Ben Settle

I’ve been re-reading Stan Lee’s (the guy who created Spiderman, The Hulk, Avengers, etc) book:

“Excelsior!”

You can learn a lot about marketing, branding, positioning, copywriting, messing with your competition’s heads (like he did to DC Comics for years), and creativity reading this book.

Example?

He talks about how he saved soldiers from syphilis when he was in the army.

Here’s how:

“I must have sketched countless complex, meaningful, persuasive, intellectual ideas for an anti-VD poster, but nothing seemed right. Then, when I least expected it, inspiration hit me. The simplest idea of all. I merely drew a little cartoon version of a happy-looking GI walking into a pro station, with the little green light above the door, wearing a proud expression on his face and a dialogue balloon over his head that read, “VD? Not me!” Well, they must have printed a zillion of those posters and displayed the all over Europe.”

So much copywriting wisdom in that.

Especially if you get bogged down with overwhelm for ideas, copy, etc.

Speaking of simple:

One of the things I teach in my monthly “Email Players” newsletter is simplicity. Everything I do revolves around the concept. I don’t do complicated because it doesn’t work nearly as well as simple.

This goes for email, sales copy, content, video, podcasts, and anything else.

More info here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

“Janine, someone with your qualifications would have no trouble finding a top-flight job in either the food service or housekeeping industries.”

— Dr. Peter Venkman
“Ghostbusters”

Recently, I was reading about a chick with some community college business course experience who is so fed up with the male patriarchy and capitalism running the business world, she decided to bewb-up and make a difference.

Her big idea?

To start a feminist business school to fight masculine capitalism.

According to the news story, she said it’s much better to have businesses run on feminine traits — like mindfulness, gratitude, and generosity, to promote the “redistribution of money and power” (exact quote) — than it is to have businesses run on masculine traits — like individualism, speed, and efficiency.

My opinion?

I may be gender-biased.

But, I think feminists would do better listening to their uncle elBenbo.

In fact, here’s my 100% “feminist-friendly” 3-step business plan:

• Build an email list of people who have money to spend
• Mail it daily with offers they want to buy
• When they buy something, deliver it a timely and efficient manner, and then sell them something else

But, I’ll admit:

My ways are 100% based on capitalism.

And, also, individuality, speed, and efficiency.

(Mindfulness, gratitude, and generosity don’t exactly pay the bills in my experience.)

So probably a non-starter for many feminists.

For everyone else?

Go here to learn my evil, toxic-patriarchal email copywriting ways:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

“It was one small chest, hardly overflowing. And it still smells of troll.”

— Bilbo Baggins
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”

Every now and then, I’ll purposely troll friends on Flakebook.

I tell them I only troll people I like. If I don’t like you, I won’t even bother trolling you. And I only troll people I like because, the way I understand it (and I may not understand it… chasing social media algorithms is boring), it helps my friends.

How so?

Because my kind of trolling often gets engagement.

And, engagement, often gets Flakebook love from what I am told.

And, if there is engagement, it shows your post to more people.

I’m just not seeing a downside to having flakebook trolls.

That is, unless you’re easily rattled and don’t know how to handle trolls. If you get angry, emotional, and frustrated with trolls… instead of using their troll ways to your advantage, then you probably should shun trolls.

Wait a minute, what?

How do you use trolling to your advantage?

It’s quite simple:

When you see someone trolling you on Flakebook, take something they say, and write an email about it designed to sell your product/service. And, it doesn’t have to be Flakebook trolls. It can be people who troll you by email, Twitter, or any other media.

They’re giving you a gift.

Use it.

Love it.

And, yes, profit from it.

And you know what else?

When you use my email methods, trolls put gold in ye olde pocketses.

You simply use the info I teach about using Q&A’s in the Email Players Playbook. And, instead of answering someone’s question, you quote the troll, answer it, and use my ways to make the sale.

Anyway, that book comes with your subscription.

To read more about what’s in it, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A little market research secret:

The other day I saw a tweet talking about how high performing people throughout the years start their days. Back in the day, presidents like Abraham Lincoln, for example, used to read newspapers for hours each day before doing any work. And, today, guys like Trump watches TV, makes phone calls, and Tweets (and, presumably, seeing how much his tweets get his haters riled up — which has multiple benefits, as does writing controversial emails).

The main reason is knowing what’s going on with people.

If you want to influence people, you have to know what’s driving them.

The point?

I have never understood why so many marketers laugh at and avoid the idea of Twitter.

And, instead, spend all their time on Flakebook in a bubble.

I’ve been using Twitter for almost 10 years to see what people are yapping about real time, to mine subject line and email theme ideas, and to get out of the Internet marketing Facebook bubble groupthink.

I highly suggest you do, too.

Frankly, I’m glad so many marketers think it’s useless and stoopid.

(While they like motivational quotes and food pics on Flakebook all day)

Twitter is free real-world market data they’ll never see.

Anyway, on to the business:

One of the easiest ways in the world to use my email methods is to go into Twitter, look at the tweets and retweets on your feed, and write an email about something you see (like I’m doing in this *this* email) using the information taught inside the newsletter and the Email Players Playbook.

Very simple.

Very profitable, too.

Yet, hardly anyone does it.

Here’s the link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

There’s been  disturbance in the Force.

Apparently, I have a new enemy.

His name?

Clarkie.

Basically, he subscribed to “Email Players”, and quit in less than a month.

Then, he asked:

“Hi Ben – I really enjoy getting your emails. Is there a secret architecture behind your best performing emails? Like a list of ‘ingredients’ you employ that ticks all the boxes for someone to buy? Or can you recommend a book on the subject? Obviously you would probably have this in a back issue of one of your newsletters – if so let me know which one and I will get a copy.”

The irony:

The “Email Players Playbook” he got with his subscription showed him exactly what he wanted.

I already gave him the “architecture” of what I do.

I already showed him the “boxes” to tick.

I already showed him the “ingredients”.

If he was too busy or whatever not to read the book, or too drunk on the goo-roo fanboy kool-aid to understand the value in what he was reading, there isn’t any back issue I have that is going to magically give him what he’s looking for.

Anyway, not wanting an opportoonity to go to waste, I decided to bait him a bit.

So here’s what happened:

elBENBO: I don’t sell back issues to non Email Players subscribers or let people back in once they quit. So I suppose the answer is yes, but no.

CLARKIE: Ive unsubscribed. You’re a real piece of shit mate

Followed by some more pleasantries (after, admittedly, I egged him on for my amusement) like “you’re pathetic” and being called “dickhead”, etc.

Brain fart:

My boy Clarkie reminds me of a guy who hits on a girl, then she says she’s not interested, and then he gets needy and angry and starts hurling insults at her. I can only imagine what kind of nightmare customer he’d be. He should be happy though, since I did him a favor (and saved him money) by not letting him buy anything else. After all, if he didn’t do anything with the information he had already gotten, he would have just wasted his money on any back issues (which I don’t sell on the regular anymore, anyway).

Lots of lessons embedded in this email.

I hope you caught them all.

Anyway, if you’re not the butt-hurt type, “Email Players” may be for you.

Or not.

It’s certainly not for the Clarkie’s of the world.

The only way to find out is to subscribe and see.

Here’s the link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

P.S. Shortly after writing the first draft of this email, he sends me this beauty:

“I am going to put you out of business. That’s my ‘mission’ Your content is shite. Will be so easy. You’ve made an enemy today. Game on dickhead”

Ooh.

First, he likes my content enough to buy more.

Then it’s “shite” because he can’t have it.

Like I said, this is *exactly* how nice guys and self-described male feminists wearing vagina hats and Hillary For President pins to virtue signal around girls, and who then get spurned, behave. Which is timely, because the February “Email Players” issue is about how guys can avoid turning into needy and bitter sad sacks like this, have more control over their emotions, and not only do better with clients and customers to make more sales, but also with chicks.

Once upon a time, Yours Obnoxiously went on a podcast rant about why modern goal-setting (i.e. practically anything you hear on flakebook or the Internet) causes nothing but stress, anxiety, and accomplishing less (if anything at all) for most people.

The gist of it was:

Don’t set outcome goals, set task goals.

In plain English, that means:

Don’t focus on what you can’t control, and instead focus on what you can control.

For example:

(For wait loss)

If you want to lose a bunch of wait in 2018, don’t focus on losing 50 lbs (which you can’t control). Set a goal to eat right each day, to exercise regularly, to take more walks, to be more active, getting your hormones checked (and proceeding accordingly if there is a problem), getting better sleep, laying off the booze & sugar, etc.

Unlike the up-and-down scale, these are all things you can control.

And, it completely eliminates anxiety or frustration.

Another example:

(For guys and relationships)

If you want to find a hot & pleasant woman who wants nothing more in life than to keep your belly full and your balls empty, don’t focus on “finding that woman” (which you can’t control) — focus on your Mission (or finding a Mission if you don’t have one), consistently going to the gym, improving your confidence (mastering a skill is a good way to do this), working on your business, catching yourself and changing your behavior whenever you get needy, observing what the guys who already do have the kind of woman you want are like i.e. don’t ask the deer (chicks) how to hunt it, ask the hunter (guys who get the kind of chicks you want) how to hunt it, and the list goes on.

Another example:

(For finances)

If you want to bust through to the six or seven figure mark in 2018, don’t focus on making the six or seven figures (which you can’t control). Focus on consistently sending attractive offers to receptive leads, on making yourself a better copywriter, on boning up on the best marketing and business-building knowledge, on studying your market and creating offers it’s already waiting for you to sell to them, on driving quality buyers with money to your website instead of worthless freebie-seekers, on putting up 1-click upsells that perfectly complement whatever it is you’re selling, on getting your audience into as many different media as possible (something I’ll be yapping about more in an upcoming “Email Players” issue), and the list goes on.

All things you can control.

Another example:

(People wanting better email results)

If you want more sales with email don’t set goals to have higher open rates, more clicks, or even bigger sales. Instead, focus on writing an email (or more) each day, on constantly improving your email skills, on getting better email delivery, on making sure your emails are bursting through the seams with your personality (hardly anyone does that), on being more controversial, on being less timid, and on being a better overall communicator. (Watch YouTube clips of Johnny Carson monologues, listen to great stand-up comedians, tune into the big talk radio shows — Rush, Savage, Stern, etc — whether you “like” them or not is irrelevant, study their communication abilities, they are easily learned).

All the above you have 100% control over.

More:

Instead of shrieking about Trump’s tweets, study them and reverse engineer how he gets the mass media and all your high falutin’ Facebook friends who natter on about he’s an idiot to bark like trained seals on command any time he wants — giving him even more influence, power, and free marketing each time he does it… then apply what you learn to your marketing.

For example:

Look at his tweets and see which ones get the most likes/retweets/media attention. Then look at them and go, “gee wiz… I could apply what he said there to my market/product…”

Again, it’s irrelevant if you “like” him or love him.

In fact, if you hate him, it’s even more important.

Why?

Because that means your emotions belong to him.

Do you like your emotions belonging to someone else?

No?

Then why not use it to your advantage, and figure out how to apply whatever he’s doing to seize your emotions to what you sell. This is a skill few people have. And, it’s also something I’ll also be writing about in “Email Players” in 2018. (And, also, in my Email Beniversity event next Summer.)

Anyway, if you want to learn my emails ways check out “Email Players”.

Today is the deadline to get in on the January issue.

It’s got a business model for a high earning email-driven business handed to you to model, adapt, and run with on a golden platter.

After that?

Well, since I don’t sell back issue on the regular anymore, it’ll be too late.

Here’s the link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

I’m sending everything to the printer today.

Ben Settle

Today’s the deadline to get your filthy paws on the January “Email Players” issue.

Here’s a strip-tease of what’s inside:

• The “pagan lesbian” subject line secret you can use to give people on your list almost no choice but to open and read your emails. (Works for sales letter headlines, too.)
• A little-known way of “speed writing” 2, 3, even 4 daily emails in the about the same time it takes to write one.
• A rare glimpse into a wildly successful business model that is perfect for small lists, and that also (1) is email-driven (2) frees up your time (3) makes consistent sales and (4) perfect for anyone who sells information and/or coaching services. (Not a shred of theory in it, either — in fact, I personally helped build this business model for a subscriber as a case study for a product I want to release next year.)
• The secret of “stacked continuities” for making your business more scalable, consistently profitable, and secure from the usual sales peaks and valleys.
• How to write your emails in a way that makes it way harder for some loser copycat to swipe, knock off, or ape your marketing. (Even if they do, it’ll simply hurt their sales and not help them.)
• A real-life example of an email that can beef up your sales & new client acquisition, while giving you a far stronger personal brand. (This is straight from an “Email Players” subscriber that got him a ton of sales, likes on Yelp, and attention. I hear tell he had a lot of fun writing, it too…)
• An ex-vice president’s persuasion secret for ramping up your email sales the very first time you use it. (Agora Financial and other marketing power houses do this all day long — and every time I’ve used it, in multiple markets, I’ve seen sales surge. See page 14 for details.)
• And a ho’ bunch mo’.

Here’s where to get your lovin’ before the deadline later today:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

One of my least favorite kinds of people in the world are politicians.

And, what I dislike even more than politicians are tax & spend politicians.

And, what I dislike even more than tax & spend politicians are Virtue Signaling tax & spend (or is that redundant?) politicians.

And, one of my most disliked Virtue Signaling tax & spend politicians was:

Al Gore.

The reasons for that were many and not important.

But, what is important is, he does one thing better than almost anyone else when it comes to marketing. I won’t say he’s a marketing genius (he’s not). But when he does this one thing, he often gets paid like a marketing genius. And, it’s something every email marketer can apply to your emails to (in almost any niche I’ve seen it used in) make lots more sales, get lots more attention, and build a business with lots more security and stability.

It’s something a lot of smart marketers do, in fact.

In fact, one of the best at it I’ve seen is Agora Financial.

Plus, whenever I do it, I always see a bump in sales.

(Frankly, I should do it more often… and will be in 2018.)

Anyway, if you want to know what “it” is I’m talking about, simply turn to page 14 of the January “Email Players” newsletter (which I’m sending to the printer tomorrow). I not only explain what this is, but also show you an example of what I speaketh of.

To subscriber before I send it to the printer tomorrow, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A little while back, I saw an article on a right wing website talking about a left wing lesbian pagan, and a book she was promoting, and why the audience should listen to her.

Anyway, it had two extremely powerful components you can use in advertising:

(1) contrast

(2) selling against type

The lesson?

With these two persuasion tools in your hip pocket (contrast and selling against type), it’s almost impossible for your brain to ignore your marketing.

And you know what else?

This is doubly true for your email subject lines.

In fact, that article contained a perfect email subject line “template” that can be used in any market I’ve ever heard of.

So perfect, I hereby knight it the best subject line template of 2017.

And guess what?

In the January “Email Players” issue, I show you this template.

And, I also show you 7 examples for how to apply it so that people not only want to read your email when it hits their inbox before anything else they see, but be “leaning in” to read your email carefully (ignoring all other distractions) and making them far more likely to want to buy from you.

I’m sending this baby to the printer in a couple days.

After that, i’ll be too late to get it.

Here’s where to subscribe, while there’s still a little time left:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle