Copywriting

Can you win client work in obscure niches like board games, candlestick makers, and glassblowing studios?

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During the last Insights & More call on June 29th, an Insights & More member named Jordan mentioned he was trying to offer services to clients in the board game industry. But he was struggling to get conversations going.

I planned to write an email this morning about Jordan’s struggles, since they tie into the offer I’m currently promoting, Steve Raju’s ClientRaker training.

But it turned out even better than I planned because Jordan wrote me just last night in reply to another ClientRaker email:

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I’m just about to pull the trigger on this one

My main concern is that I target obscure niches like Board Games, Crystal shops and Travel Agencies (big PWM on those) but I don’t really know if the system will work on those.

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Can ClientRaker win you clients in your chosen pet industry, regardless of how small and obscure and very probably hostile to marketing that industry might be?

Can you use ClientRaker to win clients in the board game industry? Or among crystal shop owners? Or ship chandlers? Or tea house stewards? Or rare book sellers?

I have no bloomin’ idea. Maybe you can. Or maybe you can’t.

And yet I still believe that, if a pet niche is what you’re trying to go after, you should get ClientRaker, and it will be well worth it if you only do what it says.

ClientRaker has two steps. Step one is to pick out your target client, then whip the AI until it comes back half an hour later, cowering and exhausted, with your shiny, new, and effective positioning to attract that target client.

Step two is to actually track down and connect with those clients in an easy and low-stress way, so they get exposed your new positioning, and so they reach out to you.

But it doesn’t have to go from step one to two.

As Steve says himself in the training, you can go in opposite direction also.

You can first track down, or try to track down your target clients, using the info Steve gives you in ClientRaker. Very quickly, you can make sure your target clients are actually there, and have actually signaled they have problems and are looking for solutions.

If you do find them, then you go back to step one.

And if not, if there’s actually nobody there for you to serve or nobody who wants to be served, well, then you’ve saved yourself weeks or months of what would otherwise be fruitless and frustrating toil.

Is that worth the $297 Steve is asking for ClientRaker during this run? Yes, but that’s not only reason why you should get it.

There was a time when I was young and cheap. I would have wriggled and squirmed to give $297 to save myself hours or days of frustration and waste.

“Sure,” I might have said then, “it would be great to know in a half hour from now whether this market is a good one to go into… but $297, that’s a lot of money! And I’m quite cheap!”

Today, I am older and less cheap. I make those decisions in an instant. And I say, “Absolutely, hours or days of my time, plus weeks of opportunity cost, are worth $297 to me, or actually much more.”

But again, I know that argument wouldn’t have sold me 10 or 15 years ago. And maybe for you too, savings of your precious time are still not something you can get excited by.

So let me tell you why ClientRaker is still a good investment, even if it turns out that your pet industry is not actually a good fit for the services you offer.

And that’s the fact that there are bound to be other industries, adjacent to the one you have currently focused your sights on, which will be a good fit. For board games, that might be the collectible card industry. Or the puzzle industry.

Or it will turn out you have more than one pet interest or passion — board games AND crystal shops AND astrolabe manufacturers.

One of those will be a good fit, and ClientRaker can get you clients in that industry. In fact, in part one of ClientRaker, Steve goes through the process of figuring out different potential markets you could target, again using AI.

Why AI again? Don’t you already know what your pet industries and obscure interests are?

This goes back to the core point I made at the start of this promotion.

All of us go through much of life with blinders on, focused exclusively on one idea, the one that’s right in front of us right now, which currently has our attention, even though the world is much bigger and richer than what we can see at this very instant.

It takes a lot of discipline and work to rise above that for even a brief moment.

Or it takes an external system, which isn’t restricted by your own blinders, and which works in spite of your own maniacal focus on what you know and want right now.

ClientRaker is one such system, and a fantastic one. Both because of the care and thought Steve has put into it, and because of the real results it’s been getting him.

ClientRaker is open for registration now. But the doors will close soon, this Wendesday at 8pm CET/11am PST. In case you’d like to get inside before then:

https://bejakovic.com/clientraker

Most people get zero results from anything, but that doesn’t have to be you

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Valuable marketing idea:

If there’s a killer objection to what you’re selling, it can be smart to raise that objection right in your headline.

If that valuable marketing idea is true, then I screwed up. In fact I am three days too late.

I started promoting Steve Raju’s ClientRaker course three days ago.

​​ClientRaker is a paint-by-numbers approach to getting high-quality, long-term clients using AI in just the next 28 days.

That’s a big promise. Big promises are worthless if they are not believed. If there’s a killer objection in the way.

And the killer objection to Steve’s ClientRaker is… where’s the money?

So far, Steve has used his trainings to line up a bunch of high-end meetings.

He fired all his copywriting and marketing clients in January, took a 2-month vacation, came back home, decided to reposition himself as an AI expert, and within two weeks, already had high-end meetings lined up using this system he is teaching now.

I explained before how Steve’s targeting whale clients like Big Pharma and international organizations — slow-moving beasts that take months to digest information and make a decision. Hence no money yet, though if the money does come, it’s likely to be big.

​​These are the waters Steve is hunting in, and since he has other sources of income, he is not in a hurry.

“That might be okay,” you say, “but what about…”

Yep, I know. As I mentioned in that very first email when I started to promote ClientRaker, Steve already taught his system last month to a small cohort of people from his own list.

If ClientRaker works so well, where are the results? Where are the high-quality clients, and more importantly, where’s the money that this system is really meant to produce?

Steve followed up with the people from his previous ClientRaker cohort. The results were predictable. A ton of glowing reviews:

“Amazing session.” “My mind is blown.” “I had several epiphanies.”

The fact is, nobody from that first cohort has actually put Steve’s system into action, even now, more than a month later.

I’ve been selling trainings, courses, and books for a few years now. My estimate is that only 5% of people will ever do anything with the info they buy. And only 2% will actually use it as it’s meant to be used.

If that’s been you so far, then you can stop this kind of self-defeating behavior whenever you choose, including right now.

​​​​You might be surprised to find that it really wasn’t anything hard. You might even start to wonder at all the other people who have some invisible and imaginary chain around their leg, which keeps them from doing what you just did.

Like I said, Steve’s system is paint-by-numbers. It’s got AI baked into it — the whole point is that you don’t have to work beyond pressing the toaster lever down a few times and waiting for results to pop up. Do that, and you will get clients. And if you don’t, Steve’s got a guarantee. From his sales page:

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If after 30 days, you can show me you’ve done the small amount of setup required, and you are putting in the minutes of work required each day to fill up your pipeline…

And you still haven’t met with a prospect you are excited by…

Then I’d be happy to give you your money back.

No point going through life and not being happy.

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30 days… minimal work… no risk… big upside. Or an invisible and imaginary chain that you can cling to, because it’s familiar. The choice is yours:

https://bejakovic.com/clientraker

“Too many single moms” in my Facebook DMs

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Due to some client work I’ve been doing lately, I’ve been forced to go back into the cobweb-laced haunted house that is my Facebook account.

Each time I tip-toe my way along the creaky floorboards there, I see dozens of new friend requests pasted on the walls, all from people I don’t know from Adam’s off ox.

Occasionally, I go on binges of approving those friend requests.

Last week, I logged in and saw a message from a guy with an Italian name, whose friend request I must have approved some time earlier. My new friend wrote:

“Thanks for accepting my request man, I appreciate that! I noticed you’re into personal development. I have a quick question if you don’t mind.”

Personal development? I replied to say, sure. And I went about my day.

Since I don’t have any notifications enabled anywhere, I forgot all about it until I logged in to Facebook a few days later. And there was my friend’s quick question:

“Are you currently using online dating apps?”

That escalated quickly. ​​With just 7 words, this Italian stallion was quickly nearing “unwelcome pest” territory.

​​I replied with a professional and elegant “no.”

I thought that would be the end of it. But I was wrong. The next time I logged in, a follow-up was waiting for me:

“Too many single moms or not matching with the type of women you truly desire?”

At this point, like a hot 24-year-old girl who has lost interest in a boring Tinder chat, I stopped replying. But I did check his profile. It turns out he sells some kind of service to get you matching with the type of women you truly desire.

This got me wondering. Even if this guy’s presumptuous marketing approach is successful in hooking somebody, who is he gonna get?

A long-term, devoted customer or client?

Or somebody who will ghost him at the very first turn in the road?

My guess is the second.

That’s not a game I ever want to play, and not one I advise to you either.

A sale is never just a sale, and a client is never just a client.

My advice is to think actively about the relationships you build, the long-term potential of those relationships, or if you like, the lifetime value. That’s really my biggest and most valuable conclusion after having worked with hundreds of clients, many of who paid me $100, a few of who paid me $100k or more.

And on that note:

Until this Wednesday, I am promoting Steve Raju’s ClientRaker training.

ClientRaker is all about finding high-quality, long-term, devoted clients. Without sliding into anybody’s DMs, without embarrassing yourself, and without offending or annoying people who are no prospects of yours to begin with.

In case you’re interested:

https://bejakovic.com/clientraker

If you want more clients or if your current clients are morons, scammers, or just plain cheap

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I have an offer for you today. If you want new clients, more clients, or better clients, then my suggestion is to get this offer. I endorse it fully, 100%, horns-to-hoof.

If I were still looking for copywriting clients, I would be busy applying the info inside this offer right now, instead of being here telling you about it.

You can buy this offer at my affiliate link at the end of this email. But first, read on for the background, and why I endorse this offer from alpha to omega:

Last month I exchanged some emails with Steve Raju. Steve is a copywriter and a direct response marketer. I knew from before that he’d been one of the coaches inside Stefan Georgi’s Copy Accelerator thing.

Steve wrote me that he had recently put on a training about how to get clients — using AI.

I rolled my eyes. “Oh great. Another AI course to heave onto the dogpile.”

A bit later, Steve and I got on a call. He was telling me about how he uses AI to figure out his prospects’ problems and to develop his messaging in a quick and foolproof way.

Fine. I figure that with a bit of work, with or without AI, I could do the same. But fine.

And then, in a kind of “Of course everybody knows this bit” manner, Steve told me how he actually uses all this AI-generated stuff.

Over the next few minutes, as my jaw gradually made its way further and further down towards the floor, Steve outlined how he how goes on LinkedIn… clicks here… clicks there… uses one little trick to find the exact right prospects who are currently in heat… a second little trick to wave his bloody, species-specific bait in front of them… a third little trick to make sure the prospects amble into his trap… and a fourth little trick to make sure the trap springs on them in such a way that they willingly reach out to him — yes, they come to him — and ask if maybe he can help them.

Steve felt all this LinkedIn trickery was obvious, and was just an add-on to the sexy AI stuff.

But to me, this “real world” stuff was magic, and his way of connecting with the right clients on LinkedIn was something I would never figure out myself.

I also suspect it was this which really gave Steve the results he has had with his system.

Consider the following:

Steve fired all his copywriting and marketing clients this past January, pretty much just because he wanted to.

He then took a two-month vacation back home to the UK (he lives in Vancouver normally).

UK vacation over, he got back to Vancouver, scratched his chin a bit, and said, “Well, now what?”

He then started applying the system he told me about, and within a couple weeks, he had lined up calls with the likes of:

* The global innovation lead for a pharma giant that takes in $40 billion per year

* The world’s no. 1 company for performing complex clinical trials

* The United Nations subject matter expert on A.I.

Steve’s current thing is repositioning himself as an AI expert to these kinds of whale, mammoth, brontosaurus clients. Huge, slow beasts. That might sound intimidating to you, or like the kind of thing you might not even want.

I’ve watched Steve’s training in full now. It’s fantastic.

And I can assure you that even if you are not interested in capturing $40 billion pharma whales as your new clients, you can also use Steve’s method to position or reposition yourself in such a way that you catch $120 million ecommerce marlins… or $80 million SaaS tunas… or simply lean and fast $20 million info-publishing bonefish.

The first live training of Steve’s course, which is called Clientraker — James Bond reference — will happen next Wednesday, July 19.

Between then and now, I will write more about Steve’s course, and nudge you, sometimes gently, sometimes forcefully, towards Steve’s sales page.

If you are currently hungry for client work… or nervous because your current clients might leave you tomorrow and you have zero idea how you might replace them… or if you are flush with client work — but at least a few of those clients are morons, scammers, or just plain cheap… then I strongly advise you to get Steve’s training, watch it live as he delivers it it, and implement it the minute he stops talking.

Or don’t. But others will.

In case you’re convinced already and you want to sign up:

https://bejakovic.com/clientraker

Secret lineage to mysterious gurus

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I got in the cab. I was in front, copywriter Vasilis Apostolou and business guru Barry Randall were in back.

There were lots of conceivably smart and valuable questions I could have asked Barry. I could have asked for a business tip. I could have asked for connections to partners. I could have asked for mindset advice.

But I was not so disciplined. Instead, I turned around and said:

“Hey Barry. Today when Parris Lampropoulos got on stage, he said that he and you and Toe Cracker all have the same coach right now. But he didn’t say who. If it’s not a secret, who is it?”

Would you like to know who the mysterious coach is behind these legendary 8- and 9-figure copywriters and marketers?

Well I’m not surprised.

Yesterday I sent out an email, promoting my Most Valuable Email training, along with a 24-hour disappearing bonus. The disappearing bonus had 3 parts:

1) A freely available resource with several valuable marketing ideas
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2) One specific idea that caught my eye in that resource, and my advice on how to implement it today

​3) The man behind this resource, who I have only written about once before, but who has influenced my thinking on a deep level

Yesterday’s email was a big success. It made me more sales of MVE in a single day than I have had since the last day of the initial launch, last September.

Since the disappearing bonus was open to anyone who bought MVE previously (and not just last night), I also got dozens of responses from previous buyers.

The number #1 specific thing people said was they wanted to know part 3) the mysterious man behind the resource, who had influenced me so deeply.

So that’s my conclusion:

People are curious about secret lineage to mysterious gurus. And you can use that to drive action.

That disappearing bonus has now fully disappeared. The mysterious guru who influenced me will retreat to the shadows.

But if you’re curious about my lineage to several other gurus, you can find that inside my 10 Commandments of A-List Copywriters.

Bonus — this book doesn’t just tell you the name of each guru.

​​I found out the name of Barry Randall’s coach. And I got nothing from it — because the guy hasn’t written a book, doesn’t have a newsletter, doesn’t tweet. Unless you have $20k per month to join his mastermind, his name alone won’t do you any good.

​On the other hand, my little 10 Commandments book gives you a bunch of specific and valuable answer to questions about business, mindset, and marketing. All from some of the most smartest, most successful, and most influential people in this space that I’m in. All available here:

https://bejakovic.com/10commandments

Bud Light boycott keeps getting worse, but I can fix it

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Bud Light is in a tailspin. You may have heard the news.

On April 1, transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney announced that Bud Light had sent her personalized cans to celebrate her one-year anniversary living as a trans woman.

A boycott of Bud Light started as a result. In the weeks and months since, sales of Bud Light have plummeted close to 30%. The stock price of Anheuser-Busch is down by almost 20% compared to April 1. This fiasco has erased over $22 billion worth of market value.

Brand boycotts normally blow over in a couple weeks. The Bud Light boycott is getting stronger after 3 months. Sales of Bud Light are trending lower and lower each week. Data out In June showed Mexican lager Modelo replacing Bud Light as America’s best-selling beer.

Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth issued a peacemaking statement, saying the company never meant to be “part of a discussion that divides people.”

​​Bud Light continues to sponsor Major League Baseball and has a new summer campaign, “easy to drink and easy to enjoy.”

None of this is making an impact.

At this point, I’d like to step in. ​​Anheuser-Busch is an American institution, as is Bud Light. Also, some 18,000 people’s jobs are directly on the line.

At the same time, it’s clear that this is not an issue of beer or jobs only, but really about values and identity.

Where Brendan Whitworth and the billion-dollar marketing agencies that Anheuser-Busch employs have failed, I will succeed.

Using the almost mystical influence powers I have gained through repeated use of my Most Valuable Email Trick trick, I will realign Bud Light’s public positioning so it once again fits its core market’s values and identity. At the same time, I will do so in a way that leaves the progressive community impressed and content.

If I were to start now, I could have Bud Light back on top, ahead of Modelo, getting more Americans slightly buzzed without feeling bloated, well before Labor Day. All Anheuser-Busch has to do is get Whitworth to write me and ask. My email address is publicly available.

In other news, I have a disappearing bonus for you for today.

This morning I came across an incredible resources, filled with insightful and proven marketing and positioning advice.

It comes from a man I’ve actually written about once in this newsletter, but who has influenced my thinking about marketing and human psychology more deeply than I may let on — maybe more deeply than anybody else over the past few years.

Among a dozen or more great ideas in that resource I found today, one stood out to me.

So here are the details of my disappearing bonus offer:

1. Get a copy of my Most Valuable Email training at https://bejakovic.com/mve

2. Then reply to this email and say you want the disappearing bonus offer.

3. I will write you back and tell you 1) That resource I found this morning, and where you can get it for free 2) the particular idea that struck me, and how you can apply it in your own marketing and 3) why the man behind this resource has been so influential to me personally.

4. This disappearing bonus offer is good until tomorrow, Tuesday July 11, at 8:31pm CET.

5. And of course, if you’ve bought MVE already, this is open to you as well. Write in and ask away, and I will tell you. But the same deadline applies.

How the mosquito built Rome

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In my email yesterday, I wrote about my home town’s curious plan to stop the coming mosquito hordes by importing a hundred thousand sterile mosquito males. To which I got a mosquito-themed reply from an Insights & More member named Jordan (not sure he wants me to share his last name):

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The talk about mosquitoes and books reminds me of the… mosquito book.

The Mosquito – Timothy Winegard

It’s actually very very interesting and showcases:

How the mosquito Built Rome
How the mosquito bested one of the greatest conquerors
How the mosquito ended slavery

(hows that for bullet point build out)

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I found this intriguing so I looked it up and yes — it turns out there’s a credible case to be made for the mosquito having built Rome.

​​In its early days, Rome was surrounded by hundreds of square miles of wetland, called the Pontine Marshes. Perfect for mosquitos. Perfect for malaria. Perfect for dying. Says Winegard:

“Armies coming to attack Rome — beginning with Hannibal and the Carthaginians, and then the Visigoths, Attila and his Huns, and the Vandals — couldn’t essentially either take or hold Rome because of this malarial shield.”

Based on a quick search, it seems Winegard’s Mosquito book gives you:

1. Lots of surprising or even contrary ideas like the one above

2. A credible, well-researched reinterpretation of history

3. A new context for familiar things

… all of which means it might make a perfect choice for the Insights & More Book Club in the future.

Speaking of, the same Jordan who wrote me about the Mosquito book earlier wrote me about the last Insights & More book, the one we just finished. He said:

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The book was mind blowing (even thought I havent finished it yet)

Can’t wait for my first call experience and the next book

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It’s unfortunately too late to join for the next round of the Insights & More Book Club, because the doors have closed. But if you’d like to have the chance to join in the future, get on my email list. It’s the only place where I actually advertise and open up my book club.

Open this email to take a little trip

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This morning, I had coffee at the little harbor in the old fishing village of Volosko, on the Croatian seaside, where my dad has an apartment.

The harbor in Volosko is very small, enough for a dozen small boats. It’s surrounded by colorful buildings with wooden shutters and blooming flowers on the window sills.

Today being Sunday, it was quiet, nobody much around, just the docked boats slapping against the sea. Somewhere a mast stay was clanging against the mast.

In the middle of the small harbor, there is a breakwater, which has been converted into a terrace for a nearby cafe. I was there this morning, with my dad and his wife, sitting in the shade, sipping an espresso and watching people walking their dogs.

I’ve been staying in Volosko for the past four days. I’ve largely had an unenjoyable time. I’m not joking.

I asked myself, how?

I realized it’s because I spent the four days at my computer, at home, mostly working. My dad and his wife have been doing the same — on their screens, maybe working, maybe just wasting time.

It’s been said, if you write sales emails, make them entertaining. Take people for a ride. Because people’s everyday lives are rather dull and limited. That’s not me being condescending. I myself am as guilty of living a dull and limited life as anybody, or maybe more so, since I sit in front of the computer so much.

So when you write sales emails, show people a scene. Take them for a ride, or a little trip. ​It will be good for your readers, and good for you too — because it will force you to look up from your own screen on occasion and see the rather rich world that surrounds you.

The last time I was in Volosko was a year ago. I traveled there for business — so I could write and send my Most Valuable Postcard #2.

If you want to see more of Volosko, and of Opatija, the bigger beachhead resort town that Volosko has merged into, you can find a bunch of photos of that inside my MVP2 below.

And besides the pictures, MVP2 also has a point — the essence of copywriting and marketing, as I see it, woven into a bunch of stories. Here’s the link:

https://bejakovic.com/mvp2/

Keep taking your marketing cues from email Beyoncés

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Beyoncé rolled into town a week ago. Her first tour in eight years. People were desperate for tickets.

It’s customary for touring artists to have an opening act or two. Get people warmed up. Give people more for their money.

But Beyoncé had no opening act. Why should she? It’s Beyoncé. She hasn’t done a show in eight years.

Everybody who managed to get a ticket to see her and to witness the light show and the costume changes and Reneigh the flying silver horse got their money’s worth. And they were grateful to get a chance to be there, just to see Beyoncé, and to hear Beyoncé sing.

Yesterday, I invited people to send me their failing emails. The solid ones that didn’t make sales. The interesting ones that nobody cared about.

One thing I saw in a third of the emails is people taking cues from the Beyoncés of the email marketing world. The equivalent of, “Beyoncé doesn’t have an opening act. So why should I?”

No reason. If your emails are getting the results you want, then keep doing what you’re doing.

But if not, it might be time to stop taking your cues from email Beyoncés, to look at the fundamentals of your copy, and to see if you’re missing anything there.

I responded to everyone who wrote me with what I thought was the biggest mistake in their emails, and I told them how I would fix it.

I will put on a training based on this, about the most common email copy mistakes I see, in my coaching students, in consulting clients, and in copywriters and business owners who have bought my courses and trainings.

Meanwhile, my offer from yesterday still stands:

Have you written a great email that made zero sales? Or did you send out something super interesting — but nobody cared?

Send me an email of yours that was a disappointment or failure. In return, I’ll point out the biggest mistake I see in that email, and I’ll tell how you can fix it in the future, quickly, easily, and profitably.

Do you make these mistakes in email copy?

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I’ve critiqued over 100 sales emails by a dozen or more business owners and professional copywriters. I’ve found 9 mistakes repeatedly keep popping up, like moles in a manicured lawn, spoiling what might otherwise be fun, engaging, money-making emails.

Many people use Reddit threads or personal stories at the start of their email that are sure to kill the sale by the end of the email.

Others try to express their personality with language that chases off good prospects.

It is astonishing how often people resort to subject line tricks that attract the exact wrong segment of their audience.

Why do most people make these mistakes in email copy?

The reason is clear. There are only a few fundamentals to writing good emails. But learning what those fundamentals and mastering them are two different things.

The fascinating thing is that, by fixing a few common mistakes, sales emails become faster and easier to write. Maybe even more fun, for you and for your reader.

Most importantly, corrected sales emails make more sales, not just today, but tomorrow and the day after.

I’ve decided to put on a training about the most common email copy mistakes I’ve seen, in my coaching students, in consulting clients, and in copywriters and business owners who have bought my courses and trainings.

If you like, you can help influence this training, and even get more benefit out of it when it’s out.

Have you written a great email that made zero sales? Or did you send out something super interesting — but nobody cared?

Send me an email of yours that was a disappointment or failure. In return, I’ll point out the biggest mistake I see in that email, and I’ll tell how you can fix it in the future, quickly, easily, and profitably.