John Bejakovic

The trouble with selling to late 50s white guys with money

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Brian Kurtz sent an interesting email today about list selection, with the following thought:

The question I wanted an answer to, in living color, although a black and white copy would do:

‘What was the promotion that got the name.’

I believe the logic behind this kind of list research applies to all media today even though most of the lists you use online don’t have data cards attached to them.

Lists are people too… and finding out as much about them — how they think, how they respond, how they read, what they read — are components you can find out before you ever send a promotion to them.

Like Brian says, this is still relevant today, as long as you’re selling anything to anybody.

Because the standard advice is to do a bunch of research on your customers or prospects. Who they are. What problems they have. What language they use.

Not bad. And certainly much better than just pulling your advertising out of your own head.

Better still is knowing what these people bought. (If they bought one copywriting course, there’s a good chance they will buy another.)

But what’s best is what Brian says. Find out “how they think, how they respond, how they read, what they read.” You get that from the type of advertising these people bought from — or didn’t buy from.

Some people respond to hype- and intrigue-filled direct response copy. Others respond to quick and brandy TV-style commercials. Others still might not respond to either, but will respond to independent recommendations, or stuff that they find through their own research.

Because lists are people too. And two people can have the same demographics… the same buying history… and yet still be very different, in the kinds of things that get them stirred to action.

James Hetfield (of Metallica) and George Clooney (of ER) are both late 50s white guys with millions of dollars in the bank. They are also both Tesla owners.

And yet, I imagine it might take a whole different appeal to move George than to move Papa Het — and vice versa. It’s something to be mindful of, if you run any kind of advertising, and if you don’t want to go bankrupt.

D. Trump’s first pillar of persuasive power

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Twigger warning:

This post is about billionaire businessman, master persuader, and father of five D. Trump. Because while working on some secret stuff today, I had the feeling that Trump uses repetition as a persuasive tool.

But it was just a hunch. And then I found a transcript of the third presidential debate between Trump and H. Clinton. In the first few seconds, Trump said the following:

Something happened recently where Justice Ginsburg made some very, very inappropriate statements toward me and toward a tremendous number of people, many, many millions of people that I represent. And she was forced to apologize and apologize she did.

But these were statements that should never, ever have been made. We need a Supreme Court that in my opinion, is going to uphold the Second Amendment and all amendments, but the Second Amendment, which is under absolute siege.

I believe if my opponent should win this race, which I truly don’t think will happen, we will have a Second Amendment, which will be a very, very small replica of what it is right now. But I feel that it’s absolutely important that we uphold because of the fact that it is under such trauma.

By my count, this short snippet features:

– 6 instances of words repeated for effect

– 2 instances of phrases repeated for effect

– 4 instances of ideas repeated for effect

So I think my hunch about Trump and repetition was spot on.

(I only found out later that I was not the first to spot Trump’s use of repetition. Far from it. It turns out Scott Adams wrote about it in his book Win Bigly, all the way back in 2017. According to Adams, repetition is the key pillar of Trump’s persuasive power, along with simplicity and images.)

Now maybe you don’t like Trump. Even so, you might still be able to learn something from the man. Because you too can use repetition at different levels of your persuasive message. Words. Phrases. Ideas. Across space and time.

It’s worth trying. Because repetition creates belief… it increases desire… and it makes sure your message actually reaches your prospect.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because I wrote about it in another post a few months ago. But it’s a very valuable lesson… and worth repeating.

And here’s something I repeat at the end of each of my posts:

I have an email newsletter. It’s the best. Really. If you’d like to try it out, you can sign up here.

Profitable second-best positioning

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BUD: I love you, Miss Kubelik.
FRAN: [cutting a deck of cards] Seven… queen.
BUD: Did you hear what I said, Miss Kubelik? I absolutely adore you.
FRAN: [handing over the cards] Shut up and deal.

That’s the ending of my favorite movie of all time, called The Apartment.

It stars Jack Lemmon as sweet and harmless accountant Bud Baxter… Shirley MacLaine as cute and clever elevator girl Fran Kubelik… and Fred MacMurray as handsome and cruel business executive Jeff Sheldrake.

The setup in a nutshell:

Fran is in love with Sheldrake… Sheldrake uses Bud’s apartment as a place to sleep with Fran on the side away from his wife… and Bud falls in love with Fran.

By the end end of the movie, after Sheldrake breaks Fran’s heart one too many times and Fran tries to commit suicide in Bud’s apartment, things are set right. ​​Sheldrake is left out in the cold and Fran winds up with Bud. Bud might not be powerful and sexy… but at least he’s sweet and he absolutely adores her.

The point being, sometimes you’re not the best, or the first. And that can be ok. You can still get the girl. Or the customer.

And along these lines, I want to propose to you the idea of second-best positioning.

A famous example of this is Avis rent-a-car.

Back in the early 1960s, Avis was the homely mule trotting behind the spry stallion that was Hertz. And rather than trying to pretend otherwise, Avis decided to own their second-best position. The result was the following ad campaign:

“Avis is only No. 2 in rent a cars. So why go with us? We try harder.”

Within a year of launching this campaign, Avis went from a loss of $3.2 million to a profit of $1.2 million. Within 5 years of this campaign running… the difference in market share between Hertz and Avis shrank from 32% to just 13%. It even looked like Avis might overtake Hertz — and need a new ad campaign.

“All right,” you might say, “good for Avis. But why wouldn’t I find a uniquely best position for myself… and instead accept the role of a homely second-best mule?”

Fair point. My only answer is that second-best can get you free promotion. And lots of high-quality leads. And almost certainly more sales than you can handle. At least if you’re selling some kind of service, and can follow the clever program outlined below.

It’s something I found in Glenn Allsop’s article, which I shared in a post a few days ago.

Did you read Glenn’s article? All the way to the end? That’s where the clever second-best biz idea was. From what I understand, it works like this:

1. You are in business offering some kind of service. Say, copywriting.

2. You decide you want to help a charitable cause. Say, the unbeaching of that tanker that’s stuck in the Suez Canal.

3. So you contact 25 of the top level people in your field, who have premier positioning. A-list copywiters, etc. They all agree to provide a free copy critique, which will be sold for top dollar to help the charitable cause.

4. You then create a page to promote this event. “The greatest copy critique event of all time! Featuring A-list copywriters! In support of the beached Suez canal tanker!”

5. With some hand-waving, this offer goes viral. Not impossible — considering the premier positioning of the 25 A-list copywriters at the heart of it.

6. The 25 premier slots sell out in minutes after the event goes live.

7. You then update your page to say, “Missed out this time, or want another critique option? Check out our $40 sales copy critique and get feedback in the next 72 hours.”

And there you go. All the opportunity a sweet, second-best copywriter can handle. At that point, you’ve just got to shut up and deal.

Do you want a copy critique? It’s something I offer from time to time. But the offer only ever goes out to subscribers of my email newsletter. If you’re interested, you can join it here.

This is it

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A fluff warning:

Today’s post is not about marketing or copywriting. It’s about vague life fluff. If that don’t interest you, I can understand.

But if it doesn’t turn you off, then let me set up the fluff with a poetic scene I saw this morning:

I was walking along a wooded path that runs through the middle of my home town.

A guy and his large dog were there. The guy let the dog off the leash, and the dog started gamboling about.

A second guy passed by on a bike, biking slowly up the gravel path.

The dog saw the biker, and he saw the chance for some fun. So he started running alongside the biker, barking loudly.

The biker was clearly not comfortable with this large dog’s attention. He kept on biking carefully and tried to stay away from the dog.

Of course, this meant the dog kept running along the bike happily and barking his warm dog heart out.

Meanwhile, the owner was yelling at the dog to come back. This was not working. So the owner started running after the biker and the dog.

And the whole threesome turned into a slowly moving procession, each keeping a perfect distance from the other two, as they made their way up the hill:

The biker, nervously trying to stay away from the dog… the dog, alongside the bike, barking and wagging his tail… and the owner, cursing and running at just enough pace to not lose the dog and the bike.

This made me think of another scene, one that happened a couple of months ago:

I was sitting on a bench at a Crossfit-style gym at the top of a fancy hotel in a cool city of a country halfway across the world. It was the middle of the morning, and the gym was empty, because besides me, most people have jobs to go to instead of being free to go for a workout.

I was taking a break between two exercises. And I was sitting on a bench, completely lost inside my head, thinking furiously about plans and projects I have for the mid-term future.

I was restless and unhappy. There’s so much to do, I thought, and I’m doing it so slowly. But once I manage to do it all, life will be sweet. Maybe in six months’ time.

And suddenly, I had an est-like realization.

“This is it,” I thought. “This is all there is. What exactly will be different in six months’ time?”

“The world around me will be more or less ok, depending on the moment, just as it is today. And I will still be lost in my head, thinking about the future and how much better things will be in another six months. Regardless of what I’ve accomplished in the meantime.”

You might think this sounds depressing, but for me it was good. I keep coming back to it, whenever I find myself getting anxious and wound up. Almost always, it’s because some part of me is barking at the future, and at all the stuff I haven’t done yet but want to do.

“This is it,” I repeat the line from Semi-Tough. “This is all there is.” And it makes me feel better.

The guy on the bike eventually stopped. This made the dog stop as well. The owner caught up to the two of them, leashed the dog, and then they were all off on their way again.

​​The barking disappeared. The biker and the owner both looked relieved. And the dog soon focused his enthusiasm and energy elsewhere.

The end. Except, if you want more content that’s less like this, you might want to sign up to my email newsletter. Usually it’s more cynical and exploitative, but I do occasionally write about “What am I doing with my life” moments like this.

In case you’d like to try my newsletter out, you can join here.

The trick behind the magic in Gary Halbert’s unbeatable copy?

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Do you believe in magic? Maybe you will after the following story:

After Gary Halbert died, a former client of his approached Dan Kennedy. The client wanted Dan to try beating a control that Halbert had written.

To Kennedy’s eagle eyes, Halbert’s control certainly looked beatable. There were obvious things that Kennedy could see to attack. Besides, the control was written years or decades earlier, and was starting to fatigue.

So Dan Kennedy, expert copywriter that he is, tried to beat Halbert’s control — and he failed.

Looking back on it, Kennedy said there was some magic in Halbert’s copy. You couldn’t see it… but it was there, and customers responded.

Do you believe that? The magic part? In case you do, let me tell you a second Halbert story, which might shoo the magic away:

Back in the 2000s, Halbert got into daytrading. He was making money daytrading online. And being a direct marketer, he naturally started selling his expertise to people who wanted to learn daytrading also.

And get this:

Halbert went to daytrading school. Even though he already knew what they would teach him. In other words, he paid some guy a lot of money and went day after day… month after month… to hear stuff he already knew and was already doing.

Why would he possibly do something so silly and wasteful?

According to Caleb O’Dowd, who apprenticed as a teenager under Halbert, it was an act of undercover copy detective work. Halbert went to daytrading school so he could hang out with all the other would-be daytraders, and talk to them, and hear their stories and fears and motivations. Day after day after day.

Maybe that’s how the magic got into his copy.

Caleb said this is the kind of thing very few marketers are willing to engage in. But those who do inevitably wind up at the top of their market. They don’t just succeed, they have breakthroughs, and they make millions.

Anyways, this was one little snippet I heard during Caleb’s segment in this month’s issue of Steal Our Winners. Caleb’s segment was about how he goes into markets where he has no business being, and how he quickly rises to the top in spite of established, bloodthirsty competition.

If you want to know how he does it, I’ll tell you:

Caleb comes up with offers that overcome his lack of credibility, and which can compensate even for poor advertising.

