Pick the winning headline inside — if you dare

Which of these 3 headlines do you think did best: 1. "How To Get Rich Slowly" 2. "Can India Stop China" 3. "5687 Ira Road, Bath, Ohio 44210" The advertising critics would say: "These all suck! There's no benefit! Who wants to get rich slowly? Who cares if India stops China! A mailing address as a headline? Are you friggin kidding me, Ben???" And — as usual — the advertising critics would be wrong. Here's why: The first headline was written by Gary Bencivenga — universally acknowledged by many as the world's greatest living copywriter. And, from what I heard, he had to push to get the client to run it. “Gary, who wants to get rich slow???” But, when it ran, I hear tell it pulled incredibly high numbers of sales — far more than anyone would have thought, and ran for a long time. Ditto for the second headline. It was for a control written by Doug D'Anna. (One of the top direct mail copywriters on the planet.) And the third one? Just a mailing address? Well, I don't know if that was really the "headline" because, you see, there was no real headline. Just a return address at the top right corner. But, it was one of the "most mailed" sales letters in human history written by the late Gary Halbert. Yes, it's true, Chuckles: One of the most mailed sales letters in history lacked a "killer" headline. Or, even a headline at all. BTW, some say the Wall Street Journal control ad mailed to more people (which I am dubious of, but no matter), but it just so happens that letter lacked a headline, too, other than the letterhead at the top... Anyway, what's the point? Where's this coming from? Why bring this up? Because it reminds me of the very first conversation I ever done had with the great Ken McCarthy over 18 years ago. He wanted to hire me to write an ad, and we started talking about how isn’t it funny how the best copywriters, at the top of their game, very often don’t write ads with screaming 50+ word headlines, packed with over the top benefits, making giant promises, and trying to bowl people over with sheer force of will and power. Instead, it’s more like a fascinating conversation between two people. Yes, there is drama. And excitement. And passion. But, if anything, these top tier boys and ghouls who write ads that launch entire industries and bring their clients multiple tens of millions of dollars in revenue tend to tone things down. For example: Once upon a time, the late, great A-list copywriter Clayton Makepeace interviewed the aforementioned great Gary Bencivenga. And they got to talking about using big, bold, promises in headlines. And Gary talked about a famous ad that ran for years his mentor (Dan Roshenthal) wrote with the headline: "Why The Price Of Silver May Rise Steeply" Not exactly a screaming or powerful headline is it? After all, ”may rise" doesn't sound nearly as strong or bold as “will rise.” That's what Gary thought, too, at the time. And so, they tested Gary’s “Why The Price Of Silver Will Rise Steeply” versus Mr. Roshenthal’s ”Why The Price Of Silver May Rise Steeply." The result? "May Rise Steeply" out-pulled "Will Rise Steeply" by 200%! The point of all this? Depending on what books you read, who you listen to, and where you get your information about copywriting (HINT: If you get it on social media - with rare exception - you are doing your studying in the wrong library, Spanky), you might never have seen copywriting told from this perspective. Which brings me to the punchline: Ken McCarthy’s “Advanced Copywriting For Serious Info Marketers” course. For one thing, it has the Silver ad above inside the workbook. And for another, it teaches this kind of mindset about writing copy used by the men and women with brains (as the late David Ogilvy referred to the kind of talent he was looking for in his agency’s own classified ads when recruiting copywriters) that you aren’t hearing on Flakebook or whatever turd the little copywriting fanboy flies are all congregating on these days. You just don’t see this sort of thing talked about very often, in my experience. At least not in the way Ken teaches. Anyway, that’s my opinion. If you want to get your hot little hands on this course — which goes way beyond just teaching “copywriting”, and shows how to use copy to structure an entire info publishing offer for your business from scratch — you only have a little bit of time before the evil deadline: Tonight, Friday 1/12 at midnight EST. Plus, if you use my affiliate link and send me your receipt, the title of the book you want me to send you, & the shipping address by that deadline (not after — to be clear, you must send your receipt, shipping address, and the title you want to me, not just buy the course, BEFORE the deadline to get it), I will send you: 1. Free copy of any ONE book I sell (except the Email Players Skhema book, that's not a book I sell) Otherwise I don’t care if it’s one of the bigger ticket ones or one of the more inexpensive ones. Simply buy Ken’s course by the deadline and then email me your receipt with your shipping address & the book you want me to send you (also by the deadline — if you send me your receipt, the title of the book you want, and your shipping address AFTER the above deadline, I am not sending you the book, let me be very clear about that here) 2. Live call with me and Ken about: The end of the world! Not only will we talk about copywriting (of course), but I want to grill him about the economy. Understand that Ken “came of age” in finance during the 80’s in Wall Street. I have learned more from him (and I told him this recently) about not just basic economics that is not taught in school than from anyone else, but he genuinely has given me a lot of peace of mind knowing what he does on this topic. Those who read this month’s Email Players issue will know what I mean by that. Not only peace of mind, but he has helped me position and adjust my own finances, what I invest in (it’s not investing advice, just by understanding what’s going on you can make better decisions), what I buy and don’t buy, how I think of money, how I am planning for the fallout of what’s been going on for over a decade and is about to completely unravel probably this year — maybe sooner than the end of the year, maybe later, but it’s inevitable — and the list goes on. This call (day & time TBA) will be live to customers of this promo. All right ‘nuff said about that. The deadline is tonight, Friday 1/12 at midnight EST to get Ken’s course at the discount, get any ONE book I sell (if you send me your receipt, shipping address, and the title of the book you want me to send you by the deadline, if you send the above to me after the deadline I will NOT send you the book, many-a-disappointed-customer who couldn’t tell time has learned this hard way…), plus access to the live call above. Hopefully that is all clear. Whatever the case, here is the link: [https∶//www.EmailPlayers.com/secret-course]( Ben Settle This email was sent by Ben Settle as owner of Settle, LLC. Copyright © 2024 Settle, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this email may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from Settle, LLC. Click here to [unsubscribe]( Settle, LLC PO Box 1056 Gold Beach Oregon 97444 USA