there’s an ATM across the street.”

OK now, here’s where the fun began:

I live in a small (really small) town myself and get this whole cash only thing. Heck, even the business center in my town is cash only.

So that blunder is not that big a crime in the grand scheme of things.

Dumb?

Yes.

A marketing crime?

Not so much.

No, the problem was, there was another place, CLOSER to that ATM, to get espresso. Which meant, this espresso joint was cheerfully sending good business across the street to an ATM machine that’s closer to their competition.

I wonder how much business their competition gets from this?

I bet they have a hearty laugh every time they see a customer walking from the other place, debit card in hand.

Oh well, that’s life in the little city.

But I admit, it did get me thinking about my own marketing.

In fact, afterwards I even did a quick run down of my own operations to make sure I wasn’t making a similar (embarrassingly obvious) mistake.

Not a bad habit to get into, is it?

And it’s so easy, even an espresso shop can do it.

Ben Settle

P.S. For 8 REALLY painful sales and marketing mistakes (including some doozies I’ve made) and how to avoid them, check out the free podcast I have up at:

Did you see that recent “7 overrated businesses” article?

It was all about these so-called “overrated” kinds of businesses that should be avoided by anyone looking to start a business in the gasping job market.

It was mostly just ivory tower drivel (IMHO).

But also kind of useful in way.

Here’s what I mean:

The article basically outlined 7 different business types (like restaurants, consulting, direct sales, etc) and described all the reasons why they tend to fail. In other words, it was more about protecting people from the bitter sting of failure… instead of succeeding.

Which was REALLY ironic.

Why?

Because weird as it sounds, failure is a requirement for success.

And like it or not, without failure you can’t truly succeed, so avoiding it pretty much makes you dead in the water right out the gate.

Hey, don’t blame me.

That’s just how it is.

In fact, you want to know something funny?

I’ve met (and worked with) some serious “power players” in business. Not just on the Internet, but offline biz owners, too. I’m talking about people who sometimes make more scratch in a DAY than the average working stiff makes in 6 months toiling away for the corporate beast masters.

And you know what all these people have in common?

They started out as miserable FAILURES.

And I mean BIG time failures.

The kind of failures people tend to laugh or snicker at in secret.

And yet, I’d bet green money every single one of them would tell you they learned FAR more from their failures… than their successes.

You MUST fail to succeed.

And usually, the FASTER you fail, the FASTER success happens.

Anyway, it was amusing how the article author — with all his fancy credentials, who writes business articles for prestigious papers and is invited on all the glamorous business TV shows — could miss this little zinger.

Failing is NOT something to hide from.

It’s something to embrace.

And (especially if you’re in a hurry) even SEEK out.

By the way, I’ll be sharing lots of “school of hard knocks” lessons learned from my own sales & marketing blunders in my coming Crackerjack Selling Secrets book.

Stay tuned.

Ben Settle

I made a big, fat blunder in last Friday’s email.

Do you remember it?

The email I sent about having lots of variety in your emails — so you never bore your readers, and (if you write emails correctly) even keep ’em on the edge of their seats, anxiously awaiting you to push that shiny, candy-like “send” button each day?

Let me explain:

To make my point, I used those variety cereal packs as an example.

The analogy being not to bore your list with the same “taste”.

Well, here’s where I goofed:

The reality is, just because someone buys that variety pack of cereals, doesn’t mean he or she won’t, for example, go “cuckoo” for Cocoa Puffs cereal 2 or 3 (or more) days in a row. And if that happens, the LAST thing you want to do is pour him a bowl of Trix or Fruity Pebbles or Count Chocula or whatever.

And that’s where my advice was a tad “askew.”

Because there are times when you may very well hit a “nerve” — a topic that gets ye old trusty cash register ringing.

In those cases, it might be kinda foolish to stop.

And variety would actually work AGAINST you.

Anyway, just another reason not to dogmatically cling to “rules.”

Especially when it comes to email marketing.

And speaking of which…

If you’re interested in more advanced email marketing tips and ideas, check out Appendix 8 (the Terry Dean interview) in The Copywriting Grab Bag. Terry’s secret on beefing up the responsiveness of your email list ALONE is, in my (blatantly and shamelessly biased) opinion, worth the entire cost of the book.

Next time… something to eat besides email marketing.

Ben Settle

Recently, I did an all-but-the-kitchen-sink email marketing training.

It was for a prestigious Internet traffic generation course created by some buddies and clients of mine. And I revealed ALMOST everything (about 80%) I know about exploding sales and profits with email.

However, there’s one little zinger I forgot to include.

Something that makes emails (and blog posts, articles, podcasts, etc) a LOT more fun for you to create and more enjoyable for your list to receive.

What am I yapping about?

Variety.

In fact, if you frequently email (and I believe you should, no matter what the ex-spurts say) then variety is mucho important.

And without it, you could accidentally turn even winning ideas into duds.

Take TV as an example.

One of my favorite TV shows is “Smallville” — which is about Clark Kent’s teenage adventures before his Superman days.

And sometimes they do “red kryptonite” episodes.

You see, in the show (like the movies and comics), green kryptonite hurts, weakens and can even kill Clark. But red kryptonite has a different effect: It basically takes away his conscience. So he’s like a sociopath doing things like working for the mob, robbing banks, telling people about his powers, eloping with psycho women in Vegas and basically acting like a kid on drugs.

Anyway, here’s the point:

The red kryptonite episodes are VERY popular.

And they tend to boost ratings big time.

But if they did red kryptonite stories every week, it wouldn’t work. It wouldn’t have the same ratings power. And, frankly, it’d bore people to tears.

Same with your emails.

If you email a lot (and again, you should) then mix it up.

Don’t pour your list the same box of cereal each day.

Be like those Kellogs cereal variety packs — where one day you feed them Frosted Flakes. Then you give them Fruit Loops the next. Then maybe toss Corn Pops in the mix or Special K or Rice Krispies, etc.

Trust me, your readers will LOVE you for it.

And if you know how to write emails, so will your bank account 😉

Ben Settle

P.S. By the way, I WILL be doing an in-depth “reveal everything” email marketing teaching in my upcoming Crackerjack Selling CD Club in the coming months.

Trust me, you ain’t seen nuttin yet.

Remember that “time to make the donuts” dude?

He was the short, pudgy guy with the mustache in the “Dunkin’ Donuts” commercials who looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks, who walked into work each morning saying, “Time to make the donuts…” (One time he was so overworked, he walked in and said “Time to make the donuts” only to see another version of himself coming out answering, “I already made the donuts…”)

Anyway, I’ve been making a lot of “donuts” lately (so to speak).

And just don’t have time to write a real tip today.

So instead, I want to reprint a special offer where you can get an extremely valuable sales letter teaching I did in exchange for donating something (anything) to my friends’ medical fund.

No amount is too small (even $1 helps).

And you’ll be making a HUGE difference in someone’s life.

Ben Settle

P.S. Here is the offer…

I recently gave an extremely valuable teaching on sales letters.

A teaching that (I believe) contains everything you need to write profitable ads — whether you’re a total sales letter “newbie”, or a seasoned pro looking for some new techniques for your “arsenal”.

And guess what?

Even though I consider it the most valuable teaching I’ve ever done, and could easily sell it for $97 (or more), I’ll let you have it today at ANY price you choose (even if it’s only $1).

I’ll explain why in a second.

First, here are some of the unusual (even “contrarian”) sales letter secrets in this teaching:

• When using testimonials can actually kill your sales.

• A secret way to use stories to make your sales letters FAR more persuasive. (I learned this while selling TV advertising for CBS. And it works like crazy in sales letters and ads.)

• A “shortcut” way to research brand new markets.

• How that “swipe file” packed with ads that have made lots of money can HURT your response.

• Why you should NOT always load your sales letters with benefits.

• A little-talked about way to use sidebars to immediately bump your response.

• How to sell to skeptical prospects without a lot of “proof” elements.

• How to (legally and ethically) use your competitors‘ testimonials in YOUR sales letters.

