Ben Settle

Hope the title above doesn’t offend ya.

I’m not calling YOU “stupid.”

I’m simply paraphrasing our old president Slick Willy’s adviser who told him in order to win the election it was all about the economy — “It’s the economy, stupid!”

Why am I telling you this?

Because I’ve been doing a LOT of ad critiques lately.

And it never ceases to amaze me how much research these folks have done on their product, their business, their company, the benefits, etc.

But how little research they’ve done on their market.

For example:

Not long ago, I critiqued someone’s ad selling an eBook for single parents about making moo-lah online.

His headline basically went something like:

I mean, can’t ya just feel the love?

So before even looking over the rest of his ad, I asked him…

“When you talk with single parents on your list about earning some extra bux, do they talk about making huge stacks of cold, hard cash?”

“Well… not exactly…”

“What DO they say?”

And then he went into the REAL problems, pain and desires his list has.

And, let’s just say, they had nothing to do with sucking flapping stacks of cold, hard cash out of anyone’s wallet.

Anyway, here’s my point:

Your market is EVERYTHING.

It dictates what to say in your headlines. What to put in your offer. What benefits to feature in your ad. What benefits NOT to feature in your ad.

And so on, and so forth.

In fact, “A-List” copywriter Doug D’Anna told me he spends 40 hours ALONE just on market research before writing his ads.

That’s more than most people put into an entire project.

But that’s how seriously copywriters at his level take this.

And there’s no reason why we shouldn’t do the same thing.

Ben

P.S. Speaking of Doug D’Anna…

I used to have an interview with him about digging into your market on my site, but recently took it down.

Just too darn valuable to give away.

However, you will be able to get this eye-opening interview in Appendix 6 (or via MP3 on the CD that comes with it) of my revised “Copywriting Grab Bag” book.

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

If you’d like to have some rare copywriting and marketing books at dirt-cheap prices, then I’ve got some good news.

Check this out:

A couple years ago I was looking for a rare, practically impossible-to-find marketing book.

I was writing an ad for Ken McCarthy at the time, and asked him to point me in the right direction.

Before the question fully escaped my lips he said two words:

“Phil Alexander.”

Turned out Phil is not only the world’s foremost direct response marketing “historian”, but he can often find almost any marketing or sales book ever written.

Even the so-called “lost” ones.

In fact, Phil’s a lot like the character “Red” (played by Morgan Freeman) in the movie “The Shawshank Redemption” — he’s a man who knows how to get things.

Anyway, I was just browsing Phil Alexander’s “wares” and noticed he has a TON of cool, out-of-print books often praised by marketing masters like David Ogilvy, Gary Bencivenga, Dan Kennedy, Eugene Schwartz and more.

For example, he’s got classics like:

• “Ron Popeil Salesman of the Century” (I once heard Gary Bencivenga refer to Ron Popeil as the man who “can sell anything.”)

• “How I made $1,000,000 in Mail Order” by E. Joseph Cossman (Eugene Schwartz–recommended)

• “Influencing men in business” by Walter Dill Scott (creator of the now-famous “AIDA” formula.)

• “Reason Why Advertising” John E. Kennedy

• “How to Write a Good Advertisement” by Victor O. Schwab

• “My First 60 Sixty years in advertising” by Maxwell Sackheim

• “100 top copywriters and their favorite ads”

… And a ton more valuable books (many public domain!).

All basically dirt-cheap and ripe for the taking.

Anyway, you can check out Phil’s “candy store” of cheap, hard-to-find marketing books at:

Ben

P.S. Also, if you haven’t yet checked out the Gary Bencivenga-recommended booklet “Obvious Adams” (that I wrote about last week), there are still copies left at:

Just a quick FYI:

If you go to:

… and click on the tab on the left that says, “Free Goodies”…

… you can download an issue of Matt Furey’s newest magazine (titled, “Mastermind”) which contains some extremely cool ads you can put in your swipe file.

One of them is the looooong-running magazine control ad for his “Combat Conditioning” book (amongst others).

Excellent stuff and definitely worth downloading.

Enjoy!

Ben

For the past several weeks I’ve been revising (and finally writing an ad for) my Copywriting Grab Bag book.

While re-reading appendix 2 (the interview with Doberman Dan Gallapoo) I came across this fun little snippet and got a hefty laugh from it (as well as a hard kick in the arse because I haven’t been following the advice.)

Doberman Dan worked side-by-side with the late, great copywriter Gary Halbert. And the short lesson below is just one (of many) excellent Gary Halbert lessons he shared.

Anyway, here goes…

DOBERMAN DAN: I feel like I’m the lone voice in the wilderness crying out this truth that nobody believes until they actually try it. But if you’ve got an online business and you’re not keeping a database of your customers’ physical snail mail addresses and sending them direct mail at least every month… I’m going to have to channel the spirit of Gary Halbert. If you’re not doing that then you are a complete 100% shit weasel.

If Gary were here and he met an online marketer who wasn’t sending direct mail I think he’d probably whack ’em upside the head and call them a shit weasel. Because that one thing alone… can literally double your business in 30 days or less. I love the response I get when I tell online marketers this. And I’ve given this advice away freely which I will no longer do. In fact, this is the last time I’m going to give this away free, Ben. Because this is million dollar advice. But when I give it away free people don’t seem to value it.

I spoke with an owner of one of the biggest online marketers of supplements and asked about how often they’re snail mailing their list. And he said, “We don’t keep a database of snail mail addresses once we ship the order.” And I thought you’ve got to be kidding. Here’s a company that—based on the current sales—could probably add an additional $5 million per month if they would—and that’s on the low side based on my experience—if they send direct mail snail mail to the list every month. But the response is, “Yeah, but we capture email addresses. And we send a weekly, daily, whatever email promotion.”

Well, for a lot of reasons the emails are not getting through to the recipients nowadays with spam filters and all the other problems. Or, people’s inboxes are so crammed full of stuff, they’re deleting stuff. You know this, Ben, stuff you’ve even subscribed to that you want to get you probably delete a lot because you don’t have time to read it. So an email nowadays has a very low perceived value. But an actual snail mail letter or promotion that somebody holds that they received in their mailbox and hold in their hot little hands still commands more attention than an email in my most humble—but accurate—opinion.

You can read the rest of this fascinating interview with Doberman Dan in Appendix 2 of The Copywriting Grab Bag.

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

Recently I read an article talking about why copywriters “MUST” go to marketing events.

That the best clients are at events.

And that, if you go to events, you will build your business far faster than you would otherwise.

I don’t know about this.

True, attending events can dramatically speed up your copywriting career goals… but it is definitely NOT a “must.”

How do I know?

Because I work with several clients who are, in most cases, the “top dawgs” in their niches — like Mike Dillard (in the MLM niche), Captain Chris Pizzo (in the martial arts niche), and Ken McCarthy (in the Internet marketing niche.)

Yet, I have never “met” any of these guys.

I have not “hung out” with them.

And I definitely did not “network” with them at a seminar.

Instead, they approached me because they knew what they were looking for, did their homework on me first, and know results count more than if someone is a seminar buddy or not.

My point?

If the idea of attending seminars makes you feel tired and sleepy (like it does me — which, according to Sean D’Souza, is perfectly natural for introverts)… don’t fret.

Don’t worry.

And, whatever you do, don’t fall for the line that going to seminars is “mandatory.”

Is attending events a good idea?

Absolutely!

Many of my copywriting friends built their businesses on seminars.

And if you enjoy networking and seminars then have a party.

But it’s not a “must.”

Believe it or not, clients are LOOKING for you as much as you are looking for them.

Your job is to demonstrate your stuff like you would any other product.

For some, seminars are the way to do it.

For others, it’s less direct ways.

The key is to do what works for you and never give up.

For more information on getting freelance copywriting jobs, check out the interview I did with Ryan Healy last year.

It’s packed full of real, useable ways to get paying clients.

Including many “introvert-friendly” methods that work just as well — if not better.

Ben

Back in 1992 a young copywriter took the direct mail world by storm.

He went from a complete “nobody” people actually avoided at direct marketing conventions… to having a control for one of the biggest newsletter publishers in the country.

A control so strong it lasted three years before being beaten by the legendary copywriter Eugene Schwartz.

Then, six months after that, this young copywriter again re-took the control from Gene.

Anyway, the copywriter who wrote this ad is Doug D’Anna.

The name of this blockbuster control package is “The Great Retirement Betrayal.”

And last year Doug released a DVD where he analyzed his ad to a group of newsletter publishers he calls:

In addition to his 30 minute speech, it also contains the actual control piece as well as a workbook with several advanced (and not commonly taught) copywriting tips and commentary.

By the way, I do not make a dime if you buy this DVD.

But I wanted to tell you about it because not only is it an excellent swipe file resource, but there isn’t an ounce of theory or “fluff” in it.

It’s pure red meat you can pick up and run with no matter what kind of ad you’re writing now.

If you’re interested you can check it out at:

Ben

One more thing…

Doug was gracious enough to let me interview him last year and I used to give it away free on this site. However, I recently decided to remove it (it’s just way too valuable to give away) and make it a part of my currently-being-revised Copywriting Grab Bag book.

To be notified when it’s ready (I’m still writing the ad for it) go to:

Last week I got this extremely interesting question:

“Ben, I am just starting out in marketing and copywriting. I am a woman and notice most of the teachers and experts you discuss are male! I learn best from women and not men (no offense!). But I have come to trust your judgement and so Ben, are there any women marketers you recommend learning from? Are there any books by women on amazon or websites for copywriting? Thanks!”

First of all, there is NO offense taken.

It’s true most of the stuff I read and talk about is from guys like me — highly competitive, “Type-A” dudes with testosterone oozing out our ears.

These also tend to be the clients I mostly write ads for, too.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t study women marketers.

In fact, I’ve learned a LOT from women marketers and copywriters.

And as a nice change of pace, I thought it’d be fun to list a few of my favorite women marketers and why I read their stuff.

There are obviously many more worth studying than the ones below — and I invite you to list your favorite female marketers/copywriters and their sites (even if it’s your site) in the “comments” section below.

For now, here’s my short list:

1. Kim Krause Schwalm

Kim is an “A-List” copywriter I first heard about while watching Gary Bencivenga’s magnificent “100 Seminar” DVD’s.

She writes ads for a bunch of the top direct response companies like Boardroom, Soundview, KCI and more.

Now, as far as I can tell, she isn’t doing the “guru” thing.

BUT… you can still read a bunch of her control ads and some interviews she did with AWAI at:

It’s just a gold mine of advanced copywriting info.

2. Marcia Yudkin

Even though I have never met Marcia, I’ll always be grateful for her “help.”

You see, back in 2002 — when all I knew about copywriting is it sounded cool — I literally found her site on accident and it was a total Godsend.

Not only does she have some awesome copywriting, marketing and publicity articles on her site… but her stuff got me started on the right “foot” and firmly grounded in the fundamentals.

Plus, she linked to the late, great Gary Halbert — whose products and newsletters have completely changed my life since.

I can’t recommend Marcia’s site enough:

Lynn Terry is a full-time Internet Marketer and “super affiliate” with over 10 years of experience in online business and marketing.

You can spend hours on her website poring over all the information on just about every Internet marketing topic you can imagine — from affiliate marketing, SEO and PPC… to social media (“Web 2.0”), email and traffic tips.

Plus, she was even gracious enough to contribute content to my recent “Affiliate Trump Card” product (an invaluable tip if you’re a ClickBank affiliate).

You can read her site at:

4. Carline Anglade-Cole

If you read Clayton Makepeace’s excellent site then you likely already know about Carline.

She’s another “A-List” copywriter with controls for the big league mailers and her ezine is “must reading” (IMHO, at least).

In fact, I believe the issue she wrote on bullets should be printed out, stuffed in a binder and studied over and over and over again.

Just awesome, awesome stuff.

You can check out her site and ezine at:

Again, there are a whole bunch more than this.

And that’s why if you’d like to add any other women marketers’ sites to the list (especially if it’s YOUR own site) feel free to link to it in the comments section below — along with a short (3-5 sentences) description of what the site is about.

Not only will this help those who learn best from women… but us guys sometimes have to write for female audiences and, well, we can use all the help we can get 😉

Ben

Let’s talk about politics.

No… not the partisan kind.

The copywriting kind.

Here’s what I mean:

A few days ago I started a thread on Lynn Terry’s discussion board (in the copywriting section) about who has the better copywriting team — John McCain or Barack Obama?

Now, this isn’t about who anyone LIKES better… but who has the better ads.

The point being, obscene amounts of money are being spent on these ads, and it can be useful to see what they’re doing to try and persuade (sell) large numbers of people to vote one way or another. (Even the bad stuff can be useful as an example of what NOT to do).

Anyway, if you’d like to sound off on this, go to:

Ben

By the way…

In my “Copywriting Grab Bag” book (currently being revised)… I spend an entire chapter on a persuasion “trick” politicians use to scare people into voting for them. A method that, while often used for bad purposes, can also be used legitimately for good purposes (and in a way that is 100% ethical and welcomed by your readers).

To join the notification list for when it’s ready, go to:

Just got this question about finding joint venture partners.

Since this is such a hot topic (and a great way to build businesses) I thought you might find my answer to his question helpful in setting up your own deals.

Here goes:

QUESTION: I am brand new to copywriting and the Internet and wanted to know if you had any advice on setting up joint ventures with other marketers?

BEN: As a matter of fact, yes.

Although it’s not “my” advice — it’s my friend David Dutton’s.

David bills himself as the “most connected” man on the Internet.

He’s done deals with everyone from the legendary Jim Straw, Willie Crawford, Joe Vitale and David Frey… to Phil Pfister (the World’s Strongest Man) and even Jessie Conners — star of the Donald Trump’s, “The Apprentice.”

Here is an excerpt from an interview I did with David showing one of the ways he uses to penetrate the “inner circles” of marketers with big lists and influence:

DAVID: Yeah, now I try now to only contact people that I’m fans of. It works, I’m getting an endorsement in a major newsletter next week, and I’m going to show you how I did it.

I’m a fan of a guy named Dr. Andy Williams. I heard about him about a year or two ago. He has a software called Keyword Results Analyzer. I do keyword research for people to help them get rankings really high in Google, and Yahoo, and all that. I used his software to filter keywords. Basically I’m just a big fan of it.

I wanted an endorsement in his newsletter, so you know what I did? I opened up Camtasia which is a screen capture software where it captures my computer screen, and I filmed and I put an audio to the video. Basically, I opened up the software, show people how I use it, and show them the results of a travel site I own, and just how I’m such a fan of Dr. Andy Williams.

I put it on YouTube, which is free. I went to his support desk I filled out a support desk with the subject line, “KRA success story.” I just said, “Hey, Andy I just want to let you know I did a case study about my success with your software and its right here on YouTube so everybody can see it. And it gets ranked in Google, blah, blah, the whole nine yards.”

Well, what did I do? Did I try to pitch him anything? No. Did I try to sell him anything? No, I didn’t do anything, but give value. He said, “Hey, great idea, love the video. I’m going to mention you in my newsletter next week.”

Pretty cool, eh?

This is something anyone can do — no matter what niche you’re in.

And you can read the rest of David’s interview (with even MORE hot tips like this) free at:

Ben

P.S. I have been kicking around the idea of doing another interview with David Dutton.

This time I’d like to get your questions about who you would most like to connect with — online or offline. Then David, in “hot seat” fashion, will give you the exact actions to take to hook up with whoever that person is.

Is that something you’d be interested in?

Dave is a master at connecting with people.

And if there’s enough demand, I think I can get him to do a special call like this.

So if you’d like to connect with someone of power and influence — like a major Internet marketer, local politician, celebrity, potential client, etc — email me who you want to connect with and your biggest challenge in doing so at: