My second brush with death

A few days ago, I sent out an email about a girl who secretly reminded me of a bear — in all the best ways. After I sent that email out, I posted it to my site as a blog post… and then I got the following message:

“A bear huh wtf!”

It turns out that every few months, this girl checks on me via my blog. And thanks to famous female intuition, she picked just the right day, with just the bear story right at the top.

As soon as I saw her message, I spun around and looked at my front door. A thin, half-inch board of plywood.

A cold sweat ran down my back. I imagined her showing up at my door at any moment… and with one mighty swipe, tearing it off its hinges and— well, I should be careful what I say. She might be reading.

So let me switch gear:

Yesterday, I wrote about my more real recent brush with death — a car that fell out of the sky in front of me.

When I wrote that email, I hadn’t yet thought of any clear marketing takeaway for you.

Well, I’ve since thought of an obvious and powerful takeaway. And since it goes just as well with the topic of today’s email, I’ll share this idea with you now.

This marketing idea was a revelation to me when I first heard it. That’s why I even included it as Commandment IV in my 10 Commandments of A-List Copywriters.

The commandment is simply to give an occasion to your promotion. Give the reader an excuse to buy by answering the question, “Why am I hearing about this now?”

Of course, crap, transparently false occasions won’t do much and can even hurt you. (“Oh no! We’ve overstocked our warehouse again! Tee hee, so naughty we are! Oh well, time for a sale…”)

But if you can make your occasion feel real — cars falling out of the sky, a furious girl on a rampage — then you might have yourself a sales multiplier.

That’s one reason why I think Daniel Throssell’s Black Friday campaign this year did so well.

His feud with Matt Bockenstette gave it an occasion and made it feel real. People are starved for things that feel real, and so this feud made people pay attention and maybe gave them an excuse to buy.

And that’s the key point. Maybe, an excuse to buy.

Because I’ve seen so many successful and competent marketers lately… gnashing their online teeth and shaking their online jowls. “That Throssell character! And his shameless controversy seeking! Rrrr… rrreprehensible!”

I don’t know what this reaction is about.

It could be some honor among thieves thing. “Of course we want to agitate the shit out of our prospects — it’s ultimately good for them. But come on, not when we’re the prospects!”

Or perhaps it’s just shortsightedness. Thinking that Daniel somehow cheated his way to a big win.

I don’t doubt the occasion of the feud helped. But it would have multiplied a big fat zero had Daniel not had by far the best offer… and a relationship with his audience that’s tighter than anything I’ve personally ever seen.

And if you’re wondering what my stake is in all this:

Daniel’s been generous to me and we are on good terms. But perhaps you can believe me when I say I’m not shilling for him.

In part, because he doesn’t need me to.

In part, because I have my own offers to promote.

Well, that’s not really true. All I have is one single, tiny offer.

Because while my Influential Emails training is wrapped up for now… while Copy Riddles is in the hangar, getting spit-shined for its January 2022 flight… and while I work on new offers that I will launch over the coming months…

All I really have on offer is my tiny Kindle book, 10 Commandments of A-List Copywriters.

Among other things, this book will give show you A-list occasions, done right.

And speaking of which, if you haven’t bought this book yet, I’d appreciate if you’d do it now. I could really use the money — I’m looking to invest in a steel door for extra protection. Here’s how you can contribute $5:

https://bejakovic.com/10commandments

The secret swipe file of the ages

Today I’d like to tell you about the wisdom and the mysticism hidden inside a marvelous swipe file.

You just have to command this swipe file to serve you, and you will soon carry riches, fame, and power in the hollow of your hand.

Maybe you’re wondering what I’m on about. So let me reveal an age-old truth:

All commerce is fundamentally based on mysticism. On secrets. On magic.

Maybe you find that hard to believe. So let me tell you that’s an idea from direct marketing legend Dan Kennedy.

​​To prove his point, Dan once pulled out a page of the local newspaper. He started reading the direct response ads — the ones that have been proven by repeat sales.

“Let’s see… we’re giving away free coins… we’ve got some whizzbang new device that is the secret key to weight loss… we got a smart clock that uses a satellite on the moon to correct itself…and then it’s a weight loss product, PATENT LEAN, which of course has magic patented ingredients that nobody else has… from Kuala Lumpur… that burns off the fat while you sleep and makes you not want to eat and grows hair.”

Who knows? Maybe Dan has a point. Maybe, once you dig deep down into successful offers and copy, it all boils down to mysticism and magic.

​​But if that’s true, what does it mean for you? ​​How do you profit from it? ​​​Here’s another insight from Dan, which transformed how I do marketing:

Look to the extremes.

​​In other words, if you want to harness a valuable copywriting technique or marketing approach… then look to the folks who specialize in this approach — and nothing else.

For example, if you want to frame your offer as a huge opportunity… then look to opportunity marketers. The real estate infomercials… the business opportunity classifieds… the Joe Karbo’s of the world.

And if you want to create an aura of magic and mystery in your copy… well… then look to the swipe file below.

Because on page 35 of this swipe file, you can find a magical ad I’ve been seeking for a long time. But until a few days ago, I could never find it.

This rare ad was written by Robert Collier.

It’s called The Secret of the Ages. As you probably realize, I swiped that headline for my headline today. And I did more than that.

Throughout this post, I also sprinkled in a few of the appeals and phrases from Collier’s copy. Because there’s some real magic in that ad.

Not only did it run for years… not only did it sell an ocean of Collier’s books… but it even foretold much of $40-billion self-development industry that was yet to to come.

Rub the lamp that is Collier’s ad, and out pops Tony Robbins’s “The Giant Within”… Earl Nightingale’s famous “Acres of Diamonds” story… and even the subliminal genie that A-list copywriter Gary Bencivenga summoned, every time he was writing one of his blockbuster sales letters.

But that’s not all. ​​

There’s copywriting power in this ad that transcends personal development. These are subtle ideas you can use to sell people health and happiness, power and riches.

That’s just one of the treasures you can find in the swipe file below.

And of course, since this is a newsletter about direct response ideas, this entire swipe file, 101 Greatest Ads of All Time, is yours free.

​​How is this possible?

Magic.

Well, not really. In truth, Matt Bockenstette is giving away the 101 Greatest Ads as the lead magnet for his Copy Legends newsletter.

But if you need a magic analogy to help you out, you can think of opting in to Matt’s list as whispering a secret phrase… one that gets you inside the cave of copywriting treasures.

So if you could use some mystery… power… success… in your copy and your business life…

Then peek inside the 101 Greatest Ads here, before the gates of the cave are sealed for good:

https://bejakovic.com/copy-legends