Terry Kurtz

May 4, 1925 – May 30, 2022

The post Meaningful Clutter (revisited) appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

Her question:

I am new to this type of learning. This is a very uneducated question, so forgive me but, how do you recommend I study these swipe files to get the most out of them?

It’s a wonderful question…and it uncovered a blind spot for me.

That is, selling stuff that is incredibly useful is only useful if applied.

My bad.

My first thought was to send her a quote from one of the greatest copywriting legends of all time, Gary Halbert.

So that’s what I did:

“Get yourself a collection of good ads and direct mail pieces and read them aloud and copy them in your own handwriting.”

If Gary said it—and did it—that’s good enough for me.

And it’s a practice that has stood the test of time, and it’s part of the instruction manual that has been collectively written by the top copywriters (i.e. those at the top of the food chain coaching and practicing today).

Note that Gary says the ads need to be “good” (i.e. big winners, known controls, even classic ads)…and note the “most successful ad in the history of the world” is cited later in this blog post, which can be the first on your list to “copy.”

By “copy” that doesn’t mean “copy and distribute”…this is an internal exercise to make you bigger and stronger as a writer and a copywriter. Please keep reading…

Also note something else Gary said above: “…copy them in your own handwriting.”

Translation: Your own handwriting is NOT originating from your keyboard.

Here’s a meme that explains why this is true in one sentence:

But one sentence/meme wasn’t enough for me.

I went down a rabbit hole on this…all the way to how one’s thumb and index finger have a singular relationship with one’s brain.

I encourage you to do some additional digging on this too…only if you are not convinced of Halbert’s theory that is…or if you’ve done the research yourself, good for you.

And…keep writing.

In addition, I wanted to send you an updated version of a post I wrote in 2022 which was titled, “The O.G. of Stealing Smart” …to answer the question that my online family member asked above…and to uncover some other benefits when you commit to creating a swipe file of your own.

Many of us pride ourselves on being students of the craft of marketing and copywriting…and part of that includes becoming adept at “stealing smart.”

Now remember, stealing is a felony and stealing smart is an art.

And stealing smart as an art equates to re-purposing, re-imagining, re-engineering winning ideas, platforms, and design…which has nothing to do with copying, pasting or plagiarism.

With AI, both ends of the spectrum have become more prevalent:

Re-imagining (i.e. “art”) on one end and plagiarism (i.e. “felony”) on the other.

But once “decriminalized,” AI makes using swipe files even more impactful.

If not, it’s just sloppy, lazy…and could be illegal.

Isn’t that true with everything related to AI?

The key is to first identify patterns—which includes copy platforms, narrative structure, design—and then adapt and innovate…not copy.

That doesn’t include “copying” Halbert-style…that kind of copying is a requirement of all copywriters and marketers who want to be great.

In this spirit…and to continue to answer my online family member’s question (and serve all of you), I want to tell you about “The Original Gangster of Stealing Smart.”

And despite being labeled as a gangster for this blog post, be advised he is not on any FBI lists of most wanted direct marketing criminals.

He never stole anything from anyone.

Far from it.

This O.G. wears the title like a badge of honor.

The gentleman I want to talk about today is Denny Hatch, who perfected how to use swipe files to full advantage…with integrity and tenacity.

With a healthy dose of marketing wisdom.

Denny is currently, in my estimation, a “Professor Emeritus of Direct Marketing,” by blazing a trail as a pioneer in direct mail…then as the ultimate archivist and lifelong student…and finally as a lecturer, author and blogger covering all the things we hold dear about this wonderful corner of the universe we call direct response marketing.

Including email, the Internet and now AI.

He’s written many books, with titles such as 2,239 Tested Secrets of Direct Marketing Success, Write Everything Right!, Method Marketing…and a host of novels, articles, newsletters…and even marketing checklists (one of which is yours for the clicking in the P.S. below).

One of his landmark achievements was publishing a newsletter that came with the ultimate archive of direct mail promotions, in the form of envelopes, postcards, magalogs and bookalgos, in every category imaginable…and the archive expanded to email promotions after email marketing became a thing.

This exhaustive and invaluable tool he created in the 1980’s was called Who’s Mailing What! (WMW!)

Sure, there were selected swipe files available before this…but there was nothing like WMW!

And dare I say nothing has rivaled it since.

WMW! enabled subscribers to not only see who’s mailing what…but also who was mailing when…and who was mailing (what and when) most often.

The theory: That’s how you chronicle promotions to learn which are the best (i.e most successful) promotions.

Why would a mailer keep mailing a promotion if the promotion was a dud?

In fact, WMW! had awards for the longest standing controls (i.e., long standing winning promotions) …and Denny knew every one of them…and created not only a collection like no other, but it was one he studied himself and applied it to everything going on around him…for 50+ years.

Put more simply: Denny’s love of his life, after his wife Peggy, is direct mail.

And by extension, direct response marketing.

Which shows up in everything he says and writes.

In 2021, I invited Denny to speak at my Titans Mastermind to chronicle his incredible career and share how his research and curiosity with direct mail fit into the history and fabric of direct marketing.

He didn’t disappoint.

The title of Denny’s presentation:

A Whirlwind Tour of Direct Marketing Knowhow:
From July 10, 1194 through the 21st Century

Despite Denny being around the industry for a while, he was sure to let us know that he was not around in the 12th century…but wanted to be sure we knew that direct marketing didn’t start with Ben Franklin in the 18th century either.

It was a whirlwind–more like a tornado–and not simply a stroll down memory lane, full of marketing lessons for the ages…and efficient too…with Denny covering 10 centuries of direct marketing in a little over 40 minutes.

An insurmountable feat for any mere mortal…but not for this O.G.

I thought it would be appropriate while I am hosting my Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp event this week (Gene Schwartz was a swipe file fiend himself)—to share Denny’s presentation from that Titans Mastermind meeting in 2021.

It is one for ages…literally.

Just click on the screenshot below that reads, “The Most Successful Advertisement in the History of the World” …which Denny will tell you all about (among other equally astounding facts and figures). Facts and figures that lead to action and profit.

And don’t forget to grab his checklist in the P.S.

…Also covered in this epic presentation…and implied…and hidden in plain sight:

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Excuse the (ever so slight) hyperbole of the title…and I will tell you that it’s much more than an attention grabber.

I invite you to be grabbed.

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. To prove more conclusively that Denny is not simply a passive collector of every great promotion ever written or recorded, here is a monumental report he put together which he called his Ultimate 85-Point Marketer’s Checklist.

It might load slowly…but it will be worth the wait.

This is accumulated wisdom from a man who considered his mailbox a never-ending source of entertainment and education…he never passed up an opportunity to read all his mail very carefully…and then he stole smart.

He applied everything he “stole” to a rule of thumb or a new way of looking at direct marketing.

Click here to access this wonderful (and useful) checklist.

It’s worth printing and keeping next to your desk…forever.

P.P.S. In Denny’s video presentation beginning with direct marketing from the 12th Century, he quotes a classic ad from John Caples (from earlier in the 20th century) …the famous “piano ad” (which is NOT “the most successful advertisement in the history of the world”…but it’s close).

Check out this YouTube video to learn more about it from former Titans Xcelerator member and expert “breakdown artist” (of classic ads), Czaba Borzasi.

Csaba’s breakdown is a perfect example of how we use swipe files for fun and profit…without committing a felony.

Jeremey Hunsicker, a former Titans Mastermind member, sent me this cartoon he created to commemorate that Caples classic (which is still being emulated today):

Thought you might get a laugh out of it…

P.P.P.S And finally, a priceless picture of TWO O.G.’s, of “stealing smart” …which made them pioneers of marketing invention and innovation…with over a century of direct marketing wisdom between them:

Denny Hatch and Richard Viguerie at Titans Mastermind, September 2021

That reminds me to profile Richard Viguerie in an upcoming post…who is close to 90 years old (he might even have celebrated 9 decades on earth already) …he’s the “Father of Direct Marketing Political Fundraising” …and still works every day, teaching, learning…full of curiosity and wonder.

He will be presenting at my Titans Xcelerator Mastermind (on June 25th) so I will write it shortly after. He’s a Titan of epic proportions.

Denny and Richard are inspirations for all of us to look up to…and steal smart from…without invading their intellectual property of course.

P.P.P.P.S. Oops…one more thing…

There was a lively and meaningful discussion that followed Denny’s presentation at the Titans meeting in 2021…with all the Titans who were present, including the two pictured above.

That video is currently locked away in the Titans Mastermind Vault, but I might just release it later this year…if I receive enough requests for it…from you.

The post Stealing is a felony; stealing smart is an art appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

My blogs do go way back—12 and-a-half years– but 500+ blog posts (with lots of repetition with purpose) are less than a trillion by my calculation.

Sorry I haven’t been around long enough to write a trillion…yet.

The first year I began writing these Sunday missives—2014—I had no idea where they would lead.

All I knew was that I had over three decades of cumulative experiences that needed to be shared.

One thing they did lead to was writing two books.

So, there’s that.

But having the exclusive rights to the greatest book ever written about copywriting, marketing and human behavior was only a gleam in my eye “way back then”…although one of my first posts was about that book and its author.

I’m sharing an updated version of that post with you below…one of my favorite stories about that illustrious author.

And…twelve years later that gleam has become reality.

It’s not only about having the publishing rights…it’s that I’ve been able to create a global franchise (appropriate hyperbole)…which I am very proud of. More on that in the P.S.

Exposing an entirely new generation to Breakthrough Advertising (and Gene Schwartz) …while at the same time, reintroducing an entire industry to a lost classic…with training to boot…has been the privilege of a lifetime.

The rest of this post is an update from my Wayback Machine.

I was blessed to know Gene Schwartz…and not just casually, either.

Gene was my friend, mentor and business partner…and I learned so many lessons from him.

Those of you who don’t know who I am talking about, Eugene “Gene” Schwartz was one of the most successful and prolific direct response copywriters who ever lived.

His classic book, Breakthrough Advertising may be the most important book ever written on copy and creative.

Not to mention his other lost classic, The Brilliance Breakthrough (which I also have the exclusive rights to) …but that’s a topic for another day.

Breakthrough Advertising was important enough for Marty Edelston and I to re-publish it as a “Boardroom Book” (Boardroom Inc. was the company Marty founded in 1972 which I helped build with him) …when we saw a live bid on eBay for an out-of-print copy at $950.

But it is ironic that we decided to only print small batches of copies (no more than 250 at a time) …not to sell but to share freely with family and friends within the direct marketing industry…while we were running a $100 million company, half of which was book sales.

Ironic or stupid?

I guess we wanted to share Gene’s brilliance—not sell it—figuring all boats rise once applied.

And decades later, that is exactly what has happened.

I’m playing the same game today although I am selling the book now.

Whether we left money on the table or not, it made us feel good (which has value too).

Anyway…

Calling it a book about “copy and creative” does it a disservice… it is the most timeless book ever written on human behavior as well.

The fact that not one word has been changed from its 1966 version proves that point.

Gene passed away in 1995.

The number of people alive today who worked closely with Gene and can teach what he taught from firsthand experience, you can probably count on one hand.

Simply because I am still alive, I am one of those lucky few.

I don’t say this to be dramatic or to brag.

What is so special about simply “surviving” anyway?

Well, it is better than the alternative.

And it has enabled me to share stories and lessons that exist nowhere else.

Not in any book, course or on any YouTube channel.

[Note: That line was from 2014. I realize I’ve been busy since then…getting many of those stories and lessons into my blogs (like today), my books, my courses…and yes, on YouTube. So there.]

Here’s one, which I first published in 2014, that is indicative of Gene’s brilliance.

During the 1980’s, Gene wrote many of Boardroom’s most successful direct mail packages–and he also wrote some of the biggest winners for Rodale Books (publishers of more health books than anyone at that time).

And here’s the kicker:

Boardroom and Rodale never paid him a dime for any of those landmark packages.

Here’s how that came to pass…

Gene had his own company called Instant Improvement which published books on eclectic health topics which were sold with some of the most famous direct mail packages ever written.

[Note: I created a Gene Schwartz swipe file with all of them as part of the “franchise” I mentioned above. Another key element of the franchise is outlined in the P.S.]

Classic headlines included “How To Rub Your Stomach Away” and “The Tao of Sexology.”

Instant Improvement was a small but mighty company…and Gene became mighty because he understood that without being able to mail the best lists of other health book buyers, he didn’t have a business.

In fact, it was understanding what Gene understood about the list being the most important part of the marketing puzzle that propelled my career to where it is today (wherever that is).

His house list was quite small–while Boardroom and Rodale had the most responsive and largest lists in the category of health book buyers.

Since Boardroom and Rodale needed world class copy and Instant Improvement needed world class lists, these three direct marketing results leaders comprised the most powerful group of allies since World War II…(excuse the appropriate hyperbole again…but it was a huge alliance).

Gene exchanged copy for names…even though he could have commanded the highest fee of any copywriter at that time.

Because he did the math:

Even if he charged $100,000 to write a promotion (which is probably double of what the top gun copywriters charged at the time), the 750,000 names he received instead (his “price”) were worth so much more.

First, because we gave him segments of our list that were always the best-of-the-best names, names he could get nowhere else (he was an “insider,” a VIP, with “selection privileges”); but more importantly, mailing them was like earning compound interest because he was playing a long game (i.e. he wasn’t looking for one sale per buyer but multiple sales per buyer).

This made $100,000 look like chicken feed compared to what he earned on the most responsive 750,000 buyers of health books anywhere in the world.

Gene, having multiple products (i.e. dozens), was one key to the expansive nature of this compensation arrangement; but it was also about Gene’s abundant mindset, knowing that cash comes to you in different ways, and it’s not always about simply getting paid for a product or service.

This amazing relationship—what I called the “triumvirate of health mailers”– led to millions of books being sold and a much more efficient way to get the best health information distributed to as many people as possible.

Boardroom and Rodale were able to mail millions of names using Gene Schwartz controls for years…even after his death…and Gene was able to mail millions of Boardroom and Rodale names “on exchange” at an acceptable return on investment (shorthand for huge profits) for his much smaller books.

But there was nothing “small” about Gene Schwartz…I never met a man who played larger.

He traded his extraordinary talent for the asset he needed most at the time…and money was a strategic by-product, not the starting point.

And that brings me to my quote for this week:

“Reciprocation is about you, then me, then you, then me…and be the first to give service, information, concessions”

-Dr. Robert Cialdini

Understanding how to be a true partner with those you work with leads to exponential growth and true business building…

…which beats a series of “revenue events” by a mile.

When I say that I was a close friend of Gene Schwartz, it makes me smile; when I say I was his partner to help build three multi-million dollar businesses, businesses that had as their mission to disseminate the most useful and life-saving health information to consumers, I know I made a real difference in the world…which also makes me smile.

And today–when I have now sold over 15,000 copies of his masterpiece, Breakthrough Advertising, in over 75 countries( including licensing the book in Japan, France, Italy and Brazil in those languages)–I am continuing to make a difference (through Gene’s work) and continuing his legacy with humility and enthusiasm.

Of course, this also means I’m just old…but as Marty used to say, “I like getting old because now I know so much.”

Thank you, Gene, for being one of the wisest entrepreneurs I ever met.

And for writing my favorite book about human behavior (with a nod to copywriting and marketing).

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. O.K…it’s time to decide.

To keep doing your marketing the same old way or put the genius of Breakthrough Advertising and Gene Schwartz to work for you.

Maybe the same old way is good enough for you, but why wouldn’t you want to be in a room (i.e. on a Zoom screen) with up to 100 other people with the same opportunities and challenges you are facing…and interacting with them…contributing to them…and have them contributing to you.

Our 10th Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp begins Tuesday May 12th and runs through Thursday May 21st.

Six, 90-minute calls…of teaching, learning, interacting, connecting.

All recorded so you can keep up…and then you can make them a cornerstone of your direct marketing library forever.

Like a mini mastermind over 2 weeks…with documentation.

And you’ll come out the other end with an action plan for next steps on whatever product or service you are most focused on inside your business.

At an insanely low price.

Plus…access to two calls of my Titans Xcelerator Mastermind…an additional bonus for registering for the Bootcamp.

There is also a private Facebook Group to share ideas during the Bootcamp…and to make friends for life (which happens in every Bootcamp).

That’s “friends with benefits” (and not THAT way).

It’s the benefit of people who will be a sounding board for you and your business during the Bootcamp…and on into the future.

Plus hot seats, office hours, special guests.

It’s the ultimate no downside/all upside proposition…and you only have 2 days to take me up on it.

(You can join after May 12th , and we will send you all the previous recordings so you can catch up quickly…but why not sign up right now?)

Please join us.

I’ve got a lot more Gene Schwartz stories too.

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

The post It’s not always about the money appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

However, her expertise was instinctive rather than learning anything from me.

She always said, “I need to get back to your book someday, Brian.”

Despite ignoring my book, her marketing skills were still excellent.

Her birthday became a virtual holiday after the release of Star Wars (you know, “May The Fourth Be With You” …from a galaxy far, far away).

A few weeks after her birthday in 2022, she passed away, after a life well lived.

This week marks another May 4th, a perfect week to reintroduce you to my mom.

Consider this a refresher course on what she taught me (and us) about marketing…life…and being a constructive irritant for 97 years (and I say that with extreme love and devotion).

I find it remarkable that despite only reading the first chapter of my book (or so she said) and admitting that she “needed to get back to it,” her expertise in many of the principles expressed in Overdeliver, including creating irresistible offers, being multi-channel and making exquisite customer service the cornerstone of her marketing education, is uncanny.

While she never became an expert in RFM…and she had no need to understand the “41/39/20 rule” …she was an absolute expert in three areas covered in my book:

1. Telemarketing
2. Direct mail
3. Lifetime value

1. Mom on telemarketing

For my mom, if it’s not a phone communication (or an in-person visit), it doesn’t count.

Email? That’s for the “new generation.”

Although if she was on email, she would have heard from me more often, that’s for sure.

Forget about texting…she’d have to give up her flip phone for that, so I never mentioned texting as a “thing.”

My mom with a smartphone would have started a chain reaction of events (beginning with hundreds of calls to Verizon customer service) that would have changed the world of mobile communications forever…and not for the better.

And where the Internet was concerned, that was simply a place where she could browse for latex gloves, research contraptions that can reach and grasp items on high shelves and shop for her favorite skin cream (not available in stores)—and call me to have her buy them for her at the “store” called Amazon.

Funny story: For Mother’s Day a few years before she passed away, I bought her an Amazon gift card at CVS, put $0 on it, and told her there was a special number on the card that only worked if she called me with the items she desired…which I could then order for her.

She asked me until the day she died:

“How much money is left on the card?”

And my answer was always the same:

“A lot.”

That kept her ordering, one item at a time, average order $14, without disrupting the natural order of the World Wide Web.

Back to mom on telemarketing—her favorite direct response medium.

She was ahead of the curve in the 20-teens and 2020’s since it’s become a forgotten medium to many marketing mavens.

Most of us are attached to our smart phones all day long but we rarely see it or use it as a “phone” or a sales medium (as opposed to being a vehicle to post vacation pictures, photos of our latest meal, or to participate in a political rant).

Well, it works well for TikTok influencers and Instagram “videographers” for sure…but that went well above my mom’s paygrade.

Despite laying on the guilt regarding how infrequently I called her with “inbound” telemarketing, her “outbound” operation was quite extensive.

Sort of like a boiler room from her kitchen.

When she bought a can of tomatoes that were past their expiration date, rather than simply return the can to Shop-Rite, her first move was to call the CEO of Del-Monte.

She had the time and the patience to sit on hold for days…so why not?

And every time I saw her, she always had a story about how she got “satisfaction,” calling anyone who will listen, at any company or store who had stepped out of line (in her opinion), responding to her tales of woe.

She was relentless and wouldn’t stop until her demands were met.

I believe this was also a reason for her longevity.

Being active and productive (creating purpose, however one defines it), comes in many flavors…and it beats sitting around doing nothing.

Does this sound like any of your customers?

Hopefully my mom was one of your customers…because she forced you to pay more attention to your business…and she will reappear in other customers to insure you continue to toe the line.

And create lifetime customers in the process.

Read “The return on returns” for a deep dive on this topic…but if you’ve been part of my online family for any length of time, you’ve already been drilled about customer service being a marketing function.

When she told me about her adventures in telemarketing, I pictured her talking the ear off of the person on the other end, for an hour or more, about the new step stool she bought that’s missing a screw…maybe even accusing that person of missing a screw as well…and how they better satisfy her…or else.

Never raising her voice…just giving the “facts” …and she was compelling and polite.

She’s no different from any other customer on your list…no matter how old or how young.

Note that I affectionately called my mom’s practice “outbound telemarketing” rather than “complaining.”

In fact, I dedicated an entire chapter to this topic (that’s customer service and fulfillment, not complaining) in my book, Overdeliver.

It’s based on the premise that it may take a lifetime to win (and keep) a customer, but you can lose that customer in a heartbeat (with one misstep).

My mother taught this to anyone who would listen…and turned it into maximum lifetime value…more on that in a minute.

This is what links new customer acquisition to customer retention and/or renewals.

Always focus your customer acquisition effort with the second order in mind…

…and…

…it is easier to keep a customer than to get a new one.

Of course, be ready to answer the phone when your new or existing customers call and need something more.

I only wish my mom could still call me to “complain”…er…practice outbound telemarketing.

2. Mom on direct mail

My Mom might have been the most loyal and trusting (euphemism for gullible) person you will ever mail to…and the perfect person to have on your postal list.

She must give money to Paralyzed American Veterans because they sent her free return address labels.

And the free calendar from U.N.I.C.E.F.?

That deserved a bonus contribution.

If you practice the art and science of direct mail and want her to buy, donate or do anything with you, it will cost you in freebies and bonuses–but if you do this, you will reap the benefits of her generosity because of her need to reciprocate.

My mom took ethical bribes very seriously.

As do all customers and prospects.

And smart marketers too.

For her outgoing direct mail operation (a different way to say “mailing her bills and birthday cards”), how’s this for a philosophy:

She only used the prettiest postage stamps I could find at the post office for her, which she then used for all her outgoing mail…because she thought the electric company and cable TV provider would be kinder to her if she sent her payments with a beautifully stamped envelope.

And for the birthday cards she sent to her grandchildren, she thought it was the stamp that made them giddy.

But we know it was the check inside.

My favorite stamps, “The T.rex collection,” were off limits…which I guess is understandable.

They are soooo scary!

Regardless, I always had her back on the power of direct mail…stamped appropriately of course.

3. Mom on lifetime value

This one was part of her DNA…and here’s a story to illustrate my mom’s understanding of the most important concept in direct marketing.

In 2016, she fell and broke her hip. We rushed her to the hospital for emergency surgery and eventually all was well (and giving you the gory details would be TMI).

When I got home from the hospital, there were four messages on my answering machine—from Shirley, Rita, Thelma and Eleanor.

These ladies were all 91 at the time, all “with it” (despite some aches and pains), and they all wanted to know the status of Terry (my mom).

I had lengthy conversations with each of the four other “Sistas” (as I like to call them).

These five women had known each other, as close friends, for over 80 years.

That’s a brand of “lifetime value” that goes beyond anything I am familiar with…and it’s not covered in my book.

Except when I open Chapter 10 with the quote, “Life is long.”

Their friendship was a one-time sale that lasted a lifetime…no funnel or upsells needed.

Here they are in their prime…that’s my mom on the far left:

They all outlived their husbands…all lived into their late 90’s (one of them to 100) …and proved that devoted friendship is a longevity gene.

What a lesson.

So now you know why my mom was an awesome direct marketer…and why, four years after her passing, and on her birthday (May 4th), I needed to remind you (and me) what life (and marketing) is all about.

“May The Fourth Be With You!”

And may it be with you the other 364 days during the year…as you practice the art of multi-channel direct response marketing (including telemarketing and direct mail) …and become even more diversified than my mom.

And may you experience lifetime value everywhere in your life (which has little to do with the value of an average order).

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. Since my mom never read Overdeliver, you can be sure she never read Breakthrough Advertising.

However, miraculously, she applied principles from Gene Schwartz’s masterpiece in her marketing efforts as well.

I don’t know how she did it…without reading the book OR attending The Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp.

And even if you have some of my mom’s keen marketing instincts, attending the Bootcamp will give you an unfair advantage no matter what your business is—direct-to-consumer, business-to-business, product or service, online or offline, digital or brick-and-mortar.

Human behavior hasn’t changed since Gene Schwartz penned Breakthrough Advertising in 1966 (and, as I say in the afterword of the book, it hasn’t changed since 1066 either) …and you can be part of this deep dive into this miracle of a book, applying it to your specific business, category or niche, by clicking here.

It’s six, 90-minute calls over a two-week period (all recorded and therefore becoming part of your marketing library forever) …with expert instruction from me and my marketing partner Chris Mason…including some guest speakers…along with interactive discussions, hot seats, office hours…dedicated to actionable results inside your business.

With exercises (yes, there is homework) that will help you create a business that you love.

There is a private Facebook Group too…for exchanging information and ideas during the Bootcamp…or to pose questions about direct response marketing or copywriting.

Simply put, you can ask us, or the group, anything.

Consider it a “two-week mini mastermind” at a ridiculously low price.

We are here for you…as are your fellow Bootcampers.

There is also an offer on this page to buy a copy of Breakthrough Advertising at a 20% discount with your Bootcamp registration.

I hope you will join us.

It begins on Tuesday May 12th…eight days after the force has been with you…but the force will always be with you once you attend the Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp.

Click here for all the details including the schedule…and to register.

But wait…there’s more (making my mom very proud of me).

Your Bootcamp registration also includes a 7th and 8th call:

Two behind the scenes experiences with Titans Xcelerator (i.e. free access to my exclusive mastermind) …with speakers from the bleeding edge of marketing and copywriting including AI, SEO/AEO, creating persuasive copy through unique language models…and more…. all of whom follow the teachings of Gene Schwartz.

Anyone who is anyone in marketing and copywriting knows about Breakthrough Advertising, and the best-of-the-best have it in a prominent place on their bookshelf…and hundreds of those buyers have been through the Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp (some more than once).

This is our 10th Bootcamp, guaranteed to be the best one ever, since it is cumulative, not repetitive.

Every lesson learned over the past nine Bootcamps has now been incorporated in this 10th edition.

Funny how that happens with timeless, eternal truths.

Click here to hear from previous attendees, look at the full schedule of eight (8) calls…and hopefully you will be eager to register.

Looking forward to seeing you on the “inside” on May 12th.

The post May The Fourth Be With You appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

And it’s the same when someone is on a “hot seat” during a mastermind…but you don’t need a phone…and everyone in the room is already a friend…eager to help you…assuming the mastermind is curated with this kind of camaraderie in mind.

The in-person and virtual masterminds I have led (and the ones that I am a member of—where I pay upwards of $25,000 to be a member), all have this expert curation in common.

Even inside the Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp (which costs less than one-tenth of one percent of that)…the next one begins on May 12th…check out the P.S.)…has hot seats built in (more of the “pop-up” variety) where a question about applying a principle from Gene Schwartz’s classic book turns into an application to one participant’s business…and then we turn that into a universal truth.

It’s magical.

I learned about hot seats from entrepreneurs and marketers (all rock stars) like Jay Abraham, Dan Kennedy, Perry Marshall, Joe Polish, Jeff Walker, Dan Sullivan, Robin Robins, Richard Rossi (and many others) …and then I steal smart from them…and create what I want to create.

Hot seats are an integral part of every mastermind I lead—whether live or virtual—and that was a result of becoming a student of hot seats.

Legendary copywriter John Carlton learned the art and science of hot seats from Gary Halbert…an “Original Gangster”/”O.G.” of the craft…and I experienced the craft at a very high level as a guest at multiple Carlton masterminds.

Carlton is an O.G./hot seat master in his own right.

The first time I hosted hot seats was trial by fire:

I led 26 of them, over 10 hours (at the VIP Day at the “Titans of Direct Response” landmark event in 2014).

My co-host was A-List copywriter David Deutsch, also a student of hot seats.

That was when I got hooked…because I not only became the friend everyone was “phoning” …but I also became the facilitator of a “conference call” with 40 other experts on the line.

The “wisdom of the crowd” can sometimes be dangerous…when there are people in the crowd who presume to know more than everyone else…or when too much is accepted as fact rather than opinion.

But once you create a controlled hot seat environment with ground rules…which is what I learned to do from the experts mentioned above before venturing into this dynamic way to create a community for collaboration…there is nothing I enjoy more than to ignite actionable results for everyone in the room.

Pro tip if you ever experience a hot seat (and I hope you have…and if not, there is an opportunity for you in the P.S. for a hot seat maiden voyage):

“You have the rest of your life to reject any idea that comes up. Don’t reject it in the present.”

And my education is ongoing…

Taking it up a notch, I had Jay Abraham as my guest at a Titans Mastermind meeting in 2018 leading hot seats …“The Socrates of Marketing”…where he thrilled the crowd (made up of marketers, copywriters and entrepreneurs sharing their biggest business problem, opportunity or challenge)…and during each one of those hot seats they were given concrete and usable strategies (and direction) in real time.

I followed that up in 2019 when I had Dan Kennedy do the same thing.

I was being schooled by the best along with my mastermind members.

It’s a gift to be able to host effective hot seats…and an equally generous gift to be in the room absorbing all that wisdom.

With Jay…or Dan…or even me…as a lead advisor, asking probing questions, there are always epiphanies from every hot seat, even in as little as 20 minutes.

And not just for the person being hot seated.

Everyone else in the room ends up applying the lessons and concepts that would have taken months (if not years) to uncover.

And it’s not only more efficient, but also a lot less expensive…since in Jay’s case, he charges six figures for his ongoing consulting…and people like Tony Robbins and Daymond John go to Jay for the same kinds of insights.

Being a member of a $25,000 mastermind where stuff like this happens might even seem like a bargain.

And it’s definitely a bargain (dare I say a windfall) if you pay less than one-tenth of one percent of that for access to these kinds of insights…see the P.S.

Some interesting (and recurring) themes always emerge…and one that inspired this short, 8-minute video is based on an eternal truth I learned from Jay, before, during and after that day of glorious hot seats…which has at its core the title of one of his books, Getting Everything You Can Out Of All You’ve Got.

Let’s call this video:

“Expired” is not the same thing as “dead.”

OR

“Go inside before you go outside.”

Jay became the friend everyone was phoning during that mastermind…with assistance from other speakers and attendees…and the ideas that were generated have no expiration date among the insiders who were there.

Including the one expressed in this video…so you are now an insider too.

Please hit the play button on my face and watch it…and let me know what you think.

Also, please share with me any lifetime lessons you’ve learned while being on (or observing) a hot seat.

And if you have never had the experience, the P.S. has a special opportunity to take part in multiple hot seats.

Just sayin’

Warmly,

Brian

P.S. There is nothing better than being in a mastermind with people pulling for each other’s success…and as many of you know, I have run three different groups and been a member of up to six over the years.

It’s never an expense…always an investment in my education…and that investment has exceeded over a million dollars over the past 10 years alone…yielding revenue over $10 million.

I have the receipts…and the wisdom…to back it up.

I am a mastermind junkie and it’s not just because of the food that is served…the knowledge that is shared…or the star power of the host and guests (although all of those are valid reasons to be a member).

It’s about the people…the community…and the sharing.

And of course, the hot seats.

This is NOT a pitch to join my Titans Xcelerator Mastermind…after all, that would cost you 10% of any other mastermind.

Rather it is an offer for you to check out a Zoom room…at a fraction of the cost of any mastermind…and by fraction, I mean one-tenth of one percent, not even 10%.

I encourage you to click here.

You will learn about a phenomenon I call:

The Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp.

What I am offering you today is to get a taste of a room/community/Zoom screen where I guarantee you are not the smartest person (because then you are in the wrong room/community/Zoom screen).

But you will be in the room where it happens (i.e. where everyone is getting smarter…together).

Also (whether you take me up on this offer or not) …enter those rooms with guns blazing (i.e. sharing what you have to offer), so you can “contribute to connect” … which beats superficial networking, collecting people and having the most Facebook friends.

This link will take you to a page for a special two-week “event” I am hosting where you will be able to encounter your first…or second…or tenth…hot seat.

And…

• Six, 90-minute live calls (with recordings) exploring the mind and world of Gene Schwartz, one of the greatest copywriters, marketers and human behaviorists who have ever lived.
• “Office hours” with me during the Bootcamp…and my marketing partner Chris Mason…to make sure you have an action plan once you have gone through the calls and the exercises. You will need to do some work, however.
• A private Facebook Group for all members of the Bootcamp…to exchange ideas and make lifelong friends at the same time.
• During the two weeks of Bootcamp calls, you will have a complimentary “seat” inside my Titans Xcelerator Mastermind to see what I am talking about regarding a larger curated community where everyone helps everyone (which the Bootcamp will do in miniature). There will never be an obligation to join.

My guarantee:

You will be phoning friends long after these 8 calls…and that’s whether you stay in my orbit or not.

All for the exorbitant price of $197.

What’s holding you back from joining the 10th Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp?

It will be the best one ever…especially if you are there.

Please click here to read all about it…and to register.

The post “Phone a friend” appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

• How to discover your market’s secret desires anytime you want. These are the desires they don’t want anyone to know about.
• How to present your offer as THE solution for your market’s strongest desire.
• How to sell to a market that doesn’t trust you (yet).

 They didn’t need me to talk about these areas because Breakthrough Advertising is the Bible on these topics.

And check out the P.S. to explore the answers to Alex’s critical questions…and more.

Since I am not Gene Schwartz, I deflected her questions (temporarily by offering all of the Reign Makers a complimentary seat inside the next Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp) and instead talked about research to Alex’s students.

Intense research and never settling on the obvious or the mundane is what separates the best copywriters from the average ones…and allows them to be the canaries in the coal mine to protect us mere mortals from impending doom.

We can stop the metaphor here…no one needs to die to make my point today (canary OR copywriter).

But I want to talk about some examples of why I think top copywriters are the folks to pay the closest attention to, all in the spirit of Gene Schwartz and Breakthrough Advertising, if you want to know the best route through your marketing tunnel (and yes, that’s “tunnel,” not “funnel”). 



1. The best creative platform might be more obvious than you think

A Boardroom trademark was how we brought our experts together on a regular basis…whether at our famous “Boardroom Dinners” or just assembling experts from a particular discipline to meet and debate to see what sparks would fly.

When they got together in a moderated discussion those sparks always turned into the best story ideas.

One time we brought together all our tax experts in one meeting from all over the country…and we were smart enough to not only invite our editors to listen in but also one of our copywriters (Parris Lampropoulos).

What came out of that meeting were dozens of the best story ideas…but also a blockbuster control package for our newsletter Tax Hotline.

What Parris figured out was that the concept of a “secret meeting of the country’s top tax experts spilling the beans on things they would not normally talk about in public” was a differentiator that would make Tax Hotline the most attractive publication of its kind at the time.

A secret meeting in a coal mine. 

The secret meeting became the premise of a new control, a control that was impossible to beat for over a decade.

And it was brought about by a Schwartz tenet, summarized by “copywriting by walking around”…and this quote:

“You cannot lose touch with the people of this country, no matter how successful or potent you are; if you don’t spend at least two hours a week finding out where your market is today, you are finished.”



2. I’m not a doctor but I play one in direct mail

When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2008, one of the first calls I made (after finishing up with the doctor and then alerting some family and friends) was to Parris.

I knew I had a lot of research ahead of me in terms of choosing the right treatment and doctors…but I also knew that one of my ace copywriters had read more and written more about this cancer than most doctors I would talk to…especially in the alternative treatment area.

I knew that with one phone call to Parris, I would benefit from the fact that he was a copywriter who never wrote anything about any topic before he researched everything on that topic.

I was right.

And he charged me a lot less than a doctor’s visit…leading to a positive outcome.

I am still here, and I will die of something else besides prostate cancer.

David Ogilvy said it best, who I profiled in my first book, The Advertising Solution (along with Gene Schwartz and 4 other legendary “Mad Men”):

“Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.”



3. I’m not a doctor but I play one on TV

Arthur Johnson was our partner in some of the most successful infomercials during the mid-2000’s for our books The World’s Greatest Treasury of Health Secrets and Bottom Line’s Ultimate Healing—as both a writer and on-air talent.

Arthur not only co-wrote the scripts, but he appeared on screen in an interview format with legendary newsman Hugh Downs.

And what did we call Arthur in the show?

“Medical Writer and Editor.”

And that couldn’t have been more accurate.

He was on the show because of his command of the material and his relationship as a reporter of the life-saving information the doctors who appeared on the show were sharing.

We couldn’t have found anyone at the time who was more passionate and knowledgeable.

Who could be better than an ace copywriter for this job?

Arthur had read the books cover to cover and had pulled out what he thought were the most important treatments and research consumers needed to know right now.

He put the time and effort in, and it showed in his writing, editing…and his on-screen performance.

Those infomercials weren’t just marginally successful…they were groundbreaking.

And going from direct mail to TV with these health books, back to direct mail with the TV offer, then online with the new offer, and back to TV with additional shows, this “franchise” created revenues north of $200 million for my beloved company, Boardroom.

I guess it pays to read, research and study to become the best writer and editor.

I remember Hugh Downs asking Arthur on the set during one of the shoots (off camera):

“Where did you study medicine?”

He could have answered, “Everywhere there is cutting edge information to write about.”

I know he didn’t answer “in medical school.”



4) Don’t leave your best material on the cutting room floor

Always allow your copywriters to probe your editors, your gurus, your experts to make sure there is not more “stuff” in those incredible brains that could create some of the most exciting and breakthrough articles or concepts…which will lead to more compelling promotion copy…and yes, more sales of your product or service.

When Parris thought the material in one of our health newsletters was boring and had little in the way of cutting-edge information, he probed the doctor-guru of that newsletter, encouraging him to share everything he avoided writing about because of censorship by our editors who took issue with some of the most engaging information as too controversial.

From that probing, new assignments were given to the editors to get the proper backup for the most exciting content that had previously been off limits.

The most bleeding-edge studies and findings that were able to be backed up properly became the core of a new blockbuster control package.

I’m not recommending ever being irresponsible and making up stuff that’s not true; but don’t give up easily when there is an opportunity to share what has never been shared before…and all it might take is a little more research.

A reaction of “I didn’t know that” beats “so what?” from our audiences every time.

Note: In the Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp I will share a personal experience I had with Gene Schwartz and how he compelled me to avoid “so what? copy” at all costs…with one simple question.



All of this reminds me of the classic Henry Kissinger story which I call, “Is this the best you can do?” (my version of it):

A speech writer for Kissinger went off to write a speech for him…brought in his first draft…and Kissinger sent it back to him to improve it.

Assume for the purpose of this version of the story this happened 8 times.

Finally, the writer brought him the 9th version and said, “This is the best I can do…I can’t do any better…”

To which Kissinger replied:

“OK, now I will read it.”

An A-List copywriter usually won’t consider showing any of the first “8 versions” to a client until they have gone “full canary” with their research.

And checking it through with peers and critics they trust.

I don’t know about you, but that’s who I want as my marketing partner…panel participant…or dinner guest.



Warmly,



Brian



P.S Breakthrough Advertising might be the most quoted—and least applied—book in the entire marketing world.

That’s not on Gene Schwartz.

He gave us brilliance, depth and frameworks that still hold up 60 years later.

What he didn’t give us though is a chapter on implementation.

You know—the chapter where someone grabs your hand and says:

“Here’s what this means. Here’s how you apply it. Here’s what you do next.”

Well, that’s the chapter I’d like to write with YOU for your specific business…

On May 12^th, my marketing partner Chris Mason and I are kicking off a live, two-week Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp—a working session to take Gene’s words off the page and into your business.

You’ll get:

• Six live, 90-minute, focused sessions
• Simple, practical assignments you’ll want to do
• Real-world examples of how this stuff plays out in the wild

And if you don’t yet have the book yet, no worries.

When you join the Bootcamp, you can get your own copy of Breakthrough Advertising for just $100 (regularly $125).

This Bootcamp is the missing chapter—the one Gene didn’t write, but every serious marketer needs.

If you’re ready to move from admiration to application, this is where it starts.

Click here to grab your seat—and your book—before we close enrollment.

Gene gave us the playbook.

The Bootcamp is where we run the plays—together.

The post The best guests to invite to any party appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

I’m glad I got you to like me. 

I hadn’t thought through the idea that the incredible bonuses I “overdelivered” with my book could cheapen the book’s value…but it’s a conclusion you could make.

I plan to reprint your email in an upcoming blog post (I won’t mention your name) to talk extensively about the power of bonuses and “ethical bribes” …why they work so well…and the “counter argument” you expressed here.

“Over-bonusing” can hurt you too…I guess.

Thanks so much for your email…and giving me a wonderful idea to write about.

And of course, I’m relieved that you saw that the bonuses at 

…I say, how many books have their premise as “overdelivery?”

I guess I could have titled the book “Overcompensate” but it doesn’t have the same ring to it.

I felt my reputation was on the line to overdeliver with the bonuses for fear I could be uncovered as a fraud.

Of course, no good deed goes unpunished, and I still got accused of being a fraud anyway (by at least one person).

Let’s talk about how Benson’s two rules of thumb on premiums (which can be defined for today’s purposes as “ethical bribes”) apply universally.

When you are sitting in a brainstorming meeting cooking up irresistible offers (regardless of the medium), you should never leave the room until you spend a considerable amount of time talking about what bonuses and premiums will be part of those offers.

That might sound obvious but let’s dive deeper using the two “Benson Rules of Thumb.”



Premiums are better incentives than cash discounts

When you are selling to an audience who you know and love (and who knows and loves you), you want to always treat them like family.

Giving them a discount is nice…but giving away more of what they love about you will always have a higher perceived value than cash…especially in a direct marketing environment.

That’s not to say that cash or early bird discounts or discounts on multiple orders are not effective inside of your best offers (and those should be tested rigorously); but offering more of the material they came to you for in the first place is where the offer becomes irresistible.

Let me add my own corollary to Benson’s rule #12 here:

“If your audience is buying information (e.g. editorial content), premiums that are additional information (e.g. editorial content) are better than “hard premiums” (e.g. hard goods, gifts).

The core audience of the company I helped build, Boardroom Inc. (which published books and newsletters for affluent consumers), were “information junkies” of the highest order (which makes them mail order junkies and therefore, royalty).

Because of that, we always had our biggest successes offering additional content as premiums.

Our subscribers and book buyers couldn’t get enough of our stuff.

We often joked that we sold our content by the pound.

And when we tried to simply add in a calculator, a magnifying glass or the hottest new gadget that we could offer that cost us less than $10, those offers never did as well as when we just kept giving them more free content related to the topics they were most passionate about.

Irony: The stuff they wanted most (e.g. books, special reports, pamphlets, information) not only worked better in terms of creating higher response rates and profit, but those kinds of premiums were much cheaper to produce and fulfill than more expensive hard goods.

That’s even truer today when the content is digital and for the most part, free to fulfill, with no printing and postage necessary…with hard goods not having the same advantage.

One exception occurred with our Tax Hotline newsletter.

The control promotion for that publication offered a calculator as a free bonus with a subscription…but even there, the calculator by itself as a premium was never a winner.

The best package was always some version of the calculator along with a 200-page special report on new tax law (or some other additional special report or book).

Interestingly, when we removed only the calculator from the offer, we had better results than when we removed only the special report.

Having both was the best version but we wanted to know that each premium was pulling its weight.

We always did “single variable testing” to make sure we knew precisely which element(s) were lifting response and profit.

That’s a subtle (but mandatory) pro tip for you, one you should ignore at your peril.

Conclusion: The editorial premium was much more important to the offer than the calculator to this audience. But in this instance, we needed both for maximum profit and lifetime value.

And maybe even more important, if we just had the calculator, my guess is that the lifetime value of new subscribers coming in on an offer like that (i.e. without an editorial premium) would be lower.

That is, we would run the risk of the offer looking more like only a “bribe” rather than a “bonus”; and we would also run the risk of attracting new subscribers who were only interested in the free calculator (” tire kickers”) rather than potential long-term subscribers.

While the calculator was part of a winning offer, it was BOTH the calculator and special report that was the best offer.

Lesson: Understanding your audience and how you can be super generous and still create the highest lifetime value, with the highest upfront response on the initial offer, should be your goal as you construct offers with multiple bonuses and premiums.



Two premiums are frequently better than one

I’ll add on to Benson’s Rule of Thumb #17 too (and go beyond the Tax Hotline example above):

“Two premiums are better than one; four are better than two; 50 are better than four; 100 are better than 50.”

You get the idea.

Benson stopped at “two” because he was a direct mail guy who always had printing and postage costs on his mind.

I think it’s safe to say that Benson would have also loved the lower cost of digital content.

Another case history from Boardroom:

We had an offer for an annual book called, The Bottom Line Yearbook…and our copywriter created a new package with two “special reports” (and yes, they had to be printed on paper and sent in the mail).

I know that makes you 100% digital folks break out in hives.

When that worked, we created four special reports under the copywriter’s direction.

When that became the new control, we created 50 special reports with each one being approximately 2 pages in length, on 50 specific topics we knew our readers were most interested in.

To keep our costs down, when we fulfilled this premium, we had the 50 premiums printed and bound into one 100+ page book.

The offer then revolved around the “50 special reports” much more than the yearbook itself; and every report title was listed and described in the promotion, creating many more entry points for potential readers and buyers.

Once that became a huge winner for us, and the fact that our copywriter was no dummy, the next test became 100 special reports as the premium (in a single bound book of 200+ pages).

Note that the presentation of the 50 or 100 special reports was fanned out inside the magalog promotion showing “bulk” (i.e., content by the pound) …with readable titles of each one.

Read more about the history of magalogs in my post,  “How online marketing was invented.”

If we could offer 100 bonus reports (printed on paper!) in a direct mail package and make it pay out (which we did), I encourage you to think bigger and bolder regarding your premiums and bonuses when you construct your offers.

Of course, today, information overload is a thing…and needs to be addressed…but don’t let that stop you from dreaming about irresistible offers.

Quantity can be your friend if there is relevance.

And “more for the sake of more” is not what I am talking about here.

Some version of that package was the control for years…and the printing and fulfillment didn’t cost a lot more compared to the cost when we had only two special reports.

It got even more economical when we created the online version of that promotion, and 100 special reports cost the same as two (i.e. nothing).

That’s why I am so excited about this “digital content thing”—I believe it will eventually catch on.



This reminds me of a funny (but profound) quote from a public speaking coach, Joel Weldon (a member of the Speaker’s Hall of Fame), when I worked with him to prepare a speech.

My PowerPoint slides had way too much copy on them, and he encouraged me to take my 10 slides and turn them into around 50 slides with only one image or only a few words on each slide.

His quote:

“Slides are free!”

Premiums and bonuses can be free too.

But free with increased value to your audience.

I could have titled this post “Ethical bribes” …even though I haven’t even hinted at anything that could be construed as “unethical” in the examples.

I love bribes that are used for good and not evil.

Creating premiums and bonuses for your family (i.e. your list) is always about giving them more of what they want, not just giving them “more free stuff” to get them to say “Yes” the first time.

And when it’s the “right stuff,” they will stay in your family a lot longer.

I also always found it fascinating that our best offers always emphasized the premiums and bonuses above the main product being sold.

In direct marketing, if you can make all the free stuff worth more than what folks would pay for just the core product, selling the core product becomes that much easier.

I wrote in my afterword to the Titans Marketing edition of the classic, Breakthrough Advertising, that human behavior has not changed since Gene Schwartz penned his masterpiece in 1966…and frankly, human behavior hasn’t changed since 1066…or even way before that.

Another simpler way to say this is to quote Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas), who was the lead character in the movie Wall Street.

Gekko famously said:

“Greed is good.”

In direct marketing, it is especially good when the existing and potential greed of your customers matches your ability to make them customers for life…with an offer that is ethical, robust and relevant (and full of awesome bonuses).

Overdelivery is a kissing cousin of greed…when they are both done elegantly.



Warmly,



Brian



P.S. Speaking of human behavior never changing, and why you need to apply that principle to everything you do in business, marketing, and copywriting, please consider joining the 10^th Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp which begins on May 12^th.

It’s a “deep-dive sprint” (to coin a new oxymoron) …because it covers all you need to know to implement Gene Schwartz’s fundamental principles and be able to apply them to your business…through six, 90-minute packed calls over two weeks.

Profound and quick. 

This 10^th edition of the Bootcamp incorporates the learning from the previous 9 …with new findings…blending state-of-the-art marketing and copywriting (including all things AI) with the eternal truths that Gene penned in 1966 regarding how humans behave in the marketplace…all with 100% relevance to your business or category.

Click here to read all about it…including success stories from folks who have been through the Bootcamp (with some attending multiple times).

I’d love you to join me on May 12^th.

It’s a small investment that will create opportunities you never imagined.

And we get to interact and exchange ideas over 2 weeks…including specifics on whatever is at the top of your priority list, marketing-wise.

Hope to see you on the “inside.”

There’s also an offer on the page to buy the book itself at a 20% discount with your Bootcamp registration.

Click here.

The post Greed is good appeared first on Brian Kurtz.

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.

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