• The right (and wrong) ways to test your ads. (Including a certain part of your ad almost nobody ever tests, but that giant magalog mailers have seen bump response by 200% or MORE.)

• An “old school” door-to-door salesman’s secret that can make writing your headlines super fast and easy.

• The single best time to put an order link in your sales letters. (Put it in too early or too late and you can lose a ton of sales. Put your first order link here, and watch what happens.)

• When NOT to use a headline in your sales letters.

• The secret copywriting technique that makes even your most outstanding claims 100% believable. (Most copywriters don’t have the cajones to do this. Yet it almost always increases response — and usually by a LOT.)

• And much, much more.

OK, here’s the deal:

Until recently, I was only going to give this MP3 to people who join my upcoming “CD-of-the-month” deal. Or, maybe even sell it for $97 or more.

But something happened to change my mind:

One of my buddies had a stroke at the age of 33.

I can’t even imagine how hellish that’d be. Especially since the doctors still don’t know why it happened (or how to prevent another one). Plus, since he didn’t have health insurance when the hammer dropped, he’s buried in hospital bills.

And I’d like to help him get some relief.

So, if you donate something (anything — even $1) to his hospital bill fund, I’ll give you the above sales letter teaching in exchange.

In other words:

If you donate a buck or two, that’s fine.

If you want to be a stud and donate $20 or $30, even better.

And if you donate $50 (or more), then I’ll toss in two MORE interviews on copywriting, marketing and selling to further “sweeten” the deal.

Anyway, if you’re interested, make your donation at:

And then forward your PayPal receipt to: ben (at) bensettle.com

As soon as I get it, I’ll send you the interview.

Again, any amount works ($1, $10, $50 — whatever).

And you’ll make a HUGE difference in my buddy’s life right now.

Ben Settle

Got an MLM “war story” for ya today.

One that could save you LOTS of buckeroos if you ever choose to “piggyback” off another successful business’s marketing ideas, campaigns or strategies.

Here’s the scoop:

As you may (or may not) know, I used to be in MLM.

And while I’m no longer in “the business” anymore, I learned some invaluable lessons while being pounded on by prospects day after day.

My favorite is the infamous “Get Your Spot” fiasco.

This was a doozy of an idea my upline leader cooked up.

What he decided to do was create a “mass sponsoring” campaign by aping what AOL (at the time) was doing — which was blanketing millions of homes with AOL CD’s. But, instead of AOL software on the CD’s, my upline dude’s idea was to put his sponsoring video on them (he labeled them “Get Your Spot!” — as in, “get your spot in this MLM deal while it’s hot!”)

Look, I won’t say it was a completely bad idea.

On the surface it almost even made sense.

I mean, AOL made hundreds of millions of smackeroos from it, yeah?

But there was a “snag” in the master plan:

The AOL discs were mass mailed to peoples’ mailboxes with an offer to try their Internet services free for 100 hours. It was a no-brainer for anyone wanting to get online (which was a LOT of people at the time).

The “Get Your Spot” thing?

Not so much.

In fact, it was almost the exact opposite.

Because instead of mass mailing millions of people a product they already WANTED (like AOL did), we manually passed out these “Get Your Spot” discs to people, and then tried selling them something they didn’t want and, in some cases, were even HOSTILE to.

Anyway, here’s the “moral” of this story:

Be careful when mimicking another successful business’s ideas — whether it’s a sales letter, marketing campaign or business plan.

I’m not saying it never works.

But most successful marketing has lots of “moving parts.”

And it’s usually very hard to mindlessy copy and pull off.

Ben Settle

P.S. To “get your spot” in my Crackerjack Selling CD Club, go to:

Do you listen to music when you write ads, emails, blogs, etc?

If not, I HIGHLY suggest you do.

In fact, I believe if you do what I’m about to suggest, you will find yourself much more in “sync” with your customers. And connecting with them in a way none of your so-called competition is.

Let me ‘splain:

I’ve written lots of ads in the self defense market this year.

And the client (one of the sharpest marketers on the Internet), once took it upon himself to have a “Claritas” report made of his best customers.

This is a service provided by Nielsen (they analyze TV audiences).

And what this report does is, it tells you ALL kinds of facts about your best customers you never knew before. Even stuff you don’t care to know. (Cripes… it’s almost like if your market so much as goes to the bathroom at a certain time every day, you’re gonna know about it.)

Anyway, here’s the point:

One thing we learned about the market was the kinds of movies they watch. In this case, “guy” movies — especially movies with lots of action and violence (the more the merrier).

So when writing to them, I play movie scores from “guy” movies.

Like the scores from the recent Batman movies, for example.

Or maybe a Tarantino movie.

Or a Mel Gibson flick.

Or any other “guy” movies that made big bux.

And now I urge you to do the same thing.

If you know your market listens to, for example, classical music — then pop some Mozart or Beethoven in when writing to them. If they listen to smooth jazz then tune into smooth jazz. If it’s gangsta rap then God help you — just take some aspirin and suffer through it.

Try it yourself and you’ll see what I mean.

I bet you’ll find your writings more persuasive.

For 137+ MORE rare copywriting secrets like this (that work like gangbusters no matter what music you listen to), check out “The Copywriting Grab Bag” at:

Ben Settle

No time for dilly-dally today.

Got some excellent subscriber questions I want to address.

Ready?

QUESTION: When you promote an affiliate product, you provide two links. One is an affiliate link and the other is a “naked” link. Why do you do this?

BEN: Very good question.

I mean, how can I possibly increase my sales by including a link from which I receive zero smackeroos?

Well, here’s the “short answer”:

Because Ray Edwards (Internet marketing genius and copywriter for Tony Robbins) does it.

For the long answer, check out “The Affiliate Trump Card”:

Don’t worry, it’s cheap (unlike my other books and services.)

And I honestly believe the Ray Edwards interview ALONE (where he explains how he “accidentally” makes 6-figures per year JUST with affiliate marketing — despite having a small list) is worth more than $100.

QUESTION: Do you have any tips on how to edit sales copy?

BEN: Yeppers.

But unfortunately, almost nobody has the cojones to do it — even though it’s all but guaranteed to make your ads more persuasive and your writing crystal clear.

And that is by reading your ad out loud 10 times.

Yes, it’s tedious.

And yes, your loved ones will curse the day you ever decided to write sales copy.

(Cripes… even my dog gets annoyed when I do this.)

But you’ll catch all the errors, get LOTS more profitable ideas, and you’ll dang near be able to see your reflection shining on each page from giving it such an intense polish 😉

QUESTION: How can I become one of your “beer level” copywriters?

BEN: Holy shnikes I get this question a lot.

It’s referring to my “Starving Marketer’s Special” for clients who don’t yet have enough scratch to hire an expensive copywriter.

Anyway, here’s the thing:

I won’t even consider referring anyone to my friend (who services these clients) who isn’t indoctrinated in the Ben Settle school of copywriting. In other words, people who don’t (at the very least) have my “Copywriting Grab Bag” book — www.CopywritingGrabBag.com

So that’s step numero uno.

And even then, I can’t promise anything since I don’t even know if he’s taking new copywriters.

But I’m happy to shoot your name over if you “qualify.”

OK, that’s a wrap for today.

Until next time…

Ben Settle

Yesterday I awoke to a cool little surprise:

A blog post Terry Dean wrote dissecting one of my recent emails.

Terry is, IMHO, a “for real” guru.

A sort of marketing “scientist” who, for the past 13 years, has methodically tested and tracked his ads and emails, and has probably forgotten more about Internet marketing than most of us will ever know.

Anyway, it’s an excellent analysis.

And he reveals some of the “mindset” behind my emails (especially subject lines) when writing them for both myself and for others. (Just to give you some perspective, an iContact representative recently told me the emails I write for another business I partner with have some of the highest open rates she sees).

You can read all about it now at:

Enjoy 😉

Ben Settle

P.S. BTW, Terry Dean has been selling with email since before most of us even logged onto the Internet. And a couple years ago, he revealed some of his best-kept email marketing secrets when I interviewed him for my “Copywriting Grab Bag” book.

You can get the full scoop over at: