Direct Marketing

One multimillionaire’s secret of uniquely profitable email lists

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Multimillionaire marketer and copywriter Justin Goff recently described his uniquely profitable email list.

His list has fewer than 1000 subscribers.

Even so, he’s managed to get hundreds of customers from it, all of whom have given at least $2k to Justin, and some of whom have given $10k and above.

One way he did this was by making people fill out a form to get on his email list, and (presumably) rejecting those who aren’t a good fit.

Should you do the same? Well, here are 7 reasons in favor of such an approach:

#1. It makes people more eager to get on your list

I’m on Justin’s list. Before I was on it, I was just so curious. What do his emails talk about to make them worth protecting in this way? It was probably one of the two main reasons that made me sign up (or rather, apply) in the first place.

#2. It makes people on your list pay attention more

One of the conditions for joining Justin’s list is to make a commitment to open his emails and read them. And commitment might just be the most powerful motivator of human behavior.

#3. It makes for better prospects

Like I mentioned above, fewer than 1000 subscribers… hundreds of thousands (or possibly millions) of dollars in earnings.

#4. Fewer trouble makers

I recently got a flood of new subscribers to my own email list from some unknown source. Inevitably, I got some spam complaints as well. You reduce the odds of that happening if you make people jump through hoops before subscribing.

#5. Your emails get delivered instead of flagged as spam

Just a consequence of #4 above.

#6. Your emails get delivered instead of flagged as promotion

The more that people open, read, and engage your emails, the more likely it is that your future emails to all your future subscribers will also land in prominent places rather than in the promotions tab.

#7. It’s cheaper

Many businesses I’ve worked with have email lists in the hundreds of thousands… and some in the millions. It’s not free sending all those emails, even if you’re doing it from your own servers. And if you don’t have your own servers, then a constant drain to pay for email sending you will never get anything out of.

And there you go. 7 reasons. There might be others I’m not thinking of.

So am I saying to stop growing your email list?

No.

​​It’s just that in this situation (as in so many things), there are two objectives you need to simultaneously optimize or meet.

One is the number of new subscribers…

The other is the quality of those subscribers.

It’s possible to create a business doing just one or the other.

But as an increasing number of marketers (even those like Justin, who cut his chops on converting cold traffic) are finding out, it doesn’t pay as well per unit of work invested.

Beware the trap of the digital bazaar

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I’m in Istanbul, Turkey this week. And though it’s my third time in this city, there are some things I didn’t notice before.

Such as how similar businesses here seem to live in packs.

Maybe it all started at the Grand Bazaar. The spice sellers stick to themselves. The leather shops do too. But the same thing happens throughout the city as well.

So for example, there is a large metal bridge right in the center of Istanbul

On the top level of this bridge is where the cars go.

One level down, there are a bunch of restaurants selling fish, mostly fried, mostly just stuck in a hunk of bread.

There are about a dozen of these fish restaurants in a row, and they are all identical.

Including the fact that in front of each restaurant, there is a tired-looking man with sunken, hungry eyes who is in charge of roping in passersby to sit down at his restaurant specifically.

“Come inside. We have fish. We have the best fish.”

Now these guys are obviously making a living out of it, because these restaurants have been here for decades or even longer.

But it looks like bloody work.

And it seems like it would be much better and more lucrative for them to differentiate themselves in some way, whether by picking a different location, or by offering a different menu, or even by telling a different story than the guy next door.

And that’s true for any other kind of business as well.

You might think that your core offer is no different than that of a dozen other businesses.

And you can decide to live with that… To compete simply by working harder… And to accept that eventually, some customer will sit down inside your den instead of the identical one next door.

By why not make your job a little easier by differentiating yourself from all the other people inside the digital bazaar?

One easy way to do that is simply through your personality, and through the relationship you have with your clients, customers, or restaurant patrons. All you have to do is to reach out to them regularly, with a unique point of view, and that relationship will start to develop, and eventually, it will bear fruit as well.

Just something to keep in mind. And of course, if you want some help with that, then this can get you started:

https://bejakovic.com/profitable-health-emails/

Big Bottom Sunday

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“I saw her on Sunday, ’twas my lucky bun day, you know what I mean.”
— Spinal Tap, Big Bottom

I used to struggle writing daily emails until I made a small change.

It took me all of 5 minutes to set up, but it’s saved me hours and hours of frustration…

It’s made writing daily emails easier and more fun…

And it has created better results, by forcing me to ferret open some creative drawers I didn’t know I had.

So what was the change?

Simple. I made a “calendar.”

At the start of each month, I set up a planned-out structure for the type of email I will write each day.

It turns out creativity is easier with boundaries.

And it’s a lot easier with a lot of boundaries.

So for example, yesterday was a “On today’s date…” email. Instead of sitting and staring at an empty screen while waiting for inspiration, I went online, did 2 minutes of research, and found out it was the 50th anniversary of the first episode of Monty Python. The email wrote itself after that.

Same thing today. Today’s email structure is… well, I bet you can figure it out. Though I did have to tweak it to make it fit.

Anyways, if you’re struggling with topics for daily emails, then maybe a “calendar” of restrictions could help you, too. And if you want more advice to help you stimulate copywriting creativity, check out the following:

https://bejakovic.com/advertorials/

Monty Python’s Emailing Circus

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On October 5, 1969, exactly 50 years ago, stuffy middle-class families across the UK saw a strange sight on TV:

A man, choking and gurgling in the sea, was struggling to swim to shore. Once he made it to the beach, he stumbled a few steps, fell on his face, and said,

“It’s?”

The shot immediately cut away to the now-famous cartoon intro:

MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS

That was the first scene of the very first episode of Monty Python, which ran from 1969 to 1974.

The immensely influential show contained lots of random comedic ideas, splotched together. First minute of the first episode: Mozart announcing a Top 10 countdown of famous deaths, which are voted on by a jury.

Each of the disjointed sketches was mildly funny.

Over time, they got better.

Still, for me at least, Monty Python was never hilarious.

But it was a potent training grounds.

One of my favorite comedies of all time is A Fish Called Wanda, written by and starring John Cleese and Michael Palin, two of the big stars to emerge from Monty Python.

This film is funny from beginning to end, with every joke a perfect 10. ​​I don’t think this would have been possible had it not been for the extensive practice on the Monty Python show.

And the same thing happens when you write daily emails to your prospects or customers.

Each email is low commitment.

It needs to be done quickly.

You can test out ideas and see what people respond to.

It’s a training ground and a sandbox, with lots of collateral benefits.

One being that, when it’s time to produce a more involved, serious promotion, such as a sales letter or a new offer you want to create…

All that email practice allows you to hit a home run.

So if you haven’t started yet, consider launching your own Monty Python’s Emailing Circus. However, if the thought intimidates you, or you want some help getting started, then you can find some ideas here:

https://bejakovic.com/profitable-health-emails/

Ben Settle’s monkey business

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I saw a photo today and the caption read “Anti-Poachers Protecting Gorillas.”

The photo showed a black dude taking a selfie.

Behind him was a guy dressed in a very convincing gorilla outfit, but standing in a very ungorilla-like pose.

Specifically, he was standing completely erect, with his arms straight by his sides, a big beer belly jutting out.

“How is this gonna work?” I wondered. “Will this guy pretend to be a gorilla so the poachers come and try to shoot him? And then what?”

I got curious so I researched this story in more depth.

SHOCKER!

Turns out I was completely wrong.

That’s not a man in a convincing gorilla suit.

Instead, it’s a real gorilla standing in a very human-like pose.

It seems these anti-poachers in the Congo raised a couple of orphaned gorillas. And now that the gorillas are grown up, they completely imitate (ape?) their human parents.

So they stand up straight, walk around on two feet, and even pose for selfies.

Which got me thinking about the instinct for mimicking those around us, whether human or ape.

It’s such a fundamental part of the thought machine we know as the brain.

Resistance is futile.

And if you need proof, take for example email marketing guru Ben Settle.

Over the course of the past year, Ben has on several occasions warned his readers to disregard social proof when making a buying decision online.

Noble advice. Except…

Even though Ben is like the good friar going about the shire and sermonizing about the dangers of alcohol, he’s also back at the monastery brewing up some delicious ale that he sells at the Sunday market.

Specifically, at the end of July, Ben ran an aggressive campaign to promote his Email Players newsletter (I know because I was tracking and categorizing every email he sent out that month).

And so from Thursday the 25th to Monday the 29th, he sent out 10 emails. Each day followed the same pattern.

Morning: an interesting or intriguing email leading into a link to the Email Players sales page…

Afternoon: an email that was basically just a testimonial for Email Players. 5 testimonials over 5 days. Because they are too powerful not to use.

So in case you want to promote an offer aggressively over the span of a few days, maybe try mimicking this little sequence of Ben’s. I imagine he’s using it because he’s tested it and it works.

And if you don’t need emails, but you do need some advertorials, then fear not. The anti-poaching brigade is preparing a special report on the topic, which you can sign up for here:

https://bejakovic.com/advertorials/

Kit Kat-flavored blog posts

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News from Japan:

Nestle will soon introduce creative new packaging for Kit Kat bars sold in the Land of the Falling Birth Rate.

Starting later this month, Japanese Kit Kats will come wrapped in origami paper, and will contain instructions for how to make your own paper cranes, planes, or Hello Kitties.

Nestle says this move is a step towards reducing the company’s plastic consumption.

Maybe.

But it probably serves at least some other devious function or two.

Especially when you consider the history of Nestle in Japan.

For example, back in the 1970s, Nestle was having trouble introducing coffee into this nation of tea drinkers.

So they consulted Clotaire Rapaille, at that time a psychoanalyst dealing with autistic kids, and now one of the foremost brand and marketing consultants in the world.

The trouble, Rapaille told Nestle, is that the Japanese don’t have any emotional imprinting when it comes to coffee.

The cigar-smoking executives at Nestle listened carefully.

And they soon came out with coffee-flavored candy that they started feeding to hapless Japanese kids.

The kids of course loved the candy. They formed positive associations with the flavor of coffee.

In another 10-15 years, those kids grew up, and coffee drinking in Japan became a thing. (Of course, Nestle was there, ready to cash in.)

This illustrates a fundamental rule of how the human brain works:

If you’ve got something new, the best way to get it into the brain is by tying it in with something that’s already there.

That’s how you get classics of positioning such as:

“Avis is only No. 2 in rent a cars. So we try harder.”

“7 Up: The Uncola”

But as Nestle shows, you don’t have to position yourself in relation to your competitors.

You can also tie in your product to other concepts or experiences in the mind, even if these seem to have little direct connection to the product you’re selling.

And this isn’t just relevant for big brand advertising. Like I said, it’s a fundamental rule of how the human brain works, and it applies just as well to positioning a direct marketing offer, and even to writing direct response copy.

Once you start looking out for it, you’ll see it everywhere. Maybe even in this blog post.

And you can use this same fundamental rule of psychology in advertorials, too. Too see how, grab a Kit Kat and consult the following:

https://bejakovic.com/advertorials/

How to get rich selling socks to foot fetishists

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I just read that Will Singleterry is selling Reformed Roasters.

Never heard of either Will or Reformed Roasters? Here’s the pitch from the Reformed Roasters site:

“Ultra-Premium Coffee, Masterfully Roasted to the Glory of the One Most High”

From what I can tell, Reformed Roasters is Will’s ecommerce store selling coffee to Reformed Christians, which is some particular sect or segment of the larger faith. The company features blends like “Limited Atonement” and “Total Depravity.”

Altogether, it sounds like an unlikely business. But Will was apparently able to bring Reformed Roasters to $40k/month, within 2 months of starting.

And to that, all I can is HOSANNAH.

It shows just how crazy powerful it is to simply pick a dedicated group of people, create a relationship with them (Will would send them daily emails about religious doctrine, and sign off by saying “and if you want some caffeinated glory…”), and then sell them a consumable product.

In a way, this is the same thing that Alex Jones did with conspiracy theorists and supplements. And I’m sure many other small niche businesses are out there, under my radar, but raking in cash hand over hoof by doing the same thing.

So why can’t you do some version of this? Maybe you could try selling…

Socks to foot fetishists (“Andalusian Spree Muffs”)…

Toothpaste to Deadheads (“Dire Wolf Dentifrice”)…

Or hair gel to Twilight fans (“Solid Fanpire”).

It doesn’t really seem to matter what you sell. As long as you first take some kind of strong stand, or pick the right rabid subculture. Because as Jason Leister recently wrote:

“Why is it so effective to ‘stand for something?’ It’s effective because it helps your listeners/readers/subscribers make an easier decision about whether or not you belong in their life.”

Unfortunately, I don’t stand for anything yet. But I’m working on it.

​​In the meantime, if you’d like some copywriting glory, specifically in the advertorial format, then check out the following:

https://bejakovic.com/advertorials/

The Facebook shell game

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A few days ago, I got to listen in on an internal monthly call of a very successful direct response company.

They are making a big shift in how they run their business.

So far, they’ve gotten most of their traffic from Facebook.

But Facebook has been closing down their ad accounts.

It’s like a shell game. Every time this company figures they know what Facebook wants, they lift up the shell to find:

A big empty nothing.

Another closed ad account.

This echoes what I heard from another client.

They’ve also been getting ads shut down and ad accounts closed. Unlike the first company, they aren’t moving away from Facebook yet, though they are frantically trying to find new ways of advertising that Facebook will be okay with.

At this point, you might expect me to lay down some rap about how you don’t wanna build your business on somebody else’s platform.

Or how you don’t wanna rely on a big corporation more than you have to.

Or how you want to have a stable business built on long-term customer relationships rather than on constant acquisition of new clients.

But no, that’s not my point at all.

Quite the opposite.

I wanna praise Facebook.

I think now is a golden moment for marketers to invest heavy into Facebook.

Except, instead of thinking, “How can I get my penis enlargement offer to conform to Facebook’s ad standards…”

You should take a step back. And create an offer, and even a brand, that has one simple goal:

To comply with Facebook’s flighty tastes in advertisers.

If you can do this, there’s no better source of traffic right now.

Both of the clients I mentioned at the start feel this way.

And while they bravely embrace the challenge of adapting to their disappointments with Facebook, and though their businesses might be better off in the long run if they cut their dependence on Facebook, I think they would trade it all in a heartbeat for a few more months of being in Facebook’s good graces.

Anyways, something to think about.

Don’t go searching for an offer…

Or even for a starving crowd…

Instead, search for a funnel that Facebook will be happy with. And watch your business explode.

What copywriters and marketers should know about the new anti-aging breakthrough

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Here are a few quick facts:

Dr. Steve Horvath is a professor at UCLA.

He’s a researcher in the field of anti-aging.

A while back, he developed something called the “epigenetic clock”.

This clock is a highly accurate measure of how old your body really is vs. what your driver’s license says.

And now, according to a paper published just yesterday, Dr. Horvath has found a way to reverse the epigenetic clock.

In effect, he has reversed aging. Significantly. In humans.

Over the course of a year, Dr. Horvath gave a cocktail of three common drugs to a small group of people. And instead of having their epigenetic clock move forward by 1 year, these folks actually got younger by 2.5 years.

Pretty impressive. ​​

Now, it’s possible this will turn out to be a cute but irrelevant result that can’t be reproduced or built on.

But my own hunch is that this is a major breakthrough.

Partly, that’s because I’ve been hearing high praise of Steve Horvath for a long time, from reputable people in the anti-aging space.

Partly, it’s because aging clearly hasn’t been solved yet, in spite of all the talk of telomeres and inflammation and mitochondria.

But why bring this up in an email about copywriting and marketing?

Well, if my hunch is right, then get ready.

Because you will soon see lots of direct marketing offers (over the coming 2-3 years, I’d guess) that take advantage of this new research.

In other words, expect lots of offers and promotions — supplements, newsletters, webinars, courses — that talk about reversing the epigenetic clock.

Maybe you will even be the one to write the big new control based on this idea.

Why not?

Now that you know about it, it’s yours to use.

Or at least, it’s yours to keep in mind, as new research on this topic continues to surface.

But maybe you’re not writing big long-form sales letters. Maybe you’re writing advertorials and presell pages. In that case, you might like the following:

https://bejakovic.com/advertorials/

Vegan sheila sues BBQ neighbors, marketing truth emerges

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The Internet is tittering today because of some bizarre news from Down Undah:

Nearly 9,000 fun-loving Aussies are planning a massive BBQ in front of the house of some sheila who complained about the barbecued meat smells wafting over from her neighbors’ yard.

The woman in question is a vegan. She described her experience inhaling barbecued fish aroma as “devastating” and “turmoil.”

And though the neighbors tried to appease her in various ways, the vegan sheila would not be appeased.

Instead, she took her neighbors to court. Not once, not twice, but thrice.

She even submitted a 600-page appeal when her case was dismissed.

So now, in retribution, she’s getting the mass BBQ on her front lawn.

Along with the derision of an international brigade of Internet strangers, all of whom are calling her crazy and entitled.

Well, I don’t agree.

I don’t think this woman is crazy.

Or entitled.

I think she’s just very good at buying the lies she’s been told:

“It’s immoral to eat meat.”

​”Own your own home — it will be your castle!”

​”Victim of injustice? Don’t worry. The court system is here to help you.”

We’re all a little like that vegan sheila. We just fall for different sales pitches.

But given her level of ferociousness, this woman does seem to be a particularly good potential customer.

So I wish I had something good to sell her, which would help her in her current misery.

Ideally, that would be a fire-breathing vegan political candidate, one who vows to set to rights all the wrongs this anti-BBQ victim has experienced.

Unfortunately, I’m not doing any political consulting yet.

But the same insights, about disappointed hopes and the unending search for a better life, can be used in more traditional marketing as well. If you wanna see how, take a look here:

https://bejakovic.com/advertorials/