Me? I’ve signed up for Kim Krause Schwalm’s mentoring program to take my natural copy skills to the next level.
As you can imagine, mentoring with an A lister like Kim isn’t cheap.
Yet if you’re looking for an affordable yet VALUABLE way to upgrade your skills in 2020…
DR copywriter Mark Pescetti (who’s made countless millions for clients) is giving away all his wisdom in a program he’s called ‘The Copywriting Miracle‘.
And get this, it’s just $27.
But only until midnight tonight (Portland time).
Then it goes up to $67.
I’ve joined.
Why don’t you join too and I’ll see you in the private FB group.
As per usual, Mr Carlton was dropping so many knowledge bombs I was struggling to move my pen fast enough to guide them into my notepad.
Yet there was one particular salvo that ate up the biggest dollop of ink…
And that’s John’s advice on how to look inside the reader’s mind and make sense of the thoughts zooming around like traffic (or Wacky Races, in many cases):
Here’s what he said (more or less):
“Live a wild life. Put the book down and put yourself outside your comfort zone every day. Take a dog for a walk and talk to other dog owners. Go to a bar and drink virgin mary’s and talk and listen to people. Go to bowling alleys. Go to stores. Interact with people. Get into relationships and explore those relationships [to understand what makes people tick].”
So there you go.
Living a wild life is what drew Hemingway to reporting on the Spanish Civil War.
Sure, impressing a lady was part of the equation.
But he knew seeing people in extreme situations would make him a more intuitive writer.
It’s why I also shuffled my meagre possessions into a suitcase a decade ago.
Not to live in war zones (I’ve only been in one semi-active theatre of war, thankfully)…
But to meet people I’d never encounter if I settled for a home office and two weeks vacation a year.
This includes:
Debating the merits of marketing with Tony Robbins’ former NLP teacher (and somehow walking out agreeing to rewrite her website at half my normal rate)
A multi-millionaire who runs free self development workshops from 5 star hotels after getting so disgustingly rich from Shopify stores his life became a struggle for meaning
Getting a valuable life lesson from one of the four founders of Booking.com on why he always travels coach
Discussing the nature of reality with someone who abandoned the modern world to live in a cave with his family (and says he’s never been happier, and looks much younger than his 50+ years)
Recommending to a Vietnam vet that he looks into infusion therapy and DMT for his PTSD rather than choking down fistfuls of anti-depressants
…and a long colorful list of dreamers, sociopaths, monks, hooligans, fellow laptop wanderers, and people on all sorts on madcap adventures through life.
Now, you may be thinking, “That all sounds whoop-de-doo for you Matt. But what if I can’t drop everything and live from a suitcase to ‘live a wild life’?”
I hear you.
You may even find the idea horrifying.
Yet like John said, there are lots of ways you can step outside your comfort zone and get into situations that help you better understand how people think:
Work from a coffee shop in a different part of town
Take up salsa dancing, public speaking, or do a standup comedy workshop
Attend a coffee meetup (or even better, set one up)
Throw a free BBQ and invite people who match your target audience (hat tip Carlos Redlich)
Hang around the same supermarket aisles as your prospect and ask them questions (one well known copywriter, Marcella Allison, actually did this. And in the adult nappies section, of all places)
However you do it, you want to find ways of joining your customer’s REAL conversations and finding out what they REALLY think.
It’s why you’ll see me making a beeline for boomers at networking events… and why the topic swiftly changes from the weather to big pharma’s dastardly tricks.
The bottom line is this…
There’s only so much insight you can dig out from Reddit, Amazon reviews, and YouTube comments.
More often, it’s in everyday conversation that people provide the ‘needle moving’ line you can drop to open up your VSL like a hand grenade.
And like I said in last week’s post, you can’t get people to trust you unless you build empathy first…
And the best way to build empathy is to reflect your reader’s worldview…
And the best way to do that is to ask them what it is eyeball-to-eyeball, in the flesh.
P.S. In this post I’ve shared a glimpse of what’s inside John Carlton’s armoury of conversion rocketing insights on writing high impact copy. If you’d like to get the full motherload, I recommend checking out his online course – The Simple Writing System.
I’ll warn you though, it’s not for people looking for surface level tricks and templates instead of getting deep inside the reader’s brain.
But if you think you can handle it, a quick glance of his sales page reveals a roll call of today’s heavy hitters who’ve raised their copy game, results, and fees thanks to Mr. Carlton’s phenom knowledge of sales psychology and salesmanship in print.
Disclaimer – Links to John Carlton’s Simple Writing System are affiliate links. Yet, if you check out the testimonials on his sales page, you’ll see his course is legit.
Can you guess who’s the world’s highest paid TV star of all time?
No, it’s not Sheldon from Big Bang Theory.
Nope, it’s not Dr. Phil.
It’s not even Simon Cowell or Ellen DeGeneres (despite both banking a bumper $75 mill each).
Coming in waaaay ahead is TV’s ‘Queen of Media’ Oprah Winfrey.
By the end of her 25 year run as the world #1 talk show host, Oprah’s paycheck was a whopping $300 million a year.
That’s like 4 times the salary of Simon Cowell.
Clearly, she’s an uber talented lady.
Yet there’s one skill in particular that best explains how she amassed such vast wealth.
No, I’m not talking about her skill at negotiating her salary.
She has an agent for that.
I’m talking about a skill for which she’s peerless.
And that’s…
EMPATHY
No doubt about it.
Oprah is a natural at projecting the warmth and acceptance that gets guests opening up within minutes of perching on the sofa.
She understands that empathy is vital for earning a guest’s trust before the REAL conversation can flow.
Well, guess what…
The exact same principle applies to copywriting.
Unless you know how to express empathy for your reader, no amount of objection handling…
cross road closes…
or open loops trickery is going to get you the sale.
So what’s the best way of massaging empathy into your words?
I’ll tell you how in a second.
First, let’s get one thing straight…
Empathy is NOT the same as SYMPATHY.
We’re not trying to throw a pity party here.
Empathy is not about wallowing in sadness and sorrow.
Empathy is demonstrating you UNDERSTAND the reader’s struggle…
You recognise their worldview…
And you can be trusted to recommend something that can put things right.
Now, that all sounds fine and dandy, and using empathy sounds like it should be easy.
And Oprah makes it LOOK easy.
But using empathy in copy can be…
Like the Hellraiser puzzle to get right.
One wrong move, and your conversions get SLASHED.
Using empathy has got to be so subtle your reader has no clue what you’re doing.
If they get the merest hint of being maniplated, they’ll be hammering that back button faster than lightning strikes the tree.
So here’s how NOT to do it…
Don’t bluntly call out your reader’s wants or needs as a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question.
If you say something like…
Do you suffer from high blood sugar?
Or
Are you fed up with following one dieting guru after another like a lost sheep?
…you give the reader the option to say ‘No’ and go back to scrolling through Facebook.
Like I said, empathy has got to be done subtly.
Here’s a BETTER way to do it…
In his NLP Copywriting course, Harlan Kilstein calls it ‘Pacing and Leading’.
You start with pacing.
Pacing is where you make creatively vague statements about the reader’s experience.
A creatively vague sentence could be something like:
“You may be wondering why so many people struggle with crippling brain fog and memory loss despite the billions spent on research.”
Or
“Many people struggle to lose belly fat despite giving up sugar and chowing down on vegetables.”
These are statements that say enough to show you understand what the reader thinks, while being vague enough for them to insert their own meaning.
After validating the reader’s worldview with a few creatively vague statements, you can move onto LEADING.
Leading is where you take the conversation in a new direction.
Because now you’ve earned the reader’s trust, you can make more challenging statements that guide them down the slippery slope to the checkout.
It’s like dancing with a new partner.
You start off with a few basic moves to reassure them you’re both plugged into the same beat.
Then once you’ve earned their trust, you can lead the dance in a new direction.
So that’s how to deploy empathy.
Doesn’t sound so easy now, does it?
And it shouldn’t.
Because using empathy in copywriting is tough to master.
It’s no wonder Oprah got paid the big bucks.
The bottom line is this…
Before you can convince your reader of anything, you’ve got to use EMPATHY to earn their trust.
And there’s no magical copywriting trick on what to say.
The only way is to get knee deep into the research to uncover what your reader thinks, sees, and feels on a daily basis.
And you’ve got to keep digging until you know them well enough to write a page in their diary about their daily struggles and fears (you should do this, seriously).
Because it’s only after demonstrating empathy that leading them through your sales argument can begin.
____________________
The nexus for this post came from Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss, in which he hails Oprah as the world’s best negotiator.
If you’d like more insights on what it takes to negotiate REAL life and death situations… how to build rapport with someone who sees you as the enemy… and the deeper psychology of what people really want…
….who are using chatbot quizzes to generate HUGE lists of subscribers for pennies on the dollar…
…know different.
They know that chatbots can get:
Open rates of over 90%
Clickthrough rates of over 30%
New subscribers for as little as $1
Stats that put email marketing to shame.
And stats that mean chatbots have IMMENSE potential for driving traffic to advertorials and sales pages at ultra low cost.
And it gets BETTER.
Because at the time of typing, few marketers and businesses are using chatbot quizzes.
That means the field is wide open for generating huge lists of RESPONSIVE chatbot subscribers and turning them into customers.
AND for a fraction of the $1.72 average cost per click everyone else is paying.
Why Chatbot Quizzes Are AMAZING For Lead Generation
Sounds BODACIOUS, right?
Buuuut…
Before you can profit from the juicy stats I’ve mentioned, you need to get people subscribed.
There are a few ways to do this.
One way is to run Facebook ads that ask a provocative question.
Anyone who comments then becomes a subscriber AUTOMATICALLY.
This can be an effective strategy.
But it’s best suited for converting an existing page’s fans into chatbot subscribers.
A FAR better way of generating subscribers is a chatbot quiz.
A quiz you run 100% inside Facebook Messenger.
There are so many benefits to chatbot quizzes it’s INSANE:
People LOVE quizzes – For years, quizzes have cream of the crop when it comes to creating responsive ads.
Quizzes get people taking action and diagnosing their issue – With momentum comes movement. Getting people clicking and responding greases the slippery slide towards them subscribing to your email list or buying after the quiz.
Shareability – Making ads shareable is vital for keeping costs down. And quizzes are one of the most shared types of ads on Facebook going. Period.
Low cost – Facebook’s goal is to keep people on their site as long as possible. So by running the quiz inside Messenger, Facebook rewards you with lower click costs.
Compliance – Quizzes don’t involve making claims. So you face fewer compliance hurdles, particularly when running quizzes for health offers.
Quick and easy – There’s no need to build a quiz on a separate website, worry about poor loading times, or whether they’ll subscribe at the end.
Segment and prequalify – You can tag and segment people based on their answers and PRE QUALIFY them as customers.
I could go on with more benefits, but you get the gist: Chatbot quizzes are AWESOME for lead generation.
How to Do It
You run a simple ad like this one:
As soon as people click on the ad and click to start the quiz they become a subscriber.
That’s it!
What to see a quiz in action?
Here’s a gut health quiz I’ve used to generate subscribers for $1. Click here to take the quiz in Messenger.
Along with building quizzes, you can use Manychat for building:
Onboarding sequences for new customers
An interactive FAQ on your website
Upsell sequences for visitors to your Facebook page
Automating customer service on your website
Sending customers product updates and news
So it’s like the R2D2 of chatbot builders.
For now, let’s focus on what to do after people complete the quiz.
And that’s to get them on your email list.
Generate Email Subscribers in One Click
You never know what spanners Facebook is going to throw in the works.
So get chatbot subscribers onto an email list as FAST as possible.
The good news is it can be done in one click.
After people have completed the quiz, dangle a lead magnet.
Make sure it’s something quick to consume, and not a lengthy eBook that gets left to gather digital dust.
Now this is where Manychat gets REALLY clever.
Rather than share the lead magnet directly in the chat, you can auto-populate the chat with the email address they used to register on Facebook.
So all they need to do is click on it…
Et Voila!
You have a new email subscriber.
After sending them their free gift, you can then follow up with an upsell sequence for your main product by both email AND in Messenger.
Just don’t be lazy and copy + paste the same message (more on that later).
Obey the 24 + 1 Rule
All sounds great so far, don’t you think?
Buuuuut…
There is a KEY rule to follow when contacting subscribers.
The oft misunderstood 24 + 1 rule.
When someone interacts with your bot you have a 24 hour window to send them promotional messages.
After that, you can only send ONE more promotional message.
Starting in 2020, you’ll have to pay to send non-commercial messages after 24 hours.
That is UNLESS they’ve interacted with your chatbot.
So you need to make sure you include questions and buttons for people to click on, so you can continue directing them to your advertorials, sales pages, and offers.
Four Pillars to a High Quality Chatbot Experience
Let’s do a rundown on what we’ve covered:
The high open rates and clickthroughs of chatbots
The benefits of chatbot quizzes
How to build chatbot quizzes with Manychat
How to get subscribers onto your email list
All good so far?
But guess what…
if the conversation with your chatbot SUCKS people are going to unsubscribe faster than if you’d started posting Louis CK gags (or whoever’s been cancelled when you read this).
The good news is there are a few simple rules to follow to create bots people will be happy to engage with, and maybe even share with their friends.
Have a Personality
Just like with every channel, you’re only a finger flick away from having your messages ignored.
So keep them short, punchy, and conversational.
Ask your subscribers lots of questions, give them clearly worded buttons to click on, and reward them with GIFs when they do.
The first few messages should set expectations for what’s to come. So tell them about the messages you’ll be sending, how many, and how to unsubscribe if they want out.
When you’re in Facebook’s playground, it’s better to ask for permission than beg for forgiveness.
2. Let Them Leave When they Want To
I know telling people how to unsubscribe is counterproductive.
But if you make it confusing or difficult for them to leave, they’ll most likely flag your bot as spam. A Facebook ban will swiftly follow.
So REGULARLY remind subscribers how to unsubscribe.
But when they do, create a witty unsubscribe sequence as a last ditch bid to win them back.
3. Avoid ‘dead ends’ in the conversation.
A ‘dead end’ is where the sequence ends abruptly and they realise they’re chatting to a bot.
When the illusion is shattered, unsubscribes soon follow.
So turn every dead end into a friendly sign off.
4. Give Your Bot a Brain
We’re still a long way from Messenger Bots having the IQ of Suri.
Until they get an upgrade, setup automated responses for common keywords and questions you expect people to post in the chat.
You can even use this as an interactive customer service tool, and for answering common objections.
Launch a Chatbot Quiz while the Iron is Hot
So there you go.
An action plan for creating chatbot quizzes that generate leads for as little as $1.
You now have all the info you need to get started.
Like I said, chatbot quizzes for lead gen is still a little known and under used tactic.
So click costs are low.
But as sure as lightning strikes the tree, when more marketers find out about it costs will zoom up FAST.
So while the iron is hot, get your own chatbot quiz up and running (for yourself or for clients) and start generating leads for pennies on the dollar.
“They want £1,000 by the end of the day. Or they’ll SUE.”
That’s what my client yelled at me on the most uncomfortable phone call of my career.
A call that gave me an expensive lesson on COMPLIANCE.
And a call that took place over 10 years ago…
…back when I’ve just got started in copywriting, and thought I could rewrite the rulebook.
An attitude that quickly cost me.
As I’m prone to do, I’d developed a technique for jazzing up press releases by hunting for hot news stories I could crowbar into the lead.
I guess you could call it ‘newsjacking’ (Seth Godin, you’re welcome).
But my ‘newsjacking’ backfired spectacularly when I used a story on ALLEGED food poisoning at a Michelin starred restaurant to promote kitchen shelving (it turned out to be a shellfish virus, who’d have thunk it).
This was my first and ONLY dalliance with lawyers (touch wood).
People I quickly discovered have a ruthless knack for flipping your words to mean something else entirely.
The good news is I only had to pay £1,000 to get the case closed.
The even BETTER news is it gave me the fright I needed to tighten up my legal game.
Ever since, I’ve pushed back on dodgy claims that offer a springboard into hot legal water.
Whether it’s inventing testimonials…
blatantly attacking competitors…
quoting celebrities without their consent…
or making ingredient claims based on weak science…
…ANYTHING on legal shaky ground always triggers memories of THAT phone call, and how terrified I felt inside.
Sure, some clients think I’m a party pooper, and should just chill the heck out.
But I know they’d be MUCH LESS impressed if I agreed to making outrageous claims and the Alphabet agencies came knocking.
Well, this is exactly what’s happened to the biggest publisher in our industry.
A publisher you’d think would have the most stringent compliance lawyers in the land.
But it seems a few memos got lost, because they’re now getting hammered by the FTC for some pretty extreme claims:
A simple and scientifically proven protocol that can permanently cure type 2 diabetes in 28 days, without any changes in diet or exercise and with a “100 percent success rate.”
An hour-long video presentation that claims the “hidden cause” of type 2 diabetes is Non-Ionizing Radiation (NIR) exposure from everyday electronic devices like computers, televisions, and cell phones.
I can imagine their offices are in meltdown right now.
They must be losing their minds thinking about all the risque claims they’ve made over the years, which the folks at the FTC are no doubt printing off and compiling into a drawstring file.
Sadly, this isn’t an isolated incident.
Lots of supplements and natural health publishers have got slapped HARD for pushing their luck.
But a lot of the time it’s down to lack of awareness, and thinking cause it’s advertising they can always play the ‘puffery’ card.
Does seeing your copy on a website fill you with pride? Or a painful itch that still you’ve got a LOT more sculpting to do?
Imposter syndrome can follow us around like a black shadow.
It lurks.
A creeping sensation that’s just waiting for a project to go south, so it can shriek in our ear “TOLD YOU SO!”
Luckily, imposter syndrome fades with time.
But in the early years it can be crippling.
Because when you feel like a hack, it robs you of the confidence to approach higher level clients and charge the fees you deserve.
So you need a strategy to dial it down so it doesn’t get in your way.
Beating imposter syndrome all comes down to confidence.
Confidence comes from accomplishment.
And accomplishment comes from results.
And the great thing about being a copywriter is you don’t need clients to get results that boost your self worth.
Here’s how to do it…
After you’ve read the classics, done a few courses, and got mountains of copywriting notes to piece together in your head…
Start DOING.
Write a bunch of Facebook ads and advertorials for affilate offers and run traffic to them.
Having your own money on the line will settle in the ‘gun to the head’ mentality you need for ruthless editing.
And having some skin in the game will also put you in your client’s shoes, and understand how nervous they get testing copy.
Will you make much money this way?
Probably not.
More likely, you’ll spend a ton.
But eventually one of your ads will get some traction…
…give you some results you can show off to clients…
…and earn you a nice confidence booster in the process.
I still run my own campaigns to this day.
I consider it a better ROI than any course, as it’s only through DOING that I put into action all the copywriting techniques and behavioral psychology I’m trying to shove into my noggin.
Right now, I’m developing a gut health course so I’ve got a solid info product I can run traffic to and get stats on conversions, instead of endlessly pestering clients for data.
But even if I achieve the Holy Grail of getting a cold traffic campaign profitable, I know it’s not going to miraculously cure me of imposter syndrome.
There’s always someone with a bigger boat.
There will always be higher level marketers to compete with, who make me feel inferior.
But on the plus side, imposter syndrome can be a good thing.
It means you’re not accepting of where you are, and you have the drive to raise your game.
And like A list copywriter Parris Lampropoulos once said, if you read your own copy from a few months ago and it makes you feel like throwing your laptop out of the window it means you’re getting better.
And you’re competing for attention with an entire screen of things to click on like an elaborate game of dopamine whack-a-mole.
So when copywriting for YouTube ads, you’ve got to make every second count to get the clickthrough as FAST as possible.
And they need to be BUYER clicks, not random YouTubers you’re lured with spoonfuls of sweet intrigue.
So how can you get buyer clicks FAST?
Put simply, copywriting for YouTube ads has got to open with a BANG… give people a reason to watch… make the product INSTANTLY understandable… and make an offer too enticing to refuse.
But if that sounds a little vague…
…there’s a tried and tested copywriting for YouTube ads structure you can follow.
And it goes a little something like this…
Copywriting for YouTube Ads Template
Call out your customer’s goals – If you’re interested in X and you’re looking to do Y. Then listen up.
Tell them what you’re about to show them – In this video Im going to share a huge secret about Y. And it’s NOT what you think.
Tell them you’re selling something and a CTA to get early clicks – In fact, this secret is one of many in a brand new course called A. Click on the link in the video to find out more.
How it solves the customer’s unmet need – The reason I created the course is so you can do D and E much faster and easier.
Now teach them something and why the existing solution doesn’t work – The reason most people struggle with D and E is because they don’t know about this common problem. Which is why most people struggle with X and never achieve Y.
Now tell them what you promised at the start – But here’s the secret I mentioned at the start. If you use this secret you can unlock Y.
Call to action – So I’ve created a course that shows you how to do the secret.
Authority and trust – Now, the secret won’t work like magic. It has a drawback. But I guarantee if you follow the steps in my course you will fix X and gain Y.
Scarcity – I’m running a 50% discount for a limited time.
Call to action – So click the link to find out more about the course, read the reviews, and decide if this is the course you need. Go ahead and click the link to find out more.
Still too vague?
Then here’s an example:
YouTube Ad for a Gut Health Course
How’d you like to revitalise your gut health in the next 7 days?
And gain freedom from gas, cramps, and bloating…
while strengthening your immune system…
and feeling more energized to seize the day?
Then listen up.
In this video, I’m going to reveal a secret on how to revitalise your gut in minutes each morning.
And I promise you, it’s not some gimmicky overpriced supplement.
In fact, this secret forms part of a FREE course on gut health I’m running in a Facebook group.
Click the link below this video to find out more and whether you’d like to join.
Now, the reason I created the course is because gut health problems like IBS, SIBO, and irritable bowel disease have rocketed in the last few decades.
And all can be tracked to a deficiency of 3 key nutrients.
Because you see, these 3 nutrients are all vital for your gut to digest food properly, metabolise sugars, and support your immune system.
But most people struggle to get enough of them in their daily diet.
Many try to fill the gaps with supplements.
But as I reveal in the course, studies have found many supplements don’t survive in the stomach’s gastric juices long enough to work.
So if you could spend a fortune on supplements but never gain enough of the nutrients you need to relieve digestion problems.
But here’s the secret…
…You can top up on all 3 nutrients naturally in a single glass.
And it’s all thanks to a special probiotic smoothie recipe I’ve created.
A smoothie that contains the most potent natural sources of the 3 nutrients in the world.
And you get the full recipe in my free gut health course, which you can join by clicking the link below.
Now, my smoothie won’t miraculously revitalise your gut overnight.
But I guarantee that if you drink it each morning in combination with the other tips in the course, you should notice a dramatic improvement in your digestion, energy levels, and all round health.
Like I said, the course is FREE to join.
But only for a limited time.
So if you’d like to find out more about the course, and decide if revitalising your gut is something you need to do, click the link below this video right now.
And discover how my Ultimate Probiotic Smoothie can give you the springboard to the healthy, active life you deserve.
Copywriting for YouTube Ads Research Tips
So you now have the formula for success.
But we’re putting the cart before the horses.
Before you can write your ad, you first need to understand who your customer is… what stage are they at in their journey… and what will take them from research phase to purchase.
Here are some questions to ask to work it out:
What common problem with the existing solution does your product solve?
What piece of the puzzle are people missing in solving their problem, (also known as the ‘knowledge gap)?
What related stories are trending in Buzzsumo, Twitter, or Facebook you can latch onto?
What stories can you find in Reddit or a Google Discussions search that reveal common pain points and problems with existing solutions?
So, there you go.
A crash course in copywriting for YouTube ads.
If you decide to implement the structure I recommend, let me know how you get on.
No more cold emailing, LinkedIn prospecting, or swallowing your pride for sweatshop wages on Upwork.
Or how about no more worrying paying the bills when invoices slip overdue and clients go AWOL.
Let’s face it, copywriting is a dream job. But can have it’s fair share of headaches.
The good news is that ‘clientless copywriting’ doesn’t have to be a fantasy. All you need are the skills and strategy to launch projects of your own.
As the great Gary Halbert noted…
The wealthiest, happiest copywriters are those who sell their own products.
If you’re like me and dream of abandoning client work to create your own campaigns, I’ve got a system to share with you that shows you how to do it.
Because when it comes to creating and selling your own products, there are few better to learn from than Ben Settle.
Ben now earns over half a millions dollars every year selling info products. And he says it now takes him less than 10 minutes to do it.
Just imagine it, earning a bigger salary than a full time doctor in less time than it takes to eat your breakfast.
Even better, you can get all the training to replicate his business model in 30 days or less. Because ‘Ben Settle’s Ten-Minute Workday’ program shows you how to make hundreds of thousands from writing emails…
even if you’re a self confessed loner, introvert, and slacker like he is.
What Ben Settle’s Ten-Minute Workday program covers
How to find ‘starving markets’ of people already spending money on the sort of products you can sell to them over and over again…
Top six places you can find high quality “ready to sell” products that others will fulfil for you at rock-bottom prices.
Easy ways to build up the list of names you can email to each day with his exclusive “6X Multiplication Method”…
The secret structure to writing highly effective “10-Minute Emails” that’ll have your readers begging to buy your product…
How to write Attention-Grabbing Subject Lines that guarantee with near 100% certainty your readers will open your email and read it from top to bottom.
Creating a “continuity” product that can (and should) bring in anywhere from $29… to the $97 a month Ben charges for one of his products.
How to create Paid Membership Sites where your readers get “private access” to your knowledge and research… and are happy to pay you hundreds of dollars for the privilege…
And much more all revealed over 12 “deep dive” instructional webinars.
Some of the biggest names in direct response marketing have happily flown Ben to their offices and paid him as much as $5,000 for a single day to gain this information.
Yet you can get all of it for a fraction of that amount.
If that wasn’t enough, you also get:
elBenbo’s Private 2018 Swipe File comprising of 457 pages of sales copy for inspiration, along with 9 other bonuses that include collections of the best issues of his popular newsletter, exclusive insider interviews, and additional trainings.
This all sounds amazing. But should you get his course?
First, I need to be straight with you and say it’s unlikely you’re going to make the $607,000 claimed unless can amass a ton of insider knowledge on a topic, and have the creative flair to present like Ben does.
But…
Based on more conservative calculations on a napkin, let’s say you build a list of 100 subscribers willing to pay you $29 per month for a short newsletter containing survival hacks or natural health advice (just two of many profitable niches that are easy to research and write about), that will make you a tidy $34,800 per year.
Not enough for a new lambo.
But enough to help you sleep better knowing your bills and living expenses are covered.
And remember, the beauty of Ben’s business model is there’s almost no upfront costs involved beyond advertising costs (if that’s the traffic route you go down).
Even better, the potential ROI is huge compared to the one time fee for client work (and all the headaches that go with it). Few writing businesses are this scalable — once you get the ball rolling, there’s no limit to how big it can grow or how much money you can make.
But…
You have to be willing to put in the hard work upfront.
It may take months before your list starts pumping out greenbacks.
But if this doesn’t put you off, and you’d love to focus on writing rather than client work, Ben Settle’s Ten-Minute Workday program may be the perfect business model for you.
You can find out more on Ben Settle’s Ten-Minute Workday program in this sales letter written by Paul Hollingshead, co-founder of AWAI. Paul earns more per year writing 50 page financial sales letters than most copywriters make in a decade. So if he thinks Ben’s email program is a smart career option, he’s worth listening to.
P.S. The links in this post are affiliate links, so I’ll earn commission if you sign up for Ben’s course. Yet I’ve followed Ben’s stuff for years. I know he’s legit. And considering his reputation and track record, I think Ben Settle’s Ten-Minute Workday program may be the best course out there on ‘clientless copywriting’ and growing profitable email lists.
When you’re on a call with a new client, it can be tempting to offer 24 hour turnaround time on your proposal, email or whatever.
But this is firstly going to result in quality issues. Secondly, it’s going to give the impression you were sat around twiddling your thumbs until you got their enquiry.
Always ask for more time than you realistically need (for practical reasons too) and make it clear your time is valuable by making it scarce.
3. Be the prize
As any high stakes negotiator (or serial dater) will tell you, neediness is the #1 way to repel people.
In every discovery call, make it clear you’re the prize and the value you offer is greater than your fee. Remember that you’re ultimately providing them with a ‘sales machine’, not a Word doc.
If your dance card is consistently full, consider giving new clients hoops to jump through, like a prescreening questionaire or simple puzzle. This helps scare away the price shoppers and ensures you’re dealing with people who value your time and skills.
4. Be expensive
When a client asks for your rates, don’t handover a pricelist like you’re selling burgers at McDonalds.
Copywriters supply a service that results in customers, profits, satisfied shareholders, and salaries getting paid. Charge accordingly.
B level copywriters write the sales letter, wish the client luck then ride off into the sunset to hunt for their next victim.
Whereas A level copywriters take ownership and stick around for the long haul.
Experienced pros know only too well that campaigns are rarely profitable from day one. So they know to dig in and help the client make sense of the data, find the leaks, and to test what screams rather than what whispers.
A level copywriter also don’t shy away from telling clients hard truths.
Sometimes clients have to be told their new super ingredient isn’t all that super and how much they’ll need to spend on testing before they have more than a snowball’s chance in hell of profitability.
Sure, sticking around for the hard times is going to make your job harder, more stressful, and make you fondly remember the days of writing keyword articles in bulk.
Yet being the adult in the room is what defines A listers, and defines your status as a problem solver rather than just a wordsmith.
When all else fails, get adventurous
If you’ve already ticked off all 5 status builders, try being outrageous.
Wear suits with a personal coat of arms… add pink streaks to your hair… or create your own tagline.
But ultimately, when you strip away all the tactics and gimmicks, what matters is being someone who can get the job done.
There’s no fast track to this.
The only way is to build your skills, get some wins, and take ownership of your losses.
Think and act like a class act and status will follow.
Got a list of subscribers you haven’t contacted in a while?
Here’s how to re-engage in a way they’ll welcome and can generate sales at the end…
Don’t send a grovelling email saying “sorry for not contacting”.
March in with fanfare and ribbon tape like you’re Macho Man Randy Savage.
Hit them with your best stuff. And if people unsubscribe, see it as cleansing the unworthy.
Aim for a week’s worth of quality content before presenting another offer. And remember that even if your open rate is just 20%, those 20% are your raving fans. They’re people eager to consume your content and open to you promoting products that help them on their journey.
Today’s tip comes courtesy of Brian Cassingena’s presentation at Project Persuasion Goes Dark 3.0.
This post is based on Mitch Miller’s presentation “Down the Rabbit Hole with Tai Lopez” at Project Persuasion Goes Dark 3.0.
You’re not just a copywriter. You’re a channel.
A channel people can subscribe, follow, and Like.
But only if they see you as someone on the rise. If you’re career is on the ascendenance, they’ll want to ride on your coat tails.
But if your progress has stalled or your content sucks, they’ll abandon you just as fast.
A more successful guru to follow is one swipe away.
So you need to be strategic about what you publish and how it reflects your brand. Every post needs to promote what makes you unique, what you represent, and why people should listen.
As Dan Kennedy says “Only fools market the thing”.
Pros know to maket what makes a “thing” special. And a great way to do this is to harness “self-congruity”.
Take the Tai Lopez Masterclass in Self-congruity
Self-congruity is why people are attracted to certain brands. It’s because these brands project the values they desire to obtain, and represent the tribe they want to belong to.
Take Tai Lopez.
Lopez targets people who desire status and money. So he projects his own status and money to attract them.
His followers see money as the trigger for all the other things they want in life. So Lopez projects himslves as the ideal version his target market wants to become.
Because you see, we have three versions of ourselves:
Past self
Present (real) self
Ideal future self
The present self is what people want to escape. And it’s becoming the ideal future self that triggers all their hot desire buttons.
Lopez knows to present himself as his market’s ideal future self. Because it’s the most powerful way to get people to take action.
Use Glamour to Magnify Your Appeal
Hand-in-hand with self-congruity goes “glamour”.
Glamour is the act of glorifying or magnifying what’s real.
Lopez uses the imagery of cars, stacks of money, and private jets to create glamour around his brand.
He may take glamour to extremes. But it’s something we all do all the time.
If you use filters on photos, dress up in clothes you wouldn’t normally wear, or rent cars and houses for photoshoots, you’re using glamour to enhance your personal brand.
But you’ve got be careful about how you use glamour.
Because it’s an illusion.
And if you use it too much to hide what you don’t want the world to see, like how a ballerina’s shoes hide the bruises, the backlash can be brutal.
Display your Kryptonite
Nobody likes people who are fake or pretend to be too perfect.
When Superman was unbeatable, few fans felt emotionally engaged with his struggles.
But when it was discovered kryponite robs his powers, his popularity soared.
When you try to seem too perfect, people are eager to see you get smashed into a skyscraper by an alien.
It’s only when you admit you’re not unbeatable after all that people come to your side.
So if you’ve spend too much time developing a perfect online persona, consider showing some weakenesses.
And a great way to do it is with “Zohavian Handicap Signalling”.
Zohavian Handicap Signalling is where you do something high risk to display your weakness.
It’s why antelopes jump up and down when a lion appears. Not because they want to get chased. But because they know their display of bravery will help attract a mate.
Make High Risk Gestures Others Aren’t Willing to Do
If you want to create a channel and online persona that’s unique, attracts your target market, and doesn’t push “glamour” to the point of fakery, think what you can do to reveal something about yourself that’s high risk.
Take a stand on a contentious issue. Rattle some cages. Call out someone for offering bad advice.
And when you do, record a full production video instead of just going live in your car on Facebook.
Because when you do what others are unwilling to do in defining your brand, the more you’ll crush competitors playing it safe.
And the more Likes, follows, and subscribers you’ll get to your channel.
“Father of online marketing” Mark Joyner knows a thing or two about stress.
During his time as a CIA agent spying on North Korea, he had to be aware of his surroundings every waking moment on edge.
The ability to stay calm under pressure then served him well as a serial entrepreneur, with 30+ startups under his belt.
At Project Persuasion Goes Dark, Mark Joyner shared his advice on managing stress and staying at the peak of your game.
Stress is kills
It drains your energy. Darkens your mood. Makes you sick. And it takes years off your life.
Stress may be unavoidable.
But in the freelance copywriting game, where you’ve swapped the comfort of a regular paycheck for surviving by your wits and word processor, having systems for managing stress is vital to your success.
1. Reduce Overwhelm
Our brain’s can only handle so much information at once. But the amount of apps, channels, and people demanding our attention overwhelmed our brain capacity a long time ago.
The only way to stay productive is to make some cuts.
Identify the habits and channels that aren’t helping you (for me, it’s reading the news) and look to reduce the time you invest in them. Or even better, cut them completely.
Focus on the things you can control and help you towards your goals. Everything else is a distraction.
2. Don’t Feed the Trolls
“The greatest fear in the world is of the opinions of others. And the moment you are unafraid of the crowd you are no longer a sheep. You become a lion. A great roar arises in your heart. The roar of freedom” – Osho
Haters gonna hate.
Us copywriters (me included) tend to be introverted types. We don’t go looking for fights on Twitter.
But as you start growing your following and running ads, the trolls will find you.
There’s no shortage of frustrated people in this world looking for someone to unload on. So when they come, set ground rules on how you engage, if at all.
Personally, I engage with people online the same way I would face-to-face. But if they can’t play nice, I pull down the shutters.
A mind hack for dealing with trolls is to be clear on who you are and what you do. That way you can create emotional distance so you can walk away without feeling like you’ve lost face.
After all, if you’ve confidence in what you have to offer, why should some random troll’s need to unleash bother you?
3. Pursue Fulfilling Projects
Life’s too short to be working for clients who don’t appreciate you or writing about junk nobody needs.
Find projects and quality products you believe in.
This will naturally make the hours at the keyboard more fulfilling. Believing in what you’re selling will naturally make your copy more persuasive too.
4. Replicate Your Role Models
Why allow your feeds to get polluted with people complaining when there are so many positive people to take inspiration from?
People I follow include Arnold Schwarzenegger (if you’ve read his autobiography you’ll get why), Joe Rogan, and Dave Asprey (Bulletproof Coffee founder). I follow them for their work ethic, desire to inspire others to be better versions of themselves, and their healthy attitudes to life.
We might not have the money and success of our celebrity idols. But what we can do is share some of the traits that led to their success.
So write down the characteristics of your role models you admire. Then try to adopt them in your daily life.
Mark Joyner and yours truly
5. Know Your Path
“Comfort is bullshit. Getting most out of yourself is real comfort. Get that through commitment” – The Iceman Wilmhoff
We live in the safest period in history. Globally, you’re less likely to be killed in war or die in poverty. But that doesn’t mean happiness is assured.
We still carry the same primal drives as our ancestors. They had to struggle every day to survive. And the only reason they survived and prospered was because of their motivation to overcome challenges.
The drive to overcome challenges is still buried within us. And it’s something we’re going to need armies of psychologists and sociologists to cope with when AI arrives. When people suddenly have no reason to get up in the morning they’re primed to self destruct.
It may still be a few years before AI can write a natural sounding sales page.
So until that day arrives, remember it’s making progress towards your goals that makes you happy. Not the pot of gold at the end.
6. Enjoy the Ride
When you retire, your brain starts to shut down.
The satisfaction that comes from living a productive life was reinforced to me when I met Drayton Bird a couple of years ago.
Drayton is the UK’s copywriting godfather. Our own David Ogilvy. And he’s still going strong in this 80s. I plan on doing the same.
Many entrepreneurs see retiring by age 40 as the goal. Or amassing a few mill to pay for endless travel.
But this is a mistake countless millionaires have made. They may have bank vaults of cash to roll around in, but many still feel empty inside.
It’s the journey, not the destination. So enjoy the ride.
7. Conquer Procrastination
Procrastination arises from indecision + distraction.
Here’s how to beat it…
Get clear on what you want. Write it down. Then write down how getting stuff done gets you closer to that goal. And post it somewhere around your screen.
Writing down your objectives this way makes it easier to stay focused on the prize. You can strip away the time wasting habits and bat away the “fear” of doing something hard that makes many of us freeze when staring at a blank screen.
If that’s not enough to get you shutting down tabs, keep ratcheting up your desire for the things you want until it overwhelms your avoidance behaviors.
The more you focus on being productive, the more it becomes a habitual pattern.
Google “[keyword] we hate spam as much as you do” to find newsletters related to your area of specialist knowledge.
2. Signup to their newsletter and see if their thank you page takes you to an affiliate offer
3. If not, send them an example of an advertorial you’ve written and explain how turning their thank you page into an advertorial can instantly earn them more moolah
4. Followup with an offer to write their daily emails for $5k a month
I’m guy wearing the hat second from the right back row
Last weekend I attended Project Persuasion Goes Dark in Phuket.
Over 3 days I was lucky enough to rub shoulders and grab quick chats with legendary marketer Mark Joyner, personal branding genius Mitch Miller, and email wiz Brian Cassingena. And all while having my brain expanded by sessions on deep marketing psychology. Some of it was pretty dark too.
The good news is you won’t have to run a gauntlet of stray dogs each day, like I did, to learn it. Because I’m going to share the chunkiest golden nuggets with you.
First off, a post based on Mitch Miller’s session on why we’re all living a mass hallucination, and why the world’s not as real as we think…
Is the world real? Or are we living in a simulation?
It’s a question that baffles the world’s brightest minds. And it’s beyond the scope of this post (or my brain’s capacity) to answer.
But what I can tell you is that all of us are experiencing the world in different ways.
No, I’m not about to jump down the rabbit hole of alternative realities. What I’m talking about is how we all view the world through a different “lens”.
This lens dictate how we view ourselves, events, and the world around us. Over time, it gets filtered by our own biases and experiences. And it dictates how we think, behave, and the stuff we buy.
Buying Choices are Based on Fiction
Let’s say you’re buying a new pair of jeans. Do you check the quality of the denim, the stitching on the inside leg (“selvedge” to fashionistas), or size of the pockets?
Or do you just make a beeline for your favorite brand?
Whether we like to admit it or not, we’re all on a quest to be liked and validated. We buy things we think help us on this quest. And the choices we make are all based on our individual lens.
So what is this lens exactly?
It can be broken down into 2 layers:
1. Shared fiction “mass hallucination” layer
The world is filled with mass movements based on ideas.
Brands, money, and countries all started as ideas. But because enough people believe in them, they morphed to became accepted as true.
The shared fiction layer has led to all sorts of subcultures, trends, and tribes emerging. Groups we all seek to belong to because of how we see the world and our place in it.
2. Individual fiction layer
This layer defines our own reality. It controls how we perceive ourselves and the tribes we think we belong to.
We believe this layer to be as true as the first layer. It’s how we experience the world so it seems real to us. But when you dig down, it’s even more false than the first layer.
Brands Look Different Through Different Lenses
We can only experience the world through our own lens. So you could say everything we know is an illusion. Just a single view on the vastness of human experience.
Yet, our lens controls the brands we’re attracted to. We choose brands that reflect our own individual fiction and our desire for social status, prestige and belonging.
Take Gucci, for example.
To some people it’s the height of sophistication and glamour (more on “glamour” in an upcoming post). To others it’s garish, or even vulgar.
But what matters for the person wearing Gucci is that through their own lens it satisfies their need for uniqueness and tribalism.
Your Copy Has to Satisfy Both Layers
I know this all sounds confusing and woo woo.
But the bottom line is that when writing about a brand you need to think how you can pitch it so it satisfies both layers of target buyer’s lens.
You need to explain how it meets their individual layer’s need for uniqueness and shared fiction layer of belonging to a tribe. Only then will they view it as a product that can help them on their quest to being liked and validated.
