Last night I organized a direct response dinner in a restaurant in Barcelona’s Eixample neighborhood. I invited 7 people, all of whom either own direct response businesses or work in direct marketing. The agenda was communicating with like-minded primates, and food.
One of the people who joined was a Canadian girl who works in ecom and is also starting a Substack.
She was sharing her plans for the Substack. Eventually she said something like, “I gotta figure out how to engage readers.”
I’d had a couple of glasses of wine by this point.
They say that in wine there is truth.
So I blurted out, “You gotta insult people.”
The girl and the guy next to her, an executive coach who refused to eat anything because he is on the Gundry anti-lectin diet, both stopped and stared at me.
“Insult them? No, come on…”
“Yep, insult them.”
And then, using my best debating skills, I laid out my case.
First, insulting people can demonstrate higher status — not always, but when done in the right way. And there are no influence tricks that can match the persuasive power of having higher status.
Second, insulting people can be a game that you play with people, with them being in on it.
I once heard Nick Krauser, the world’s best pickup artist, say, “attraction is bullshit.” That’s what this kind of insulting is — bullshit, banter, fooling around.
Note that this is exactly the opposite situation of the previous, “higher status” kind of insult, though some people will try to sneak in a “higher status” insult as banter. (“It was all in good fun!” they’ll say, to try to cover up for themselves. Weak, if you ask me. If you’re going to insult people because you’re after higher status, then own the insult.)
The third reason to insult your readers is that nice is boring. And in the words of A-list copywriter Jim Rutz:
“The #1 sin in ad mail is being boring, and over half of it richly deserves its quick death by wastebasket.”
This applies not just to ad mail, but to daily emails… to ads, advertorials, sales letters… to Substack newsletters, books, movie scripts, political pamphlets, and cereal box copy.
Maybe you don’t agree with me about insulting people.
You donkey.
One day, I’ll write a book about this topic, which I call “natural authority.”
Meanwhile, I’ll just point you to my most recent book, “10 Commandments of Con Men, Pickup Artists, Magicians, Door-to-Door Salesmen, Hypnotists, Copywriters, Negotiators, Political Propagandists, Stand Up Comedians, and Oscar-Winning Screenwriters.”
You still haven’t read that book? What are you waiting for? Here’s the link, you muppet: