Marketing funnel approach inspired by Hollywood's most underrated writer

A cautionary tale for Sylvester Stallone fans: (of which I count myself — probably the most underrated writer in Hollywood) When Stallone made Rocky 3 he had what was called “The body of the 80’s” by The International Federation of Bodybuilders… and was called “Surrealistically fit” by the media. Men used his achievement as inspiration and women swooned. And at the time it was legitimately unique and a showcase of his otherworldly discipline and will power to get his body that way. Or so it seemed. By his own admission: 1. His body fat was down to 2.8%. 2. His body was in an extremely unhealthy state. That low of body fat is simply not healthy for anyone. (As he put it, “I had veins in my hair!”) Not only did he severely overtrain (run 3 miles in the a.m., then do 15 rounds of sparring, followed by two hours in the weight room, then do 500 sit ups, eat, nap, do it all over again… plus more heavy lifting, swimming, and got so obsessed with training he’d leave parties at night to go home and train, butchering his nervous system and hormones and doing all kinds of damage to himself) but his diet was just a can of tuna with burnt toast, followed by 30+ espressos just for energy. You don’t need to be a doctor or even a media whore who looks like a garden gnome shilling a fake vax to know that ain’t sustainable, healthy, or a good thing. Plus: That doesn’t even count the headaches. Or the light headedness. And all the other health problems he was having during that time. Yes, he “looked” superhumanly strong and healthy. But the reality was the compete opposite. The lesson? Besides the whole “looks can be deceiving” truism… this applies to business and marketing, too — especially when it comes to funnels, in my opinion. For example: Aesthetically, think of the dork you see on social media (there is always at least one) nattering on about his vaunted funnel. The guy showing everyone a diagram with 30 different steps/actions/conversions, all connected, that looks like an insane MLM hopped up on cocaine. He might look like he knows what he’s doing. He might even look like he’s doing something worth emulating. But even if what the guy shows is merely 10% legit (and I always just assume they are all full of crap) I doubt they have even one proven evergreen offer in place. Because they ain’t thinking that way. They’re looking at aesthetics and not the overall health. So yes, they may look strong at a glance, but I can almost guarantee you, with probably only a few rare exceptions it’s a weak funnel, propping up a weak business, run by a weak marketer who is weak in the fundamentals, and probably gets all their marketing education from other weak marketers in Facebook groups or by watching goo-roos prance around the room at masterminds teaching tips and tricks. More: If you are on a constant quest to swipe, clone, copy, or “prompt” what another successful business is doing when it comes to their funnels… and if you are doing it without understanding the logistics and variables behind why what that business is doing works so well for them… then you, my friend, are doing the equivalent of the guys back in the 80’s who followed Stallone’s insane workout and dietary regiment. i.e., not realizing maybe it worked for him, at that time, and in that situation. But it wasn’t sustainable. Nor was it very smart (by his own admission). And while Sly got him lots of media and fanboy admiration… he was essentially killing himself. You can say the same about a lot of Hollywood physiques. You think they aren’t on all kinds of illicit substances? Or they don’t go to extreme lengths to look good for one single camera angle in one single scene that will make up maybe a few seconds of screen time? See Hugh Jackman’s water cut for a shirtless scene for The Wolverine. He’s always running around warning people NOT to do it. And so it is with your business’ funnels. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it now, and I’ll keep saying it: I am not the “funnel” guy any more than I’m a gym bro anyone should be taking fitness advice from. I’m but a student of the game like everyone else is. And in my experience the Marketing Funnel of Love teaching inside the February Email Players issue is not only one of the simplest funnels a business can use (I once fit it in a 280 character tweet - if you are looking for "new" you'll be severely disappointed) it is also hard to abuse like so many marketers do with their 100+ circle mazes for clout and likes. It’s not totally impossible to abuse the Marketing Funnel of Love. But you’d have to probably get real creative to fook it up. That’s my opinion and experience. Do what you want with it. To learn my approach for funnels point-by-point see the February Email Players issue. Tomorrow’s the deadline to subscribe. But today's the time to take action: [https∶//www.EmailPlayers.com]( Ben Settle P.S. Along with the February “Marketing Funnel of Love” Email Players issue, I am also including an 8-page bonus called: “The Business of Lust” And it’s like a 10-minute crash course in how I think, write, and make sales with email. If that interests you, here’s some of what’s inside: * Why the best method for making sales in 2024 was figured out in 1994. (The vast majority of money via direct response online today is basically the exact same thing that made the vast majority of money back then in direct response online. Ain’t nothing new under the sun..) * How to “snuff out” email list churn while ramping up email list retention. * Email list subscribers you should rake and scuttle off your list as soon as humanly possible if you care about inbox deliverability, sales, and peace of mind. * How to radically improve your email inbox deliverability with Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. * What the world’s best face-to-face salesmen did to build relationships with buyers that can easily be replicated with email. * Ideas for how to re-engage and win back inactive email list subscribers. * A near “caveman proof” way to integrate email marketing with other digital marketing channels. (Based on how the late William Randolph Hearst integrated the various marketing channels he used in the 1920’s - 1940’s to grow his media empire — with no needing to be a billionaire like he was required.) * Anatomy of a high-converting email landing page. * Why probably the best direct marketing resource you can study is the early Sears Catalog from the late 1800’s. (The technology has changed but not the principles that made it work. Amazon, for example, is simply a modern Sears Catalog according to the founding father of online marketing Ken McCarthy.) * The One-Sentence email campaign plan that’s made my business the most sales over the years. To subscribe before the deadline go here: [https∶//www.EmailPlayers.com]( 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. 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