marketing Archives » Goldmine Marketing

J. Peterman’s Boring Ego

11:08am
Saint Paul

Remember the J. Peterman character from the Seinfeld TV series?

Last night I was watching Seinfeld (I could say that many times each week).

In this episode, J. Peterman—who sells clothing via catalog using romantic, emotional, visual copy—is taking Elaine out to dinner.

She is afraid of the tedium of listening to Peterman’s stories, so Elaine invites Jerry to join…

Small change to your pop-up = Big impact.

12:24pm
Saint Paul

Most people hate marketing… unless it’s something they’re interested in.

Then—when it’s done right—it’s not marketing.

It’s useful.

And without a doubt, one of the most annoying methods of digital marketing is the Pop-Up.

You know what I mean. You’re on a web page, engaging with the content, when suddenly there’s something blocking your view.

Infuriating, right?

Well, marketers hate them too.

Except that… they work.

My Cheap Brother Brought Me a Hot Chicken Dinner.

2:49pm Friday
Saint Paul

I’ve been swamped the last two weeks, in a good way.

I started writing Facebook ads with a new client and it’s been a lot of fun.

One hook I wrote has me laughing maniacally and I’m not sure why. But it’s definitely not a hook that’s used in this market… or maybe anywhere:

Seneca’s Letter 26 (Annual birthday post)

1:38pm Tuesday
Saint Paul

Hey, thanks for joining me on my birthday!

Every year… for a few years at least… I reread Seneca’s Letter to a Stoic, number 26, and reflect on the fact that we’re all getting older.

Turns out, this year is no different—I got older again.

In letter 26, Seneca is estimated to be about age 65.

Today, I turn 45.

So he has a few more years on me.

And when he writes,

“I feel that age has done no damage to my mind,”

I can very much agree.

In fact, as I age, I can see things more clearly than ever.

Or, at least, it feels that way. (Could be confirmation bias.)

What’s more striking, however, is his line

ChatGPT: rate my copy! (Update to Death Squeal story…)

11:29am
Saint Paul

Do you know of John Forde? He’s a direct response copywriter and author, including co-author of “Great Leads.”

Today John emailed a ChatGPT prompt to direct the AI tool to rate your copy on the four U’s: Urgency, Uniqueness, Usefulness, and Ultra-specificity.

(I’ve added a 5th U: YOU, the reader—make sure your copy addresses your reader! Anyways…)

Here’s 150k… how do you invest it?

Monday 1:06pm
Saint Paul, Minn

Hey *|FNAME|* if you had an additional $150k to spend on your business…

How would you invest it?

Develop new products? Go after a new market segment? Completely shift your offering? Invest in AI and become a software vendor? Train the staff? Buy out a competitor?

That’s the hypothetical question my client’s board of directors is asking themselves right now.

I gave my client a number of ideas for them to bounce around, not all of which are good or feasible.

That’s OK. BAD ideas are often the seeds for GOOD ideas.

And of course—some businesses don’t want to grow.

Those smaller businesses are often chugging along, putting in the work and creating happy clients.

(Even if it means they’re working looong days to do it!)

From my point of view, business growth comes from three levers:

• Great products that solve real problems for real people
• Great customer service to make doing business a pleasure, and
• Great marketing to bring in new money (from new and existing customers)

Of course, to a hammer everything is a nail…

Anyways.

Reply and tell me please: how would YOU invest $150,000 to upgrade your business?

Two essentials to high-ticket sales

11:51am
Saint Paul

Don’t you hate unproductive meetings?

I’m at my table sipping coffee after a morning run, looking over my notes from a meeting yesterday.

A rather unproductive one.

The guest speaker couldn’t give concrete examples of his ideas. He kept trailing off… changing topics mid-sentence… and never completing a thought.

In short: he couldn’t communicate well. And without examples of his work or ideas… he wasn’t earning my trust.

It was frustrating and even the host didn’t seem to know where to take the directionless conversation.

But not all is lost!

Digging for Denny Hatch’s Gold

A few years ago, I wrote to Direct Response Copywriter Denny Hatch.

He wrote the book “Secrets of Emotional, Hotbutton Copywriting” (summary here) and I was trying to get a copy.

Denny told me that he’s got a guy working to get it republished.

I checked in with Denny again last month. I asked if he was open to record a podcast.

You know, dig for a little gold, here in the Goldmine.

Denny responded:

Multiplying Words for Profit

12:43pm
Saint Paul

One of the challenges with writing copy… is providing your audience with enough detail to sell them on the idea, product, or service you want them to buy.

See, in test after test, long sales copy tends to sell better than short.

This of course depends on your market, the product, the price-point, the market saturation, awareness of your solution, the business’ reputation, and the copy itself. And probably more things too, like the economy.

Now, toothpaste is $3. That’s not a huge purchase, and people always want it. So there isn’t a ton of effort to put in there.

But if you hook a reader… and you have something expensive that they want… then you’ll want to answer questions and handle objections in your copy.

Freelance Growth with John Bejakovic (Persuasion Play Podcast 011)

Are you an opportunity seeker… looking to make money online… living an independent life without a proper job?

(Aren’t we all?)

Before he was a copywriter, John Bejakovic wrote for the Motley Fool and published his own books on Amazon.

And books like the 4 Hour Work Week spoke to his interest in granting him freedom.

Then, in 2015 John stumbled into Email Copywriting.

He started his copywriting career writing a 7-email funnel for only $5.

Fast forward to today…