Dan Kennedy once told a revealing story about Donald Trump:
Some years earlier, Dan was giving a talk at some kind of event. After his talk, he ran into Trump back stage.
”What are you reading these days?” asked The Donald.
Dan listed one book.
The Donald nodded.
Dan listed another.
The Donald nodded again.
Dan listed a third.
The Donald turned to his hanger-on and said, “Get me that, I haven’t read it yet.”
I don’t know about you, but to me this doesn’t sound like the dolt that the media likes to portray.
Anyways, in spite of the pulling power of Donald Trump, I actually want to talk about Dan Kennedy tonight. In case you haven’t heard, the man is either dead, or very close to dead.
Now, I’m not sentimental about death in the least. But a few things are undeniable:
1) Dan Kennedy was a big name in the direct marketing space, and a big influence on many.
2) He had tons of interesting and entertaining stories, like the one above.
3) He was smart, and he was successful.
So even though I’m not personally saddened by Dan Kennedy’s death, I do respect what the guy did and how he did it.
And so, today I’d like to point you to a Dan Kennedy talk that I go back to regularly, because it’s got so much marketing value.
This talk was the keynote speech to Brian Kurtz’s “Titans of Direct Response” event, which sold for $2k while it was still available.
Brian made this presentation of Dan’s available for free online for some reason.
And if you’re interested in learning more about direct marketing and copywriting, from a guy who clearly knew what he was doing, then I think this video is worth a look. Or two. Or ten.
(Plus, it’s where Dan actually tells the Trump story above.)
In case you’re interested, here’s the link: