Learn to Write or Have Skinny Kids says Copywriter Ben Settle
https://wesschaeffer.com/blog/ben-settle-returns
- He has been publishing the Email Players since 2011
- Got into direct marketing/copywriting in 2002
- He stumbled into it when the world was quite different
- He found a Yahoo Group with a bunch of old-school marketers
- It was run by Perry Marshall, and it was about Dan Kennedy
- John Carlton was in there
- Paul Hartunian was in there, and he had a detailed debate with an internet marketing guy
- Paul argued that mail would never go away
- Ben wanted to have a physical newsletter, and now he does
- Send Free was a free autoresponder back in the day
- They put you on a list called the “Send Free Roundtable.”
- It was great for newbies
- Ben dabbled in MLM
- Gary Halbert wrote a letter called “Why network marketing sucks”
- Ben sent a cold offer to the roundtable list to write for free but get 5% of their sales…he didn’t get paid, but he learned and had work product to show to land new customers
- Now you have access to traffic and leads via social media and you can drive traffic
- Be your own customer first
- Find a market and find an offer to sell yourself first, then you won’t be needy so you’ll land bigger deals, easier
- To get started, start asking for referrals
- Dan Kennedy calls them “upstream leads” when word-of-mouth finds you
- “I’m reassuringly expensive.”
- “Close first, then present.”
- Money makes life easier
- He started with a cheaper, more generic newsletter at first
- He launched with three issues and people bought
- In 2011, $97/mo was “expensive” for a newsletter
- Each issue is 15-20 pages at least or more
- Once he has enough issues on a similar topic, he’ll compile them into a book
- Writes three months in advance…all evergreen
- As you look at the same content when you’re older, you see it in a new light
- He has no real competition…no nemesis…he’s solid
- He says now is the worst time to sell anything in print due to inflation
- He won’t mail to some countries due to fees
- FedEx is a pain
- It’s a crapshoot to mail internationally with the USPS
- Berserker Mail
- Social Lair
- Backstory (on screenwriters)
- Reads a lot of biographies
- Likes Arnold’s new book
- Not a big self-help guy
- Stallone’s book was good, too
- “Conquistador” about Cortez on how he bluffed
- The FDR biography was good…saw how he dealt with trolls
- It’s good to have competitors
Connect With Ben Settle
- Guest Site: https://bensettle.com/
- Guest Site: https://berserkermail.com/
- Guest YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@berserkermail
- Guest Twitter: https://x.com/BerserkerMail
- Guest Twitter: https://x.com/elBenb0
- Guest Podcast: https://berserkermail.com/podcast
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