If you want to know the full details of the offers Caleb makes, I suggest you check out his Steal Our Winners segment. From what I understand, the issue is still available, for a grand investment of exactly one (1) of your dollars.

You can find out more at the link below. But first, a warning:

The link below is an affiliate link. That’s because last month, I wrote an email promoting Steal Our Winners with no affiliate link, since I think what they’re doing is so great.

And then Rich Schefren and the good people at Agora got in touch with me and offered to give me a cut of your $1, should you choose to wager it.

​​Perhaps take that into consideration when deciding whether you truly want this information. In any case, here’s the link:

https://bejakovic.com/sow

This blog does not exist

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Or rather, this blog might not exist very much longer.

Perhaps you’ve seen the trend online. Websites with names like thiscatdoesnotexist.com… thispersondoesnotexist.com.

You go there and see a photograph of a cat or a woman. Who does not exist. Who was conjured up, in pixel-perfect lifelike detail, by some kind of computer jiggery-pokery. When you refresh the page, the computer mind creates another fake cat or fake woman for you to be confused by.

Well today, I saw more progress in this direction, thismusicvideodoesnotexist.com. It’s just what it sounds like. The music is generated by computer. So is the video. And it’s watchable, much more watchable than a lot of shit made by humans.

As you probably know, there’s been a surge in AI copywriting tools over the past year or two. Some industry insiders look at these new tools and say, “Hahaha, never-ever will this work.”

I’m not so sure. But I’m even less sure it will matter one way or another.

I had this idea a while ago, a science-ficition scenario. Artificial intelligence gets good enough to generate content — TV shows, music, books.

But good enough for what?

Good enough for each of us. Each of us gets a custom stream of entertainment, based on our previous preferences… based on how our eyes dilate… based on whether we keep watching.

Each of us is served with the perfect content, just for us, just for that moment. Familiar enough… with the right amount of surprise to keep us fascinated and perfectly pleased.

In my sci-fi scenario, you won’t be able to communicate your interests to anyone else. Nobody else will share your tastes so exactly. Why would anyone listen to your perfect song or watch your perfect movie… when he has his own perfect song and movie available, without even a click of a button, just served up, non-stop, 24/7?

Anyways, that’s the future I’m thinking of. And with this video site, it seems like it’s on its way. When it arrives, we will have bigger social problems than a lack of work for copywriters.

Fortunately, we are still not there yet.

That means you can still talk to your friends about a great movie you saw, and that they might like. And you can still make money persuading people to buy stuff that they didn’t know they wanted five minutes ago.

Speaking of which, and motivated by my post from yesterday:

I’d like to point you to a little book I wrote on the topic of copywriting. It collects 10 lessons from 10 of the most successful people to ever put shocking secret to paper.

It’s not a big book… but at least it exists. For now. To find out more about it:

https://bejakovic.com/10commandments

Friendzone: How to escape it in sex and sales

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When I was a freshman in college, I and all the guys I knew were in love with a girl named Leila.

Leila lived in the campus apartment next to mine. She had big brown hair and big brown eyes and was all-around pretty. On top of which, she had a bubbly and yet moody personality. I guess this was catnip to incompetent, inexperienced, unassertive 19-year-old boys like myself.

One day, it turned out Leila had finally chosen somebody from the herd.

​​The winner was a meek, clean-cut, marathon-running physics major from the next building over. I saw him and Leila around campus a few days in a row, talking intimately, walking by themselves, whispering in the dark.

Leila enthused to her friends how smart this guy was, and how serious, and how she liked his self-respect.

And then, a week later, it was all over. Through the college grapevine, I heard why Leila cut the guy off.

“He just never made a move,” she said.

Yesterday, I kicked off my bullets course. More people signed up for it than I expected. Enough that I could look for patterns and trends, both to make the course better and more interesting for the people who joined… and just for my own curiosity.

So it turns out the members of the trial run of my bullets course are:

1. Geographically spread out, with a predictably big focus on the U.S.

2. Almost exclusively men

3. About an even split between business owners and freelance copywriters

None of this is particularly surprising or interesting. But the following is:

Two out of three people who signed up for my course joined my email list in just the past three months.

For reference, I’ve been writing these emails for the past two and a half years. During that time, I’ve had a steady trickle of new signups.

Many people who signed up for this newsletter in 2019 and 2020 still read these emails. Some regularly. And yet, there’s that stat above. Two out of three people who signed up for the course only joined my email list in the past three months.

I guess there might be complex reasons for this. But I want to give you a simple explanation, which is probably good enough. And that is:

Recency matters.

In sex and in sales, it takes some time to build a basic relationship, demonstrate competence, and excite desire.

But this time is often less than you might think. And after somebody expresses interest… and once you’re past this giving-you-a-shot period… more is not better.

People cool off. They might still like you… but they put you in the friend zone. The way to avoid this is simple. Just make a move.

And now the big question:

Would you like to go on a date with me? If you want to give me a shot, you can join my email newsletter. But be warned. I will make a move and try to sell you something in the first few months.

Perhaps that scares you or turns you off. No problem. But if it makes your heart beat a little faster… then here’s where you can sign up.

An inspiring case study plus Dan Kennedy’s best stuff for cheap

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Today I want to share an inspiring business case study with you, plus how you can get Dan Kennedy’s best teachings for cheap.

First the case study:

I’ve followed the writing of a guy named Glenn Allsop for years. Glenn writes about SEO and business opportunities. He’s very smart and very dedicated and very willing to share just about everything on his blog.

And Glenn just came out with a big new post titled, Generating Six-Figure Profits from $40 SEO Audits.

It’s just what the title says — amazing when you consider that an SEO audit is something most people can’t give away, much less make a business out of.

There’s a ton of valuable ideas in Glenn’s post, and if you’re offering any kind of service (copywriting, design, video…) it’s worth reading in full. But today, I want to share just one thing that I found most striking out of the whole case study.

Because really, why would a highly successful guy like Glenn waste his time doing tiny $40 jobs, even if it did result in decent profits? He has other business ventures that could earn him much more.

But here, from Glenn’s article, are a few things that came out of all this $40 work:

I’ve advised CMOs at billion dollar brands. Audited the official site of a major European football league (one of the big five). Directly connected with the owners of multi-million dollar per month affiliate sites, and spoken with the founders of dozens of TechCrunch-featured companies.

A $40 audit started our interaction, but then so many more things came as a result of these. Especially when people see how I look at their websites and point out things they just hadn’t thought of.

This brought to mind something I heard Rich Schefren say he heard Dan Kennedy say:

“Put your best stuff in your lowest-priced stuff.”

Glenn took this to an extreme, by actually doing per-hour, custom work for people. You may or may not want to do that. If you don’t, you can still create some kind of low-priced offer — a book, a course, a 10-minute sample of what you do — and make it absolutely amazing.

You never know who will take you up on your bargain-basement offer… or how much money they will be willing to spend with you after. That’s how Dan Kennedy got a lot of his clients, according to a recording I heard of him recently. And that’s why, if you want the best stuff that Dan has to offer… you will find much of it available for a few bucks a piece, right on Amazon.

Perhaps that’s not what you were hoping to hear. In that case, I can tell you you won’t like my email newsletter, because it’s filled with obvious value, rather than “secrets” or urgent opportunities.

However, if you are a reader, and you’re patient, then my email newsletter might suit you better. If you’d like to give it a try, here’s where to join.

Notorious self-promotion for other marketers to learn from

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Here’s a puzzle for you:

The top 5 most money-making MMA fights of all time… all feature the same fighter.

He’s a short Irish guy who has lost four of his last seven fights. These days, he’s better-known for his whiskey brand and for his criminal activity than for sports or sportsmanship.

Even if you don’t follow MMA, you probably know who I’m talking about. It’s “The Notorious” Conor McGregor. So my puzzle for you is this:

Why is McGregor such a draw on TV and in real life? After all, he’s estimated to be worth over $100m and is by far the richest MMA fighter in history. Why him and not the hundreds of other MMA pros?

Maybe you say it’s McGregor’s exciting fighting style. Or his ability to knock people out. Or his boyish charm early in his career.

I say all that stuff is cool for a while. But it gets old, much like hard teaching in your daily emails gets old.

Instead, I think it’s because McGregor is a natural-born promoter. He knows how to sell himself… and he knows how to sell fights.

My point is that, if you’re in the business of persuading, influencing, or making sales, then each of McGregor’s public acts is worth studying.

Take, for example, McGregor’s Instagram post yesterday. It was about the retirement of Khabib Nurmagomedov, who beat McGregor badly two years ago, and who is now retiring with an undefeated 29-0 record. To which McGregor wrote:

“Happy retirement kid, smell ya later. Never forget who came in the game and made ye. Straight from my big Irish balls.”

Perhaps you find this arrogant or nasty or stupid. And perhaps it is. But it’s also a good illustration of something McGregor does over and over. And that’s to take every large public event in his industry… and twist it until it points back to him.

Speaking of which:

Today is the last day to sign up for the first run of my bullets course. By my calculation, you’ve got exactly 6 hours and 13 minutes remaining if you’d like to join. And if you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about… or you want a refresher to push you off the fence one way or another… then hurry here and follow the instructions at the bottom.

You, your own copywriting secret weapon?

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Here are two flexible factoids, and a suggestion you might find valuable:

1. A-list copywriter Gary Halbert said curiosity is the most powerful human motivating force.

2. Another A-list copywriter, Parris Lampropoulos, keeps a “Didn’t know that!” file. This is where Parris puts new and interesting facts he comes across during research for copywriting projects.

​​But Parris has spent hundreds of hours doing research on dozens of big projects… so when he comes across something new and interesting to him, you can bet it will be new and interesting to his audience.

So I’d like to suggest you do something similar.

Invest $3 in a notebook… or invest two seconds to create a file on your computer desktop. Write “Hm, I didn’t know that, or, that’s interesting” across the top.

​​And you’re pretty much done. From then on, as you come across something that fits that heading, you just add it to your notebook or file.

The longer your list grows, the more interesting and valuable it will become, by process of elimination.

Eventually, you will have a list of things that stimulate curiosity for almost everyone in your audience. And if Gary H. is right, you will have the most powerful tool in motivating people to action.

​​In effect, you make your own curiosity and capacity to be surprised into your copywriting secret weapon.

I do this exact same thing, and it’s been valuable to me. In fact, it’s how I write these emails each day. Which brings me to my self-serving reason for telling you about this:

A reader named Glenn wrote in to challenge me on some sloppy self-promotion I committed recently.

Glenn pointed out that in the email I sent out announcing my bullets course… I didn’t feature a single Gary Halbert-style bullet.

Fair point.

My answer to this is that emails like the one you’re reading are basically the modern version of sales bullets. The only difference is you’re not restricted by space (like in a sales letter or print ad)… or by having only one shot to make the sale (like when paying for cold traffic).

Other than that, bullets and sales emails are the same.

​​You find some information that your audience might want. You condense it and sexy it up.

​​If it’s really cool and interesting information, you can choose to give it away in your copy… or if it’s meh information, then you might choose to tease it endlessly in your email or bullet, and hide the payoff in your product for sale.

In other words, if you can learn how to write sexy sales bullets… you will be a long way to being able to write emails people will want to read day after day. Particularly if you add in something new and interesting to tell your reader, which is what your “Hm, I didn’t know that” list is all about.

Anyways, that’s part of my pitch for joining my bullet writing course, which kicks off this Monday. If you’re interested in joining, then the first step is signing up for my email newsletter, which you can find here.