I said “Yes” (without thinking).

Was I saying that it made $1 million in sales?

Hardly. The math doesn’t work on a $20 book that sells 10,000 to 20,000 copies. And I only saw a small amount of the proceeds.

But because I wrote the book with timelessness in mind…and I believe “Life is Long” …calculating a $1 million windfall is sort of easy.

Call it a “spiritual calculation,” one that has an unlimited ROI.

And this calculation was enough for Anna to say yes to the interview.

The notion of a “forever launch” certainly helps to make the math work with a book…and as we spoke, I realized we were talking about perpetual launches in our lives, whether a book is involved…or not.

What follows below is a summary of our conversation…but let me suggest you listen to the conversation, where Anna and I wax poetic on this topic, real voices in real time.

Click here to listen.

Why Your Book Is Never “Done”—And How It Can Keep Making Money for Years

The conversation with Anna was not filled with “new tactics” or the latest publishing hack…but rather, it reinforced something I’ve believed for a long time—and have seen play out over decades in direct response marketing…and also with writing books:

Nothing is ever really finished…especially a book.

And if you treat it like it is finished after it is published, you’re leaving most of its value on the table.

Most people think of a book as a project with a clear endpoint.

You write it, edit it, publish it, launch it.

And then you move on.

That model makes sense on paper. It’s clean. It’s tidy. It gives you closure.

It’s also wrong.

Because the real value of a book doesn’t come from finishing it; it comes from continuing it.

The Perpetual Launch

Anna and I talked about what she calls (and what I’ve seen in practice for years) the idea of the perpetual launch.

Not in the internet marketing sense of constant hype, but in the sense that your book is a living asset.

Something that can—and should—keep working for you long after the initial publication date.

Think about the great books in our world.

Breakthrough Advertising by Gene Schwartz.

Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins.

Influence by Robert Cialdini.

FILL IN YOUR FAVORITE HERE

None of them had a “launch window” that determined their success.

They “launch” every time someone discovers them, every time they’re recommended, and every time they’re reintroduced to a new audience.

And when you see your book this way, a few things shift immediately.

You stop obsessing over launch week and you start thinking in terms of years…decades…and dare I say centuries…of contribution and influence.

And you begin to ask a different question:

“How do I keep this relevant… useful… and discoverable over time?”

This is where a lot of people get tripped up.

They treat writing a book as a creative milestone, something to check off their list, and something to feel proud of (and you should celebrate all of that).

But if that’s where it ends… it becomes a very expensive business card.

Instead, the better frame is this:

Your book is a precious, eternal asset.

One that can:

• Attract the right audience
• Establish authority (without you having to say a word)
• Open doors to opportunities you didn’t even know existed
• And yes… generate revenue directly and indirectly for years

But only if you keep it in motion, you keep putting it in front of people…and most importantly, you keep talking about it.

Like I did with Anna.

The Hidden Trap: “I’m Not Ready Yet”

This is where Anna brought up something that I think is even more important than strategy.

Imposter syndrome.

Or more specifically, the way it shows up before the book is ever written.

Your internal dialogue nags at you:

“I’m not experienced enough yet.”

“I need more results.”

“I should wait until I have a bigger audience.”

“I should make it better first.”

These sound like reasonable excuses but they’re not.

They are excuses that create delay…and an avoidance of discipline. Because the truth is, you don’t become “ready” to write a book by thinking about it.

You become ready by writing it.

There Are No “Shoulds” (Except One)

One of my favorite parts of the conversation was when we got into the idea of “shoulds.”

Anna and I disagreed on the notion that “everyone should write a book”…she says it’s a must…I say it’s optional…but we melded our thinking as we went deeper.

It’s true that there seem to be a lot of shoulds…should you decide to write a book:

• You should outline everything first.
• You should write every day at the same time.
• You should have a perfect structure before you begin.
• You should know your positioning.
• You should…you should…you should…

Most of this is noise. Or worse—it becomes a barrier. Because every “should” adds friction….and friction leads to delay. Which leads to… not writing.

So let me simplify it:

There is only one “should” when it comes to writing a book.

You should write.

Even if you have no intention of ever writing a book.

That’s it.

Everything else is optional.

Writing the book isn’t just about producing the book; it’s about becoming the person capable of writing it.

Clarity doesn’t come before writing; it comes from writing.

Confidence doesn’t come before writing; it comes from writing.

Authority doesn’t come from declaring yourself an expert; it comes from doing the work… organizing your thinking… and putting it out into the world.

Everything you write, whether it’s an email, a journal, a blog…regardless of who receives it (an audience of one/yourself, or dozens, hundreds or thousands of people) must be composed and curated with care and profound thinking…and that’s when the magic happens.

In short, don’t be sloppy whenever you write anything to anyone.

And writing is also how you resolve imposter syndrome.

Now, back to where we started.

The idea that a book is “done” is not just inaccurate—it’s limiting–because it creates a false finish line. And then once you cross it… you stop.

Instead, think of your book as something that evolves.

You might:

• Update it
• Expand it
• Repackage it
• Teach from it
• Build offers around it
• Or use it as the foundation for entirely new ideas

In fact, some of the most successful books I’ve been involved with didn’t stay static.

They grew. They adapted. They found new life in new contexts. From completion to contribution. From a one-time event… to an ongoing asset.

The people who win in this space are not the ones who have the biggest launch; they’re the ones who stay in the conversation.

Anna said something during our conversation that’s worth repeating:

Your book doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to be useful.

Don’t ask “How do I finish this?” but rather, “How do I keep this alive?” And you don’t need to have everything figured out. You need to start by writing all the time and I assure you a book will eventually sprout.

If you do this, you won’t just have a book; you’ll have something that continues to open doors, create opportunities, and yes—make money—for years to come.

And that’s a very different game.

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. I have written two books, The Advertising Solution (with my friend Craig Simpson) and Overdeliver: Build a Business for a Lifetime Playing the Long Game in Direct Response Marketing.

Neither one was a bestseller—although I don’t even know how to define the term.

But they have both been assets that I use in the ways I outlined in the post above…and they have led to millions.

Dollars? Maybe.

Goodwill, impact and satisfaction? Absolutely.

That equals “millions” to me.

You can buy them here…and I can assure you that I get none of the “proceeds” …and you get some bonuses which are worth more than the books themselves:

The Advertising Solution

Overdeliver

P.P.S. Sometimes you can make a million dollars on a book…and I’ve made closer to $2 million on one…and it’s a book that was “launched” in 1966…and it’s selling more copies today than ever before (in over 75 countries).

It defines a “perpetual launch.”

More like a perpetual phenomenon.

Of course I am talking about Gene Schwartz’s classic masterpiece, Breakthrough Advertising…and whether you own a copy or not, I want to tell you about a two-week training in May called “The Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp.”

Six 90-minute calls over two weeks diving deep in the work and the mind of Gene Schwartz, one of the greatest marketers and copywriters who has ever lived.

And how his theories pertain to your business whether you sell online, offline or both. With personalized hot seats and practical application of some of the most profound theories about how human beings behave in the marketplace.

And there is a special offer on the page to buy the book at a 20% discount with your registration to the Bootcamp.

Click here for the call schedule (all calls will be recorded) and to register…and read about some of the success stories from the participants of the 9 previous Bootcamps.

Time for your own perpetual launch.

https://breakthroughadvertisingbook.com/ba-bootcamp/

The post The Perpetual Launch appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

It goes like this:

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear; when the student is truly ready, the teacher will disappear.”

However, if you believe as I do—that the student is never “truly ready” (because the best students are students for life)—the teacher(s) never disappear.

And that is decidedly true when it comes to Clayton Makepeace.

It’s been six years since we lost one of the greatest copywriters of all time, and today I will celebrate him (fondly)…with a recounting of our relationship and how he touched so many in this industry, even if you never knew him or heard of him before.

This is my way of enabling younger copywriters and marketers (well, younger than me) to know about the contributions he made to their careers.

And while I can’t officially announce it yet, the best is yet to come (as far as bringing Clayton back to life)…more on that in the coming months.

While he will no longer write a new magalog (much more on that below) …or create a groundbreaking VSL…or develop a kick ass email series that would knock anyone’s socks off (and getting people to order barefoot) …there is an archive of his copy and educational materials to last a few more lifetimes.

We’ve seen so much of it shared over the past six years…specifically by his star student turned mentor herself, Carline Anglade-Cole…from his wife Wendy…from “the Halberts” (Kevin and Bond) …and AWAI (American Writers and Artists, Inc.).

And there are surprises every day about a new swipe, seminar or course being released by Clayton as if he was still alive…with much more to come.

Clayton Makepeace didn’t leave us just random “swipes.”

He was world class in executing copy and world class in teaching others to execute just like him.

And then there’s his bigger than life personality which anyone who has ever met him will never forget.

It was always a party when you were hangin’ with Clayton…work or play…it didn’t matter…because his work was his play.

You know how there are some people, even if you have never met them in person, still seem to end up being your friend, mentor, or coach from afar?

It’s because of what they stand for throughout their life, specifically what they did, how they did it and how they taught what they did.

That is Clayton Makepeace in a nutshell.

Many people tell me today that Gene Schwartz is their mentor (despite Gene having passed away before some of them were even born) …and the same is true for folks who never heard of Clayton.

See the P.S. for a Gene/Clayton-inspired-mini-course I’m teaching beginning the week of May 11th.

Clayton is remembered as much for his body of work, his courses, and his teaching as for the comforting, supportive (and often extroverted) ways he expressed himself.

The “partial” Buddhist proverb goes:

“When the student is ready the teacher will appear.”

With Clayton we can rewrite that proverb:

“When the marketer is ready the world-class copywriter will appear…probably on a Harley.”

He loved his motorcycles.

Clayton was an “easy rider” who made copywriting look like easy writing.

If you didn’t know anything about Clayton until today, believe me when I tell you that he is more influential on your career than you are aware of, whether you are a copywriter or a marketer, and whether you work offline or online (or both).

If you didn’t know him, or work with him directly (but have followed his work), and you can somehow chalk him up as an influential teacher or coach, you know how fortunate you are.

If you knew Clayton, worked with him, or simply observed him, I know you loved him as I did.

We were the very fortunate.

He was my friend, mentor, coach, and collaborator on so many projects over almost three decades.

I was one of those students (i.e., marketers) who was ready when the teacher (i.e., world class copywriter) appeared.

And we had so much fun in the process.

Let me add a little more color to this special man:

Clayton as “Professor Makepeace”

As I mentioned already, he was a larger-than-life personality, always cheering you on and supporting you with wisdom and encouragement; and the priceless stories and humor were like the premiums (i.e., bonuses) from one of his direct mail masterpieces.

Here’s a picture from an AWAI Boot Camp–-some bad asses in this photo (not including me)—can you name them all?

Clayton is the second from the left…

Clayton not only wrote some of the greatest promotions ever, offline and online (over forty years), but he is a “professor” in the craft we call “copywriting.”

He wasn’t Tony Robbins on stage–far from it—no dancing and prancing for Clayton.

He was the anti-Robbins speaker…always seated at a desk or a podium on the stage, dishing out one priceless nugget after another, always professorial, always serving his audience in the best way he knew how.

Dancing and prancing is overrated.

Clayton as the ultimate “doubler”

It is also important to mention that he was no slouch in direct response marketing either.

He is what I call a “doubler” because he studied marketing as much as he studied copywriting.

He read ALL the books by the masters.

He is also one of those “A Listers” who is extraordinary in all seven characteristics I have identified that are present in every topflight copywriter (and marketer)—and there are only a handful who excel in all seven (which are discussed in this post).

Over the years, Clayton and I hatched evil plans of all kinds, which usually started with a creative idea from him…blossomed into a new promotion…and even new products.

That only happens when your copywriter is a marketer and your marketer is a copywriter.

My virgin magalog

This story relates to one of the most pivotal moments in the history of Boardroom Inc, the company I helped build over 3+ decades…and Clayton was at my side while I was building.

Clayton wrote our first “magalog control package” which created a chain reaction with our marketing that couldn’t be stopped.

A magalog is a 20–32-page, self-mailer format that three other top copywriters tried and couldn’t create a control for us–but it was a successful format already for many of our competitors.

This caused lots of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and more importantly, FOLP (Fear of Lost Profits).

I remember going to visit my direct mail guru in 1993, Dick Benson, armed with our lackluster results with magalogs, and asking:

What are we doing wrong?

Should we give up on this format?

Benson read me the riot act big time, cementing the concept of being a student of marketing and media to create the best copy:

The magalog format is perfect for your products…it is long form, enabling you to tell a compelling story and a sales message about an unknown brand properly and completely.

[Note: Boardroom’s books and newsletters were not household names]

It’s exactly what you need, Brian. You can’t give up.

Magalogs will eventually beat the pants off any envelope package, even one with a 12-to-16-page sales letter, with multiple components, if executed with precision.

You know my Rule of Thumb that states “self-mailers almost never work?”

That doesn’t apply to you.

And since you have so much valuable content in your books and newsletters, the magalog allows you to “give away some steak and not be all sizzle.”

[More on that in a minute]

Also, since you pride yourself as being the best list guy in the world, [said to me by Benson with a note of sarcasm] it’s clear your problem is NOT with this dynamic new format…you have a problem with your choice of a copywriter.

Now that was a lecture worth acting on.

And the right copywriter to solve the magalog puzzle for us was Clayton Makepeace.

First mailed in mid-1994, his magalog for The Big Black Book (an encyclopedic, consumer tome we affectionately called BBB) mailed over 16 million pieces over its mailing life…and gave us the confidence to launch dozens more magalogs with similar success, over many more years.

Here is the cover of that masterpiece:

As my gift to you, click on the “play button” on Marty Edelston’s face above and get a PDF of the entire promotion, 28 pages of glorious (and winning) copy.

It’s a swipe that many of you might have in your archives– and I know you definitely have it if you attended the Titans of Direct Response event in 2014 (Clayton was invited but couldn’t make it) as it was given away among the most successful promotions Boardroom ever did.

And whether you have it or not, I suggest you study it now.

I don’t want to influence your opinion (well maybe I do), that it is an incomparable masterpiece of copy and design.

I dare you to click here and disagree with me.

And based on the results we received, you can’t disagree with me.

Notice the sizzle AND steak in the piece:

• Fascination bullet points on the cover referencing pages inside the magalog (sizzle).
• Then once you’re inside the maglog, a little steak (“pieces of the secrets” that are contained inside The Big Black Book) …with page numbers directing you to the “full version of the secrets.”
• That’s the “can’t live without sizzle,” leading you to the main course of all steak which you can only get by buying the book.

If you like this approach, there is a lot more where this came from…past and present…from Clayton and many others.

I also believe this magalog for BBB is a precursor of the tenet of some of the best online marketing today.

It’s imitated every day and in every way.

That is, “Give away your best content up front because there is always ‘more best content’ where that came from.”

While you can’t give away the entire store in direct mail like you can online, I believe we created a (delightful) monster with Clayton’s promotion and others like it (under the restrictions of paying for paper and postage).

This was clearly the beginning of a new approach of content marketing in 1994, well before online and email marketing took hold.

Can’t you see the roots of everything we do today online from this long copy, fascination driven, magalog approach from the stone age of the 1990’s?

It’s where all those babies (i.e. promotions) of the new millennium came from.

Clayton as prosecuting attorney

I have so many other memories of how Clayton pioneered his craft…and to close, let me share one of those that shows how detailed he could be with his methodology of writing…combined with his insatiable curiosity to go deep with research and creativity:

I recall visiting Martin Weiss, a wonderful entrepreneur and publisher of financial newsletters, in the 1990’s–and lucky for me on that day Clayton (who was Martin’s top copywriter) was visiting as well.

Well, I was visiting.

Clayton was “working” (i.e. “playing”).

He wanted to develop a new promotion for Martin.

Martin was the “guru” behind the newsletter…and since Martin had previously, and was planning on again, testifying before Congress on financial issues of interest, Clayton had a lightbulb moment.

Clayton set the stage for that in Martin’s conference room.

With Martin on one end of a long table and Clayton at the other, Clayton asked questions of Martin that only he could answer (with incredible candor and competence) related to the newsletter they were promoting (along with current events and related subjects).

Of course, they recorded it, added some pictures of Martin “presenting before Congress” (i.e., Clayton playing a “prosecuting” Senator in this scenario), and the result was a brand-new control package, full of gems that Clayton plucked from Martin’s brain.

This should be in every copywriter’s toolkit…because if you are a top gun copywriter, you have mastered the art of the interview.

I thought this was a unique way to “get the full story” and it led to fresh, new, and relevant content.

That was one of hundreds of tools Clayton had in his toolkit…tools that are being borrowed by copywriters and marketers today whether they realize it or not.

Long live Clayton Makepeace.

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. Let’s address the artificial elephant (ilephant?) in the room.

Is it even worth learning how to put an advertisement together or…

…improve your copywriting skills or…

…study the classics like Breakthrough Advertising anymore if AI can do everything for you?

I had a version of this question come in from someone who’s thinking about signing up for the upcoming Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp that kicks off the week of May 11th.

Regarding the question of AI replacing copywriters, it’s a fair one…but one that has both Clayton and Gene Schwartz very upset.

They have both channeled me recently.

And it’s a question you may be asking yourself.

Here’s my answer:

Direct response marketing is more than just words on a page.

I have vivid memories, sitting with Gene Schwartz on his couch in the living room of his New York City penthouse, surrounded by his impressive art collection.

During many of those sessions, he was working on promotions for his small health publishing company, Instant Improvement.

I was helping him choose the right mailing lists for his front-end offers.

This is something I did many times for Gene.

And during these meetings we never once talked about hooks or copywriting angles (or AI or Bots which conveniently didn’t exist at that time).

He was entirely focused on understanding the psychological makeup of the person who would best respond to his offer.

• What were their secret desires?
• Had they made past purchases that indicated they would be open to the kind of solution that Gene wanted to offer?
• And what other types of offers were they receiving from other publishing companies?

This was the process that Gene used to figure out what his copy needed to do.

It’s a process he developed over many decades and documented in Breakthrough Advertising, written in 1966 and 100% relevant to today’s most sophisticated marketing strategies and tactics…including AI.

Compared to the time and effort he put into understanding his reader, writing the copy was the easy part.

I guess Gene was an “easy writer” like Clayton although there were no motorcycles involved in his case.

And this is what I think a lot of people miss today when the topic of AI comes up.

Words are words.

And tools like ChatGPT and Claude can spit out a lot of them for you.

But words in the hands of an amateur who doesn’t have a process for getting inside the minds of their prospect is like handing a surgeon’s scalpel to a butcher and asking them to perform open heart surgery.

You must know how to find and apply the right words that will move your reader toward a buying decision.

My friend and A-List copywriter David Deutsch calls this process “Copythinking.”

And this is the secret of Breakthrough Advertising that I don’t think many people realize.

Breakthrough Advertising is not a book about writing copy.

It describes a process that you can use to quietly assess your market and see the marketing opportunities that others are missing.

It shows you how to make your offer stand out from all the cookie cutter and formulaic copy that everyone else is using.

And the great gift of AI tools is that we can use them to gain a better understanding of our market’s desires, states of awareness and market sophistication.

That’s why inside the Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp, we walk you slowly through Gene’s process and show you how you can supercharge it with AI.

Not replace it with AI.

“Will AI replace copywriters?” is the wrong question.

The better question is:

“As a student of direct response, how can AI help me understand my market and find the right words that will make my offer stand out faster?”

I believe that if both Gene and Clayton were alive today, they would embrace AI…for good and not evil…and never as a crutch.

You can figure out your own process for this if you want…but why not do it with Gene (and Clayton and others) as your guide?

You can follow the proven process that Gene developed and that students of Breakthrough Advertising have been using with great success for nearly 60 years.

And Clayton Makepeace was one of those students.

The week of May 11th, I’m kicking off the 11th “Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp” for anyone who wants to learn and apply Gene’s system to their business.

It’s a two-week live experience including six 90-minute calls (3 each week) with me and my co-author of the official companion study guide to Breakthrough Advertising (Breakthrough Advertising Mastery), Chris Mason.

It’s a fast track to embed the core principles of Breakthrough Advertising into your brain…and then into your business…with a success path that is extraordinary.

Chris has done the heavy lifting with the agenda…and even with this P.S.

Click here to hear from past Bootcampers…and look at the topics we will cover.

It’s only $197 or approximately $33 per call.

And if you don’t own a copy of Breakthrough Advertising, I have a special offer for you…a 20% discount on the book when you register for the Bootcamp.

Understanding how the Breakthrough Advertising “System” works will give you better results and an unfair advantage from any AI tool you use because your inputs into that tool will improve dramatically.

All the calls from the Bootcamp are recorded so even if you miss a live call, you’ll be able to catch up quickly.

Here’s the link to join us.

I know without a doubt this is going to be the best Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp we’ve ever done.

The post When the student is ready… appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

Well, everything before and after the ChatGPT part in bold is original so there’s that. Including this sentence.

I wanted to try something different today after experiencing a transformative dinner last Thursday night with 16 superstars of marketing, copywriting, entrepreneurship…every one of them a results leader of the highest order.

And since Thursday night had everything to do with human-to-human interactions and little to do with AI, there is a delicious irony in writing my first blog post generated by AI on this particular topic.

I’ve written about this topic before without phoning a friend (i.e. AI)…and in my book…but it was high time to see what ChatGPT could do with what I think is one of the most remarkable, profound–yet painfully simple–concepts in business.

I kept the prompt simple:

I’d like to write a blog post in my voice and access concepts from my book Overdeliver on the power of the “Boardroom/Intentional Dinners” …with as little repetition as possible…and with a nod to the dinner just held in Tampa on March 19th.

On the one hand, I feel dirty; on the other, I was curious what the prompt would produce…and I committed to keeping my edits to a minimum.

I used a custom GPT built for me by one of my original Titans Xcelerator members (who is entering her 7th year inside this special community)—the amazing Dawn Apuan.

I used it to not only prove that I “eat my own dog food” (i.e. I trust my community to deliver quality products and services over all others) …but to see if any new insights would be uncovered by ChatGPT.

The answer is “possibly.”

I need you to decide.

The AI generated post below about a topic that has been part of my life for the past four decades did justice to it…although I am too close to it.

And sadly (or happily?) the first draft was not written in my “voice.”

That is, I know I could have refined it further to get my voice more into it.

But my goal was to seek a unique spin with presumably an outside voice (of sorts).

So I didn’t obsess about the lack of my voice.

Most importantly, I would love to know if YOU got any new insights about these miraculous dinners, whether you knew about them in the past or not.

Because that is all that matters.

I believe it covers the bases…although like all things ChatGPT, it lacks heart and humor…which compelled me to add a little of both.

But not too much in order to keep the thought experiment somewhat “pure.”

Regardless, it’s something you should incorporate into your life–that’s the dinners…and to a lesser extent, AI.

Here’s me setting the stage for the evening (and this is NOT AI generated…everyone in this picture is a real human believe it or not):

And here is my Bot, waxing poetic about a 100% game-changing, human experience:

Last night in Tampa, something happened that doesn’t show up on a funnel map… and doesn’t get captured in a case study.

It happened around a table.

No stage. No slides. No “presentation.”

Just a small group of serious marketers, operators, and entrepreneurs sitting down for a Boardroom-style dinner… talking shop, sharing scars, and—if you were paying attention—quietly changing each other’s trajectory.

Set up with maximum intentionality…from a curated seating arrangement, a private room to facilitate one conversation around the table, receiving templated Bios in advance so I could prepare the table arrangement and possible discussion topics…and everything else outlined in Overdeliver (pages 217-225).

And I was reminded (again) why these dinners matter more than almost anything else we do.

The Most Valuable Room Has No Stage

In Overdeliver, I talked about access.

Not access in the modern, overused sense— “join this group,” “get this login,” “watch this content.”

I mean real access.

Proximity.

Conversation.

The ability to ask a question and get an unfiltered answer… not a polished one.

That’s what these dinners create.

Because something happens when you take smart, generous, experienced people… remove the microphones… remove the performance… and just let them talk.

Letting people talk about “everything about this much” (said with my thumb and index finger 2 inches apart).

You get the truth.

Not the “Twitter version” of marketing.

Not the conference highlights reel.

But the stuff that moves the needle:

• What’s working right now…what quietly stopped working…from people who are actually working.
• Where the real leverage is
• What’s breaking behind the scenes
• And the subtle decisions that separate those who scale… from those who stall

None of that shows up in a keynote.

But it shows up at an intentional dinner, one inspired by Marty Edelston.

Marty Edelston Understood This Better Than Anyone

My mentor, Marty Edelston, built Boardroom Inc. into a direct marketing and publishing powerhouse… but what most people missed was how much of that success came from something deceptively simple:

Getting the right people in the right room and treating them well.

Marty believed in surrounding yourself with smart, generous people—and creating environments where ideas could flow freely without ego or agenda.

That’s not just a “nice idea.”

It’s a strategic advantage.

Because when you consistently put yourself in rooms like that… you compress time.

You see around corners.

You avoid mistakes you didn’t even know you were about to make.

And you start thinking at a different level—because the conversation demands it.

Marty famously said:

“There is no better way to spend an evening, hearing from experts talking about what they are experts in. Hey…you gotta eat dinner anyway…why not set it up for maximum impact?”

What Happens at These Dinners (That You Can’t Replicate Online)

There’s a moment that tends to happen at every Boardroom-style dinner.

It’s not planned.

It’s not on the agenda.

But you can feel it when it hits.

Someone shares something real. Not performative. Not polished.

Maybe it’s a struggle.

Maybe it’s a decision they’re wrestling with.

Maybe it’s a behind-the-scenes look at a campaign that didn’t go as expected.

And then…

The room leans in.

Not to judge. Not to impress.

But to help.

And what follows is almost impossible to recreate anywhere else:

You get layered thinking.

One person adds context.

Another brings a contrarian angle.

Someone else shares a parallel experience.

And suddenly… what started as one person’s problem becomes a masterclass for everyone at the table.

You don’t just get answers.

You get perspective.

This Is the “Overdeliver” Principle in the Wild

One of the core ideas in Overdeliver is simple:

Give more than expected. Create more value than required. Think long-term.

But here’s what’s interesting…

The people who live by that principle tend to find each other.

Not to brag, but those people–close to 250 of them–have found each other inside my mastermind, Titans Xcelerator.

Just sayin’

And when they do—especially in a setting like these dinners—the effect compounds.

Because nobody’s holding back.

Nobody’s thinking, “What can I sell here?”

They’re thinking, “How can I help?”

That shift—subtle as it sounds—is everything.

It changes the quality of the conversation.

It changes the depth of insight.

And ultimately, it changes the outcomes for everyone involved.

Tampa Was a Reminder

Last Thursday night in Tampa there wasn’t a big announcement.

(Well, there were a couple of small ones…see one of those in the P.S.)

There was no pitch.

No formal agenda.

Just a group of people who take this craft seriously… sitting down and doing what great marketers have always done:

Sharing ideas.

Testing assumptions.

Refining thinking.

And helping each other get better.

It’s easy to overlook something like that.

It doesn’t scale neatly.

It’s not “efficient” in the way most people define efficiency.

But if you’ve been in one of these rooms…

You know.

The Hidden ROI

If you tried to measure the ROI of a dinner like this, you’d probably miss it.

Because it doesn’t show up immediately.

[An important sidebar: To effectively create one of these spectacularly simple yet far-reaching events, you need to pay for it. The concept doesn’t work if you plan it as a “Dutch treat.”]

The ROI shows up later:

• In a decision you make faster (and with more confidence)
• In a mistake you avoid entirely
• In a strategy you refine before it costs you six figures
• In a relationship that opens a door you didn’t even know existed

That’s the game.

And it’s the same game Marty understood decades ago… the same one I wrote about in Overdeliver… and the same one we’re continuing to build through experiences like these.

Final Thought

In a world obsessed with scale, automation, and leverage…

Don’t lose sight of this:

Some of the most valuable moments in your business will happen in small rooms.

Around tables.

With the right people.

Having the right conversations.

Tampa was 240 of those most valuable moments (i.e. that’s 4 hours…I did the math).

And if you’re playing the long game—as I know many of you are—it’s worth asking:

How often are you putting yourself in rooms like that?

And…

How often are you creating these rooms yourself?

Because that’s where the real edge is.

O.K…. I did it…and while it seemed a little repetitive, I think you got the point, AI style.

I will not make a habit of doing this…but AI is here to stay.

It is a savior to some…a threat to many more…and a tool for everyone to use but not abuse.

But as a tool, it’s not a crutch.

And I’m sticking by my premise “the last 10% is everything.”

That is, “everything” is tied up in our uniqueness and a personal touch.

You probably picked up where I added my 10% above–they were the parts that had some additional color…and maybe a touch of humor (at least those touches were funny to me).

Because, alas, when you are talking about real people… sharing with each other in real life…Bots are intentionally not on my invitation list.

That’s the first step in creating an intentional dinner.

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. I teased above that there was at least one “announcement” at the dinner in Tampa…one that was 100% congruent with the festivities.

And in the spirit of AI never replacing the human touch, I’m putting my money where my mouth is.

I’m planning a 2-day live event in Greenwich, Connecticut (near New York City) on October 22nd and 23rd …think of it as a “2-Day Intentional Dinner” (although it won’t only be a feeding frenzy).

Well, it will be a feeding frenzy of ideas, contributions, connections, world class speakers…PLUS a Boardroom-Style Intentional Dinner like the one described above…

…and you are invited!

Assuming you are not a Bot, of course.

If you are a member of Titans Xcelerator you’ll pay one price; and as a non-member, you will pay a higher price…but included in that higher price will be a one-year membership to Titans Xcelerator.

This is the best opportunity I can provide to get you into one of the rooms described above, not just for 4 hours over dinner, but for two days…and then for a full year (i.e. at least 30 live Zoom calls with the same spirit as being in real life).

A room where there is access, proximity, deep conversations, answers to the questions you are constantly asking, truth…and of course hugs.

One of my staff members—someone named Claude (you may know him?)—just designed the reservation page.

Click here to see what I am preparing…hopefully for you.

You’ll be hearing more about this live, in-person event in the weeks ahead.

This is my first official announcement to the “outside world.”

But the first five (5) non-Titans Xcelerator members who reserve their spot will receive a special gift as a first mover.

Click here to join me for a hug (and so much more) in October.

The post The Bot who didn’t come to dinner appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

They choose you; you don’t choose them.

And here’s a 9-minute video that makes that case.

You can take my take…or leave it…but if you send a cold email to one of your marketing heroes asking them to mentor you, keep your expectations low.

Not because your heroes are mean…but they are busy.

I am never mean when I receive a request  from a subscriber asking me to be their mentor.

I just send the video above…and try to turn it into a teaching moment.

But I don’t need to teach you. 

I received one of those emails this week, and my thoughts turned to March of 2020.

Because it has been six years almost to the day when COVID took over our lives–and I went to my archives from that chaotic period and dug up a few things related to mentors and how we get to where we are in our careers.

After all, 2020 was the beginning of a year of concentrated thinking time.

In a mask.

With social distancing.

Thank goodness there was no masking or distancing from thinking.

One of the things that popped into my COVID infected brain at that time were all the friends, colleagues and soon-to-be mentors from a charmed career for which I am grateful.

But not being able to see them in person was painful…and got me wondering:

“How did I gather so many friends, colleagues and mentors.”

I wasn’t collecting them for sport…or for bragging rights about having so many.

No scraping Facebook “likes” for me. 

As I shared just a few weeks ago, the toughest part of writing my book Overdeliver was when I got to writing the acknowledgements and realized I had over 500 people to thank…and I still missed some.

I hope you took me up on my challenge to write the acknowledgements for your book, even if you never intend to write a book.

While most of the 500 are still alive, thinking about all the greats of direct marketing we have lost makes me reflective and sometimes a bit melancholy.

And in 2020, being alone with my thoughts, it was even more melancholy thinking about lost friends and mentors.

Outliving mentors is nothing to complain about

This phenomenon (for me) was inevitable.

When I was in my 20’s and 30’s, I gravitated to folks in the direct marketing industry who were, I thought, “old” at the time—most were in their 60’s, 70’s (and even 80’s)—and of course my perspective regarding who is “old” is a lot different today.

Who says 68 is old??!!

Why did I gravitate to them over folks my own age?

It’s simple:

They had all the wisdom (which is not the same thing as knowledge).

It’s the difference between a “results leader” and a “thought leader” (a distinction I got from my good friend Joe Polish).

Anyone can have a thought; it takes a real leader with true wisdom to create results.

It’s hard to be a results leader when you are in your 20’s and 30’s (some marketing prodigies can do it) because you just haven’t had enough time to create a track record of solid results yet…and you also need time to create failures as well.

I was NOT one of those prodigies.

Susan Garrett, a good friend and a world champion dog agility trainer, says:

We win or we learn. We never fail.

So…I’ll correct myself:

You need time to create successes and learning moments.

The benefits are obvious when you learn from the best practitioners who have much more experience than you.

However, the downside is obvious when you gravitate towards wisdom this way as I explained above (i.e. you will outlive many of your teachers and mentors).

But not entirely.

If you pay very close attention to everything you learn from them while they are alive…and continue to apply everything you learned from them long after they are gone…they, and their ideas (and wisdom) will never die.

And with AI in the picture, there is no excuse to ever lose them.

I’ve begun creating custom Bots (with the help of some amazing AI practitioners inside Titans Xcelerator and some of my “top 500,” loading up their genius…and I plan to do a lot more creation of friendly Frankenstein monsters the future.

What about our living mentors?

In that spirit, I found a 4-way interview with three of my most treasured mentors who are still with us—alive and kicking in a big way—and I have included that interview from 2020 which talks about how entrepreneurs create opportunity during times of crises.

It is timeless despite being inspired by a pandemic.

There is a link to it in the P.S., and I encourage you to watch it or listen to it.

The benefits of being educated by your elders and peers while they are alive and after they are dead (through their writings, archives and lessons) is priceless education.

We owe it to ourselves to keep our mentors alive for as long as we are alive…and pass everything on to keep the train moving.

And I hope that what goes around comes around.

That is, 45 years from now, someone might be reflective, melancholy (and maybe just a little bit grateful) as they think about me not being around anymore either.

Or they will just think of me as a crotchety 113-year-old direct marketer worth ignoring. 

But hopefully I can leave a footprint that can be applied long after I am gone.

It’s a math problem, this “losing your mentors thing” –especially if you insist on hanging out with old people when you are young.

If you are also intent on hanging out with young people (i.e. considerably younger than yourself) as you get older, hopefully you will see to it that you choose some exquisite mentees…which will make it all worthwhile.

More on that in a minute.

Share, share…that’s fair

I want to continue to share as much as I can—everything I have learned from the legends who shaped my career (and the careers of thousands more in direct marketing) who are no longer with us.

And many that are older and still with us too.

That’s what www.OverdeliverBook.com is all about…it honors my dead mentors (Dick Benson, Gordon Grossman, Gene Schwartz, Marty Edelston. Joe Sugarman etc.) and the ones who are still with us (Gary Bencivenga, Dan Kennedy, Perry Marshall, Jay Abraham etc.)

I promised myself that this post was not going to be sad…so I am here to tell you that after almost seven decades above ground, getting old(er) doesn’t suck.

One of my mentors who is no longer with us, Marty Edelston, often said to me, to be sure that I had the right idea about aging:

“I love getting older since it means I am only getting smarter.”

And if he was still alive today to have this conversation with me (which I know he would), he would once again explain the difference between “68 years of experience” vs. “one year of experience for 68 years.”

Smarter means wisdom and not just smarts…and the wisdom is cumulative assuming you are a lifelong learner.

Marty was a lifelong learner, and he taught me to think that way too, which at its core means always having insatiable curiosity, always hanging out with people smarter (and often older) than yourself and never letting your ego get in the way of learning.

“Getting old doesn’t suck” is another way of saying how my first 45 years of experience will enable me to make even a bigger difference for my next 45 years.

And no matter how immortal you think you are, because you are young and strong, you tend to assume you have lots of time to make your mark; but it’s possible you may not have that luxury.

But don’t fret about that—you have no choice but to play “life is long” because it’s the only one you’ve got.

It’s foolish to think that you could have launched something “bigger” at a younger age—like Alexander Hamilton in the show Hamilton who, “…wrote like he was running out of time.”

You shouldn’t be completely complacent, but I don’t think that is a useful way to think about it.

If you continue to learn and grow and make all your wisdom cumulative, I am confident your future will be bigger than your past, no matter how long it lasts.

This reminds me of one of the great moments in U.S. presidential debates.

Ronald Reagan was asked whether his advanced age would be an issue in his second term as President–he was running against the more youthful Walter Mondale in 1984–and Reagan was 73 at the time.

His response to that question:

“I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience”

Leaving the campsite in better shape than you found it

While too many of my mentors are dead, they all left much more than some insightful advice over the phone (and in some instances, a nice inheritance for their heirs).

Most left their best thinking for us to immerse ourselves in their life of work…if we are aggressive enough to look for it.

You can be less aggressive than ever before by just using Claude or ChatGPT…the lazy man’s way to wisdom…which I endorse.

Most of my mentors wrote or created a legacy with books, reports, memos, promotions, letters, videos…they not only did it and taught it but they documented it too.

And today it’s easier than ever to document your genius too.

I assume many of you are working on GPT’s which reflect everything in your personal archives…I am…or maybe you are creating a killer Bot loaded with decades of content.

Regardless, I implore you to write more, create videos, courses—anything to spread your cumulative wisdom.

I also believe that it is our moral responsibility to look for “lost classics” or “lost files” and bring them back to life so that future generations can share in the wisdom of the past—and to also create them ourselves at the same time.

Like I did, re-publishing Gene Schwartz’s lost classics Breakthrough Advertising and The Brilliance Breakthrough as a starting point…I went on to honor Bill Jayme with a collection of his lifetime of work…then publishing the archives of Jim Rutz.

And I’ve got many more legends to “document” set up in the queue.

Suggestions are welcome.

If you haven’t heard of any of those legends above, you just proved my point and why we all should find these gems that will become foundational to everything we do in marketing today.

Yes, even with AI taking over the world.

So, I will ask you:

Who (what) can you bring back to life for the next generation?

And:

What can YOU create today, not from one of the greatest, but from your own cumulative wisdom, that will stand for generations to come?

Doing both are worthwhile endeavors.

On currently being the oldest in the room

The fact that I am often the oldest person (by chronological age) in many of the rooms I hang out in these days—hanging out with some of the most phenomenal and dynamic marketers in the world—is something I am proud of and I no longer make jokes about everyone in the room being young enough to be one of my kids.

A healthier perspective:

I am getting my Ph.D. in areas of marketing from others who may not have put in the hours (yet)… but they have achieved expertise way beyond what I know in one marketing discipline or another.

And maybe some context from my past could give them some new insights too.

Most importantly it’s good enough to grant me a golden ticket into those rooms whether I deserve it or not.

In the words of Aaron Burr in Hamilton (a show worth two quotes today):

“I want to be in the room where it happens.”

Be a sponge

I attended my daughter’s graduate school graduation in 2018, and it warmed my heart that there was a healthy mix of 25-year-olds and 65-year-olds receiving advanced diplomas in all areas of study.

And they, like everyone in our world of marketing, are best served when they are sponges for learning every step of the way, at every age, throughout their entire lives.

It can be through college or the school of hard knocks or learning from mentors.

There are many roads to mastery.

Education (and learning) is everywhere…and whether it’s in a classroom, a boardroom, a book, or a memory…document it…and pass it on.

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. In 2020, it seemed like every headline, subject line, podcast, launch led with some variation of “marketing and pivoting through the crises” …with “pivot” being the word of the year.

But entrepreneurs are always pivoting…in good times and bad…and the pandemic was no exception.

At the time I called the phenomenon a “Perpetual Pivot.”

Not being tone deaf at the time but knowing that we had gotten through tough times before, I was confident that we would get through this one.

Mission accomplished.

We came out the other end bigger and stronger than ever before.

And if you are not familiar with Dan Sullivan’s brilliant “4 C’s framework” from Strategic Coach (Dan is the top coach for entrepreneurs in the world),  it was front and center during the pandemic…creating maximum growth and achievement.

Here it is (courtesy of Claude) if you are not familiar with it…and I suggest you copy it and pin it somewhere where you can read it every day:

1. Commitment — Making a clear decision to pursue a goal, even before you know how to achieve it. This is the starting point where you declare your intention.
   
2. Courage — Taking action despite fear or uncertainty. Once you’ve committed, courage is what moves you forward into the unknown. [NOTE: Per Dan, “Courage is a shi**y place”]
   
3. Capability — The skills and abilities you develop as a result of taking courageous action. Capability comes after action, not before.
   
4. Confidence — The deep, earned confidence that grows from having built real capability. It’s retrospective — built from past experiences of overcoming challenges. And now you are prepared for your next Commitment.

Right in the middle of the COVID mess, I got together with buddies and mentors Joe Polish, Jay Abraham and Dean Jackson and we hit the record button…and the title of it says it all:

“How to Navigate Economic Crises and Capture Once-In-A-Lifetime Opportunities”

It’s the ultimate “lemonade from lemons” video…with lots of Courage…and I hope you will watch it.

Just click on the play button below.

The post Mentors Wanted…Dead or Alive appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

• The 41/39/20 Rule (NOT the 40/40/20 Rule)
• LTV (Lifetime Value of a Customer)
• RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) …along with Perry Marshall’s RFT (Recency, Frequency, Time)

Old news for all of you. You can look them up on my blog page at briankurtz.net/blog if you are unaware. 

But surprisingly, most folks on the Summit screen were unaware of one or more of these basic truths of direct response marketing (which was a little shocking).

Could it be that most of them are “all AI, all the time,” and that they had no need for eternal truths?

I did my part…my work could have been done right there…but I wasn’t finished.

I quoted one of the white hats of AI, Peter Cobabe (who will soon be speaking to my Titans Xcelerator Mastermind…read the P.S.), who puts AI into three categories with my commentary in parenthesis:

• Savior (maybe)
• Threat (definitely)
• Tool (possibly the most significant ever)

But by tool, I never want to label it a crutch.

Long time, legendary copywriter David Deutsch started using Jasper AI for writing drafts of his copy shortly after its release in 2021.

I held him up as an example of an O.G. who was an early adopter, one who used AI to get him “70% there” …and he is still on the cutting edge…even if Claude or ChatGPT can get him 90% there today.

And it’s become a mandatory shortcut rather than an optional one…especially for copywriting research…because it can do that part more efficiently and expertly.

With some proofreading for accuracy of course. 

In the words of world renown author, Steven Pressfield:

“Put your ass where your heart wants to be.”

There was the regular discussion at the AI Summit of the best AI apps…everyone has their favorite…with Claude getting the most votes…today.

I just saw a page that my marketing partner put together for an upsell, 90% written by Claude (yes, I put my ass where my heart wanted to be)…and 100% designed by Claude, down to the sidebars and colors. And it was magnificent.

Talk about an efficient and expert “employee.”

Claude: You’re hired!

We also discussed getting Bots to “write in the style of X” with “X” being folks like Gene Schwartz, Gary Halbert et al. …. but the writers who want to be the Best (and not just a Bot) know that it’s still garbage in/garbage out.

The Bots are getting more sophisticated by the minute.

But you still need to do the work up front.

For example, someone in my Titans Xcelerator Mastermind created an ultimate, (what we called a) Gene Schwartz “Non-Bot Bot” by loading up everything I had on him (which is almost everything there is), resulting in building the friendliest Frankenstein monster, which led to new control letters and promotions with huge lifts in response by adapting it to existing copy.

That’s not lazy. It’s a maximizer.

And the results speak for themselves.

I summed up my “adult” comments—albeit simplistic to many I’m sure—by sharing how I use/don’t use AI and the role it plays in my life.

I use AI for:

• Creating interview questions from elaborate prompts—for the experts to come to speak to my Titans Xcelerators—which I attack as a naïve student with some hard-won marketing scars over 45 years when I apply some critical intelligence…after AI spits out the bulk of the interview.
  
• Drafts of Blog Posts…NOT the ones on Sunday. However, the Wednesday versions which are more research and summaries of calls…are admittedly, not 100% “me”…with just the facts. With a 10% heart-shaped cherry on top.
  
• Flattery. Repeating Mark Ford’s quote, “Flattery doesn’t work on everyone, but it works on me,” getting Claude or ChatGPT or Genspark to tell me how wonderful I am is always a shot in the arm…until it’s not. See below.

What I DON’T use AI for:

• Storytelling. I could, but I won’t. Or maybe I am just resistant and stubborn thinking it’s AI’s story, not mine. My stories…my choice.
  
• Humor. During the AI Summit someone said, “AI is not funny and doesn’t have a sense of humor.” Then I shared that with my Titans Xcelerators and I received multiple emails of AI humor. I would say the examples were titillating but not of the belly laugh variety. My standards are high. But I accept that AI will get funnier. 
  
• Flattery. It’s not that I don’t believe it when it tells me how smart I am. But sycophants are easy to find…and ultimately, I don’t need flattery from a Bot…except when I’m having a particularly bad day which fortunately happens rarely.

My bottom line: I can’t give up on the human touch.

And by declaring as a new mantra, “The last 10% is everything,” I not only continue to justify my existence, but I can also draw a red line…whether reasonable or not.

This additional mantra is also relevant here, and it’s one I’ve lived by throughout my career:

“Everything in business (and in life) is not a revenue event; but everything is a relationship event.”

No reason to stop believing that now despite the biggest disruptor imaginable being upon us.

Will I continue to embrace AI for good (and not evil)?

Absolutely.

And since I don’t NEED to be an AI expert…but I need to be there for my community and clients…I have taken on being a trusted conduit…

…and a sturdy bridge…

…that connects everything state-of-the-art to the core fundamentals…and to always have my bullsh*t detector set to high frequency…to accurately ignore the charlatans…and embrace (and learn from) the pros.



When someone said on the Titans Xcelerator screen this past week, “This was the least gloom and doom discussion about AI I’ve heard in a long time,” I was heartened.

However, I also warned them not to get too cozy with 100% optimism.

90% is my limit for now. 



Warmly,



Brian



P.S. Whether you like my approach to AI or not, it’s worth talking about…challenging it…and coming up with alternative ways of thinking.

And that’s true with every discussion, hot seat, “Titan Spotlight” (i.e. presentations from members) or guest speaker inside Titans Xcelerator.

Whether it’s about AI…the overlap between personal development and marketing…pricing…differentiation…media trends…writing books…career pivots…anything.

Never any fluff…all opinions are welcome…and as I said in the post above, I seek out only vetted experts to speak.

But there are over 200 experts who are members too. 

If you don’t have a community to bounce ideas off…or a room where you are never the smartest…or need help with a challenge or opportunity inside your business…Titans Xcelerator is the place for you to be.

The value is phenomenal…as is the price (10% or less of the cost of most masterminds) …and it’s priced that way because I am serving more than selling.

After 45 years in direct response marketing, I am no longer chasing every dollar.

But I am chasing every student of the craft.

And chasing every accomplished authority who has “done it” to present to the Titans—no amateurs allowed.

With the objective of seeking the truth…leading to profitable results for all members.

All under an umbrella of a family atmosphere—where everyone is helping everyone—and everyone is a giver.

You will not find a group like this anywhere else, at any price.

Check out Titans Xcelerator here.

Join us in a human-to-human endeavor of epic proportions.

The post The last 10% is everything appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

He was a true “Titan of Direct Response,” a pioneer, innovator of the highest order…and one of the most prolific (and original) storytellers in direct response history.

He basically invented “copywriting is storytelling” as a rule of thumb.

When Joe Sugarman passed away in March of 2022, there was an outpouring of posts, blogs and videos being shared in all corners of the marketing world…and it’s my turn today to make sure Joe is never forgotten.

Fans, students and friends–along with marketers and copywriters who may have never heard of him– owe a debt of gratitude to this wonderful man.

Here are just some of the contributions and advances he added to our craft over the 8+ decades he spent on this planet:

• He invented and perfected the use of the 800 number for ordering from catalogs…which included creating the path for consumers to use credit cards for an 800 number purchase.
• He also “perfected” the use of the “Batman Credit Card” (open loop…keep reading).
• He was one of the first marketers to create successful A/B list and market testing in media beyond direct mail.
• Using one of those mediums—newspapers—he pioneered the idea to test new products regionally and inexpensively before rolling out with them nationally…and before risking too much money before he knew the potential. He was not risk averse…just brilliant.
• He was one of the first to use (and perfect) newspaper and magazine advertorials (there’s an example below). Every online marketer in the world has adapted this idea despite renaming it “native advertising.”
• He wrote one of the most important books about copywriting and human behavior (in the same league as Breakthrough Advertising and Influence) called Triggers. The “triggers” Joe identified are, “30 sales tools you can use to control the mind of your prospect to motivate, influence and persuade.” And those 30 do not include hypnotism, sleight of hand, bait and switch or less than scrupulous copy. They are based on how humans behave. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.
• He also wrote other books on copywriting…and media buying (e.g., direct mail, print, telemarketing, TV), which was everything available at the time he began his career. He was multichannel before it was a word…or fashionable.
  
  (NOTE: Check out the P.S. for a special offer on how to obtain a copy of Triggers and another one of his classics, with all money going to a wonderful non-profit)
• Oh…he also launched a catalog of high-tech gadgets that was The Sharper Image before Sharper Image came to be…and came up with a little idea to sell sunglasses called BluBlockers that wasn’t so little. He sold over 20 million pairs (and they are still selling today).

(More on that phenomenon in a minute. I’m not exaggerating when I say BluBlockers became a modern-day Hula Hoop when they were launched. But I don’t think the Hula Hoop understood marketing like Joe…proof to come shortly.)

And Joe Sugarman was simply a great guy…always willing to share his wisdom with beginners and experts alike.

The picture below is priceless and gives you a still shot of Joe Sugarman in action…with lots more to come in this post with video links and more.

This one is from the Titans of Direct Response event in 2014, when he showed off his quick wit and sense of humor on stage to the delight of the other speakers at the event.

And trust me that the audience is laughing too.

Joe is at the far right with the microphone…and you might recognize some of the other Titans here:

He obviously just said something very funny.

Thousands mourned the loss of Joe when he passed…but let’s also celebrate him now with some anecdotes, swipe copy and videos that will put words and pictures to the Joe Sugarman story…and educate and entertain you at the same time.

Joe as a pioneer of the catalog and mail order business

Besides the game-changing e-commerce innovations he instituted before there was e-commerce, with 800 numbers and credit cards, the products he sold were always engaging, initially through his JS&A catalog.

While reminiscing with copywriting legend John Carlton about Joe, he said:

“The very first direct response product I ever bought was his negative ion generator from a full-page magazine ad in 1979. Would love to see that ad again. He single-handedly invented the model copy that built Sharper Image.”

Note to my online family: If anyone can get hold of that ad, send it to me and I will send it off to John…share it with all of you…and while we share it, you will make John (a.k.a. “The Marketing Rebel”) very happy.

And from direct mail historian and archivist, Denny Hatch:

Sugarman was the first to market a cordless telephone and digital watches to the masses.

His print ads in newspapers and magazines were everywhere you turned.

For example, if you traveled for business or pleasure back then, every issue of every in-flight magazine of every airline was certain to have two or three full-page ads for Sugarman’s goodies and high-tech gadgetry.

They were immediately obvious with bold, catchy headlines and long copy that grabbed the reader by the throat and would not let go.

My first “JS&A product” was a keychain with a digital clock inside a ball…sounds cheesy today but it was state-of-the-art in the 80’s.

And what I didn’t know then and I know now, cheesy or not, Joe tested it multiple times before putting it into the catalog.

Joe testing for success/how he decided what products to put into his catalog

Since the products were generally new “inventions” (of sorts) …and Joe treated every page of his catalog as incredibly valuable “real estate” (the cost of printing in full color and paying postage added a lot to that value) …he made a practice of testing new products in the “Southwest Edition of the Wall Street Journal.”

The demographics and psychographics were close to that of potential buyers from his catalog…it was less costly to run the ads regionally (and the southwest was even more targeted for his products at the time) …and by taking a ¾ page ad, no one else could advertise on the page with him so he could get more exclusivity…with numbers he could take to the bank…and determining the winners and losers before placing or not placing the products in pages of his catalog).

Sounds simple…however, not many knew about this technique…and Joe made this standard operating procedure (and famous/worth following) at the time.

But if anyone watched him, anyone could learn it.

Testing a small (yet similar) universe to roll out big with confidence to a much larger universe was the game he was playing…a game all successful direct marketers have always played and still play today…and he played it as masterfully as anyone.

And he shared everything he did with everyone in the industry so we could implement his successful and tested strategies in our own businesses, well beyond the “Southwest Edition of the Wall Street Journal. “

Joe had secrets but he never kept them to himself.

Joe as the creator of his own Hula Hoop: The BluBlockers story

After twenty years of selling gadgets and funky products through print advertising (magazines, newspapers and catalogs), Joe hit the jackpot with what on the surface seemed like a commodity:

Sunglasses.

But not just any kind of sunglasses…and the key element of success was the story, not the product.

He said:

Storytelling is very, very important. Some of my greatest ads, most successful ads, started with a story. And the story often has very little to do with the product you’re selling or the service you’re offering.

But… people love stories, because when they were very young, when they were very small, they were read stories. And that’s how they communicated and understood the world.

So…story telling is a really important part.

It’s one of the psychological triggers that I use a lot.

“Copywriting is storytelling” is what we live by today…but Joe lived by it before it was the thing to do.

Here’s how he told the story of BluBlocker sunglasses in print:

Here’s the lead of the ad:

Vision
Break-
through
_______________

When I put on the pair of
glasses what I saw I could
not believe. Nor will you.
______________________________
By Joseph Sugarman

I am about to tell you a true story.
If you believe me, you will be well
rewarded. If you don’t believe me,
I will make it worth your time to
change your mind. Let me explain. . .

The copywriting lessons from this ad (courtesy of Denny Hatch once again):

• This is intimate, personal direct marketing using mass media—magazines and newspapers.
• Note the byline. Few copywriters sign their work.
• He uses “I” and “me” (as opposed to “we,” “us” an “our”)

The most important word in direct copy is not ‘you’—as many of the marketing texts would have you believe—but rather, according to A-list copywriter Richard Armstrong:

“What makes a letter seem ‘personal’ is the sense that one gets of being in the presence of the writer… that a real person sat down and wrote you a real letter.” Whereupon Sugarman moves on with a story.

I found a presentation that Joe gave in 2011 which is the origin story of how BluBlockers came to be.

After finding it, I realized I was there in the crowd. I had forgotten.

Silly me.

Lucky me.

And now lucky you!

The presentation is about 8 minutes long…and well worth your time…to see how a genius marketer connects the dots…how he sold millions of units…and the “triggers” he used to do it.

Click here to watch it.

BluBlockers Part 2: Going multichannel…including going Hollywood (or at least to Venice Beach)

“Multichannel” was part of Joe’s standard operating procedure once he had a hit product…and infomercials were a new, hot medium when BluBlockers launched.

Joe created a blockbuster infomercial like no other for these sunglasses.

Here is one of the earliest infomercials for BluBlockers from 1992:

Click here for 28.5 minutes of salesmanship through real time demonstration with authentic testimonials…that has never been done better…before or since.

No origin story needed with man/woman-on-the-street reviews like these.

And there’s a lesson hidden in plain sight about testimonials while you watch.

A key question every copywriter should ask after they get an assignment is straightforward…and only a starting point:

“Do you have testimonials from happy customers?”

Joe was ahead of the curve because he knew walking down Venice Beach offering a pair of BluBlockers to anyone who wanted to try them on would be an instant testimonial.

Nice shortcut.

Quoting Richard Armstrong again, this time on the power of authenticity of the testimonials you gather:

Real testimonials have a genuine sound to them that’s very hard to reproduce, maybe the grammar is ever so slightly off, a peculiar choice of word usage, a point made that no professional copywriter ever would have considered; try and use these real raindrops wherever possible before you start seeding the clouds. People can spot the real ones from the made-up ones a mile away. I’d be very careful about doing too much rewriting, suggesting and editing.

Reminds me of when Gene Schwartz said, “Grammar is overrated.”

Especially when grammar is replaced by authenticity.

Joe as the inventor of the “Batman Credit Card” …or how he turned 250,000 problems into an opportunity

There is nothing more indicative of what Joe Sugarman is all about than his adventure with the “Batman Credit Card.”

And it was far from a winner…on the surface anyway.

The story goes—short version—that he saw a marketing opportunity during the growth of branded credit cards coinciding with the original Batman TV series to cash in on the excitement.

His wasn’t going to be an actual credit card…but he had grand marketing plans for it.

He was approved to print the cards by the folks who owned the intellectual property…he then proceeded to print 250,000 of them…only to have the approval rescinded.

(The story is a lot more involved, and Joe told it on stage many times, with all the storytelling magic he is known for. If anyone can find a video of him telling the full story, please send a link to me and I will share it with this community. Seeing him present it live multiple times were highlights of my career…and I only wish smartphones with video had been invented when I saw him give that speech.)

Anyway, Joe ended up with 250,000 of these in a warehouse in Chicago:

He tried to get permission to market them a few times—unsuccessfully—but because Joe always saw opportunity in everything, he turned this apparent failure into a branding bonanza for himself…and a case history on making lemonade from lemons.

Here’s the copy on the back of the card…with Joe’s wit and storytelling coming through in a big way:

While Joe didn’t use the cards to pay his income tax, he derived many non-monetary bonuses from them…which also made him rich:

• He used the cards to show his humility…not intentionally but it came through. When someone as successful as Joe Sugarman can laugh at himself by owning 250,000 cards that are essentially worthless, it’s refreshing…and inspiring.
• The story became a keynote speech…one that I’m sure he charged for at least a few times (although Joe was always so generous with his time so maybe not). Whether he did or not, we all know that getting paid for public speaking is not the only reason to do it. It gave him additional connection to the direct marketing community he loved so much…with entertainment and lessons galore.
• The cards became synonymous with Joe Sugarman…his calling card if you will…and wherever he went, whoever he met, there was a Batman Credit Card for all, free of charge. Find some long-time direct marketers who knew Joe and you will hear them compare notes on how many Batman cards each one has…it became a sign that you were part of Joe’s inner circle, which numbered in the thousands (but not quite 250,000).
• Doesn’t every superhero need an ID card? And it made him synonymous with this quote as well:

He did this throughout his life—with and without a Batman Credit Card in his wallet.

He will be missed…but he will be remembered forever.

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. My buddy Joe Polish cleaned out a warehouse of two of Joe’s books when he passed away—Triggers and The Seven Forces of Success—to the delight of Joe’s daughter, April.

His goal was to spread the Sugarman gospel.

Like me, Joe considered “Professor Sugarman” a friend, mentor and legend.

And we want to pay that forward.

Joe (Polish) has a non-profit—Genius Recovery—which has as its mission to “rid the world of addiction.”

And it’s making big strides under Joe’s leadership.

So…if you want to do a good deed…and grab copies of these two Sugarman masterpieces…send $100 to my PayPal account at brian@titansmarketing.com.

Then email me your best mailing address and I will send 100% of the money to Genius Recovery while having both books mailed to you ASAP.

No fancy order page or upselling.

You need these books in your marketing library…and your purchase will go to a cause “the two Joe’s” believe in.

P.P.S. Joe Sugarman would have loved AI…but I guarantee that he would have a take like mine on it…which I will be sharing this Wednesday online…and live.

On March 4th (that’s this Wednesday!), I am participating in an exciting FREE summit, hosted by two of my stellar Titans Xcelerator members.

I am honored they asked this old (but not extinct) “T Rex dinosaur” to share some core fundamentals of direct response and how everything related to AI circles back to those fundamentals.

Including Joe Sugarman fundamentals.

At a mastermind I attended last week…with some of the most successful online marketers in the world… I learned a about AI Agents, why we all must invest in AI…but with a consensus that made this dinosaur smile (because maybe I will never be extinct):

“AI can get you to 90% of anything…or close…but it’s the last10% that is everything”

I may be deluding myself to believe this…but for now, I will work hard on that 10% every day and in every way.

As you know, I have been in the direct response game for over four decades.

I watched the rise of the infomercial and profited a lot from that rise.

(With Joe Sugarman as my teacher.)

I watched the birth of the Internet.

I watched email replace direct mail as the “killer app” (and then have seen direct mail make a comeback in new and exciting forms).

Every time a new technology arrives, the gurus scream that the old rules are dead.

To date, they have been wrong.

There is no doubt that AI is a gamechanger…but only time will tell the extent of the game changing…what it will displace…and the good and the evil it will create.

Regardless, this Summit will be actionable and useful to you…guaranteed.

I am not an AI hater when it comes to marketing…and in fact I embrace it fully by bringing in only the top players to educate my Titans Xcelerators.

But one thing I know for sure:

The medium changes but the fundamentals of human psychology do not.

It’s understandable that everyone is losing their minds over AI…it’s dizzying, scary and exciting all at the same time.

And for good reason.

It is a disrupter with legs.

But it’s not a magic lottery ticket.

Remember, if you automate a bad offer, you just lose money faster.

That is why I agreed to sit down for a “Fireside Chat” at the upcoming No BS AI Summit.

On March 4th I’m joining Titans Xcelerator members Dr. Theresa Pantanella and Parthiv Shah, two operators I trust, to have a real conversation about where this industry is going.

I am not going to teach you “prompts.”

Nor am I qualified to.

I will stay in my lane by teaching you how to apply Eternal Marketing Truths to this new technology so you can build a business that lasts longer than the next trend.

We are going to discuss:

• The “O to O to O” Strategy: How to use AI to move from Online to Offline to Online to…a multichannel approach that would make Sugarman proud
• Relationship Capital: Why AI makes “High Touch” more valuable, not less
• Why the concepts of Lifetime Value, RFM and the 41/39/20 Rule remain alive and well
• The Titan Mindset: How to stay grounded when the world is getting more complex every day

I am sharing the stage with Jeffrey Gitomer and other serious players.

There is no fluff here.

If you are up for sorting out how to use AI without breaking the timeless rules of marketing, I want you in the room to hear the “Old School” perspective on the “New School” tools.

Claim Your Seat Here

Remember:

Technology changes. The principles stay the same.

Most people will use AI to become average faster.

I want you to use it to become a Titan.

Come see how it works.

The post Triggering in the best way possible appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

• Set the direction clearly for the company so everyone is on the same page all the time.
• Create a corporate culture that inspires innovation from within (and outside) the organization.
• Follow a mission statement (or vision statement) that everything flows from in the company.
• Etc., etc., etc.

There are also hundreds more definitions of leadership in many business books.

I’ve read many of those books and there are many “systems” of leadership I still need to learn.

However, when asked this question the first time, I wanted to be contrarian…but not difficult…and not belittle every great book or system on leadership that had come before.

Rather, I wanted to share something from my experience that I believe no one else had shared (at least not on the podcast).

Not because it is such a radical idea…in fact, it is painfully simplistic.

I learned leadership (and management and marketing too) from a system we put in place at Boardroom Inc, the company I helped build over 34 years, which was the brainchild of our founder, Marty Edelston.

Marty was an avid reader of business books, so he knew the standard answers to the question…but he didn’t have the training or the patience for extensive strategic planning or spending weeks or months coming up with mission statements and “rules” for becoming a better leader.

He was an idea guy through and through…an “Entrepreneur Classic” of the highest order…not a manager or a leader in a traditional sense.

He managed and led (and marketed) with his gut which served him well.

But he was always looking to improve.

He fueled his company the same way he fueled himself:

Through inquisitiveness, innovation, imagination (plus 9 other “I words” which I will share with you shortly), none of which had to do with “I” –but everything to do with “You,” “We” and “Us.”

Could leadership be this simple?

At Boardroom it was…but it took some extra inspiration (now there are only 8 more “I words” I need to tell you about). 

And although a bunch of “I words” would be the furthest thing from an MBA’s brain regarding leadership, a complex management theory, or a high-priced business consultant teaching leadership, it worked for us.

It worked to the tune of creating a $150 million+, privately held, iconic publishing and direct marketing company…from an initial investment of $20,000…known for results leadership, marketing leadership, and idea leadership.

Marty boiled it down to “leadership through ideas.”

Now we are down to 7 more “I words” (there are 12 in total) that you need to know about…please read on…

Early on they were mostly his own ideas (for the big things especially—he always said that “the big ideas led to the biggest mistakes and all of those needed to be his own”).

But eventually everyone else got to contribute their ideas, big and small, through the system below…and many others (including me) got to make some of those big mistakes as well…along with creating some huge breakthroughs.



The origin of “I-Power”

In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s the Japanese were cleaning everyone else’s clock in the business world.

They were world leaders in innovation and in most areas of management.

One of their core principles which seemed to be spearheading their success was Kaizen, which means “change for better” and evolved into something called “continuous improvement.”

From Japanese CEO Masaaki Imai to U.S. results leader W. Edwards Deming (and many others), it was a concept that caught fire.

Marty latched on to this principle big time.

He was prepared when he learned about it since he already had stationery that read:

Good, better, best…never let it rest…until the good is better…and the better best.

Embracing Kaizen and everything to do with continuous improvement became his passion…and it is how he led the company…and his life.

But he needed a little help to turn his passion into reality from none other than the world’s top management and business consultant at the time, Peter Drucker.

Marty flew out to California to interview Peter (for our Boardroom Reports newsletter) …and after the interview he couldn’t resist tapping into Peter’s brain on the topic he was now obsessed with (i.e. Kaizen).

His question for Peter:

Our company is doing well…but all our meetings, in every department, are unproductive and not moving us forward. What do you suggest?

Drucker’s simple but game changing response:

Ask for 2 ideas from everyone in the organization every time they meet with you, meet among themselves…and you can even “create meetings for ideas only” and have everyone share 2 ideas at those as well.

“Two ideas” will be the price of admission to ANY meeting.

And the 2 ideas don’t need to be relevant to the topic of the meeting at hand…they can be about anything to create a positive focus at the beginning of all meetings…and that will train your staff to think about continuous improvement all the time.

What was born that day was a mandatory “suggestion hat system” that transformed Boardroom from a sleepy little publisher into a direct marketing powerhouse.

Everything was in place already…we just needed a spark.

And unlike other “suggestion hats” in most companies, this one had legs from the start.

“2 ideas per week per employee” was the quota (i.e. the minimum acceptable) …and required of all employees).

I-Power was not simply a “suggestion to suggest.”

It was part of your job description—and was even an item of assessment on everyone’s job review.

With a minimum of 100 ideas a year per employee.



Ideas don’t have to be big…because they are all big

With a required quota in place, ideas came in all shapes and sizes.

I must admit that sometimes they came out of desperation which was fine based on Drucker’s assertion that everyone needed to be “thinking about continuous improvement all the time.”

I recall one idea was to put the toilet paper in the bathrooms with the paper rolling down from the top rather than from the bottom to prevent it from unraveling to the floor as easily.

This was as valid as any other I-Power idea because when folks are paid to think as part of their job description, they tend to think more.

And, with an additional feature of I-Power which included “cash prizes” for every idea (and for the “idea of the month” too), ideas were like pennies (dollars) from heaven. More on that in a minute.

The theory: Giving an employee “changing toilet paper installation” as a valid idea will eventually lead to other, more significant ideas.

It evolved into more than a theory; it became day-to-day reality at Boardroom.

And it created a culture of continuous improvement.

One of my favorite I-Power ideas (of the thousands that came in each year) came from someone in the organization at the bottom of the hierarchy–she worked in the fulfillment operation, responsible for sending out our books in the millions—but like everyone else, she was at the top of the food chain when she gave an idea, especially this one:

She noticed as she was calculating postage on one of our big encyclopedic books that the weight was slightly over a threshold that created a higher postage rate.

She submitted an idea that said something like, “If we could reduce the weight slightly of these books, we could pay a lower postage rate.”

She didn’t even need to solve it…just identifying the issue was the key.

Note that in this case it is doubtful that anyone else could have made this discovery except her…and now she had a system (i.e. I-Power) to make everyone aware of her finding.

That simple idea led to a huge result.

Reducing the trim size of the pages of the books slightly, and using a lighter cover stock, without cutting pages or content from the book, did the trick.

That led to a $300,000 savings in postage across all our big books of the same size.

That’s leadership bottom up…because there was leadership top down to create a system for it.



Sustaining over the long term: Not easy but simple

Suggestion hat systems often die under their own weight…but I-Power worked over a long period of time because…

• …every idea got rated A, B, or C…an “A” got $10, a “B” got $5 and a “C” (e.g. the toilet paper idea) got $2. No idea was too small to be read, rated and paid on.
  
• …the idea of the month prize was customized to the winner…a dinner for two at their favorite restaurant, maybe a “free vacation day” or $100.
  
• …the quota/requirement was gamified rather than being a chore…we walked around the company at the end of each month with an envelope of CASH with your monthly I-Power payment…well, until we realized that was an IRS no-no…but we got taxes paid on the cash eventually.
  
• …we created an easy-to-follow guide to I-Power (which Marty turned into a book, I-Power, The Secrets of Great Business in Bad Times)–so other companies could implement the system easily.

(NOTE: I just checked on Amazon…looks like there are some new and used copies available…it was never a bestseller and it is far from a masterpiece…but you can pick one up here if you like. Anywhere from $5 to $20…it will be a bargain at any price.)

• …we used Boardroom as a case history/pilot program, developed a seminar (that we held in our offices in New York and in other cities) …offering I-Power supplies (e.g. 3-part chits for rating ideas for use by companies for their staffs) …all leading to additional success stories at small companies and large, from a 5-person accounting firm or 20-person marketing services agency to Anheuser-Busch and Rubbermaid.

I-Power became self-sustaining because everyone at Boardroom was encouraged, rewarded, and became heroes for simply “thinking all the time.”

That made the simplicity easier the more we did it…and it’s what kept it going for over two decades.

And, as promised, here is the complete list of the 12 “I’s” of I-Power that equal “You”/”We”/”Us”:

1. Ideas
2. Ingenuity
3. Invention
4. Incentive
5. Individual
6. Invigorate
7. Inquisitive
8. Innovation
9. Inspiration
10. Intelligence
11. Imagination
12. Improvement

Using “I words” this way is a delicious irony…because the I-Power system is less about “I” and much more about improvement of the collective whole.

I still incorporate all of these “I’s” inside my company of three employees and dozens of independent contractors, with over 300 mastermind members, and an online family approaching 15,000, of which you are one.

Incorporating it at Boardroom, under Marty’s leadership style (through ideas), with a staff of 80+ employees, thousands of sources and authors, and millions of customers, is something that has stayed with me my entire career.

These fundamental “I’s” work both on the inside and the outside of your business because it’s a requirement to “walk around” in both environments all the time.

These “I’s” are not only delicious…they are transcendent.

My suggestion is that you incorporate them into your leadership style, whether you are a solopreneur or the CEO of a large company.

Walk around to lead.

Also use them in your management style (and feel free to complement them with anything else that you may deem fashionable from the hottest management consultants).

Walk around to manage.

(After all, some of those “academic managers” invented “management by walking around” which is totally in sync with I-Power.)

I recorded a 5-and-a-half-minute video after my discussion with Todd Brown—which expresses the key points of the post above…and gets to the gist of why leadership can be as simple as “walking around” and gathering two ideas at a time.

Watch it here and let me know what you think.

And now…give me 2 ideas. 



Warmly,



Brian



P.S  On March 3^rd, I am participating in an exciting FREE summit, hosted by two of my stellar Titans Xcelerator members.

I am honored they asked this old but not extinct “T Rex dinosaur” to share some core fundamentals of direct response and how everything related to AI circles back to those fundamentals.

At a different mastermind I attended this week…with some of the most successful online marketers in the world… I learned a about AI Agents, why we all must invest in AI…but with a consensus that made this dinosaur smile (because maybe I will never be extinct):

“AI can get you to 90% of anything…or close…but it’s the last10% that is everything”

I may be deluding myself to believe this…but for now, I will work hard on that 10% every day and in every way.

As you know, I have been in the direct response game for over four decades.

I watched the rise of the infomercial and profited a lot from that rise.

I watched the birth of the Internet.

I watched email replace direct mail as the “killer app” (and then have seen direct mail make a comeback in new and exciting forms).

Every time a new technology arrives, the gurus scream that the old rules are dead.

To date, they have been wrong.

AI is a gamechanger…but only time will tell the extent of the game changing…what it will displace…and the good and the evil it will create.

Regardless, this Summit will be actionable and useful to you…guaranteed.

I am not an AI hater when it comes to marketing…and in fact I embrace it fully by bringing in only the top of the game to educate my Titans Xcelerators.

But one thing I know for sure:

The medium changes but the fundamentals of human psychology do not.

It’s understandable that everyone is losing their minds over AI…it’s dizzying, scary and exciting all at the same time.

And for good reason. It is a disrupter with legs.

Not unlike I-Power.

But it’s not a magic lottery ticket.

Remember, if you automate a bad offer, you just lose money faster.

That is why I agreed to sit down for a “Fireside Chat” at the upcoming No BS AI Summit.

On March 3^rd, I’m joining Titans Xcelerator members Dr. Theresa Pantanella and Parthiv Shah, two operators I trust, to have a real conversation about where this industry is going.

I am not going to teach you “prompts.” Nor am I qualified to.

I will stay in my lane by teaching you how to apply Eternal Marketing Truths to this new technology so you can build a business that lasts longer than the next trend.

We are going to discuss:

1. The “O to O to O” Strategy: How to use AI to move from Online to Offline (where the real money is)
   
2. Relationship Capital: Why AI makes “High Touch” more valuable, not less
   
3. Why the concepts of Lifetime Value, RFM and the 41/39/20 Rule remain alive and well
   
4. The Titan Mindset: How to stay grounded when the world is getting more complex every day

I am sharing the stage with  Jeffrey Gitomer and other serious players.

There is no fluff here.

If you are up for sorting out how to use AI without breaking the timeless rules of marketing, I want you in the room to hear the “Old School” perspective on the “New School” tools.

Claim Your Seat Here

Remember:

Technology changes. The principles stay the same.



P.P.S. Most people will use AI to become average faster.

I want you to use it to become a Titan. 

Come see how it works.

The post Bottom-up leadership appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

-Martin “Marty” Edelston (February 14, 1929-October 2, 2013)

A novice says, “I’ve already heard that;” a master says, “Ah…thank you for the reminder.”

-Sean Stephenson (May 5, 1979-August 28, 2019) #Sean365

It’s that time of year…on or around February 14th…when Hallmark gets rich…but not as rich as the rest of us if you celebrate Valentine’s Day.

Of all the “Hallmark holidays” I love Valentine’s Day the best.

It takes the “gratitude” from Thanksgiving and adds in “all love, all the time.”

And rumor has it that sex may be part of the deal…but this is a “G-Rated blog.”

My first blog post was written and sent on February 14, 2014, in honor and memory of Marty Edelston (my friend and mentor) who passed away in October of 2013.

It is no accident that the man with the biggest heart in the world was born on February 14th…yes, Valentine’s Day is Marty’s birthday too.

And for the past 12 years (including today), I have honored his memory during this week of love (and candy, flowers and cards too); and for the past 12 years, I have also honored a special person I have met on my life’s journey who inspired that first blog post on 2/14/14.

And this post will meander between these two wonderful men. Please bear with me.

It’s a rerun with a purpose that has evolved over 12 years.

Lots of pics and videos…not ideal for some email service providers…but hopefully you can access everything here.

I know it’s a lot…and it’s long (hopefully not boring)…just plan that it will take you 2 cups of coffee to get through it.

I believe that many of the pics and videos are impactful…and consider this a multimedia V-Day card to you, my online family.

It’s definitely not a store bought at CVS or Walgreens; and no AI was used in the writing of it, nor was any human harmed (although had I used ChatGPT it would have been A LOT shorter. Sorry/not sorry).

Valentine’s Day is especially meaningful to me for two reasons…one is self-imposed, and one has been imposed on me by the two aforementioned friends, colleagues, and mentors:

1. The self-imposed meaning

V-Day gives me the opportunity to honor all the women in my family with cards and gifts.

When I began this tradition (over 45 years ago) there were more women in the generation before me (e.g., my wife’s grandmother, my mom, my mother-in-law and a few aunts).

Sadly, most of those matriarchs are no longer with us.

But there is a new generation of women on my Valentine’s Day mailing list…more on that in a minute.

I lost my mom almost four years ago—she was 97 and had a great run.

I miss her call upon receiving any card from me (especially on Valentine’s Day) with the same comment about each one:

“Did you write this especially for me? It’s perfect.”

She must have thought I worked for Hallmark.

She would also comment on the stamp…and if you want the backstory on that, you can read this.

In my book, Overdeliver, I talked about “Christmas cards in July” and that we don’t need a holiday to touch the people in our lives.

But I break that rule on Valentine’s Day.

I choose Valentine’s Day every year to reach out to those I love…because it’s around the time on the calendar for a reset…when your gratitude declarations from Thanksgiving and your resolution for the New Year to “keep in touch” with the most important people in your life might be gathering dust in your brain.

I do need another “holiday” to reach out to the men in my life.

But President’s Day doesn’t quite cut it.

Maybe St. Patrick’s Day? I could send cards to all the men in my life with a “free drink on me voucher” perhaps?

Both are stretches…I need Hallmark as my crutch.

And the circle of life is real:

My mailing list of “key women” has decreased…and increased.

My two, three-year-old great nieces got their first V-Day card from “Uncle B” last year…I saw a video of one of them and a picture of the other opening their cards with wonder, skepticism (and a bit of fear) in their eyes seeing a piece of physical mail.

Here’s the 15 second video from one.

And here’s the “WTF?” photo from the other:

I guess these reactions are similar to digital, online marketing folks receiving a piece of direct mail (which is “dead” as we all know).

I also weirded out my daughter’s new sister-in-law and mother-in-law with their inaugural cards last year and continued the tradition this year…and will every year.

They are stuck with me.

I can hear them saying, “what kind of weirdo family did we marry into?”

2. The meaning of V-Day that was imposed on me

The first time I entered your inbox with this Sunday missive (some of you may recall that fateful day) was 12 years ago this week, in honor of Valentine’s Day 2014.

At that time, it went out to a small group of family and friends (a VERY small group)…but it was small and mighty.

It’s only gotten larger and mightier over time…and on February 14th every year, I remind myself where I’ve been…where I am…and where I’m going (with all of you in mind in my online family), men included.

To do this, I share two special hearts who can never be bypassed on V-Day.

Despite both having now passed, they left a massive body of wisdom—one of them would be celebrating his 97th birthday this February 14th and amassed his body of work over 75 years; while the other did it in approximately half that time —and both bodies (and hearts) are worth celebrating, especially on Valentine’s Day.

Once again, I will celebrate the lives of Marty Edelston (V-Day was his birthday) and Sean Stephenson (V-Day represents how Sean lived and loved) …and that original 2014 post featured a quote from Sean which I will share again at the conclusion of this post.

With some additional quotes as bonuses in the P.S. and P.P.S.

There’s a lot to talk about when talking about these two magnificent hearts.

Marty and Sean

Marty is an “entrepreneur classic,” an idea-a-minute guy with ADHD enough for everyone that made him maddening at times…but also a mad, creative scientist.

He was a marketer, editor, and publisher with superior wisdom in many areas.

Sean was a “coach for public speakers,” an author and therapist, also with superior wisdom in many areas. But also, a mad, creative scientist of personal relationships…and relationships to the world at large.

They are also both responsible, in different ways, for this weekly blog, and for much of what I do every day as a direct marketing educator, writer and speaker.

Marty Edelston, Boardroom Inc.’s founder (and my most significant mentor) gives me the content for almost every post (in some way) based on our adventures together in direct marketing over 34 years.

And Sean gives me permission every week to “let my freak flag fly” while I share those adventures.

Both are the gold standard as role models, one as an entrepreneur’s entrepreneur and one as a world-renowned speaker and phenomenal life coach.

Both were also dear friends and trusted consiglieres.

Marty and Sean not only gave me the inspiration for that initial post …but more importantly, they gave me the courage that I could do this “blog thing” on a weekly basis.

And I have featured them every year on (or around) February 14th.

Unfortunately, by the time I started my Sunday ramblings in 2014, Marty had passed away.

But I have enough “inventory” from him to last a lifetime.

And this is the seventh year I am sending my V-Day post without Sean in the world.

We lost him tragically in August 2019.

However, I receive new content from him every day (through “#Sean365”).

Check out the P.S. and P.P.S. how you can hear from him daily as well.

Both left holes in my life and in my heart forever…and in the lives and hearts of everyone they touched.

And those holes need to be filled as often as possible, especially during this week.

Thank goodness they left a vast paper, digital, and video trail so we never forget the immense contributions of both.

“The Attaboy Folder”

Marty’s prowess was established mostly pre-Internet (despite contributing a nice sampling of digital assets in the way of interviews in his later years) …and thankfully we have almost every piece of direct response and editorial copy he ever edited.

I also saved a correspondence file—a priceless archive– with almost everything we shared with each other in writing over 3+ decades.

All paper.

Email wasn’t a thing when we started out together…and he never took to it.

The file is simply labeled, “Attaboy.”

Marty was about tough love…never too tough to give acknowledgment for work well done while delivering the harshest of criticism…with love never leaving the room.

That “Attaboy Folder” is alive and well and it sits on a dedicated shelf in my office (because it doesn’t fit in a drawer or a file cabinet), with good news and bad, with every piece of paper being a lesson.

I refer to it often.

Marty also discovered Photoshop in his later years, and I found the picture below he had “commissioned” but never got a chance to hang it in his office before he died.

It now hangs in my office in a prominent location.

The little guy is me.

“Get Off Your But”

Sean, on the other hand, left many more “digital assets” including his book, Get Off Your “But”).

Yes, you can get a paper version too.

He created a course or two, live events recorded for posterity, dozens (maybe hundreds) of keynote speeches, and a wealth of philosophical rants, teachings, and playful “stunts” on social media (including an occasional “dance party”–see below).

As far as “Sean lessons” that I learned, I will give you some of those here.

One of Marty’s favorite expressions is:

“You only go through life once so you might as well be the world’s best”

Sean lived that way every day.

He was the best at so many things despite his “disability” (open loop).

After my stroke in April of 2019, he was the first person I called once I got home from the hospital because I knew if there was anyone who could help me work through the struggles and shock I was experiencing, it would be Sean.

He did just that.

Because Sean had a shocker of his own…on the day he was born.

He knew all about the struggle I was going through because his life was a struggle every day–well, at least in the eyes of everyone else.

He never complained and he used that struggle to persevere in ways that are simply unimaginable…with wit, humor, and profound introspection.

To everyone else he was handicapped; to Sean he was “just Sean.”

Talking with him was the beginning of my recovery (which sounds awfully selfish).

Why would he want to bother with my superficial problems (yes, a stroke was superficial in this context) when he had many more serious problems in his own life?

And why would I seek counsel from someone for whom “recovery,” in a traditional sense, was never possible?

Maybe there was nothing for him to recover from in the first place.

Or for me either.

He made me see that in no uncertain terms.

That’s what made Sean a rare bird.

As I said previously, Sean had a “disability” …but only in the eyes of everyone else…not to Sean.

He often said he wouldn’t change his “container” for anyone else’s if given the choice.

At birth, doctors didn’t know if Sean would live—he had a rare bone disease and just sitting up could cause his bones to crack.

He used a wheelchair throughout his life but that never stopped him.

In 2009 The Biography Channel produced a documentary film about his life called, The 3 Foot Giant.

The title says it all.

Click on this link for a 9-minute excerpt.

He became the world’s best patient (and observer) at a very young age—then later, became a doctor himself (he earned a PhD in psychology)–defied the odds—and turned his handicap into opportunity…and an incredibly powerful life mission:

“To rid the world of insecurity.”

One of Marty’s missions was not as clearly stated, but related:

“To help consumers overcome their insecurities regarding the trappings of their everyday lives.”

Marty did this through his publications and promotions, pointing out the flaws in common institutions, and being a “bloodhound” and “protector” for consumers.

Sean worked on his mission from the perspective of his wheelchair…and his big brain…from stages where he reached thousands…through his book and courses…to one-on-one, full day, breakthrough sessions.

It’s too bad Sean didn’t have another 50 years to continue his mission–but he made his mark in the years he had.

Sean’s childhood was difficult, but he remained observant of everything around him–and throughout his life he used all that difficulty, and the challenges he faced, in his speeches and coaching.

That’s why I called him first when I left the hospital.

He encouraged me to get over it by turning my stroke into an asset rather than feeling sorry for myself…with specific action items that I implemented.

He was speaking from experience.

Sean was a master at flipping these emotions around…and he was particularly adept at doing it on video for a much wider audience.

He did “One Minute with Sean” Facebook posts–and this one on “Doubt” is super insightful (and it only will take a minute to watch it

You’ll need to turn the volume on…and it will be worth it.

Did you notice that he gave his advice to himself before he gave it to his audience?

It doesn’t take a PhD to do that—just empathy and humility of the highest order.

The PhD is just gravy.

That’s the power of a great coach—someone who knows his or her frailties and can share them with others as an example—and then expands the discussion by telling you how he or she deals with them.

Sean’s front stage was also his backstage, he was not embarrassed about his situation, and in fact, he was proud to show it off.

He also had a wicked sense of humor.

I’m talking about belly laugh humor.

It’s not surprising that Sean was playful in many of his videos–his dance parties are my favorites.

Here was the first one from 2010 that got that party started (and I can’t believe it’s been almost 16 years):

This was the first of many “Dance Party Videos”—and this maiden voyage has over 1.3 million views.

He mentions in later videos that he had “haters” who didn’t get him or what he was doing—too bad for them–which just compelled him to dance even more.

Some of the topics he covers in future dance party videos:

• Taking ourselves too seriously
• Getting our groove on (for momentum)
• The simple step of acting a little silly (and the power of laughter)
• Not being embarrassed about our bodies.

In that last one, he instructs us to look in the mirror while dancing until we love ourselves.

Once again, he used his “container” as a strength and not a weakness—he never felt sorry for himself—and when he said, “get off your But,” you got off your But…and your Butt.

Sean loved himself and he loved everyone.

Which brings me to his quote from Valentine’s Day 2014 (and every Valentine’s Day since):

“I love everyone because as soon as I don’t love you, you own me”

The perfect message for “Heart Day.”

The lesson is simple:

When we spend our energy not loving someone, we willingly hand over our power (and more than likely, our confidence) to them.

But if we work on eliminating the things in ourselves that keep us from loving others, what’s left is just love…and power (to contribute fully) …with a big dose of gratitude.

And of course, confidence–with no doubts–about who we are.

Sean knew exactly who he was—thank goodness for all of us.

I think he would love these “Sean socks” which were created by his best friend (and one of mine as well), Joe Polish…as a tribute to him:

I can hear and see him belly laughing right now.

I wear them proudly in my regular rotation of socks to remember Sean.

Especially today.

Just like I check my “Attaboy Folder” regularly to remember Marty.

Especially today.

Sean and Marty…strange bedfellows on the one hand…two peas in a pod on the other.

Happy Sean Day.

Happy Marty Day.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. Two more pieces of wisdom from Marty and Sean…

From Marty:
“I’m just an ordinary guy who has been able to do extraordinary things.”

From Sean:
“I’d rather do something and be mocked, than nothing and be invisible.”

And if you are looking for more Marty and Sean gems…

• My book, Overdeliver, has Marty all over it…and one of the bonuses for buying it at OverdeliverBook.com is my opening presentation at Titans of Direct Response (a tribute event held a year after his death)…or you can read an adaptation of it by clicking here, learning why “Being Extraordinary Matters.”

It is based on my eulogy at his funeral.

• For more about Sean, you can Google him or check out more of his “dance parties” on YouTube.
• And you can buy his book here (which will definitely “get you off your But”).

I also highly recommend that you get on his list, truly an online family, which is still very active (handled by his amazing wife Mindie), where you will receive a daily quote from Sean’s extensive body of work.

I look forward to “Insights from Sean” in my Inbox every day.

Go to SeanStephenson.com and opt into his daily quotes and read more about this incredible man.

P.P.S. Some of my favorite Sean-isms:

“If you talked to your friends the way you talk to yourself, you might not have any friends.”

“Humans brag most about doing the things they’re secretly neglecting. People doing big things don’t have the time or interest to brag.”

And two that I received this week:

“Few things are as difficult as actually finishing what you start.”

“Unless you make it fun, you won’t make it last.”

Keep laughing, dancing, finishing and having fun, Sean.

And never stop preaching.

The post My first blog post ever…12 years in the making appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

How do I know?

Well, it says so on the mug I drank my coffee from this morning.

I want to talk about him today…and not because he is responsible for buying my house…which is a reference to last week’s 2-minute video where O.G. copywriter Drayton Bird gave Ogilvy credit for buying his…because he bought Drayton’s business).

That’s just a fun fact.

But I want to talk about Ogilvy in a different way today…in terms of how he lived his life…boldly, confidently, and with a commitment to his core values…and excellence…with a healthy dose of humility.

Of the six legends profiled in my first book, The Advertising Solution…and the advertising industry in general…it is Ogilvy where all “advertising” (and dare I say direct response marketing) flows from.

And why did Ogilvy see the value in buying Drayton’s agency?

In this 48-second video, he will tell you in his own words.

Also, Dan Kennedy assured me in his endorsement of my second book, Overdeliver, that Ogilvy would still have my back if he was around today:

Ogilvy was right when he ranted to his own agency’s staff [like he did in the 49-second video above] that only the mail-order [i.e. direct response marketing] people knew what the hell they were doing, and were Ogilvy alive, he would applaud Brian’s work here.

Dan made my day with that one—and added some additional credibility to my book as well.

Ogilvy and Kennedy are both heroes of mine.

One I never met but have studied; and one who I have had the privilege of working with and partnering with and have studied as well. But today we will focus on Ogilvy and save Kennedy for another day.

Why do I revere David Ogilvy?

Because he was the most pronounced direct marketer trapped in a general advertiser’s body.

But being trapped didn’t keep him silent. Watch the 48-second video above.

And he was the inspiration for Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm), the main character of the TV series Mad Men, without the bawdy stuff (well, I can’t say for sure how much of Don is derived from Ogilvy).

Also without full throated loyalty to advertising without a direct return on investment.

That is, Ogilvy was a stand for measurable and accountable advertising.

He was a creative genius (Ogilvy, not Draper or Hamm) …and a pioneer…who understood “direct marketing” before it was ever talked about separately from “advertising.”

Also, Ogilvy did NOT…

“…regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information. When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product.”

Imagine that. Writing ads that work.

The subject line of today’s post refers to one of the most famous headlines Ogilvy ever wrote (and pays homage to his monumental book, Confessions of an Advertising Man)–and I was able to find a copy of the original ad for you:

It’s not a classic direct response ad but the words are pure poetry (embedded with unique benefits)…I am not going to critique the ad today (nor am I qualified to do that)…but note that it says there is a list of dealers listed on the opposite page and a phone number at the bottom of the ad.

So there’s that.

In addition to his yearning addiction to measure everything he did, whenever I think of David Ogilvy, maybe sitting alone in that quiet car, or at his desk, or even on the set of “The David Letterman Show,” I think more about his humility rather than his fame and fortune.

Although in the Letterman interview (link above), his healthy ego also comes through.

But it ain’t bragging if you did it…the pride he talks about when referring to his work was earned.

Partially by following his own advice:

He has been deemed the “Father of Advertising”—but there is so much in his writing that tells me he understood that one of the keys to life was surrounding yourself with people smarter than yourself.

I found this quote from him which supports that thesis:

Relating this Ogilvy-ism to the car ad above, the moral is that you don’t get very far, even in a quiet Rolls-Royce travelling at 60 miles an hour, without having people in your life who can lift you up to be your best and who are “…better than you are…”

And that premise should be good enough for us too to practice this brand of humility as standard operating procedure in our lives.

I labeled this as “confident humility” in a post from 2018, which led off with another classic quote from Ogilvy—and talked about the thin line between confidence and arrogance (with a dash of humility):

I love quoting Ogilvy (obviously) because he followed a philosophy that all the greats of direct marketing followed (and you can extend this philosophy to other industries and career paths).

When it comes to copywriters, I’ve spoken in the past that it never bothered the companies I grew up with in the 1980’s, nine and even ten figure companies like Phillips Publishing and Agora), a practice that is still alive in some circles (although AI is whittling away at that practice, often fraudulently).

It was (is?) to pay copywriters what they deserved and earned…often more in royalties for a winning promotion than what they paid any of their full-time employees in salary…including what the owners of those companies took home as well.

That is the extreme…but you get the idea.

You must pay to play–and pay even more to play with the best.

Which leads to today’s theme, going a bit deeper than “confident humility”, along with a homework exercise:

If you can combine supreme confidence in yourself with a huge dose of humility (and not a hint of arrogance), you will have a wonderful life and career.

Using this formula, the best-of-the-best will flock to you and always want to work with you and for you–and not just because you are paying them the most money.

Since I believe that has been my prescription for success (he says without arrogance), it led me to the most difficult task during the writing of my book, Overdeliver.

The acknowledgements section.

The good news is that I have been around long enough (I’m entering my 45th year in direct response) to meet so many amazing people in all areas of direct marketing, copywriting–and everything related to this wonderful industry—and in that section I had an opportunity to acknowledge all of them.

The bad news is I didn’t want to forget anyone–and I know I probably did.

One thing I realized while compiling the list of acknowledgments is all that “meeting and greeting” (and many meals) was a lot less superficial than I thought…every person I mentioned in this section of my book (it’s well over 500, and as I said, I know I forgot at least a few), contributed something meaningful to me.

And hopefully I did enough for them to make their “acknowledgements section” someday. However, I am not seeking reciprocal recognition.

Which leads me to your homework–a beginning-of-the-year exercise (note that it’s only February, not too late to be the beginning)—and an exercise I highly recommend you do, one that will be a lot more fulfilling than thinking about a bunch of New Year’s resolutions you have broken already:

Write the acknowledgments section of YOUR book right now, based on your life to this point…even if you never have any intention of ever writing a book.

I think you will be surprised (and feel incredibly blessed) when you see how many people have contributed to your success…and how many lives you have changed for the better as well.

You may even have a “George Bailey moment” while doing this– and if you don’t, go watch the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life immediately—and then write your acknowledgements.

Another bonus of doing this exercise will be to keep your ego in check as we begin the New Year—but hopefully it will also give you additional confidence too.

On keeping your ego in check, heed the warning of the great John Caples (another “Mad Man” in the spirit of Ogilvy, also profiled in The Advertising Solution.

If you decline my invitation to do this “acknowledgments exercise,” beware the dark cloud of hubris creeping into your work (as Caples warned marketers and copywriters with this quote):

“The most frequent reason for unsuccessful advertising is advertisers who are so full of their own accomplishments (the world’s best seed!) that they forget to tell us why we should buy (the world’s best lawn!).”

Hopefully I haven’t dwelled on my own accomplishments too much…I am aware I often do…but it’s in the spirit of making you “buy” (i.e. my arguments more than my educational products).

If these things have worked for me for almost 45 years in business, they have been at a minimum road tested for a long time.

That’s something, isn’t it?

Back to Ogilvy and his craft:

“Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving”

To give you additional confidence, if you do this exercise, you will have a written document (i.e. “your complete list of acknowledgments through 2025”) reminding you how many people have your back.

And as a bonus, you’ll have something written so you can’t complain about where to begin when you sit down to write your opus. Consider this a head start.

I’ll proclaim like everyone else to lose 10 pounds as a New Year’s resolution…but while I know that I will forget about that declaration by January 15th, I also know that I will never forget all the people who participated in getting me so “fat” in the first place.

Even in February.

You know, the “good fat,” like avocados…and enabling me to be light enough to stand on the shoulders of giants.

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. If you couldn’t tell from this post–or almost every post I write–“standing on the shoulders of giants” is as close to my mantra as anything else.

I wear it like a badge of honor…and I thank my lucky stars every day for those giants paying attention to me…and in return, I never pass up an opportunity to be their director of public relations.

And that’s coming from someone who has said “public relations (along with “publicity” and “branding”), in a silo with no measurability, gives me hives.”

I have shared this 13 minute video in the past…it was scheduled for 10 minutes but I got a little carried away…and it’s one of my favorites to prove how standing on the shoulders of giants (who invented stuff we use every day) has shaped my career…and the careers of thousands.

Click here to watch it.

And I would love your feedback, insights, or anything you would like to share regarding your own heroes and how they have shaped your careers.

Who do you stand on the shoulders of?

While I make nothing on the sales of my books, if you would like to check out either one (or both), click on the links below (rather than going directly to Amazon)…so you get a host of bonuses which are actually more valuable than my books.

Which I am not sad about.

In fact, it makes me giddy to share some of the most valuable resources (books, courses, swipe files and more)–all free–from the greats of direct response marketing when you buy my two books here:

For The Advertising Solution, click here.

For Overdeliver, click here.

I’ll show you what it means to be the best public relations director for my mentors.

The post The loudest confession from inside a Rolls-Royce appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

Here’s the video.

The “retirement newsletter” he mentions is one that I published at Boardroom (the company I helped build over 34 years) …and the copywriter of that package, Bill Jayme, was also a good friend, mentor and colleague of mine…although (spoiler alert if you didn’t watch the video), he never gave me a hangover.

Quite the opposite. He only brought me joy.

Well, he also brought much joy to Drayton despite the hangover.

The amazing thing about Bill was that he didn’t take himself seriously…until he did.

More on his use of humor and satire in his copy in a minute.

And while he went through all of the ups and downs that a creative goes through during their career (many of which are mentioned by Drayton in the 2-minute video), in the end, both Jayme and Bird (and David Ogilvy, also mentioned in the video) came out the other end as champions of their craft.

A hero’s journey of a different kind…one worth learning from…and emulating.

Anything that entails “struggle…misery…depression…negative cash flow” (over 30+ years) can be worth it (as Drayton says in the video) …if lessons are learned and applied to the future.

And I couldn’t help myself… I reached out to Drayton while writing this post and I have already set up an interview with him for Titans Xcelerator to tell the rest of the story.

Two minutes is not long enough…so the video worked for me as a tease to know more.

Hmmm…maybe he should have been a copywriter?

And if you want to hear the rest of the story too, stay tuned to this blog in the months ahead when I will make Drayton the star of a Wednesday email.

[Note: Please send me feedback on my Wednesday emails…which highlight a speaker or member fromTitans Xcelerator…with the main purpose of education and action items for you. I’ve been hearing from many of you and the response has been positive so far…but I am always looking to improve them…and to never bug you too much in your Inbox :-)]

What you need to know now regarding Drayton’s short video:

Pay attention when a hero talks about their journey…in a book or a blog…on a stage…in a video…or embedded inside their work.

Regarding Ogilvy, the man who “bought Drayton’s house,” I profiled him in my first book, The Advertising Solution, (written with direct mail savant Craig Simpson)…and although I never met him, I feel like I knew him after taking a deep dive into his work and his legend.

He deserves his own blog post and I promise to write one about him soon.

Back to Jayme…who really was the most in-demand copywriter of his time (Drayton isn’t lying in the video) …and he proved that starting narrow and then going wide enabled him to write about almost anything…with wit and humor (something most copywriters can’t pull off).

The proof?

The Bill Jayme Collection is not just a swipe file; it is the representation of a career immersed in writing, at the deepest level, which enabled Bill to write (at least) 210 individual direct mail packages (‘soup to nuts”) for 138 different mailers in 11 different categories.

More on that in the P.S.

On writing about anything

While many copywriters talk the talk about how they can write anything for anyone, many of those are charlatans rather than world class in any one of those categories (i.e. they fail to walk the walk).

The saying goes (which contradicts what I just said above):

“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one”

This is a quote that celebrates diversity…which is a good thing…but at what cost?

And is it really “better?”

I maintain that in copywriting, a master of one (e.g. category, niche) is required to become a “jack of all trades” (i.e. a jack of all categories).

And by “jack,” I am assuming not just a casual/lazy/half-assed jack…but an excellent/thoughtful/trained one in all trades.

This is not as easy as it sounds.

That is, anyone who claims they are a “copywriter” (and they are under 30 years old) and boasts that they can “write about anything,” I suggest you walk away and talk to another copywriter…maybe one with decades of experience…who got to that point by really doing the work.

Are there exceptions?

Sure.

But I’d rather bet on someone who has hard won experience over decades (with somewhere in the vicinity of 10,000 hours towards mastery, nod to Malcolm Gladwell)…and one that has made the trek from narrow to wide.

This is truer than ever in the age of AI…because there are Bots who can lay claim to being masters of everything (without much proof)…while the best copywriters toil in their specialties (in only the most industrious ways)…and toil enough to then become a Bill Jayme who truly could “write about anything.”

I’m sure many of you disagree with this thesis…especially if you are under 30 and are “crushing it” in multiple categories.

I’d love to hear from you about that…how you did it…and I may even try to get you to speak to my Titans Xcelerator Mastermind to prove me wrong and teach us a thing or two…because I love being wrong in the spirit of education.

On writing with humor (which includes wit, satire and whimsy too )

I mentioned above how Bill Jayme used wit and humor in his copy…but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t serious about his craft (as indicated by his never ending waiting list of clients and a success rate in a wide variety of subject areas, industries and even non-profits that was the envy of his peers).

Back when Jayme was “toiling,” there was a school of thought among direct marketers and copywriters that being funny doesn’t work in direct mail.

Jayme proved that you need to be surgical when using humor in your copy…and that’s what makes studying Jayme so much more powerful (because today, you can get away with more comedic copy).

But you still need to be a surgeon.

And Jayme can be your “Attending Physician” assuming you are at least a “Resident.”

I know of some current copywriters who are not only experimenting with increased humor (including wit, satire and whimsy) in their copy…but making it their trademark…and doing well.

I’ve even got a few inside Titans Xcelerator.

I encourage you to share your successes with me.

I’d love to hear how you have executed on Pablo Picasso’s way of thinking (as it pertains to using humor in your marketing):

If you are in this camp, you must have studied Jayme…or Jim Rutz (who “got away” with using humor with great success too)…which I discussed at length with legends John Carlton and David Deutsch in a lengthy interview which is part of Read This or Die: The Lost Files of Jim Rutz.

That is one of the many reasons I created products from the archives of Jayme and Rutz.

This is also why I love copywriters who see formulas as recipes, a distinction made by our speaker this week at Titans Xcelerator, Hollywood script consultant and “Star Whisperer” (to writers, actors and directors), Michael Hauge.

I’ll tell you all about him in a future Wednesday blog. His presentation was mind blowing.

He wrote a book that businessmen, entrepreneurs, copywriters and marketers read as one of their Bibles…Storytelling Made Easy…written from a Hollywood perspective for direct response marketers and the business community, believe it or not.

Stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, I will share in the P.S. an example of Bill Jayme’s humor and wit…I hope you enjoy it.

And I’d love to hear from you…whether how you have become a “jack of all trades copywriter” in less than 20 years…or how you use humor in your copy or with your marketing positively…or anything else you want to disagree with me on.

Just don’t be disagreeable.

Then I might even agree with you.

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. As mentioned above, in his prime, Bill Jayme was the most sought-after copywriter in the world.

He had a two-year waiting list of clients who wanted him to write a direct mail package for them…and he fulfilled them all, with a style that was a mix of poetry and sales copy.

There was no one like him at the time…or since.

And no one could beat his copy.

He was also a wonderful and entertaining speaker and storyteller.

And this story encapsulates who he was…with an emphasis on his impeccable wit and humility:

On a coast-to-coast flight, Bill found himself sitting next to a guy on an airplane while he was eating a delicious airline lunch—and the guy happened to be reading one of Bill’s most successful magazine promotions while he dined.

What a thrill this was going to be!

He had a perfect seat watching how this guy would immerse himself in the “poetry” he created…and then subscribe…and then he could reveal himself as the author of the masterpiece.

Every copywriter would love to have this experience…a real-life customer interacting with their copy without giving up their identity…a fly on the wall (or sitting, in the seat next to the customer looking over his shoulder).

Initially, things were going swimmingly:

The guy opened the envelope, which had a compelling headline that Bill was famous for (i.e.” the hot pants on the hooker” was how Bill explained how to use the outer envelope to full advantage…without being overly naughty).

Then the guy began the letter…at least 6 pages long…probably 12…which was like a book that is impossible to put down.

That is how Bill structured his letters…one sentence leading into another, one paragraph leading into another, with the sole purpose of keeping the reader curious with anticipation of what will happen next.

He perfected the art of writing sales letters as compelling stories…an art many copywriters learned from and adapted from him…and are still learning and adapting from him.

He was an original.

And this reader on the plane was textbook because he jumped to the P.S. quickly (this guy was the perfect prospect!) …then back to the letter to read it until the end…followed by unfolding the large, 4-color brochure…and finally to the lift letter.

Then it was the moment of truth…the guy found the order card…he read it carefully…seemingly studying the terms (“Free issue! Send no money!”).

How could he decline this opportunity after reading Bill’s exquisite copy?

Then he folded the order card in half for some reason.

Bill was perplexed.

Then he folded it in quarters, creating a little rectangle with 4 points.

He then moved it to one of the corners of his mouth.

And he used it…

…as a toothpick!

Safe to say that Bill was glad he didn’t pay for this guy’s lunch.

He told the story with much more flair and imagery (what Gene Schwartz calls “picture words”) that showed more than told.

He did this with humility, humor…with wisdom always shining through…as he did with everything he wrote or spoke.

And that brings me to The Bill Jayme Collection.

After he passed away, his partner (and expert designer) Heikki Ratalahti worked with me to scan every direct mail package Bill Jayme ever wrote.

As mentioned in the post above, The Bill Jayme Collection contains 210 individual direct mail efforts in PDF format for 138 different mailers in 11 different categories.

To say Bill could write about anything is an understatement.

And no ChatGPT required …or invented yet.

Although I think he would have embraced it…and he’d be thrilled to see his influence on copywriters today who are committed to telling compelling stories with their copy.

They are almost all control packages (i.e., big winners in terms of response) and they represent some of the best direct response marketing copy ever written.

And please don’t think that because these are all direct mail packages that the copy platforms, headlines and concepts cannot be adapted to online promotions.

In fact, like so many copywriters who passed away before online and email marketing became “the killer app,” he would have flourished in the current marketing environment…big time.

“Hot pants on a hooker” as a theory, for example, applies to subject lines and not just envelopes.

And story is story is story…it is paramount…whatever the medium…offline or online.

Jayme was as prolific and productive as any copywriter who has ever lived.

And everything he ever wrote is on one packed USB inside “The Bill Jayme Collection,” indexed by category, and completely searchable.

Plus, we added a bonus video of Bill himself presenting live.

He’s got many other stories besides the “toothpick fiasco.”

Click here to read another adventure in marketing that Bill and I experienced together.

I encourage you to consider ordering this priceless package (which I needed to put a reasonable price on).

Remember…

Stealing is a felony…stealing smart is an art…and stealing smart from an artist like Jayme is one of the most valuable things you can do.

https://www.briankurtz.net/bill-jayme/

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