Ben Settle

Emails, emails, emails.
‘O how I love emails.
They’re short, they’re sweet.
And the smackeroos they make is
‘Oooo such a treat.

Okay, I KNOW that was just about the dorkiest poem ever written.

But it’s 100% true.

I love email, I’m a big fan of email marketing, and today, I’m going to give you some extremely helpful tips on the subject I call:

However, before you read them, just know this:

I call them “dumb” since they have cost me a lot of moolah. In other words, they are dumb for me to use. Maybe they work for you, but they’ve my hurt sales big time.

Remember, what works for me may NOT work for you.

So that said, here are my 9 dumb-dumb email mistakes to avoid:

1. Only mailing when you have something to sell

2. Following the herd (what everyone else is doing)

3. Being a controversy ‘fraidy cat

4. Caring what marketers (especially copywriters) think

5. Doing teasers, instead of full emails

6. Not being yourself — “warts” and all

7. Not having fun 🙁

8. Spending too much time writing your emails

9. Swiping other peoples’ emails instead of being original

OK, there’s a LOT more than that.

But if you simply avoided doing those 9 things for 30 days, I can almost promise you will see your sales go up, your traffic spike, and have new opportunities thrust your way you didn’t even know EXISTED before.

That’s been my case.

And I suspect it would happen for you, too.

Ben Settle

P.S. There’s also a 10th mistake I forgot to add:

Trying to get really good at this without guidance.

At least, this has been my experience. I used to sit there and try to “reverse engineer” certain marketers’ emails to see what made them “tick” with little or no success.

In fact, that would backfire on me and hurt my results.

Of course, maybe it’s different with you.

Maybe you’re a natural born email butt-kicker.

But if you want to learn some powerful tips from an email marketing master, check out the interview I did with Terry Dean in The Copywriting Grab Bag.

He’s one of the original email marketing pioneers.

And he really has email marketing down to a **science**.

Got some blatant Copywriting Grab Bag testimonials to share.

One of which is a video that reveals a cool info-publishing tip.

Here’s the first one…

Dear Ben,

I got your Copywriting Grab Bag in the mail and I was thrilled! I wanted to thank you right away but… I COULDN’T put it down!

The Ken McCarthy interview is pure gold! I’ve listened to it twice already and read the transcripts several times. Ken’s insight about the two biggest mistakes in ads are priceless.

Almost every line in that interview drops another copywriting gem and it crystallized a lot of what I read about copywriting. I’ve read pretty much every classic copywriting book out there, and some times it just doesn’t hit home…

But yesterday – I felt like lightning struck me!

Maybe I’m a bit TOO EXCITED… and I’m sure it will wear off, but that interview rocked. And I almost feel guilty just listening to that interview – It dropped some real gems for me.

There’s so much junk on the net that when you find real value it really hits you.

Thank-you Ben for making this information available.

—Courtney Houde

BEN: Glad you liked it so much Courtney, I agree with you — Ken’s interview IS extremely valuable. I love it how most copywriters have no clue some of this stuff exists. Don’t you?

Hello Ben.

We received your book and think its fabulous although I do have a little problem with it. It’s keeping us up at night.

For example, last night my wife read one of the sections. It talked about using testimonials to determine what benefits your market is seeing that you may not be. It struck a chord with me because I’ve been struggling with the exact same thing you were writing about.

We were excited to find someone like you who knew what we were going through.

Needless to say my trip to dreamland was a bumpy one. I kept thinking about my copy coming together as if by magic. I couldn’t wait until 4AM when I could rise and get at my word processor again.

So please don’t write any more of this stuff ok? I need my sleep.

I’m off to take a nap now.

—David Parsons

BEN: David, that testimonial “trick” is pretty cool and makes writing ads a LOT easier. I’m glad you’re putting it to good use, even if it robs you of a few hours of shut eye 😉

Finally…

Here’s a video testimonial about the older version (which doesn’t have NEARLY as much cool stuff as the current version).

Plus, it also reveals a “warp speed” way to create info products:

Hey Ben,

I did a review of your book:

Thanks for writing it and helping me get started in copywriting.

—Chris Blackerby

BEN: Chris, I REALLY appreciate you taking the time to do that.

I’m a **sucker** for a good video testimonial. Especially when it’s about one of my products 😉

Well, my friend, that’s it for today.

If you don’t have The Copywriting Grab Bag, what are you waiting for?

You can grab your copy now at:

Next time… something else.

Ben Settle

P.S. I recently took most of the interviews off my site. They are now ONLY available on the CD that comes with The Copywriting Grab Bag.

The value now packed into this product for $137 is almost unreal.

While back, I sent an email that stirred up the blog “purists.”

It was the one about why I send out FULL emails… instead of “teasers” that send people to a website or blog to read the message (like I USED to do, and like the majority of other marketers STILL do).

As expected, one of my long-time subscribers objected.

He said for every reason I gave for sending full emails, he had a counter reason to send a teaser sending people to a website.

And I have to admit, his arguments were ALL solid.

But, being an extremely savvy marketer, he tested full emails anyway

Here are his results:

Hi Ben,

I’ve noticed a WHOPPING increase in sales since mailing my newsletters fully in the email instead of sending my readers to my blog first.

Although I had many more “logical” reasons (as we discussed) to send people directly to my blog; the fact is you only need one reason to do something — the MOST IMPORTANT REASON which is SALES.

In my case, I feel I simply reached more people by communicating my messages directly in the email.

My last two emails made me much more than I expected.

Anywhere from 50 to 100% more sales than I anticipated.

So thanks for convincing me of sending out my full content in the email instead of trying to get people to read it on my blog.

It’s made a HUGE difference in my results.

Roger Haeske
The 41-Year-Old Teenager
http://Be40Look20.com

So there ya have it.

Just another reason to buck the Web 2.0 herd and test full emails.

Ben Settle

P.S. For even more advanced email teaching, check out www.StreetSmartEmail.com

Not that you should care…

But my favorite all-time movie — by FAR — is “Batman Begins.”

There are many, many reasons for this outside my pathetic geeky fanboy Batman comic book collection.

One of which is all the cool selling lessons in it.

Such as (for example) the pacing of the movie being a perfect sales letter “template.”

Or the way Batman makes “offers”.

Or how having a burning hot mission in life can help you move mountains. (And the irrational things people will do to get what they want.)

And so on and so forth.

But you know what?

The best sales lesson (IMHO) comes from one of the villains (Crime Boss Falcon Maroni) when he says:

Why is this a powerful sales lesson?

Because (at least in the business-to-business “make moolah” niches) this is what almost EVERYONE gets wrong.

Hey, it’s something I used to get wrong BIG TIME myself.

If you look at most of the sales letters and ads all they talk about is how much moolah you’ll make if you buy such-and-such a product.

BZZZT!

Wrong-o.

Money is almost NEVER the main hot button for anyone.

What all those smackeroos can DO for people are the REAL hot buttons.

Like time freedom, the ability to “get back” at someone who said they’d be a failure their whole lives (huge hot button), humiliating their competition, etc.

Crime Boss Maroni didn’t really care about having more moolah.

What he wanted was favors.

What do YOUR prospects really want?

It’s different for everyone.

And this is why researching your market is so ultra important.

It’s also why the “A” list copywriters I interviewed for The Copywriting Grab Bag (Doug D’Anna & David Deutsch) harped on the market, the market, the market — and not so much “technique”.

Powerful stuff when you understand what people REALLY want.

Ben Settle

P.S. OK, this will be the last time I speaketh of this:

The Copywriting Grab Bag price is going up sometime this weekend.

Frankly, I may just do it tonight to get it over with (it’s kind of a pain to change everything sometimes.)

Whatever the case, if you want “in” on this resource that’s been praised by some of the Internet’s most **respected** marketers & copywriters — like Terry Dean, Ken McCarthy, Ray Edwards, Ryan Healy, and more — before the price goes up, skootch on over to:

What I’m gonna say might sound strange, silly, maybe even crazy.

But if you market online, it could make a BIG difference in your bottom line.

Listen:

One of the coolest lessons in my copywriting book is about something many of us find rather…

… unsexy.

I know I did until I learned it.

And very few people are teaching this online.

But in Appendix 2, I interviewed Doberman Dan Gallapoo — an extremely savvy marketer who worked side-by-side with the late (great) copywriting & marketing genius Gary Halbert.

DD learned many cool tips and secrets from Gary.

One of which made an exceptionally big difference in his bottom line, but that he had to learn the “hard way”.

Here’s what happened:

It was Christmas many years ago.

Sales were low, and Doberman Dan was down to his last “bullet.”

In fact, sales were so bad, he literally wondered how he was going to put food on the table.

True, he had a big email list for his supplement business.

But the response was extremely weak for whatever reason.

So there he was — with the wolves howling at the door — wondering what to do, when he remembered something Sir Gary of Halbert taught him.

Something that’s FAR from “sexy”.

Something that, frankly, DD did not want to do.

But since his back was to the wall, he figured he had no choice.

So he went into his files and pulled the names of his most recent 1,000 buyers.

But he did not pull their email addresses.

He pulled their SNAIL MAIL addresses.

You remember snail mail, right?

I had almost forgotten about it myself until DD told me his story.

Anyway, so he cranked out a sales letter, sat at his kitchen table and started hand addressing envelopes.

Then, with his last bit of money, he had them printed and mailed.

What happened?

Would you believe a “Christmas Miracle”?

Hey, it happened.

Because just by snail mailing his 1,000 most recent customers, he got FLOODED with orders.

He was just blown away.

So he did it again the next month.

Again, the orders poured in.

Frankly, the moolah came so fast, he broke out his calculator and did some figurin’.

Lo and behold…

Doberman Dan discovered if he’d been snail mailing his most recent customers for the past several years, he would’ve made an extra $100k per YEAR.

And that was a conservative estimate.

Anyway, here’s the point:

If you have a lot of customers and are only using email, you could be leaving a ton of moolah on the table.

I’m dabbling with snail mail myself and in future emails I’ll let you know how it goes.

I once heard Dan Kennedy say (paraphrased): “The best thing that’s happened to email is direct mail.”

With these snail-mailer numbers, that’s pretty hard to dispute.

And by the way, speaking of offline marketing…

Here’s a comment from a pro copywriter about another appendix in The Copywriting Grab Bag:

Ben,

Mike Winicki’s interview ALONE was worth the book price.

Few people understand the power of offline media… fewer know how to use it… let alone give away all those RESOURCES in that interview.

Until I read that interview I was on this wavelength: Yeah, I understand offline is powerful… but HOW do you actually use it step-by-step?

After I read that interview, light bulbs lit up… OH…. THAT’S where you find celebrities and cheap media buys. I wrote to Mike after I read that interview. I HAD to say thank you for all that value.

-Colin Y.J. Chung
Freelance Marketing Strategist

BEN: I hear ya. In some ways Mike’s is the most valuable interview in the book.

He may have zero name recognition, but he’s just a FOUNTAIN of info.

In fact, I remember wanting to just keep asking him questions 😉

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m raising the price next week. So if you want the ‘grab bag, grab it while the grabbin’s good:

Ben Settle

You can learn a LOT about marketing living in a small town.

Not lessons for what to do.

But lessons for what not to do.

Here’s what I mean:

As much as living in a small town suits my introverted, Big Foot-hunting ways, it’s sometimes painful watching the local businesses commit suicide.

It’s like they do the exact OPPOSITE of what smart businesses do.

In fact, it totally reminds me of “Bizarro” Superman.

Bizarro Superman is like Superman’s exact opposite who lives in the backwards Bizarro world.

In other words…

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 that’s exactly how many of these local businesses operate.

For example, we got Bizarro customer service.

Instead of making you want to come back and even tell your friends… you get yahoos at the counter purposely making people stand in line for several minutes while they talk to a friend in line or on their cell phones.

We also got Bizarro hotel staff.

Instead of hiring competent people who, you know, tend to do a good job, some of these locals ONLY hire cronies and family members who KNOW they can’t be fired and treat people (especially tourists — the town’s “bread ‘n butter”) like lepers.

Heck, we’ve even got Bizarro INVESTORS around here.

This one dude’s pouring $30 million smackeroos into a new, high-end hotel/spa/thingy seemingly without much accountability or strategy.

Believe it or not, a chamber of commerce person actually said:

“We don’t need customers, we got $30 million.”

Dumb.

Anyway, here’s the point:

All of this is the exact OPPOSITE of what (most of us) do in marketing — where we test, measure and bend over backwards to make customers happy.

And it really puts things in perspective.

It also proves the late Earl Nightingale right when he said:

“If you want to succeed, just look around at what everyone else is doing, and do the exact opposite.”

That simple advice has served me well for a long time now.

And it can serve you well, too.

When you see the “bizarro marketers” out there doing things you know are hurting them, even if they have “goo roo” status, do the opposite.

Fight that urge to blindly follow people, and do what’s right.

Do that, and you’ll probably never go wrong.

Ben Settle

P.S. Speaking of “Bizarro marketing”…

Last time I raised The Copywriting Grab Bag price, I caught hell because I didn’t give a “warning” like everyone else does.

Instead of hammering you with emails about it, I pulled a “Bizarro” and didn’t say anything.

So this time I’ll do it “proper”:

The price is going up again next week.

So if you’re on the fence about getting it, now’s the time to “grab” your copywriting book:

Can Beavis & Butthead make you a better copywriter?

I believe so.

They did for me, at least.

In fact, each and every episode contains a powerful copywriting secret you can use to make your ads FAR more likely to be read, understood and BOUGHT from.

Here’s the story:

About 14 years ago, just after I graduated high school, I took a job at Office Max.

I often worked late, and didn’t get out until about 10 pm or so.

So I’d go home, flip on the boob-toob and, lo and behold, the only thing I felt like watching was… you guessed it… Beavis & Butthead.

Now, if you’ve never seen Beavis & Butthead, let’s just say it’s “raunchy”. Not NEARLY as raunchy as some of today’s cartoons (it’s no “South Park”). But it was still a pretty raunchy show for its time.

Raunchy… but oh SO entertaining.

Anyway, so I’d watch the show and, like most people who watched it, would find myself sometimes quoting the show.

As they would make up such colorful words to insult each other: Dill hole, butt munch, monkey spank, etc — and the list goes on.

There was never one intelligent word spoken.

Never anything to increase your IQ.

Certainly never anything you’d ever get confused about.

And you know what?

Strange as it sounds, I’ve sorta “recruited” Beavis & Butthead to help me write better ads since.

Because whenever I write an ad (depending on the market), in order to make sure my ads are 100% crystal clear to read, digest and respond to… I tend to ask:

“Would Beavis & Butthead get what I’m saying here?”

“Could they grasp that I want them to click on this link to order?”

And so on, and so forth.

Hey, it may sound stoopid (let’s face it, it IS stoopid).

But it works like gangbusters to make ads clear and easy to read.

Maybe you’ve heard the statistics about how the average person (at least here in the US) reads at a 5th grade level.

And that, when writing ads, that’s the level to write at.

But I say take it a step further and write at the “Beavis & Butthead level.”

If THEY can understand it, ANYONE can.

And the easier your ads are to read, the more moolah you’ll make.

Anyway, that’s a wrap for today.

You can learn more bizarre ways to make your ads easier to buy from in The Copywriting Grab Bag:

Ben Settle

Remember that “marketing monsters” email from Friday?

The one about all the “monsters” waiting in the shadows, ready to leap out at you and suck up your moolah?

Well, guess what?

I gotta “sequel” for you today with even MORE monsters and how to defend against them.

Here they are…

Freebie-Seeking Frankenstein

This monster roams the countryside looking to attach new parts to his body.

And after you’ve given him a free arm, leg or other valuable part of yourself… he doesn’t stop.

He relentlessly lurches towards you, arms stretched out in front of him, chasing you around to give him even MORE free stuff.

Unfortunately, you can never defeat him.

He’s practically immortal.

But you CAN ward him off.

First by ONLY giving him something small.

And second, by making it crystal clear everything else must be paid for.

Customer Service Chupacabra

Most don’t believe this “thing” even exists.

And even those who do, think it only attacks OTHER people.

But once you buy something from him, you’ll realize this reptile-like being, with razor-sharp quills on its back, is all too REAL.

And the legends ARE true.

Some of his favorite attacks include:

Putting giant barriers up to prevent you from asking questions about products you bought… refusing to admit he screwed up… making you spend weeks to get the simplest of problems fixed… and even treating you like a leper when you DO get his attention.

What can you do to stop him?

Ask your fellow travelers where he lurks before going out at night.

Avoid the dark, shadowy corners of the Internet where he dwells.

And ALWAYS beware who you buy from.

Testing & Measuring Medusa

This being can be VERY dangerous to newbies.

You see, she likes to test, track and measure everything.

Which is good.

But the danger comes when you gaze into her eyes — and she paralyzes you with too many options, ideas and her maze of testing data.

So much so you may get overwhelmed… and never do anything.

Plus, her data rarely helps, anyway.

As it’s usually specific to her products and market.

Still, there IS treasure in her cave you can profit from.

Just don’t gaze into her eyes and let her turn your marketing efforts to stone.

Content Stealing Cyclops

This insidious monster has just one eye.

And it’s always fixed on OTHER peoples’ content and stealing it.

He never speaks or talks. He just grunts and snarls and glowers over everyone’s content with his one, piercing eye.

When he finds something he likes, he shamelessly takes it (with no regard to ethics, rules or copyright laws) and puts it on HIS websites.

To make matters worse:

It’s almost IMPOSSIBLE to find his lair.

He has no email, phone number or contact info.

And since he puts your content on sites like “blogspot” blogs, you have no recourse except jumping through hundreds of hoops that are not worth your time.

There’s not much you can do about this one.

But there are ways to use his evil deeds to your advantage if you use a little strategy.

OK fellow traveler, that’s it for today.

These are some of the most ruthless monsters roaming the countryside.

If you want to protect yourself, get thee to the castle armory and strap a copy of The Copywriting Grab Bag to your side:

It’s the ultimate weapon to defeat these vile fiends.

As well as protect the customers in your niche.

Ben Settle

Got this bizarre book at the library yesterday called:

VERY cool book.

It’s a HUGE alphabetical listing of every monster from every book, movie, TV show, myth, legend and comic book you can think of — from the “Acromegalic” (whatever that is) to the “Zombie Legion.”

Anyway, reading it got me thinking about real life monsters.

You know, the kind we see in the **marketing** world.

Except our monsters are actually scarier.

And while they don’t kill you physically… they can kill you financially.

Here are a few of the nastier ones out to watch out for:

Hydra of Hype:

You often see this giant, dragon-like thing with multiple heads in highly competitive niches — like wate loss, biz opp, work-at-home, etc.

And each time the law cuts one of its heads off, a new, even MORE hypey head re-grows in its place — breathing even MORE fiery hype, screaming headlines and exaggerated claims they can’t back up.

The law cannot slay this beast because of its regrowing heads.

However, it’s easily avoided.

As you can always hear it coming a mile away.

Lying Leviathan

This monster has razor-sharp teeth and his scales are impervious to arrows, swords and (unfortunately) reason & decency.

He likes to lurk in the ocean, sneaking up on unsuspecting consumers who wouldn’t believe in a million years he would have the gall to blatantly lie through his knife-like teeth the way he does.

And he has no problem gobbling up your money in exchange for products and services that don’t deliver.

Luckily, others who’ve seen him will often warn you in advance.

Pay attention to your fellow travelers and you can avoid the lying leviathan’s favorite feeding grounds.

Creature From The Broke Lagoon

This thing is slippery like a fish and is hard to catch.

He likes to swim around forums, blogs and anywhere else he can parrot bad advice that’ll keep you broke.

The difference between him and the other monsters is this creature doesn’t KNOW he’s doing bad.

In fact, he thinks he’s doing GOOD.

He thinks his half-baked advice based on theories and hearsay work — even though they have never worked for HIM.

But since he needs to survive, he tries to sell it to others.

Usually as an affiliate for something he’s never used.

Stay away from his swamps — like forums — and you’re safe.

The Swipe & Steal Slime

This shapeless mass of goo (roo) oozes around the Internet — absorbing everyone else’s ideas, ads, and sales letters.

And then, when he wants to pitch something, shamelessly takes whatever he’s absorbed and uses it as his (or her — there are female swipe & steal slimes, too) own.

There’s not much you can do about these monsters.

They’re impossible to catch since they have no real “substance”.

But it’s good to be aware of them.

And not to let them absorb YOU and make you a blob like them.

Manipulation Zombies

On the surface, these pitiful undead things LOOK normal.

But look closely, and you see they have no conscience.

No feeling.

No caring about anyone or anything (not even themselves).

And so they use manipulation, tricks and “black hat” tactics all day long.

They don’t know any other way.

Lying, cheating, and milking you of every last cent you own is as easy and “routine” for these monsters as you and I ordering a hamburger at McDonalds.

And they are VERY good at what they do.

So good in fact, other marketers (especially those just starting out) are tempted to emulate their wicked ways.

Don’t do it.

It will take you down a path from which you may never return.

Anyway, those are a few marketing monsters to watch for.

They are all over the place — especially on the Internet.

Watch your azz.

Ben Settle

P.S. The best DEFENSE against these monsters is a good OFFENSE. The Copywriting Grab Bag contains over 122 different “weapons” that can help you defeat any of the monsters in the business arena — and save your fellow country folk from their terrible ways.

You can “grab” it now at: