Besides Genius Network, which I mentioned last week, I attended another fantastic event (LaunchCon) where the most innovative online marketing techniques were on display.

Jeff Walker, who hosts LaunchCon, has created a “laboratory” with his high end mastermind group—a group that does launches (and so much more).

I am a relative lightweight in that mastermind (i.e. I’m a total student) learning what’s hot in online marketing and bringing those innovative, state-of-the-art techniques to my masterminds.

Titans Mastermind and Master Class are all about “The what and the who before the how”—and being a member of Jeff’s Platinum Plus mastermind is one (huge) way I get to learn and share those “whats” and “whos.”

And every year LaunchCon just gets better and better.

After LaunchCon I hosted my Titans Master Class with Jay Abraham, A-list copywriter Carline Anglade Cole and a host of folks from Jeff’s “marketing lab,” speaking (and sharing their wisdom)–and I promise to share more of that event with you over the following weeks and months.

Today I want to share with you a post from a year ago, “Chapter 20 of 24,” from The Lost Chapters of Overdeliver.

I only shared this onceso you may have missed it (but it is relevant for today).

Reminder: The Lost Chapters is one of 11 phenomenal bonuses (all free and worth thousands of dollars) for buying my new book at www.OverdeliverBook.com.

Please check out the offer in the P.S. asking you to over deliver for me so I can over deliver for you even more.

When I spoke at LaunchCon, the title of my presentation was:

“Copy and creative are the least important parts of your launch…until they are not.”

In it I shared the 7 attributes present in every great copywriter I have ever worked with, 3 ways you can find the right copywriter for your launch (or promotion)…and I finished up by sharing Jim Rutz’s “10 commandments of copy.”

What I realized after my talk is that in 40 years of marketing, I haven’t invented anything.

Not a bad thing—just an observation.

But I have been a messenger for many rules of thumb of direct marketing over the years, bringing ideas from the past forward through my adventures—and by sharing some things that present (and  future) marketers might not know, I am providing a valuable service.

At least I think so.

And if I am on reruns with that material for some, the reminder still might enable marketers today to apply them better…or differently.

Let me know what you think.

20: A Star is Born: “12 Notes” (October 2018)

“Music is essentially 12 notes between any octave – 12 notes and the octave repeats.  It’s the same story told over and over, forever. All any artist can offer this world is how they see those 12 notes. That’s it.”

-Bobby Maine (played by Sam Elliott) in “A Star is Born” (2018)

Not everyone can be Thomas Edison.

But I don’t believe you have to constantly invent new products or techniques or services to make a huge impact.

Maybe that’s my way of justifying my existence despite never inventing anything new.

However, when I think that I must be a loser because I haven’t invented anything, I also know there are many other ways to be innovative.

I realize that it’s entirely possible that the story or experience I can put on a concept, a rule of thumb or an eternal truth just might be the key for someone else to understand it better or an entry point to something important that they didn’t understand previously.

How you see it and have applied it so others can see it clearly…that is a form of innovation too.

While inventing different ways for more people to understand important things might not be as directly utilitarian as inventing the light bulb, it’s a contribution we all can make to the world–and it’s our responsibility to do it as often as we can.

Sharing our 12 notes over and over again with new stories and experiences is never repetitive to those hearing those notes for the first time.

I was fortunate to be a guest speaker at a mastermind last year hosted by marketing icon Perry Marshall.

Perry has actually invented a lot of new things over the years and he encouraged all of us to, “Invent something the world can’t live without.”

My corollary would be: “Invent a framework so others can understand something that they previously did not understand…and once they understand it, they can’t live without it.”

When I look at my new book and see a chapter on “RFM” (“Recency/Frequency/Monetary”) and another on “LTV” (“Lifetime Value”), I am well aware that I didn’t invent those concepts; but I am also well aware that there are thousands of marketers and entrepreneurs who need to know those concepts, and excuse the hyperbole, it is information they can’t live without in relation to their businesses.

I can’t tell you how many events I have attended over the years—with top marketers and/or copywriters and/or entrepreneurs who were there to expand their knowledge—yet they were missing some “basics of human behavior” (i.e. marketing) that are required for the kind of growth they all desire.

So many marketing rules of thumb are actually truths about how people respond and buy–and they haven’t changed for centuries–yet many are not taught in a book and they are certainly not taught in school.

I know about some of this stuff intimately.

I didn’t invent it–just lived it.

Either I can be the messenger for more people to understand those concepts or someone else can …and we never know if it is our story or someone else’s which will create the epiphany (and usability).

And be OK not being the messenger for everyone–but never be complacent about sharing early and often–since I guarantee you will be the messenger for someone.

A copywriter friend of mine who heard me speak about “12 notes” and the quote that opened this post told me he wished he had heard the quote earlier in his career so he didn’t have to go through the pain of figuring this out for himself.

He was recently asked to be a featured speaker on the topic of “writing faster and writing better.” 

As he prepared for the talk, he said he kept thinking that he didn’t have any new inventions or revolutionary ideas to share. He learned it all from Gary Halbert, Gary Bencivenga, and so many others.

He told me that thinking about sharing under the “12 notes concept” will give him so much more confidence in the future that what he talks about is relevant despite not being “authored” by him—and his stamp will still be all over it as will his mentors or the original source inventors.

He will be a musician playing 12 notes on any given day.

He added, “From now on, I’ll keep your insights close to my heart to stop me from doubting myself.”

Funny…he said “your insights” like I invented them.

Clearly, I did not.

But I was an effective messenger of those insights.

I also hadn’t thought about all of this in the context of self-confidence before being told this—but once again, we can’t all be Edison but we can all be heroes to many with our stories.

It’s how we tell our story inside those 12 notes that makes all the difference.

My next 12 notes will be based on my two week tour in Arizona.

Everyone I have spent time with on this trip can also play 12 notes on multiple instruments too…and I promise to be a good messenger based on everything I heard and learned.

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. I don’t know if you know it or not, but my book Overdeliver came out April 9, 2019 and I had my stroke on April 10^th.

Bad timing I guess.

But I’d rather be alive than have a great book launch. Easy choice.

However initial sales were OK–shortly after April 9^th,  I hit #1 on Amazon in Direct Marketing (I’m currently #30). Here is when I hit #1:

So I have a favor to ask you if you have a list, a significant social media presence, a podcast or any forum where you can promote my book (with the resource site that goes with it).

Can you help with my re-launch by telling your respective tribes about www.OverdeliverBook.com?

It’s a big ask on the one hand since there is no affiliate commission.

But it’s not that big an ask since the offer is one of integrity and I believe boosts your standing with your audience.

I believe it’s true over delivery when you can offer these amazing bonuses just for buying an $18 book (which is not that bad in itself).

It’s an awesome value add for your audience.

They will receive incredible swipe files, videos, interviews, books, courses and more.

If you haven’t seen it, check it out at:

www.OverdeliverBook.com

It’s also a living legacy from me to all of my mentors, both living and dead, worth thousands of dollars on one hand–but priceless on the other hand.

Those of you who have followed me for a while know how special mentorship is for me—and frankly, if I had died on April 10^th, I would have been grateful because I would have left this site in honor of those legends.

But since I’m still alive…

…here is what I will send you if you can “promote” for me:

• A copy of Gene Schwartz’s Breakthrough Advertising OR The Brilliance Breakthrough OR Read This or Die: The Lost Files of Jim Rutz  (your choice)—a $125 to $295 value.–but priceless in some circles. I’m sure you don’t have all 3 do you?
• A signed copy of Overdeliver
• A signed copy of my first book, The Advertising Solution

Just show me some proof that you promoted www.OverdeliverBook.com,  then send me your mailing address, and I will over deliver for you because you over delivered for me.

The post A different take on Edison appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

I am also so grateful to all of you who wished me well after my stroke…and those of you who kept reading these Sunday missives through my long summer heading into this resurgence in the fall.

And thanks to all of you for being a student in my online family.

My first stop last week was on the stage at the Genius Network Annual, Joe Polish’s amazing event where he gathers the most impactful 400 entrepreneurs in the world, feeds them wisdom from the most dynamic speakers he can find, and then lets them loose to contribute to each other and connect deeply.

It’s magical.

I sat on a panel on copywriting (I know—if I tell you I am “a copywriter wannabe” you’ll have my head)…but being on this panel with 4 of my heroes in this area, I was clearly “the guy who worked with all the best copywriters” and they were the “copywriters.”

It was a blast sitting with John Carlton, Craig Clemens, Parris Lampropoulos and Richard Viguerie waxing poetic about the industry we have known and loved for a combined 200 years (and that’s 200 years of cumulative wisdom, not one year’s experience for 200 years).

We discussed so many things…and for this week (since I am traveling) I will share with you once again the “7 things that were present in every great copywriter I have ever worked with” with a little editing based on what I learned being on this panel.

Success leaves clues

Copywriting is not a commodity.

That is one of the first points I made at Genius Network last week.

Although if you sit where I sit, you might think that hiring a copywriter should be as easy as putting a listing on craigslist—because I get this question showing up many times per week in my In Box:

“Do you know a good copywriter?” 

Of course the answer is “yes”…I actually know hundreds…and I’m proud to say that I had the privilege to work with some of the best ever.

(And I am not being arrogant…see #3 and #6 below).

However, just knowing great (and not-so-great) copywriters is not enough…and asking the question like there is a one-size-fits-all copywriter for any business is the worst way to begin the inquiry.

Ask a novice who has tried writing promotion copy and failed miserably if they think it’s easy.

In fact, ask some of the best copywriters who have ever lived the same thing.

Not only is it not easy, all copywriters know that the secret to success is to master a niche before presenting themselves as the solution to all assignments in all categories.

Copywriters who have been at it for any length of time also know that what they do is not a talent they learned in school.

They also know that it is not a skill they picked up by accident by simply reading some books on the subject which miraculously led them to write successful copy and then make millions in royalties.

The faster things move in the online marketing world—as media gets cheaper and the barrier to entry gets lower—the more worried I get that short term success online with mediocre creative and copy has been interpreted as “copy is not that important” and also that “finding a copywriter” is not worth an extensive search.

In certain marketing circles even though it’s clear that adding great copy (from skilled copywriters) working in conjunction with precise list selection and an irresistible offer has been game changing for so many, there still seem to be too many marketers who look at copywriting as a necessary evil, rather than a core competency (to do or to buy intelligently) that can change the trajectory of their business.

As I talked about in my short video “When 41% is a majority,” if you have the list and offer dialed in, you will probably make some money with workmanlike creative and copy.

But that is not a reason to make copy and creative the “anyhow portion” of your marketing mix.

It’s just the opposite: The biggest breakthroughs throughout my career happened when we found the right copywriter on the right project; and the new copy approach by someone who had the chops and had done it before for many others is how we got 30% lifts in response (and more).

Four years ago I began digging deeper into why copywriting was being viewed as a commodity by too many entrepreneurs and business owners for my taste…so I got my shovel out and identified the characteristics that were prevalent in every world class copywriter I had the privilege of working with in my career.

When I was asked on the Genius Network panel, “What should entrepreneurs know about hiring a good copywriter?” I wanted to go over these 7 characteristics below but I didn’t have the time so I will share those with you below.

I originally titled that first crack at this analysis, “You May Not Know It When You See It”—or how to identify if a copywriter has that “it factor” that all of the greats possessed (and possess today).

I believe that the 7 traits below are what makes the great ones great…and even though most people don’t ask me for this information (they just want a copywriter!), I send them some version of this, tell them they are asking the wrong question, and that we can have a much better discussion of their needs once they understand the complexity of what it takes to be an “A list copywriter.”

I’m hoping this post can be a guide for you to follow if you are a copywriter; and also a guide to ask the right questions when looking for a copywriter.

I also hope that I make the case that hiring this asset correctly might be one of the most important things you will ever do in business.

You’ll see that “knowing it when you see it” is a lot more than just spotting writing talent…although there is no substitute for command of the language.

Here are the 7 traits that go beyond just writing:

1. HUNGER

This is similar to one of my favorite concepts which I have shared with you before–the notion of “outworking everyone.”

It’s not only working more hours, it is also showing your dedication to your occupation.

I’m a believer in Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000-Hour Rule,” (despite it being debunked in some circles which I discussed in “10,000 hours or 33 minutes?”).

If you are not familiar with the rule, it states that it takes 10,000 hours to achieve mastery in just about anything.

Read the post if you want another spin on it but whether it is 10,000 hours or something less than that, it’s safe to say that world class copywriters are not achieving greatness from an online course or working at it with only a few hours of study.

Another angle on “hunger” and “outworking everyone” is that it is not about stepping on everyone else’s head during your rise to the top.

It is instead about “generosity” and showing by example how it’s done–which raises the bar for everyone who comes after you.

2. INSATIABLE CURIOSITY

Readers of this weekly e-mail have heard me on this one before too…nothing replaces curiosity when it comes to being a great copywriter.

Copywriters I have profiled in the past have showed us why curiosity is the driver to making them the best of the best: Gene Schwartz through “the power of reading”; Arthur Johnson through “the power of specialization”; Parris Lampropoulos through “the power of immersion.”

If you would like to read what I wrote about these three great copywriters previously (and others too on why insatiable curiosity matters most), click on any of their names above.

This may the number one characteristic that makes a great copywriter great…and in fact, I think it also makes a great marketer great too.

3. CONFIDENCE WITHOUT ARROGANCE /FEEDBACK LOOPS

Who do you hang out with and why?

How do you stay accountable (and not just responsible) to your craft?

The communities you align with to become excellent at anything may be the most important career decision you will ever make (e.g. Genius Network) …and there is not one copywriter who “goes it alone.”

Although I always say, “you can’t write copy by committee,” the top writers run their copy past others once they complete their drafts—people they trust to tell them the truth about what works and what doesn’t—based on their vast experience.

And of course they reciprocate.

Also: Like any other field where you are learning and growing, being an apprentice to mentors who can show you the way is critical;  and then later on, you pay it forward by surrounding yourself with peers with equal or more talent than yourself.

And then you become a mentor and begin the cycle all over again.

One of the greats, David Deutsch, is a perfect example of this: When I met him he was an apprentice to the one and only Jim Rutz; and now he has become one of the top coaches for up-and-coming copywriters–and a colleague of other writers who are his equals so they can continuously compare notes…and copy.

He never stops improving.

4. PASSION

If you start by writing with a purpose rather than for the money, you are on the right track.

If you have to call it “work,” why not start by creating magic in something you are passionate about first if at all possible? Then your work is your play.

My post “Direct Marketers Saving Lives” talked about this at length.

We should want to hire copywriters who talk about “10X” in terms of impact way before they talk about money.

As a marketer, don’t you want to start there too?

Another angle on passion which I alluded to in my intro:

Going narrow to wide is almost always the better path the best copywriters follow.

That is, going deep in one area or category and becoming proficient there first is the preferred way to eventually learn to go wider and write in multiple categories later on.

I also went deep on this in “Sharks, aliens and dinosaurs.” With an assist to Steven Spielberg.

5. BEING A STUDENT OF DIRECT RESPONSE MARKETING

When I speak about this to copywriters, the feedback I sometimes get is that it seems somewhat “intimidating”- talking about concepts like “RFM,”  “LTV,” and the “40/40/20 rule” as necessary for them to know about.

They often ask, “Why do I need to know that stuff if I only want to write?”

I explain that I am I trying to give them an unfair advantage over other copywriters competing for the same assignments.

Going from “copywriter writing for food’ to “trusted adviser being part of a  company or enterprise or mission” feels so much better and will be much more profitable—and it is easier to get there being a student of marketing and not just a student of writing.

Yes, I am seeding my new book! 

All of those concepts are covered (and a whole lot more in the book and in the thousands of dollars’ worth of bonuses that come with it).

Go to www.OverdeliverBook.com (and I am wondering why you don’t have it yet!)

6. HUMILITY

I strive for humility and I love humanity…and as a writer (or marketer), I believe this is a good place for all of us to originate…and I can safely say that it has served me well when I stay true to this (and you usually call me out on this when I violate this principle).

And it is plain to see in every top gun copywriter I have ever worked with.

Confidence in your message and how you choose to teach it is not arrogance if expressed properly and conveyed powerfully.

I talked a lot about the lesson in grace and humility I learned from Gary Bencivenga and Greg Renker after “The Titans of Direct Response” event in 2014–one of the most powerful things that happened to me as a result of that event.

I wrote about that in detail here.

7. PRIDE/SHOWING YOUR WORK

Having a portfolio is always important…but I purposely put this last when I speak about these traits to copywriters so they can see the other more important attributes they should strive for well before showing all of their previous winners.

(And if you don’t have any winners yet, having numbers 1-6 can still get you hired.)

Knowing who the writer is as important as the writer’s work.

Clearly the more you write, the more lessons you will learn on the field of play–and the larger your “portfolio” will be.

But hunger, curiosity, confidence without arrogance, passion, direct marketing knowledge and humility all come before that beautiful website showing off your samples.

One more thing I want to share now that you have read this post to the end:

Look at each of the 7 traits and you will see what I discovered (hinted at earlier):

They are also prevalent in all of the best marketers you will ever meet too.

• Hunger (and generosity) to make your products the best they can  be
• Curiosity to explore all media and to study successes and failures from others (e.g. swipe files)
• Feedback loops to ensure your product is best-in-class and it is easy to differentiate
• Passion that what you are selling fits with your life’s mission
• Knowing the fundamentals of measurable (direct) marketing
• Humility to know what messaging and positioning is congruent with who you are and all you represent
• Pride that you can’t wait to show the world what you have created

Warmly,

Brian

The post The back from the dead tour appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

That’s what happened to me during my round trip to Cleveland from New York City last year.

And I’m here to tell you that this trip was worth it despite the hassles and delays.

That’s because I got to spend the day with Dan Kennedy.

I just got back from Growth Summit last week (formerly GKIC’s Info Summit) to speak about my new book…and the most glaring thing at the conference was that Dan wasn’t there.

As you may or may not know, the most significant marketing mind in our business over the past 50 years, Dan Kennedy, has been ill and had home hospice come in over the summer.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that he kicked hospice out of his house a few weeks ago and is now slowly rehabbing and we are looking for a miraculous comeback.

At Growth Summit, there were tributes to Dan throughout…and before my presentation, I read from “Ruining the stampede” which talked about why this man is so significant to me (and thousands of others). Please read it if you have not read it and have the time.

Today I want to add additional lessons I learned in Cleveland on that visit over a year ago (when I wasn’t in airline delays).

My day with Dan

I understand that Dan can be an acquired taste for some…which is fine with him.

But no one can argue that if you had to pick one person in direct response marketing who more people trace their initial (and ongoing) education in this wonderful business, it’s Dan Kennedy.

The idea that he is “old school” and not up on what is happening in the marketing world today is a story only told by those who have never spent time with him or followed his work.

It’s true that he does not suffer fools gladly and he expects a lot from his clients.

And it’s also true that he doesn’t have a cell phone, he doesn’t do email and the only way to communicate with him is via fax.

Spoon-feeding is not his specialty but he always plays full out when he’s with you and his expensive consulting fees are only costly if you are not listening to what he is telling you.

He sees so many “offline opportunities in an online world” (which was his theme when he presented to Titans Master Class in April of 2018).

However, that doesn’t mean he dismisses the online marketing world either (i.e. don’t think for a minute he’s not on top of what is working right now, whether it’s online or offline).

He simply sees more flaws than most when it comes to advertising on Facebook, for example, (especially if you are too dependent on it or any single medium for that matter…more on that below).

I loved the time we spent, for example, talking about Amazon as a “search engine” where miraculously, people often buy stuff (imagine that) rather than simply look for free stuff (e.g. Google).

And just because you can only communicate with Dan via fax doesn’t mean he exists in any kind of time warp or that his world view and experience should ever be ignored; in fact, I think he is as sharp as ever.

During our day together, we explored dozens of marketing universals–and I want to share a few of those with you today.

Ignore these at your peril—and even if you have heard them before (and hopefully you have and live by many of them too), I will wager that at least one of them will get you thinking a little differently or more deeply about something you are currently working on.

Marketing by walking around

Those of us who run businesses and manage people have probably heard about the benefits of “management by walking around.”

It’s the opposite of sitting in an office all day, ivory tower or not–and it’s about getting out and being with the people who are working with you and for you—which leads to more synchronicity, team building and cooperation.

You just get more done, more efficiently, by communicating regularly (and in person) with your staff.

And the same principle holds true in marketing.

In this case, it’s not your employees who you need to be interacting with and observing constantly…it’s your customers and potential customers.

In Overdeliver, I have an entire chapter discussing  “customer service and fulfillment as marketing functions”—and in it, I talk about the things  you can only really learn, for example, by assigning “secret shoppers” inside your business, listening in on customer service calls and of course, doing both qualitative and quantitative research.

I shared some of that at Growth Summit as well.

It astounds me how many marketers today talk about how much they know about their audience (their “avatar”) yet they never spend time with them in real life situations.

You will find out more about your customers and potential customers by hanging out where they hang out (which could be online in a chat room or inside Amazon book reviews–or even offline at the local Wal-Mart).

Pro tip: If you can find out (or make intelligent guesses)  what they are reading, go to Amazon and read the one star and five star reviews and you will see how they interact and talk to each other…and you will get more than just hints for the copy you should use when you talk to them.

Look for over representation in your audience by occupation, interests and region

One of the key takeaways from “marketing by walking around” is that you inevitably engage in what I call “Intuitive list segmentation”–without a computer or a statistician.

You will observe things, some obvious and some not so obvious,  by walking around and interacting with your customers,  learning more about what they really want from you and how they want you to communicate with them.

And then you can add on to that knowledge using available outside data, doing overlays of your existing customers, to find out if they over-represent in a particular line of work or reside in particular regions or neighborhoods.

All of this will inevitably lead to future list selections and advertising opportunities no media buyer will ever be able to find for you.

Not to mention ideas for messaging and copy.

Different audience targets demand different promotions

After you spend more time walking around on the outside and also finding out where your audience is showing up in bigger numbers than average, it’s time to cash in on all of this knowledge.

Marketers cannot live by one control alone…and this has never been more apparent today. Online marketing gives you cheaper and more efficient ways to customize your messages than ever before.

Anyone who is practicing “one size fits all creative” to a diverse list universe in any medium is not just lazy…they are also leaving a lot of money on the table.

Not taking advantage of every piece of data you know about the prospects you are talking to—addressing them with as much personalization as possible based on all you know about them—is a marketing crime of the highest order.

I talk about how we did this in direct mail in Overdeliver (“Why paying postage made me a better marketer”)…and multiple controls and multiple copy platforms are a whole lot easier and less expensive to execute with email and other online media.

The power of 5’s and 10’s

Once you have your messaging to specific list segments dialed in, doing as much aggressive price testing is one of the most important things you can do.

Don’t let anyone tell you how overpriced or under priced your product or service is…direct response marketing gives us the ability to never guess and therefore we should always be testing.

And follow the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of the thousands of price tests that have come before.

I lived most of my entire marketing life in the world of business-to-consumer marketing where you would never charge $30 when you could charge $29.97.

“Supermarket pricing” almost always trumped “flat pricing.”

In addition, I would always test as many ways as possible to get to that final price, with the biggest breakthroughs coming from using installments.

Probably a “duh” for most of you…but read on.

Different ways to use installment billing

A great example from my past was using 3 installments at $9.99 instead of one payment of $29.97 which almost always increased the response rate and also total revenue.

As part of the brainstorming process, we would always come up with new and creative ways to express the total price in installments.

And now add to this the rule of 5’s and 10’s which Kennedy reminded me of…i.e  $4.99 is a better expression than $5 and $9.99 is way better than $10; or $499 is better than $500 and $999 is better than $1,000. I’m sure you also know this already but I just want to make sure.

(But here’s a side note about installment billing you might not know: Don’t be scared—marketers have been doing this forever with lots of data about how many people still pay in full at the outset; and also that over 90% of the people will pay installments two and three once they pay installment one)

In addition, setting up installments that also follow these rules can lead to a total price that is much higher than what you may currently be charging.

For example, something that costs approximately $1000 (where you are probably charging $995 or $999) could be represented as three installments of $499…if you think the product or service is worth a lot more but you need a way to make it easier for the prospect to afford it over time.

This example is only illustrative of the kinds of tests you can brainstorm using the rule of 5’s and 10’s and also adding installment billing to the mix.

And the tests are different for B to B where “flat pricing” can be more effective…a subject for another day.

The most dangerous number in business is “1”

I’ll end with this classic Kennedy…and it’s never been truer than in today’s world of infinite marketing opportunities, so many of which have a very low cost of entry.

Facebook being less expensive than other online media (and probably most offline media) doesn’t mean you should ever use it exclusively.

Or use any other medium exclusively for that matter.

I’ve quoted Bill Bernbach, the great advertising “mad man” many times in the past:

“Adapt your techniques to an idea, not your idea to your techniques.” 

Just because a particular audience is big…or cheap…or both…is not the reason to use it.

And of course this Kennedy notion of “1” being the most dangerous number in business goes way beyond “one medium”…you don’t want one of anything in your business.

You want backups and Plan B’s everywhere.

My biggest takeaway from my most recent visit with Dan?

Continue to learn from the best no matter how smart you think you are.

Sitting with Kennedy for a day made me realize how much I don’t know…and also how much I have forgotten.

But it also makes me realize how smart I am for sitting with Kennedy for a day as well.

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. I will be speaking this weekend at Genius Network and next weekend at LaunchCon on “creative and copy”–I guess I can’t call myself a “wannabe” anymore!

While I know that there are many others who can talk about copywriting much better than I can, I know I am an avid student and I can share my experiences working with the best writers who have ever lived such as Gene Schwartz and Gary Bencivenga.

And Jim Rutz.

If you haven’t picked up your copy of Read This or Die: The Lost Files of Jim Rutz you can buy it here.

If you don’t know who Jim Rutz is, read this to get a full picture of one of the greatest copyywriters of all time. I think you will enjoy reading about him whether you buy the product or not.

The post A day to remember appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

Jay Abraham says that it is our “moral obligation to teach it” for a little more emphasis.

This plaque above is the #1 slide of a list of 22 Ways to Overdeliver in business and marketing—a presentation I am giving at Growth Summit later this week in Denver. I hope to see many of you there. 

(This event is the new “Info Summit,” formerly under GKIC and now under Magnetic Marketing).

This quote is #1 because it is the most important element of over delivery (the way I define it)—and it was on full display at the Titans Mastermind meeting last month from four of our members who did “Titan Spotlights,” sharing successes from their respective careers.

Today I’d like to give you a glimpse of one of those presentations…with the other three to follow in the coming weeks and months:

This is not about dry cleaning

Dave Coyle is not just another dry cleaner from Wichita, Kansas…he is THE dry cleaner from Wichita, garnering a 70% market share  in a city of almost half a million people.

Now you would think he is able to do this based on offering the lowest price—after all, dry cleaning is a commodity and having the lowest price is the key to gaining market share with most commodities.

But he is actually one of the highest price/highest margin dry cleaning services in Wichita as well.

How does he do that?

First, he realized that in a service business like dry cleaning, if the person tasked with growing the business is the same person responsible for the operations of the business, you can’t scale.

So he freed himself up by hiring good managers and setting up fantastic systems to handle the day-to-day while he dreamed big.

Dave is a special entrepreneur who believes that everything in his business is not a revenue event but everything is a relationship event. (That would be a good quote for another plaque!)

Simply put, when customers leave you (e.g. they refund transactions) you often lose them forever; but they rarely leave you if they have a fulfilling and ongoing relationship with you that is based on trust.

That takes work however to convert all that fulfillment, relationship building and trust into revenue and profit.

He may be running dry cleaning businesses but for Dave it’s all about inclusion and meaningful connecting built into the business.

He spoke for almost an hour–but let me give you a window into this mad scientist of creating relationships—and remember, we’re talking about dry cleaning.

With acquisition, before he starts giving out free offers and “golden tickets” to anyone and everyone, he first gets prospects to raise their hand through various techniques—and then starts with the top 20% to get a profile of their fears, desires and problems.

He figured out what problems he can help solve and then came up with specific, unique benefits that are more meaningful (“what is special about his business”) than simply the products and services offered (“the commodity side of the business”).

He does some neat things in the “appreciation” stage (when they begin their relationship with him):

• A big welcome package with a gift (of course with a handwritten card or note) with compelling offers to “stick” with him (by creating a “barrier to switch” something very few commodity businesses have the creativity to do).
• An easy one for him is a personalized bag that has all the customer’s data and preferences built into the bag and the system.
• Other stick strategies include random complimentary services and special philanthropic offers.
• He told us about one philanthropic offer where he put up signs in all of his 12 stores where he offered free dry cleaning (or laundry) to anyone who had recently lost their job.
• And a similar offer to vets who had just got home or on specific holidays (Memorial Day, Veterans Day).

Even if you are not unemployed or a vet, wouldn’t you feel good if your dry cleaner were making offers like these? And as a paying customer you are contributing too.

And to keep customers for the long haul, the relationship continues past the acquisition stage and appreciation stage…when his expansion and retention strategies are all under the umbrella of “Trust.”

Most importantly, offering status and treating his best customers like VIP’s with the most exclusive offers, is built into the customer journey.

For example, his “Platinum Members” are 5% of his customer base but 40% of his revenue; and his “Gold Members” are 15% of his customers and 30% of his revenue.

That’s 70/20 (close to 80/20) but you get the idea.

This doesn’t mean you ignore the other 30% either (“Silver” and “Bronze” members)…but you have different work to do with them…and different messaging for them as well.

Dave uses handwritten notes all the time to everyone…and many other techniques that are digital and physical…but it’s never one size fits all.

That’s advanced marketing from a guy who is a student of all marketing media and claims to know little about it.

Yeah…right.

By the way, Dave’s top .5% (that’s “point 5 percent”) are his “Titanium Members” and they are spoken to and treated differently as well.

One other thing he subscribes to that is key to expansion and retention:

Treat customer service and fulfillment as marketing functions.

I’ve spoken about this many times before and it’s an entire chapter in Overdeliver.

In dry cleaning (as in any business), it’s a lot easier to keep an existing customer than to get a new one.

Dave refers to this as “Reducing Friction”:

• Gather the most common complaints and address them (and solve them) quickly
• Rough edges equals opportunities: A dissatisfied customer made whole is a satisfied customer for life
• EASY problem resolution by always making the customer right and giving them more than they ever would have expected (from “Titanium” to “Bronze” to first time customers)

Dave’s Titan Spotlight was illuminating just for the fact that we learned that even in a commodity business, which is usually differentiated by the lowest price or a “laziness to switch,” you can transform that commodity business into a specialty business if you pay close attention to everything available to you.

In fact, the best way for any business considered a commodity to “clean the clock of its competition” (pun intended), is to look everywhere for those differentiators.

The #5 slide in my Growth Summit deck on “Why and how we Overdeliver in business and marketing” simply says:

Advertising opportunities are now infinite

I know that doesn’t seem like it’s a differentiator in itself…but it’s one of the many small hinges that open big doors…you have to know what those are…whether it’s your neighborhood dry cleaner or a state-of-the-art online marketer.

The brick and mortar or physical product businesses need digital solutions and the digital-only businesses need physical solutions—all of which create unique offerings in a world of the same.

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. I mentioned Jason Garber at the beginning of this post, the wonderful artist who has carved plaques like the one at the top (and he sent me four smaller versions of it too which I have distributed to other teachers who “did it”).

Here are two others he carved for me (and I never asked him to do any of these):

I thought “why are you doing this for me?”—and I want to share with you the heart of this artist who is also a friend.

When I emailed him a thank you for the plaques, he responded:

You see, I am always teaching people. 

I have 7 kids and home-school them all.  We were talking about quantum tunneling, hawking radiation, black holes, and the 15 different kinds of ice over lunch today. 

Earlier today I was explaining the current draw/dump on 240/120 panel to a friend.  Last night I was teaching my daughter how to safely work around the table saw and band saw. 

And a couple days ago my son and I were engineering a balcony in such a way it didn’t need support posts, and calculating the tensile strength and diameter of the steel rods needed to make it safe.

To sum it all up, the phrase on the plaques meant a lot to me when I read it on your blog. 

I kept a couple of the little ones for myself.

My request of you today:

If you are learning it, doing it, or did it, please teach it too.

BK

The post If you did it, teach it appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

Today is just through lunch on Day One. 

Some of the speakers you have heard of and some you haven’t…but they were all stellar.

Plus we had “Titan Spotlights” with some of our members strutting their stuff (i.e. what makes them so special).

Election 2020: Which way will swing voters swing?

Our first speaker over dinner was Titans Mastermind member Rich Thau of Engagious, a research and dial testing company specializing in public policy, politics…and of course marketing.

Rich outlined an ambitious project he’s working on where he is visiting “swing states” and doing focus groups with voters who voted for Barack Obama in 2012 and Donald Trump in 2016.

He’s in the midst of a 21 month project which began in March 2019 and it will run through the election in November 2020.

He has traveled to such hot spots as Appleton Wisconsin, Erie Pennsylvania, Warren Michigan and Edina Minnesota—meeting with these “swing voters.”

Some initial findings:

1) These are low information voters: For example, only 3 candidates (Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren) scored above a “5” in recognition on a scale of 1 to 10.

They also don’t know much about the issues (e.g. Medicare for All and The Green New Deal)

And maybe most importantly, swing voters get most of their news from local TV stations, local websites, Facebook and national TV morning shows.

If you are like me and get your news from places like MSNBC or Fox News, you are in a significant minority (although it seems so “loud” while you are watching, doesn’t it?).

2) Most Obama-Trump voters stick with Trump right now.

3) The 2020 outcome hinges on the economy (with personality issues a lesser consideration).

Issues 4 and 5 below are important but there is nothing more critical than the economy…that never seems to change.

4) Swing voter mindset: “America First,” making Trump’s positions on trade and immigration a strength.

5) Populist trends emerging: Anti-corporate, support for student loan debt relief and increased taxes on the wealthy are also taking hold with swing voters on the other side.

What does this have to do with marketing?

Everything.

Knowing who will be in The White House after the 2020 election will change the economics of our marketing and also copy platforms and promotion strategies no matter which way it goes.

That’s why this research is so important.

Being able to predict the result as early as possible will give you an unfair advantage over your competition and possibly not require you to have “2 versions” of the same promotion for example.

But polls aren’t always correct (see 2016)…and maybe Rich’s research will yield the results we need.

And here’s another key reason why a presidential election is important to marketers (from my post Driven to Distraction) written after the 2016 election when so many marketers were wondering why “results were down in the 4^th quarter of 2016”:

Simply put, the world doesn’t stop when you launch a product or send out your next promotion…no matter how much you are changing the world. 

And I am not making light here. 

Many of you game changing entrepreneurs and inventors reading this right now don’t deserve to have your best ideas and launches ignored because of world events and things that are out of your control.

But not every distraction is out of your control. 

One such distraction could be a doozy of a presidential election. 

Not sure when that will ever happen again in our country but you never know, right? 

That last line is said with a bit of sarcasm…I have a feeling that 2020 will be even more distracting than 2016…so please make your promotion plans accordingly.

I will repeat that full post closer to the 2020 election for those of you who still need a reminder to avoid this period if you want to mail, launch or promote around it.

Outrageous Marketing

Our first speaker on Day One was marketing legend Bill Glazer…the “G” in GKIC and Dan Kennedy’s partner in that iconic company.

Bill spoke about The 8 Steps to Apply OUTRAGEOUS Multi-STEP Marketing Campaigns to Your Own OUTRAGEOUS Business…and it was…well…outrageous. And all based on his new book.

There are 49 successful campaigns in the book Outrageous and 42 more coming in Volume 2…and Bill got at least another half dozen ideas from the things that were shared at Titans Mastermind.

The 8-Steps to applying outrageous marketing:

1) Understand that everything you do to advertise and market your business can be outrageous

2) Understand that you are NOT your customer

3) Train your brain to look for ideas in “obvious” places

4) Train your brain to look for ideas in “unobvious” places

5) Study what’s working outside your industry and “swipe and deploy”

6) Everything is outrageous…including YOU

7) Outrageous advertising is fun and it lets you make your business fun too

8) Every outrageous campaign should create an emotional reaction in order to deliver an “experience”

Bill covered all of these in detail and it was a very rich presentation.

Other important things he reminded us in the context of the above:

• People need a minimum of SEVEN (7) contact points with you before they are ready to buy.
• Most businesses try to find one or two mediums they are happy with and stick to it—but outrageous campaigns are all multi-step and multi-media.
• All outrageous marketing use online and offline media.

You can see why Bill is one of my heroes. 

The 8 biggest mistakes that prevent your offer from converting on cold traffic

Titans Mastermind members Justin Goff and Stefan Georgi, both A+ copywriters and marketers, have seen the inside of 170+ different funnels in a wide variety of niches.

Rather than tell you the 8 mistakes with examples, I am going to go one better and offer you an opportunity to opt in to Justin’s highly cultivated list by clicking here.

Justin writes a daily email similar to mine (but not as long! ) and offers so much…and it’s my pleasure to enable you to subscribe.

There is no charge but you have to qualify…but knowing my online family as I do, I think he’ll let you in.

OK…I’ll give you a “tease” of one of the 8 biggest mistakes Justin and Stefan talked about:

#2 (but this could have been #1): You’re not going deep enough with your research 

This is a mistake Justin and Stefan see all too often—that copywriters assume they know their market…but when they can actually do deep research to find out what customers are really looking for, it’s almost always completely different than what they assumed.

Pro tip: Go on Amazon (5 star and 1 star reviews only), online forums and Google news articles for products or services like the ones you are selling and see what people are saying.

You will pick up their language and talk to them in that “language”;  you will understand their real pain points (not the ones you assumed); you will understand in their own words exactly what they love and hate about existing solutions; you’ll come up with amazing horror stories you can use in your copy and even come up with a “conspiracy angle”;  you can uncover “hushed up” or censored solutions and make what’s old new again; and you will find interesting, testable proof supporting the arguments you make in your sales letter.

This is the (pro) tip of the iceberg how Justin and Stefan think about copy.

I urge you to get on Justin’s list…he’s a genius (as is Stefan)…and I get nothing from him to say that except that you will improve your marketing by subscribing.

Here’s the link again.

The recovering attorney

Peter Hoppenfeld then spoke before lunch on Day One and gave us a rundown of legal and compliance issues we need to be aware of as marketers.

Peter is a “marketing friendly lawyer”–he knows we have to sell but he will also make sure you don’t get in trouble while doing all that selling.

I use him for so much in my business and he is the official “Titans Recovering Attorney”– and I am happy to say I have done no jail time and I always feel good about my marketing.

He spoke about a lot of things with the most urgent being the new California Privacy Law (“CCPA”)—and he sent an alert about it to all of his clients (and all of the Titans).

If you would like a copy of this alert, send an email with “CCPA” in the subject line to:

phoppenfeld@gmail.com

That’s it for today…but I still have so much to share with you from this amazing Titans Mastermind meeting.

In the coming weeks I’ll report on:

• The juxtaposition of the best technology with the human touch
• How a Titan achieved a 94% retention rate to his mastermind
• “The Copy Cube”—where promise and believability meet
• How to sell The Brooklyn Bridge
• The “unfair advantage” to skyrocket your brand
• How to turn around failing companies (and multiply your profits)

I’m exhausted just thinking about the last meeting…my brain is full…and it will be good to unload as much of it as possible on you in the coming weeks.

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. I can’t resist…here is another of Justin and Stefan’s “8 mistakes when marketing to cold traffic”:

You haven’t tested enough headline complexes 

I never heard that expression before…but the “complex” is defined as the headline with the copy that follows immediately.

I knew what it was and now I have a name for it!

The best headline complexes will include as many of these as possible– and use these as a checklist when you create your own:

• Curiosity
• Call out pain point
• Promise-Solution
• Specificity
• Simplicity
• Credibility: Address the prospect’s skepticism
• Time frame to achieve results of the promise

Keep these on your desk to make sure your headlines (and supporting copy) are as powerful as they can be.

Justin and Stefan also gave many examples of headline complexes in their presentation–and Justin uses lots of case histories from the 170 (and counting) funnels he has studied (and will study).

Getting on his list will be a good idea for you.

Sign up here.

The post Outrageous marketing, the 2020 vote and the recovering attorney appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

Anna put out a call for interviews for people who have “struggled to success”…and while I dismissed the request initially (my story is so boring—no bankruptcies, divorces, jail time, addictions or anything else that seems like a hero’s journey, coming out of wreckage to success), I asked Anna if almost dying counted.

In addition, the fact that my book Overdeliver came out on April 9^th (with lots of launch activity around it) and I had my stroke on April 10^th, how did that fit in as well under the heading of “a struggle?”

It seemed pretty vanilla to me since I survived…and the book launch seemed trivial compared to still being above ground…and if I had died, we wouldn’t be having a conversation anyway so who cares?

That is, I really didn’t know if it was a struggle because I didn’t die. And I am still living my life the same way.

I knew I dodged a bullet and I am up for a lot more mischief in the marketing world now…and more importantly, I still have what is most important to me (my family and friends).

Simply put, having a stroke wasn’t a “come to Jesus moment”…just something I know I had to get past to continue my journey.

Anna had other ideas.

She heard my story, formulated a series of questions I wasn’t even thinking about—and she was quick to say “let’s do it.”

The interview is here…it’s around 45 minutes long.

During the podcast I found myself recognizing some struggles which I wasn’t aware of before–she caught me–and I thought one or more might be helpful to you in some way as you examine your life and career.

(In the interview I also came up with a word that Anna never heard of–it gets spellchecked when I type it in Word so I can excuse her for not knowing it. But at least caught her on something)

And if you listen to it, share with me an ultimate struggle you overcame in your life–and where you ended up because of it (or in spite of it).

I may accumulate some of those stories (with your permission and with no names attached) because there could be some great lessons for all of us in a future post.

Once again, the podcast is titled (and when you click on my picture below, it’s the fourth interview listed):

I guess I did do that. 

Warmly,

Brian

P.S.  Last chance to sign up for  The Do Good and Make Money Super Summit (I am one of the speakers) which begins September 23^rd  and runs for 8 days until September 30^th…and you can get a free pass by clicking here.

It is a very ambitious Summit with over 80 speakers speaking on four tracks:

#1 – Starting Your Venture

#2 – Your First $100,000

#3 – Your First Million

#4 – Scaling To Eight Figures (where I will be speaking)

I will be speaking on one of the last days, talking about “Over Delivering Value” which in my opinion is the most undervalued aspect of “Scaling to Eight Figures.”

I hope you will grab your free pass and tune in.

There are all sorts of other offers for bonuses if you want more…but the basic pass is free.

(Note: Any money I receive in commission I will be donating to charity:water.  Click on this post and you can read about them and also donate to charity:water …and if you do, you will receive some neat “ethical bribes” from me.) 

Click here to sign up now for The Do Good and Make Money Super Summit.

The post Life is long appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

That is a question worth answering before you attempt any sales funnel, online launch, video sales letter, direct mail campaign—any kind of marketing—because when you know the “why” of your audience, the “how to do it” becomes a lot easier.

Knowing your tribe—the people that are most like you, who share your values, and who can’t wait to hear what you have to offer them—doesn’t have to be large either.

They just need to be congruent with your message and you need to be consistent with how you express that message.

Some examples:

Justin Goff, an A-list copywriter and business builder, did more with 200 names on his list (I think he has over 1,000 now)—a true “online family”—than many marketers do with thousands of names. He is able to attract a hand-picked, loyal audience that he emails daily with useful content,  they get what he is talking about and therefore when he makes an offer that makes sense to his subscribers, he achieves response rates and ROI  (to very high ticket, high value offers) that are unheard of.

Ben Settle, an email expert, has a much larger list but not large by most standards. And he “emails them to death” (at least daily)—or should I say “emails them to life”—and he can make offers to them that can get response rates that are as high as lists five times the size of his.

Donald Trump, with a somewhat larger lists, and whether you are a supporter or not, has millions of people hanging on every word he tweets (no time for email)—and he has supporters and detractors alike who keep reading his tweets every day as news, entertainment or something in-between.  And the supporters just get more fervent each time he tweets and the detractors just get more frustrated. But as we say in marketing, if you don’t have haters you’re not being controversial enough. And on the other side, he clearly has lots of loyal followers.

In fact, going back to Settle, when he has people on his list being argumentative and disagreeing with his core premises without a cohesive argument (in his opinion), Ben will unsubscribe them before they do it themselves.

I recall when Ben was selling my Titans of Direct Response offer, he had someone on his list return the product to me for a refund—and when he found out about it, he called out this subscriber to his entire online family as someone not “suitable” for his tribe: “Anyone who couldn’t find value in that product doesn’t belong on my list.” And he removed him.

I didn’t see it exactly the same way—of course I gladly sent Ben’s subscriber a refund—but Ben’s list is one that he expects to be learners…and Ben is their teacher. If you do as he suggests he also expects you to follow through. You don’t have to necessarily buy everything he sells (although he’d like you to)…but if you do, it’s all value and there is no room for returns on much of it. For this relationship to work at its highest level for Ben, his students need to be in synch with him so he can share his views freely and openly and they are always on the same page.

After all, it’s his list. You may not agree with him but he’s always consistent and congruent.

And in all three examples above, the people on those lists buy (or vote) based on congruence with the leader of the list much more than the tactics they each use.

Congruence, not sales copy, may be the most overlooked aspect in how you relate to your list—small or big—and in Chapter 9 of Overdeliver, which covers Continuity and Lifetime Value, I talk about this in terms of how it positively impacts every customer long term:

Protecting Your LTV with Congruent Marketing

Everything you do in your business needs to be congruent. …staying in business for a lifetime combines knowing your numbers with knowing who you want to be in the world and what you want your business to represent. That means building a culture into your business that reflects who you are and what you value most. If you have a strong foundation that is congruent with your purpose, it’s easy to attract the right audience and to develop offers and creative that are congruent and appropriate for them. And not surprisingly, when you focus on congruence, the number that you calculated in lifetime value per customer tends to increase exponentially. Whether you make the subsequent products yourself or buy them from someone else in some kind of partnership, whatever you put your name (brand) on has to be congruent—to you as a company and to your customers. 

Creative is also an area where congruence can be at risk: what might work best to bring in new customers may be inconsistent with how you really want to sell. I have seen many thought leaders struggle when they begin marketing aggressively for the first time. Unfortunately, they start with the premise that marketing is evil—and then my job is to show them how to sell congruently yet still remain aggressive. It’s a sweet spot that we can all get to, and it’s different for everyone. But I maintain that being as aggressive as possible, while being as congruent as possible, is the formula for the highest lifetime value. 

Since we’re talking about marketing, and money is always involved, things can get tricky when your desire to be congruent collides with paying the electric bill. If you have a good reputation and a solid bank of goodwill with your customers, and therefore with your prospects too, it’s easier to recover from a “congruence fail,” but you can’t count on it. 

(Note: In the rest of Chapter 9, I discuss a “congruence fail” that almost cost me big time. And there is also a discussion of “The Bogey Man”—Dick Benson—and why you can spend more money on your upfront marketing than you think. If you don’t have a copy yet, pick up Overdeliver at www.OverdeliverBook.com and access the thousands of dollars’ worth of resources too.)

I recently heard about a marketing live event held in a baseball stadium —they had something like 30.000 people—and while that’s a powerful “list” who can buy lots of stuff (live and after the fact) I maintain that a targeted, well curated list will be a better asset for the long haul based on what I said above re: congruence.

Would I like 30,000 people to sell to? Sure.

Would I do it indiscriminately with no regard for who they are, without segmenting them first and creating multiple sales messages? I doubt it.

I guess if you want to give me 30,000 names and addresses of marketers, I will attempt to bring them along to my way of thinking…but I will also be happy to leave many of them to other marketers as well, especially if they are not congruent with my message.

Consider the deep dives you can take in a more intimate setting, whether email or live; and what you can accomplish when you get down to the people who want to follow you rather than the people who are just waiting to be pitched offers, not order (or order and return), never to be heard from again.

Large can be mighty…but so can small.

In the spirit of being congruent, I turn to the Godfather of Marketing, Jay Abraham, who wrote out a series of bullets re: “Why People Pay Me”—and I am stealing some of these for myself.

And while I can’t do it is well as Jay yet, it gives me something to shoot for—and maybe you can steal a couple of these too:

Why People Pay Me (Jay Abraham)

• I’m paid to understand how to reduce (or eliminate) the risk in a transaction or

proposition––so it’s easier to say yes then no…easier to pay than it is to flee.

• I’m paid to understand how human psychology like procrastination, contemplation, equivocation factors  into everything—and how to turn all those into maximum advantage—much like the martial arts aikido that uses the force of the enemy against itself.

• I’m paid to understand how to stand out.

• How to —out appeal, out impress, out excite investors over and above the capital-seeking maddening crowds of other fund seekers vying for their money.

• I’m paid to understand the number of impact points, nuances and leverage elements that serve as bridges or locks (think Panama Canal) that work to advance and enhance the positive decision, commitment or outcome—or that can suffocate things.

• I’m paid to understand all the direct competition––meaning the industry- generic competitors of your business––new or existing (as well as the indirect)

• I’m paid to understand and communicate masterfully what value in tangible and intangible terms a company’s product/service or offering represents– to a wide swathe of different players––all that can position, positively or negatively impact your intended outcome.

Being paid for that is something worth striving for, don’t you think?

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. Speaking of more intimate groups…The Titans Master Class meeting in November in Scottsdale, Arizona will be one of those events that I think people will be talking about for years to come as something you shouldn’t have missed.

Here’s your chance not to miss it:

It’s November 11^th, 12^th and 13^th—you must be interviewed for a seat–and guest speakers include Jay Abraham, A-list copywriter Carline Anglade-Cole, online media expert Farukh Shroff, launch and marketing experts Marisa Murgatroyd and Shelley Brander and thought leader/business builder Dan Kuschell. With more to come.

In addition, all Titans members will be given a free ticket to LaunchCon, Jeff Walker’s amazing event, which will be in Phoenix November 8^th, 9^th and 10^th.

Titans Master Class is a one year membership which includes 2 live events a year, office hours with me, a content portal with all past events of the last 4 years, a private Facebook group for sharing of ideas, vendors and marketing issues…and group calls throughout the year with experts in all areas of marketing, copywriting and entrepreneurship.

If you are interested in interviewing for a seat, and you would like to be with us in November, fill out the short application form at www.titansmasterclass.com so we can set up an interview. Attendance is limited.

P.P.S.  I will also be a speaker for The Do Good and Make Money Super Summit which begins on September 23^rd and runs for 8 days until September 30^th…and you can get a free pass by clicking here.

It is a very ambitious Summit with over 70 speakers speaking on four tracks:

#1 – Starting Your Venture

#2 – Your First $100,000

#3 – Your First Million

#4 – Scaling To Eight Figures (where I will be speaking)

I will be speaking on one of the last days, talking about “Over Delivering Value” which is crucial to “Scaling to Eight Figures”…and I hope you will grab your free pass and tune in.

There are all sorts of other offers for bonuses if you want more…but the basic pass is free.

(Any money I receive in commission I will be donating to charity:water.  Click on this post and you can read about them and donate to charity:water …and receive some neat “ethical bribes” from me too.) 

P.P.P.S And click here to sign up now  for the The Do Good and make Money Super Summit–and I’ll see you there!

The post Why do people pay you? appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

I have many memories of Dan Kennedy, none more embarrassing than when I “ruined the stampede” at the Titans of Direct Response event in 2014—and he never let me forget it.

As you know, I have been dubbed by some as the “Director of Sales Prevention.”

In fact, I was the only speaker at GKIC’s Info Summit who got a standing ovation because I didn’t sell anything after my presentation.

When Dan finished his keynote presentation at the Titans event, while he was instructing folks to run to the back of the room and grab his carefully constructed offer (with a time limit and scarcity that he would only give out X copies), I was on stage letting everyone know about lunch and the afternoon agenda —a very bad move.

The “stampede” was curtailed and Dan shot me a look that could kill…and I didn’t even know what I’d done (clearly I was not an experienced stage seller).

Afterwards, Dan explained to me what a terrible thing I did and I learned a valuable lesson.

But he continued to joke about it years later…and thank goodness many of the people who “stampeded” (i.e. walked quickly with determination?)  before I blew the whole thing up ended up being “whales”(a Kennedy-ism for really big clients) in the years that followed.

I dodged a bullet but that lesson will stay with me:

An offer from the stage cannot be rushed and every step of that offer is important.

To shut up while it’s taking place.

And that it is even more important than lunch.

However, don’t think Dan is just about making fast money in the short term…Robert Skrob, a student of Dan’s since 1996, reminded me of this story, also from Titans in 2014:

Titans of Direct Response included a special tour of Boardroom’s headquarters for VIPs. 

At the conclusion of the tour, after visiting the customer service team who handles renewals, there was a spirited discussion (in the hallway by the elevators) among marketers about “auto charge renewal on credit cards” vs. standard renewal billing and collection. 

One marketer, seeking to garner the praise of Dan Kennedy, got an emphatic rebuke instead when he said: 

“And with auto-renewal you generate a lot of money from customers who don’t realize they are being charged.”  

Dan shut him down immediately saying, “That kind of thinking is exactly what’s wrong with the easy money for nothing hucksters out there. If you are running a business counting on a bunch of zombie customers paying you monthly, you’ve got a castle built upon sand.”  

The hallway fell quiet and everyone boarded the elevators.  

Dan is a marketer and no one loves making money and generating sales as much as he does. 

However, he never makes a sale at the expense of building relationships with his customers. And he often shares that the result of selling this way is that the more they buy from him, the more they wanted to buy. He always delivers the goods. 

I share these particular stories for a number of reasons.

First, I understand that Dan can be an acquired taste for some…but no one can argue that if you had to pick one person in direct response marketing who more people trace their initial (and ongoing) education in this wonderful business, it’s Dan Kennedy.

The idea that he is “old school” and not up on what is happening in the marketing world today is a story only told by those who have never spent time with him or followed his work. I’m proud to say that I have done both.

It’s true that he does not suffer fools gladly and he expects a lot from his clients.

And also from his “partners on events” when he orchestrates a perfect pitch and that partner doesn’t cooperate.

Another reason I share this story (and a few more remembrances to come) is that as of this writing, Dan is in hospice and he has sent out this message:

“I find myself in the unusual position of regretfully announcing my death. Usually people are having to do the opposite; deny rumors of their passage… I am now on the final journey of no more than a few days before exit. Consequently I won’t be interacting here anymore.” 

I feel the need to interact from here. And I will still hold out hope for a miracle.

The outpouring on social media to this news has been incredible in its praise for him–which is both not surprising but also ironic because Dan never used a cell phone, he doesn’t do email and the only way to communicate with him is via fax.

He is the reason to own a fax machine.

Spoon-feeding is not his specialty and you have to work to get to him.

But he always plays full out when he’s with you and his expensive consulting fees are only an expense if you are not listening to what he is telling you.

A “Dan story” that illustrates his expectation for the “client” (me) happened fairly recently when I asked him to endorse my new bookOverdeliver with a blurb.

I federal expressed him the manuscript (in lieu of faxing 300 pages) and kept my fax machine on 24 hours a day for the next couple of weeks waiting for his blurb.

Finally it came…it was 2 pages…and page one began:

Brian Kurtz-URGENT 

Brian: 

1.  Blurb for your book follows on page two. It CAN’T be used unless the correction noted next, in #2, is made. 

2.  Your page 41 has the [informercial] story all wrong… 

He then explained how I mangled “informercial history” while relating Boardroom’s greatest success story, by giving the wrong credit to the wrong people.

It was an honest mistake…but of course he was right.

Given this intro to the blurb, I assumed page 2 would now be less than what I expected.

Wrong!

The blurb was amazing—he called Overdeliver  “…a definitive presentation of direct marketing, as apart from all other marketing.” And he ended with a reference to David Ogilvy and said, “…were Ogilvy alive, he would applaud Brian’s work here.”

I don’t share that with you to brag—rather, to give you a very precise insight to the essence of Dan Kennedy:

He will tell you what he thinks, both bad and good, and his demand for accuracy and integrity supersedes everything.

And he was crystal clear that I could not use his blurb until I corrected the story—his principles could not be violated.

Obviously I corrected the story, faxed it to him, and his return fax had a “Kennedy stamp” on it with a simple “OK/Dan.”

His blurb is the first one on the back cover of my book. Naturally.

Two other stories from the Titans of Direct Response event…an event that Dan said afterwards was the “event of the decade” (and I know that wasn’t fluff since Dan never did fluff).

The first was the VIP Dinner at the event—it mirrored the intentional dinners I participated in for years (at Boardroom and since Boardroom)—and I wanted to “teach” everyone how to do these kinds of dinners.

The only issue was that the dinners usually had a maximum of 25 people around a rectangle table and I had 68 guests (!)  at this dinner at Titans. 

To replicate the dinner as well as I could, I had a (very) long rectangular table—33 people strategically placed  with assigned seating on both sides (the entire procedure is outlined in Chapter 10 of Overdeliver)—with me at the tail and Dan at the head.

Obviously I couldn’t get around to everyone (one of the techniques we use at the dinner) but I talked through the entire process while watching Dan at the other end enjoying the ride.

I have to admit that I needed binoculars to see him.

Here’s how it looked as I toasted Marty Edelston, the founder of Boardroom (with a wave to Dan):

The other story from the event, an event where Dan was my first speaker and planned the entire agenda and picked the other speakers with me, relates to Dan’s demand for his privacy and why he lives his life through a fax machine rather than a smart phone.

On the way to that VIP Dinner at Titans I drove to the restaurant with three marketing and copywriting icons: Dan, Gary Bencivenga (the world’s most prolific living copywriter) and Joe Polish (the world’s most connected man).

I could say that Dan is the most connected man “without wiring” but I won’t—however he certainly brought more people into “marketing” than anyone.

Anyway, on this short trip—one which I was tempted to take a 2 hour detour just to be in the car for as long as possible with these three heroes—Joe’s cell phone rang.

Those of you who know Joe Polish know that he always picks up his phone because it might be an opportunity to help someone…Joe is incredible that way.

As Joe was talking to someone (not all that important to anyone but Joe), Dan turned to me (he was sitting in the front) and said:

“What makes someone think it’s appropriate that they can call you on your cell phone out of the blue—and that you’ll actually pick up?” 

The first part of that I don’t have a problem with…you can always let it go to voicemail; and you have to understand Joe Polish to understand the second part.

But it hit me that Dan’s protection for his privacy and making it difficult to reach him was part of an overall plan and not a façade.

He is uncompromising when it comes to issues like this and he is unbelievably consistent.

He makes it tough to get to him because it increases his value…and it also shows you are serious about working with him (or at least talking to him).

I think it also makes him much more productive…how would your day be if everyone had to contact you via fax and through an assistant?

It sounds extreme but if his ability to read, study, write and speak at Herculean levels, always being prepared to give his opinion, is a result of his “system,”  it works for him and he is dedicated to it.

And I think we can all take a lesson from him (maybe not as extreme) and make ourselves a little less accessible.

I know I think about that a lot and I submit that for your consideration.

Here’s my favorite photo from the Titans of Direct Response that has a prominent place on the wall  in my office, the passengers in my car that night:

The last time I saw Dan was this past April when he came as a guest speaker to my Titans Master Class…and I wrote about that event in “The what and the who before the how.”

As usual he came with fantastic information in the morning and we spent the afternoon doing hot seats with members.

He talked about his new book, Almost Alchemy, which I reviewed and I hope it will be released soon.

From my blurb:

“This instant classic begins like a parable, continues as an instruction manual for success through case histories, and ends as a marketing (and business) encyclopedia…Every book Dan Kennedy has ever written is a form of alchemy—he turns paper into gold.” 

And the share from Kennedy in “The what and the who before how” about jewelry sellers and horse auctions is worth a read if you missed it.

I also had him at my Titans Master Class event in 2018 and he talked about “Offline in an Online World”…and while that video is only available to my Titans members, I have included the video of Dan’s presentation at “the big Titans event” in 2014–free and with no opt in as a tribute to this once-in-a-lifetime marketer. 

There’s so much to talk about when you’re talking about Kennedy—I’ll stop here and save “Part 2” of this tribute to Dan for a future Sunday (and I will share with you some insights I learned from him when I spent a day at his home last year).

For now, I just want to thank Dan for a lifetime of stampedes (for him and others), an unrelenting commitment to his beliefs and integrity, a desire to serve fully while protecting his privacy (with lessons for us all)—and being a kick ass marketer and copywriter.

A life well lived by a man who lives it the way he wants.  And he has left us so much to still digest should there be no more.

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. As stated above, Dan Kennedy was a keynote speaker at the Titans of Direct Response in 2014…and the presentation he gave is as relevant today as it was then.

As a gift to you, I would like to share it here to mark the (almost) five year anniversary of what Dan called “the event of the decade.” And to mark this day as we celebrate his wonderful career.

He titled it:

“The 7 Things I Include in Every Pitch I Craft”

Dan created this presentation specifically for this event and it is part of the 12 DVD set that I have since sold many copies of for as much as $2,000. Let me know what you think.

No charge and no opt in.

And at www.OverdeliverBook.com, the 270 page swipe file he put together exclusively for the event is available as a PDF as well–in addition to 6 more videos from the Titans of Direct Response. 

P.P.S. It really doesn’t matter whether Dan has passed by the time this post goes live. I have spoken about him like he’s still alive because in essence he is–and always will be.

Dan’s body of work is massive and I did many tributes to him in the past—actually not tributes but detailed recounting of his work. And the work speaks for itself.

As he said in his good-bye email:

First, it has been a great privilege to have worked for you, and with you, and to have had your interest and patronage. You have made it possible for me to do work that interests me, that I chose and that I felt meaningful and worthwhile. Second, I never thought of this as just a transactional business but also as a genuine relationship, a community, and a Movement.

From me to Dan (and I will fax this to him now):

Meaningful and worthwhile is an understatement; and while customers transact, you are spot on that it is a community that interacts. 

Thank you Dan for all that do for thousands of people and interacting with us live and through your writing and yes, by fax.

And because you’ve left a mountain of material, thank you for all you’ll do for thousands more yet to come.

The post Ruining the stampede appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

Talking about the negatives of email is a dangerous thing to do given that I’m convinced that email is still the killer app…that is, it’s still the most effective communication tool we have in marketing today.

It’s cheap…it can be short or long (and I know mine are sometimes too long)…and it’s very effective when done well.

But what about all the other forms of communication, online and offline?

You know I write about many of them every Sunday but I have never explored one that was such a big part of my career.

And I have noticed more and more people asking me about it too.

It is—wait for it—print newsletters. 

Considering I marketed one of the most successful print newsletters ever with my staff at Boardroom—Bottom Line/Personal—and I consult with many folks today who want to add a print newsletter to their offerings—I went back to an interview I did with Mike Capuzzi about 5 years ago called The Power of Newsletters. 

Re-listening to this interview, it still holds up and it may be more relevant today than ever before.

I invite you to listen to it now or later.  There are so many aspects to this rich topic.

I’ll share some of the observations here on the many dimensions (and the evolution) of this format– in case you prefer email to audio.

But the audio covers a lot more.

When Marty Edelston started Boardroom Reports in 1972 (I was in junior high school for those of you who think I am older than I am), he decided to publish a “newsletter” rather than a magazine because he would have needed around $500,000 to launch a glossy magazine with advertising at the time–but he was able to launch a newsletter on a (relative) shoestring

Shoestring (with no investors or anyone who believed in his idea) was equal to approximately $25,000, his life savings at the time.

He launched that newsletter successfully and the company was born.

For those of you who don’t know what a newsletter is, it’s a publication with no advertising, vertical or specialized content…and it must survive for the most part on revenue from subscriptions and renewals (and I emphasize renewals—like I did numerous times in Overdeliver when discussing lifetime value).

It was a struggle at first for us–but with the development of a book business (which I talked about recently in If you can’t make it, buy it) and a switch to broad based consumer and health publications (which I outline in detail in Branding without getting hives) the company flourished.

List rental income also helped (read Guilty until proven innocent if you want that story)…as did building on our expertise in direct mail list selection…and last but not least, reliance on only the best copywriters to create the promotions for our newsletters (and books).

With that formula, we re-defined the traditional newsletter business.

That is, the newsletter business that was the most profitable at the time was what I have often dubbed “500 or 1,000 subscribers at $500 to $1000 each”; Boardroom/Bottom Line was more like 500,000 subscribers at $39 each…a much tougher nut to crack and one that I believe you would struggle to launch today.

Many of the most successful newsletters were (and are) business-to-business, on a narrow topic or in a specialized niche, and very pricey…we were breaking new ground with our business-to-consumer approach at $39, with a “bill me later” offer rather than cash or credit card with order.

We were a newsletter marketing like a magazine.

Kind of like “Razzles”  for publishing.

In my interview with Mike Capuzzi, I go deep on all of this and I think it’s pretty good–but you can decide for yourself—it’s about 40 minutes long.

But with that history of Boardroom in mind, what lessons can we learn and apply them today?

Simply put, a print newsletter in the online marketing world today is differentiation.

Having digital (online) courses and training is a fantastic business model…but I would suggest that possibly putting a print newsletter on the back end of that online business is additive, not redundant.

If you have some things you want your tribe reading slowly on their back deck (or in the bathroom) when they take a break from their computer screens, giving it to them in print is worth looking into, whether free as an add-on…or if it’s really specialized (additional) content, for an added charge.

It is also a way to accentuate your expertise.

Marie Forleo, a world class marketer, says (and I am paraphrasing):

“What would you do if you were the best in the world at something?” 

AND

“Where are you beyond making a profit?” 

I think doing a print newsletter on the back of an online business supports her awesome premise:

Giving more of your genius in a tangible (and higher perceived value) format can only enhance what you are doing being the best in the world; and it’s also a way to over deliver to your best customers which will lead to more profit whether you want it or not.

A print newsletter (or dare I suggest physical product on the back end of your digital business) is a way to create something bigger than you ever imagined.

I recall attending an online marketing conference some years ago and there was a speaker on the last day who said he had the “secret to marketing on the internet”–and it was the phenomena called “physical product.”

I might not go that far but newsletters and physical products are certain to set you apart.

“Online marketers” such as Ben Settle and Doberman Dan (and I hate calling them that because it does a disservice to them), use their print newsletters as the key component of their business (billed monthly and worth every penny)–in addition to having robust and regular email correspondence with their online families.

And they have both created books of all kinds…see the P.S. for Dan’s latest and I will tell you about Ben’s in a subsequent post (and no affiliate commissions for me on any of this of course).

I simply want you to see these examples to understand the power of print content (in this case books) as an addition to digital content.

With Dan and Ben, online subscribers read their emails when they can; but they devourthe print newsletters when they arrive in their (fairly empty) mailboxes.

Well that’s how I consume their content. And I have all of their books too.

I’ve said this before and I’ll repeat it here:

“The least crowded In Box is the one at the end of your driveway or in the lobby of your building.” 

But it’s not just because you have the mailboxes to yourself…you are also where so few of your competitors are (I would imagine).

And if you are 100% online you may be asking how you can compile postal addresses of your customers.

If you sell via a credit card, I believe you have a mailing address of every buyer…and remember, direct mail is an “opt out” medium (i.e. you can mail them without having them opt in as with email).

That might be a topic for another day…but it’s in my book Overdeliver in chapter 3, “How Paying Postage Made Me a Better Marketer.”

There’s a lot more about newsletters in the interview I did with Mike:

I encourage you to listen to it…but even if you don’t, consider sharing your content (and genius) in “In Boxes” and “Mail Boxes” alike.

I’m glad I made it into your In Box today.

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. My good friend Doberman Dan, one of my heroes, uses email and a print newsletter strategically and masterfully.

He just authored a book titled, Just Sell The Damn Thing: Successful serial entrepreneur reveals his contrarian formula for growing your business FASTER than ever!” 

It’s a penny plus shipping and handling (obviously a bargain) –and he’s offering three (3) bonuses with it as well (a Sales Copy Template, a Sales Copy Formula and an Online Seminar).

I get no money for this—and in fact I went to Dan and asked if I could offer it to my online family when I published my piece today mentioning him—and he said yes (of course he did)!

I know with his book, you will be able to learn from an expert relationship builder who understands the power of “O to O to O” (online to offline to online) and meeting your customers where they want to be met.

After more than three decades as a serial “bootstrap” entrepreneur… almost a quarter of a century as a direct response marketer and “A list” copywriter… and having started his first online business all the way back in the wild, wild, west days of the Internet in 1996…Dan has shocked the marketing world with his new book revealing an entirely new selling model. 

It’s all revealed in Just Sell The Damn Thing

I’ve known Dan for years and his track record speaks for itself.

His contrarian strategy debunks so much of what’s out there and supports the premise in my post above…and so much more.

I thought you would like the opportunity to buy his book for a penny plus shipping and handling.

Click here to order and to claim your bonuses.

I already have.

P.P.S. And if you missed my email last week about the legacy of Jim Rutz and the offer for his swipe file Read This or Die: The Lost Files of Jim Rutz, click here to read it.

And if you simply want to order the product, click here.

It’s over 200 promotions from Jim’s archives plus letters, an interview, a webinar and lots more—all on one USB thumb drive.

The post When you get tired of email… appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

And he was one of the most colorful characters this business has ever seen as well.

If you are a working or aspiring copywriter, you owe a debt of gratitude to Jim whether you have ever heard of him or not…he was a pioneer in creating win-win royalty arrangements for creative talent that many of you use today in your businesses.

More on that shorty.

And if you are a marketer of any product or service, studying the work of this one-of-a-kind talent will be equivalent to a graduate course in direct response.

If you have read what I have written about Jim before—and you are just salivating for the new product, Read This or Die: The Lost Files of Jim Rutz—you can purchase it here.

For those of you who need a little more convincing, I will share with you a version of the piece I wrote shortly after Jim died which I called The Copywriter Closest to God. 

Background:

When Jim Rutz passed away a few years ago, his sister Ginger sent me two enormous boxes of his work (and all of the work he admired most).

Plus letters, folders, little slips of paper with cryptic notes—it was everything that Jim compiled over his career—and what a career it was.

She entrusted me to know what to do with such treasures…and my plan was to create an educational product for the ages with the working title:

“The Lost Files of Jim Rutz” 

(And I added Read This or Die shortly after that as a tribute to one of his most famous packages.)

Well life got in the way.

And when I last shared this piece about Jim over 2 years ago, I lamented about not doing anything with Jim’s “stuff”—and I was feeling more than a little guilty. 

But three young and eager copywriters had watched my video, Your Mentors Choose You, and came out of the woodwork (i.e. responded to the video and remembered my tribute to Jim) and volunteered to get the project moving. 

The premise in Your Mentors Choose Youis that finding a mentor is not so simple…you need to contribute to the prospective mentor first with no expectation of a return (which I go into extensively in my bookOverdeliver). 

Paul Martinez, Zac Romero and Neil Sutton read between the lines of the mentors video and they did a splendid job of putting this product together—I couldn’t have gotten it done without them or Ginger– and they know that they’ve got me as a mentor for life if they want me.

These three copywriters emerged from my online family—readers of this weekly blog just like you—volunteering to work on this product since they had learned so much from studying Jim Rutz their entire careers.

This was also another example of what goes around, comes around since Jim Rutz chose me and became a friend and mentor—and I thank my lucky stars that Ginger knew that and sent me his archives.

Today I want you to understand why I am committed to having his work shared broadly with a new generation of copywriters and marketers—and with those of us who are still around who knew him and know of his genius.

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it…I miss Jim terribly…but he left an awesome legacy and body of work. Details on Read This or Die is in the P.S.

Here is the story of The Copywriter Closest to God—let me know what you think after reading it: 

I don’t mean to be disrespectful when I say that organized religion owes its success, at least partially, to great copy. 

No matter how many times I brag about my previous company Boardroom selling 3 million copies of The Book of Inside Information in the 1980’s and 1990’s, it will never be the all-time bestseller on the planet. 

We can’t even come close to Atlas Shrugged much less The Bible. 

I bring this up because Jim Rutz understood the power of religion–he actually organized his own church–one that was true to the very early origins of Christianity, when people met in each other’s homes in small groups. 

He was very serious about it and had quite a following. 

He used his incredible talent as a copywriter to build his “Open Church” with story and messaging that was as persuasive as the best magalogs he wrote for the largest marketers in the world. 

For me, reading his copy and then watching it perform in the marketplace was truly a religious experience. 

Jim liked it when I said that. 

I believe his incredible faith is what made him unique among all the great copywriters. 

He had faith in God. 

He had faith that the products he was selling could help people. 

And he had faith in the intelligence of the reader. 

I used to kid him about the fact that I thought he had a two person copywriting “agency” in his house…himself and God…and it just wasn’t fair to have a partner with that much power. 

The fact that he knew how to invent a religion and move people at that level, I have to assume that writing copy to sell books and newsletter subscriptions probably came easy to him. 

Although as far as I know he never admitted that. 

Well…why would he? 

Throughout his career, he was able to charge the highest fees of any copywriter this side of Gary Bencivenga and Gary Halbert. 

And he was worth every penny. 

As I said earlier, every copywriter today who collects a royalty on pieces mailed or a percentage of sales based on performance, owes a debt of gratitude to Jim. 

==================== 
Jim could beat anyone. 
==================== 

In his early days as an “A list copywriter” he wouldn’t even charge an upfront fee but rather collect royalties based on the number of pieces the client was able to mail. 

He was confident he could write the package for “free” because he knew he would get the winner and collect more than any upfront fee he could charge. 

And we are talking about a royalty of a nickel or more per piece mailed. 

That may not seem like much, but when you’re client is mailing in the millions, it adds up. 

I want to make sure you understand the magnitude of those numbers: 

Jim wrote winning packages that became controls for some of the biggest mailers in the country…many of his winners mailing millions of pieces…and basically, he got a nickel for each one the Jolly Postman delivered. 

I’m guessing that for Boardroom alone, we mailed Jim Rutz controls to the tune of 20 million pieces (probably more but I don’t want to exaggerate…could have easily been 30 million). 

And we were (by far) NOT his only client (see the P.S.). 

Folks waited a year or more to get on his writing calendar. 

And as I mentioned above, he usually won the control and collected royalties whenever he competed. 

Now do the math…just for Boardroom, 20 million pieces at $50 per thousand is a cool million (dollars). 

Then figure he had dozens of clients, many of whom mailed as many (or more) of his control packages than we did. 

Pretty nice way to make a living if you’ve got the talent. And it proves, on the field of play, that copywriting is not a commodity. 

Over time, he started charging an upfront fee since the waiting list for his services was so long…he had to go to the highest bidder…gotta love America and he did. It was all about supply and demand. 

So later, he routinely charged $50,000 as an upfront fee for those who wanted to hire him. 

He even charged as much as $60,000 or $75,000 on occasion. 

In fact, my mentor, Marty Edelston (and I), on behalf of Boardroom, once paid him $100,000 as an upfront fee for a new package because he needed additional money to fund a school for his church in Nebraska for homeless boys. 

Keep in mind that if the package bombed, that’s a non-refundable $100,000 sunk cost. 

Marty and I had a good feeling he’d earn out the $100K with a killer control (winner) but in that particular case I remember Marty and I discussing that we didn’t even care. 

Marty said to me, “Brian…given how much money Jim has made for us with his breakthroughs, I would GIVE him the $100,000 just to help him out. And we’re getting another package for it? Advantage Boardroom.” 

Well that was Marty…understanding that if Jim (or Gary Bencivenga or any of our top copywriters) made more money than anyone in the company including himself, it was good news. 

Marty would often say things to me like: 

“These guys are super human with a talent few people have…and if they are making more money on royalties alone than any of our salaried employees, think about how much money their packages are contributing to the bottom line of the company, making sure we have a company. Our employees will get over it when they continue to get their paychecks…raises…and bonuses…because of Rutz and others.” 

Did I have the best mentor or what? 

The big lesson for all of us: 

Never be a cheapskate with copy and creative…it’s just not the place to cut costs…it’s the place to invest in world-class resources. 

Put another way: Don’t leave this make-or-break area of your business to amateurs. 

And as I’ve said in a previous post, you gotta pay to play. 

Thanks to copywriters like Jim Rutz, mailers like Boardroom learned the lesson of true partnership with creative talent. 

You can also see why I’m not joking when I often say I wish I could be a copywriter. 

And I’ve always wanted to be a great copywriter beyond the jokes about how lucrative it can be financially. 

It’s a position of supreme power and contribution. 

Think about the millions of people that a copywriter of Jim’s caliber can move to action…and in my company’s case, the action was buying products that improve the health or finances of buyers and subscribers in significant ways. 

He saved lives while being paid as much as anyone in the world to do what he did–as his livelihood. 

Now that’s a good way to go through life. 

About his love life:  

Jim was often eccentric and even off color…Ginger told me he needed a “politically correct editor” (her) to regulate him sometimes. 

Even with dating he was a bit daring. 

Before there was online dating, he searched for years for a “mail order bride.” 

He ran a great ad–the headline was: 

“Knight in Shining Armor Seeks Damsel…Distress Optional” 

The ad was accompanied by a picture of Jim as Sir Lancelot. 

(That picture is on the cover of Read This or Die and the ad is in the swipes) 

He once sent me a picture of a potential bride he chose but “the deal fell through” for some reason. 

I didn’t ask questions. 

About decorating his home in Colorado Springs (where I visited a few times): 

He had no furniture in his living room…just neat piles of successful direct mail from every significant direct marketer at that time. 

Very organized too. He would give me a “tour” when I visited: 

“Here’s the Boardroom pile…the Phillips pile…the Agora pile…the Rodale pile.” 

He wrote for all the biggest and most successful direct marketers. 

He knew and studied deeply every package in all of the categories he competed in. Know your competition is a requirement for all copywriters. 

This is a something all of the greats do and it is what can turn a “B copywriter” into an “A.” 

Put a different way: He was a swipe file junkie…which most of the great copywriters are (as we learned at the epic event “Titans of Direct Response” in 2014, an event I wanted so badly to have Jim as an honored guest but his health was not great at the time). 

Back to his living room:  I always wondered why he didn’t have a file cabinet. 

I joked with him that he saved a lot of time shopping for a couch and a coffee table by having his swipe file as furniture…more time to write, I guess. 

Or maybe there was something divine in what he was doing with his swipes: Jim being such a spiritual man, having those mailing pieces in the open might have allowed their true essence to emit brilliance into the air (and then into his head) without a steel cabinet blocking that part of the creative process. 

I repeat…the guy had direct mail as furniture! 

How’s that for dedication? 

As I mentioned above, Jim was in touch with me in the months leading up to the “Titans of Direct Response” event…we even started planning to have him show up as a surprise guest…but it was not to be. 

When he knew he couldn’t make the trip, he said: 

“Announce at ‘Titans’ that Jim Rutz is open for business…and I’m ready for an assignment!” 

He hadn’t done much for years but in those phone calls, he was getting excited to jump back in. 

He loved this business and his craft so much. 

I remember feeling re-inspired on those phone calls, not knowing he would be gone a short time later. 

I made an announcement from the stage about Jim being ready to reignite… I’m sad now thinking that he never got to fulfill on his comeback. 

But Jim’s work lives on and if you’re serious about becoming a better marketer/copywriter, you want to learn from the best. See the P.S. 

Here’s a tease from Read This or Die…some packages that were memorable to me: 

“What will you do with your $12,000 Tax Cut This Year?” was for Boardroom’s newsletter Tax Hotline (and on this package, we discovered future Titan copywriter David Deutsch who worked on this promotion with Jim) 

“Limo Larry and Champagne Cherie” was a big winner for the largest circulation consumer newsletter in America at the time, Bottom Line/Personal 

About trying to emulate him: 

My good friend and one of the best copywriters in the world today, Parris Lampropoulos, the man with more file cabinets of mailing packages than anyone I know, said of Jim (and I am paraphrasing from a phone conversation): 

“Most of the great copywriters are easy to read, study and pick up things that you can incorporate into your own style…but not Rutz. You read his stuff, don’t understand how he came up with the concept or the execution of the concept, and all you can do is sit back and marvel at it.” 

But as we spoke further, we realized that there were so many things in Jim’s copy and the way he weaved a story that could be applied despite the fact that we knew no one could ever write like him.

Frankly, if I tried to mail a billion promotion pieces (like I have in my lifetime) without world class copy from the greats like Jim Rutz, I would have been out of business before I mailed a million. 

He also trained many of the greats. 

John Carlton, one of my heroes, posted this about Jim after he passed away: 

“Jim was a brutal taskmaster, an over-the-top great teacher, and one of the most skilled ‘pure’ writers I ever met. Also one of the most eccentric. And while he and I existed in completely different worlds, his advice for me to let my freak flag fly (not his words, of course) helped me create my own global reputation.” 

Jim left us with some of the greatest promotion copy ever written…a compensation model that every copywriter today should thank Jim it exists…direct mail formats that he innovated…and dozens of “A list” copywriters who couldn’t easily copy him but were his prized students. 

I am not a religious man but I know Jim is even closer to God now…and they were already pretty tight down here on earth too. 

Warmly, 

Brian 

P.S. Read This or Die: The Lost Files of Jim Rutz, is available right now, all on one USB thumb drive, in a protective plastic case.

It includes over 200 swipe files, most written by Jim, but some we could not confirm—and those are in their own section called “Jim Rutz’s Furniture.”

These are promotions from the largest direct mail companies in the world…and also pieces of “Rutz selling Rutz” (e.g ads selling Jim’s services, by Jim, to prospective new clients in the early days)…and assorted other pieces for the “Open Church” and some smaller mailers he took on pro bono.

There are selected letters to Jim from some people you will recognize—our “Dear Jim” section.

There is also a “Jim Rutz live” section—an interview he did with the great Clayton Makepeace and an exclusive webinar that I did with John Carlton and David Deutsch (i.e. Jim “almost live”).

The three copywriters who were my partners on the product wrote intros to each of the sections (financial, health, general consumer, business etc) plus an appendix with “The Lost Files Headlines” for easy reference when you are struggling for a subject line, headline or copy platform.

This is a reference tool for a lifetime and I am proud to bring it to you today.

You can order here.

P.P.S. Send me your thoughts on Rutz—whether you just heard of him by reading this today or if you have any memories of him I can share with my online family in the future.

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