Ben Settle

Before I type another word… a disclaimer:

I’m probably the very last person anyone should listen to about social media. This is especially true since I am not on any social media, and haven’t been in over 9 months. But, even so, I believe the two tips below can significantly increase the sales, brand power, and influence of anyone who is on social media who isn’t foolish enough to think the unbending laws of direct response don’t apply as much (if not more) to social media as they do any other kind of media.

Here goes:

1. Likes don’t keep on the lights

Arguably the dumbest marketing consultant idea ever invented is advertising:

“Like us on Facebook!”

Think about what that means:

Sending potential leads, opt-ins, customers, clients, etc to a platform you don’t control, that can de-platform you on a whim or hide your posts, that you can’t export your audience to (like you can an email or direct mail list), run by people that cheerfully sell & abuse your personal data, in hopes that you’ll get a bunch of people to like and share said page, and stick around to hear more about you and then maybe, just maybe, going to your site and opting in or buying something.

It’s as amusing as it is pointless.

And, it’s another reason why there isn’t any so-called “competition” anymore.

2. My second favorite direct response marketing “law”:

“Sell one thing at a time”

Putting up a post and tagging 34 people you want your audience to follow, or suggesting your audience follow a list of multiple people in a single tweet is honorable, I guess. But if you really want to promote someone as someone to follow, talk about one person at a time.

For one thing, your audience is far more likely to take action.

And for another thing, you’ll be doing that person a much bigger favor than lumping them in with several others so you will have more room to talk about (i.e. sell) them.

All right, I’ve already said more than I know.

Speaking of “laws”:

I mentioned the “sell one thing at a time” law being my second favorite. And the reason that’s my second favorite is because my #1 favorite is so powerful, it can work to make a business a lot of sales even if it ignorantly ignores the sell only one thing at a time law.

I write about it extensively in the September “Email Players” issue.

The deadline to get it is in a couple days.

Here’s the link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A true story from the advertising ghetto:

Last week, a faithful and no-doubt sincere and well-meaning and well-intentioned “Email Players” subscriber (i.e. not a troll) gave Yours Crotchety unsolicited advice that not only contradicts 100 years of direct response marketing and billions of dollars in space ad testing over the time… but was a gloriously shining example of the Email Players Rule:

“If you want to know how the deer thinks, ask the hunter, not the deer.”

(Props to comedian Dante Nero for that ditty)

Anyway, what was this unsolicited advice?

To do a better job of clearly defining which pages in “Email Players” are advertisements and which aren’t, to make it easier to read, by doing things like hiding the header and footer on those pages, or putting a box around the the ads like you’d see in a magazine or newspaper which has both informative copy and advertising.

Now I don’t know his exact situation or experiences.

But I do know these three things:

1. He said his advice was based on owning a magazine and as a reader of my newsletter

(i.e. the deer)

2. He did not say his advice was based on paying for ads and testing them and analyzing the results

(i.e. the hunter)

3. I dialed up the “make your ads look as much like the editorial as possible” rule of direct response advertising to 11 in the September issue’s ads — going even more obnoxiously against the unsolicited advice above.

Here’s some context:

I started toying with embedding full page ads inside the newsletter — where before I’d just include a long sales letter for something — in June.

And the June issue’s ads were obviously “ads.”

I even made the stipulation they had to be what I call “Sea-Monkey Advertising.”

(i.e. inspired by the old, brilliant Sea-Monkey comicbook ads.)

The July issue’s ads were, too, although not nearly as much.

And, even the August issue’s ads were obvious ads.

But the upcoming September issue that goes to the printer in a few days?

Well, Troo-Bulleeber, let’s just say, if anyone thought the August issue ads were hard to read because they weren’t obviously defined as advertising… then September’s issue will give them even a hotter case of heartburn over it.

But, even its ads will be merely another feeler to see what works best.

I have some doozies I’ll be running in the coming months that will not only be obvious advertising (not even trying to hide the fact), but prime examples of infotainment that makes even Sea-Monkey ads look prestigious, and not something laying in the gutter of what Marvel Comics once described as “the advertising ghetto” (where, incidentally, all the best direct response advertising can be found, in my opinion…) And it could very well be they handily beat all my sneaky disguised content advertising.

All of which brings me back to the rub:

When you’re hungry and you need to eat or starve, don’t ask the deer how to hunt it, ask the hunter.

You’ll catch more deer.

Eat more heartily.

And, save a lot of ammo.

Whatever the case, if you want to subscribe to “Email Players” in time to get the September issue, you’ll have to hurry.

I’m sending it to the printer later this week.

To get in on time, run (knees to chest!) don’t walk to:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Not long ago, I got this panicky email from a bloke who, too bad for him, left my “Email Players” newsletter before the upcoming September issue:

Speaking of swiping, ____ just beat me and my products to market. They’ve literally launched the same fucking product – including similar designs!

Your recommendations?

The solution is two fold.

The first part is this:

You can never really do much about the pirates and copycats, unfortunately. That is why you want to be aggressively emailing each day, building your personal brand to your own list, and building an audience. It will still piss you off when it happens. But it isn’t really going to affect your sales in the long run.

The second part?

That’s tucked away in the September issue.

It’s something that steals scraps off the tables of the copycats and content pirates because it makes people far less likely to buy their stolen wares. And if you want to have this extremely timely info, here’s what to do:

Go to the URL below and subscribe.

Then, follow the instructions.

So simple even a goo-roo fanboy can probably do it.

The deadline to get it is in a few short days.

Here’s the link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

“Email Players” subscriber Adrian Kennedy puts on his Garb of Villainy:

Your info has changed my life for the better.

Since I’ve joined your list and Email Players in May I’ve written and published 2 books and I’m working on my third which is a book series now.

I’m no longer selfish and have a mission that even the love child of the Joker and Lex Luthor would be proud of.

There is quite a bit of value packed in that testimonial.

That is, for people with eyes to taste, and noses to see.

If you see what I am speaking of, the prestigious “Email Players” newsletter — and especially the September issue that goes to the printer in a few days — can be of great potential business-building help to you. Especially, I believe, when the economy tanks next time, and making videos for social media in your car won’t quite cut it anymore, and real businesses will have to be built, with real marketing and business game plans implemented.

When that happens?

Like the last crash, you’ll see a lot of people standing around with their John Thomas in their hand, howling on social media about how hard everything is and seething at their favorite politicians to blame their problems on, while my guys and ghouls are mailing their lists and not only weathering the storm, but profiting more than ever from it.

Anyway, that’s my unsolicited prediction.

To subscribe before the 8/31/19 deadline, give this link some lovin’:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

This’ll probably rattle a few fragile & get-offended-at-everything types on my list.

But, for whatever reason, I’ve always had a special attraction to Latinas. Probably it’s because I failed to date any all through high school and college. Thus, after landing my dame — a Latina, finally — a couple years ago, it did not take long for her to notice the All-Seeing Eye of elBenbo zooming in whenever another attractive Latina walks by.

Sometimes she even jokes about my developing a “tolerance” to Latinas.

Not unlike an alcoholic growing a tolerance to alcohol or a coffee drinker growing a tolerance to caffeine.

Whatever the case, there’s a very real business application to this:

And sometimes, people can get a “tolerance” to your sales pitches. This is something that can happen if you mail frequently or post frequently on social media. And unlike caffeine, etc, that means, the healthy & profitable way to deal with this tolerance to you and your emails is not pulling back or coasting in your daily marketing efforts… but doubling, tripling, and even quadrupling down.

I’ll use myself as an example.

For my list, one email per day doesn’t really cut it.

Many people have a tolerance to my wiles.

Thus, to keep intoxicating them with said wiles… I have had to double down, and give them more, to give them the same level of excitement they used to get when I sent only 5 emails per week, then 7 per week, and now often 2-3 or more times per day (when promoting an upcoming “Email Players” issue or a special offer, affiliate deal, etc).

There are two ways to prevent this tolerance.

The first is obviously more, not less, contact.

If I have to “sell” you on that, you’re simply not ready for anything I offer. You can safely put your wallet away or opt-out or just keep doing whatever it is you do.

The second is not-so-obvious.

But, it’s just as crucial as more, not less, contact.

And, I would argue mandatory if you want more contact to work in your favor, and not against you, as it does for most people who mail or post more frequently.

This not-so-obvious thing is taught in the September “Email Players” issue.

It’s like a 15-point “manifesto” for the law of persuasion it teaches.

Follow these 15-points and I simply don’t see how you can fail. That is, if you do it right, aren’t a lazy bum about mailing, and have patience, a long-term investor mindset (not a short term opportunity mindset), and aren’t a wimp about testing something new.

This issue goes to the printer soon.

After that, it’ll be too late to get your greedy meat hooks on it.

Here’s the link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A couple weeks ago, my pal and long-time business confidant (I can count the number of those on 3 or 4 fingers) Doberman Dan Gallapoo asked how posting videos — which I will be doing more of — was working out for me as far as income generation, traffic, etc.

As well as how well my old podcast did for such things.

And, some other private stuff we talked about I won’t mention here.

My answer:

This would probably mortify any marketing guru snooping in on this email:

But I find it nearly impossible to track these sorts of things to a transaction, as with pretty much anything else I do online. I do know people tell me they have found me via my old podcast, videos, of someone mentioning me on social media, heard me speak somewhere, random Google search, word-of-mouth, and other ways I have zero control over or can track, test, or quantify. It may take several emails over several months, combined with multiple other media to ultimately make the sale. I just throw as much out there as possible, and focus on writing emails each day and putting new offers out, building-up my publishing empire, curating out and repelling those I don’t want, etc, and things keep growing, building, and booming.

That, my little fledgling, is my official business plan in a paragraph.

But, there is something else I do I left out.

Something I have been doing for 18 years, but even more deliberately over the past 18 or so months, that makes all the above work so much better, faster, and consistently, it’s like injecting my business with Captain America’s Super Soldier serum.

What is this “thing” I am teasing you about?

That’s in the September “Email Players” issue, Chuckles.

The entire 17-pages of content is just about this, in fact.

And, even a couple of the full page ads I stuffed inside talk about it.

The deadline is coming up lickety-split.

To subscribe in time, go here immediately:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

One of the things the late, great copywriter and marketing mind Gary Halbert used to do when he held his $7,000 seminars (almost $14k in today’s money) is, he’d wear a hat with big, emboldened letters that said:

“Clients Suck”

And, inevitably, he’d get clients lining up to hire him.

Or so I’ve been told, at least.

But, I believe it.

And, I believe it because he was, more than any other person I’ve seen since, tapping into a powerful “law” of marketing, advertising, and selling that made it so he practically couldn’t lose when it came to getting new business.

What is this “law” I speak of?

Well, a shallow mind will assume it was repulsion marketing.

i.e. By trying to repel he attracted.

Same with merely being controversial, fearless, non-needy, etc.

Those are certainly an aspect of this law.

But if you wade deeper into the pool of persuasion I’m talking about, it goes beyond that. Way beyond it. So far beyond it, you’ll be hard-pressed to find it written about or codified in any marketing or business book you’ve ever seen. And, just in case it isn’t obvious… it has nothing to do with saying your clients suck or showing outward contempt for them or whatever — which, unless you are Gary Halbert, I would highly advise against doing.

This is a subject that can’t be adequately covered in a mere email.

Thus, I’ve written extensively about in the September “Email Players” issue.

The issue is not about “getting clients.”

But, applying the admittedly hair-raising info inside can potentially get your business swamped with so much new business if you are a freelancer (copywriter, coach, consultant, designer, whatever your service is), you may very well have to turn people away.

Or, at the very least, jack up those nasty prices of yours.

And yes, it works for selling non-services, too, of course, I’m just writing this email to give some lovin’ to freelancers, for a change.

Anyway, I’m sending this puppy to the printer soon.

If you want this issue, and if you have a winning long-term, investor-minded view as opposed to a losing short-term, opportunity-minded view (i.e. “I’ll just subscribe to get this one issue!”) I predict this will be one of the most valuable things you ever read.

Not because I wrote it.

(I did not “invent” the law of persuasion inside)

But because I believe it just flat out works if you do it right, work hard, and have patience.

Here’s the link to subscribe before the 8/31/19 deadline:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A true life story of hair-raising proportions for swipers:

One of my longest business-related business friendships is with a marketer, copywriter, and public speaker I’ve personally learned much from over the years. He has built an extremely successful business, has probably the biggest list of “Who’s Who” clients in the entire internet marketing industry and is, overall, one of the best human beings I know on this planet, and someone I strive to be more like myself in many ways. And, to pay Your Pal and Humble Narrator homage a few months ago, he blatantly used one of my most popular and longest-running subject lines in an email to promote his podcast.

Being on his list, I received this email the day he sent it.

And, my first thought was:

“Uh-oh…”

Not because he used my subject line.

I have enough respect and knowledge of him to know what he was trying to do (he wanted to promote and honor Yours Crotchety, not steal from me — I want to be 100% clear he did nothing wrong, per se). But because I knew — the second I saw it — the fallout would not be pleasant for him, since our lists overlap to the tune of several thousand email subscribers.

And, right on cue:

I got a bunch of people forwarding his email to me.

Each essentially asking:

“WTF! He is stealing your subject line!”

… along with how they lost a lot of respect for him, and some other things that did not bode well for my friend. And this was even so despite the fact he was promoting an episode of his podcast in that email which paid lots of homage to me about that very subject line.

i.e. That’s why he used it.

Not to be lazy or steal, but to promote me.

So again, his intentions were 100% noble, and he did nothing “wrong” at all.

He was trying to lift me up, and promote me, as friends do for each other at times — and as I have done for him, and will continue to when it is relevant, as he’s one of my oldest pals up in this business. But, he did not mention me or anything about the subject line not being his anywhere in his email. Thus, he was subject to the reactions, whims, and assumptions of potentially hundreds — if not thousands — of people who would never know how he was actually trying to promote me in his podcast, because they would never listen to the episode anyway. And even if they were normally going to listen to his show, they decided on the spot not to, on the strength of that one goof-up, which prompted them to lose respect for him.

Anyway, long story even longer?

He felt horrible about it.

And he did the best damage-control job he could, by sending another email out immediately clarifying what he was doing. Which, ironically, only prompted more people to forward that email to me, and make comments like:

“I used to like his stuff, but now I wonder…”

And other assorted comments, despite me telling them what was going on.

Plus, the reality of the internet is, for every one person you hear from about any particular matter (good or bad), there are often 5, 10, 15, 50, 100, or more people thinking the same thing but who never mention it. And lest you think this is relegated to just this one instance, think again. Just recently, another one of my biggest fans got nailed for doing the same thing, and for far less of a swipe. In fact, he didn’t even “swipe” at all. It’s simply that he sounded too much like me (still finding his voice, probably) and suffered the same fate. With my friend, who has been established for two decades, it was not much of a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

But for these newer young un’s who think trying to “sound” like me or anyone else is a good idea?

They are destroying their businesses before they even begin.

All of which brings me to the point:

How has your long-winded story-teller built up this kind of loyal fanbase, this kind of instantly-recognized brand, and this kind of rock-solid positioning where even some of my sworn enemy trolls will call out people they see copying me (my trolls are endlessly useful, a topic I’ll be touching on more next month)?

The answer to this question is both simple and complex.

And a small thinker would assume it’s because of my writing style, or because I inject my personality into all my emails, or because I try to write emails that make people think and not just emotionally react, or something else “mechanical” they can can, clone, and deploy.

And they’d be wrong.

Those are a part of the madness behind the method.

But a wiser, deeper-thinking guy or ghoul will know it goes way beyond that.

And, such wiser, deep-thinking guys and ghouls who make up my paying “Email Players” subscribers will find out the answer to this question in great detail soon… when they receive the September “Email Players” issue.

This is, in my obviously biased opinion, a special issue indeed.

One that’s been 8+ years in the writing.

One that will introduce those smart enough to be subscribed (and wise enough not to have quit in the past — as I don’t allow people who have quit to return) to a whole new world of thinking, marketing, selling, business-building, publishing, freelancing (if’n you freelance), copywriting, email strategy, and (dare I say it?) existing.

One where sales come to you with far less effort and work.

Where trolls attack you with far more gloriously spiteful ankle-biting.

And, one where new business can potentially flow to you in far greater numbers over time than you ever imagined possible. I am talking about a business world whose laws are not governed by outdated lazy reliance on swiping and admirable, classy books like “How To Win Friends And Influence People” (far less effective in today’s broken, celebrity-obsessed culture, unfortunately)… but by the irresistibly (and, at the same time, repulsively) attractive business-building law I talk about inside the September issue.

But, a word of warning, my fine feathered golden pigeon:

Following this Law will almost certainly be uncomfortable.

Maybe even intolerably uncomfortable.

But, it’s not only the best way to build your business — especially with email — in this day and age of social media chest-pounding, market over-saturation of free information, and overheated market places packed with copycat competition… but also to do right by your customers, keep your market from falling for bull shyt, and building a business that is nearly impervious to being knocked off… with an audience and fan following that are intensely loyal to you in ways few — if any — of your competitors or colleagues will ever experience.

A tall order, you say?

Of course it is.

But I do’t deal in short orders, and, as everything I teach in “Email Players”, if you hate long-term business planning, if you hate hard work, and if you hate any kind of insistence you think & implement instead of can & clone, this issue will be a huge disappointment to you. This is triple true if you are a new product junkie or goo-roo casino bar fly who just wants to subscribe to get this one issue, thinking it will do you any good with that sad sac attitude, and not realize the power comes from long-term learning and implementation of everything else I teach in compounding, synergistic application.

Whatever the case, it goes to the printer soon.

And once it does, it will be too late to get this issue.

If you want in on this, here’s what to do:

1. Go to the URL below before the looming 8/31/19 deadline

2. Read the sales letter very carefully, especially the Q&A — don’t be lazy and just skim it, know what you are buying so you make an informed decision

3. Sit back, and await the September issue

Here’s the horrifying link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Once upon a time, I used to do email critiques.

Specifically, for “Email Players” subscribers who would get one critique per month. This was when the customer list was much smaller, of course, and I could manage to do it for the handful of people who took advantage of it.

Nowadays?

I not only don’t do critiques, I actively discourage them for most people.

Why?

Many reasons:

1. If I did a critique for one person, I’d have to do it potentially for several hundred others, which is impossible if I want to actually build my business and have some time to eat, sleep, and use the latrine.

2. I hate doing critiques anyway.

3. Like the great A-list copywriter Doug D’Anna once told me:

(Paraphrased)

The best critique you can get is not from a copywriter, it’s from your market.

I’d bet you someone else’s left testicle, that if you gave your copy to two people — a professional copywriter who does not know your market and someone who is in your market who knows nothing about “copywriting”, the latter guy will give you feedback that is 10x’s more useful. Yes, a critique from a smart copywriter who does not know your market can still be helpful from a mechanical point of view. But if they don’t know your market’s unique hot buttons, peculiarities, trends, pains, desires, anxieties, insecurities, values, etc… they will very likely miss the many nuances of that market, and either miss many opportunities to help you strengthen your copy and emails, or possibly even give you outright bad advice without realizing it.

Thus, I don’t do critiques.

And, unless you are willing to pay a very expensive copywriting coach or teacher like the great David Garfinkel or “Email Players” subscriber Kim Krause Schwalm, I discourage it.

That’s the bad news for people asking me for critiques.

The good news?

While I don’t offer “Email Players” subscribers critiques anymore, and haven’t in some 5 years or so, what I do offer is to answer subscriber questions — via email only — about topics I am qualified to give advice on.

The only caveat is I don’t do small talk.

i.e. we won’t be penpals.

Got too many people I have to talk to and deal with as it is, thank you.

Plus, if the question is something that can’t be summed up in a quick reply, I refer them to a book I sell that will answer it.

All right, so that’s that.

Maybe this added to your life, and maybe it didn’t.

But there it is…

To learn more about the newsletter, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle