Hey guys,

So last week I’m in Winco, right?

(Winco is the Walmart of grocery stores…except Walmart is also the Walmart of grocery stores, so there’s some competition there…)

And I’m walking along the refrigerated section, where they have all the sketchy looking cheeses that look like they were made with plastic and Yellow Dye #34…

As I’m walking, MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS, I hear a voice…

(Not of an angel, unfortunately. Of a middle aged white dude.)

“Boy, you must be from somewhere that gets really cold!”

Shocked and startled, I look up and see this older couple smiling harmlessly back at me.

They’re crazy bundled up. Like, as if Sacramento had suddenly become the frontier of the Arctic tundra. It was a little overkill, honestly. I was dressed in my gym clothes having just come from *drum roll* the gym.

I laughed disarmingly and said, “Well, my last name is Snow, so maybe that’s it!”

We all laughed and had a jolly good time.

The bundled up white man extends his hand with a smile

(His hand wasn’t smiling, he was. Get it right.)

“Dan, and this is Darlene” he said, motioning to his wife.

I introduced myself and tried to ignore the vague feeling that was coming upon me that I was about to get set up for an MLM (multi-level marketing) pitch…

And out of the blue, he’s just like, “Soo…you look like you own your own business. What do you do?”

I was a little surprised, but I told him I was a copywriter and I work for the best business in the world…1MT.

I expounded on our numerous virtues as a company…that we’re on a mission to solve all the problems of the Entrepreneur so Entrepreneurs can solve the problems of the world…

And I told him how 1MT stands for 1 Million to a Trillion (amongst other things) because our goal is to get 1 million Entrepreneurs to 7 figures and beyond sustainably in order to add $1 trillion to the global economy…

He seems interested.

(I mean, how could he not? I’m an interesting guy 😂)

He mentions something about how he’s in a business that makes lots of money and his mentors retired at my age, blah blah blah. It was standard MLM schpeel-type stuff.

I still found him mildly interesting, so when he asked for my number, I gave it to him.

Soooo….fast forward to this week…

And you GUYS.

I’m in Winco AGAIN.

After the gym. My tattoo is showing.

And some guy walks up to me and is all like, “Hey I like your tattoo, where did you get it done?”

IMMEDIATE red flag. What are the odds that TWO different older, bald-ish, white guys strike up a conversation with me in the space of a week at Winco???

I politely tell him where I had the work done, shut down the conversation, and shuffle-run to the other side of the store…

AND that’s when I saw him…

0_o

There, on Aisle 6 with the rice and pasta…

…was Dan.

He was striking up a conversation with another unsuspecting Winco-er, and getting THEIR phone number.

I was floored!

And now, I had to find a way out of Winco…

WITHOUT DAN SEEING ME.

You guys, I was sneaking around that store like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible.

I literally walked up to each aisle, and stuck my neck out to peak around the corner in case he had moved.

And I got out of there faster than you can say “lickety split” after a can of Rockstar Energy Drink!

Now, as I walked to the car, I got to thinking about what a terrible marketing strategy Dan was employing. Whoever his coach was should be ashamed, because he was doing everything wrong.

#1 Rule of Ethical Marketing: Don’t bother people who don’t want to be bothered. That means not disturbing them when they’re trying to find food to sustain their existence!

“Permission based marketing” is KEY. It’s so key you almost don’t have to say it. It’s like saying that you prefer to be in a relationship with someone who’s breathing.

Well, duh! It’s so obvious, it doesn’t need to be said!

This is why the entire online marketing industry is built around the opt-in. People have to say, “Yes, I’d like to learn more about what you do.”

If they don’t opt-in…they’re not a lead. Period. Doesn’t matter how many Winco aisles you scour, people have to know what you stand for, understand what you’re offering, and consciously choose to pursue it on their own terms.

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, likes being conned into a marketing campaign, or pressured into a sale.

And if you do end up making sales with high-pressure tactics, you’re more likely to have higher refund rates, displeased customers, and a product that ultimately doesn’t work.

Go the other way, my friends. Create marketing that’s delightful, and helpful. Valuable and fun.

And DO NOT go prospecting for leads At. The. Grocery. Store.

Srsly.

OK, that’s all, amigos.

Until next week…or sooner…

-KamBam The Copy Man

Yoohoo!

It’s Kambam the copy man, comin’ at chu from a mildly sunny spot in Cali.

(Nobody calls California “Cali”, btw. Pro tip from the West Coast).

The other day I was watching Oceans 8 with my wife and sister-in-law.

And there’s this totally brilliant scene that I just HAD to write about…

(Spoiler alert: I don’t actually know if this is a spoiler, so if you’ve been dying to watch Ocean’s 8 but just haven’t gotten to it but you really wanna see how it ends and don’t want the movie ruined…

Then this email will probably not spoil anything…just a helpful heads up)

To get you caught up to speed on this piece of cinematic mastery…

The movie is about Danny Ocean’s sister, Debbie, as she plots a massive jewelry heist in an intricate plot to get back at her ex while simultaneously making enormous amounts of money.

She assembles a badass team of female Avengers to take the task and steal the diamonds.

One of the Jewelry Heist Avenger thieves is Rihanna.

And she plays a cool-cat character known as 9 Ball, who is a computer hacker with some serious skillz.

And she has a surprisingly relevant lesson for marketers and entrepreneurs everywhere…

See, 9 Ball’s job is to hack into the security system of the Met (where the heist will take place), and create a blind spot in the cameras.

In order to do this, she needs to get a virus onto the computer of the “head of matrix design” so she can totes hack the system.

And in order to do this, 9 Ball breaks out some lethal marketing principles so she can be SURE she will capture the attention of her mark and effortlessly lure him into unwittingly give her access to his entire security system…

Using these simple techniques of powerful persuasion, you too can craft seductive messages that attract your ideal prospect right through the front door.

Ethically, of course.

This is particularly relevant for those of you who may send cold emails or messages as a method of prospecting…

ALRIGHT! Let’s break it down people!

We’ll call this “The 9 Ball Formula for Criminal Persuasiveness”.

There’s 3 parts to this:

1. Get the lay of the land
2. Investigate your mark
3. Craft & deliver

STEP 1: Get the lay of the land

9 Ball formulates her plan for understanding her target. In your case, you need to have a plan for investigating and understanding your customer avatar. She does a simple selection process to figure out exactly who is the RIGHT person for her to target.

She doesn’t just start at the very top and go after every person on the security team. Instead, she starts with an objective, “Who is most likely to have the information I need to hack the system and get what I need?”

Only once she has identified her mark is she able to proceed.

THIS IS HUGE.

I’ve worked with dozens upon dozens of entrepreneurs who don’t make it past this first step. Because you have to make a decision.

And making a decision means saying NO to other options.

Say YES to 1 potential avatar. (It doesn’t mean you’re saying no to the others forever…just for the time being. You can always incorporate those other avatars later on into your marketing).

Step 1 is complete: 9 Ball knows who she’s going after. It’s about to get good, you guys.

STEP 2: Investigate your mark

After 9 Ball cleverly and consciously made a declaration about who she would target…she got to work understanding everything she could about the guy.

His name was Paul, he was kinda nerdy, and as it turns out, he was in love with Wheaten Terriers.

Since this is the movies, 9 Ball was able to figure this out like, instantly… but the point is that she went through the work of figuring out exactly what her target market wanted.

For entrepreneurs and marketers, understanding your target market is a huge undertaking. It involves constantly talking to the people you want to serve, and being willing to adjust if the avatar you’ve chosen doesn’t serve you or your business.

ESPECIALLY if you’re a personal brand/expert- based business, it’s beyond important to work with people that light you up. Otherwise, you’re mixing up a recipe for disaster with a capital D.

Back to 9 Ball…

She finds her target, she researches everything she can about him and then she completes the final step…

STEP 3: Craft & Deliver

Finally, 9 Ball sits down and casually crafts the most relevant marketing message I’ve ever seen in cinema.

Given Paul’s total obsession with Wheaten Terriers, 9 Ball creates a relevant website and email that’s all about how awesome these cute little dogs are….

And she knows that Paul won’t be able to resist clicking and taking a peek at the multitudinous dogs that occupy the site…

She crafts the message, sends the email, and sure enough…Paul can’t resist clicking on the site and BOOM, 9 Ball gets her virus onto his computer.

Now…you’re obviously not trying to infect people’s hardware with malicious software…

BUT…you are trying to infect your potential customers with a liking, knowing, and trusting you and your expertise so that when it comes time to make the sale, they’re just THROWING money at you rather violently.

9 Ball won because she has the combination of knowing EXACTLY who she wanted to reach along with the skills to craft an insanely relevant message that is catered to the exact needs and wants of her target market.

So the next time you’re thinking about your marketing campaign, and how to reach Your People…

Just follow 9 Ball’s simple process, become a criminal, and steal $16 million worth of jewels…

Well…maybe just the first part of that 😉

Anyway…good morning people!

And in case I don’t see you…

Good afternoon, good evening and good night 😉

-KamBam the Copy Man

P.S. Oceans 8 is highly entertaining, and I recommend watching it. Anytime you can get Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett together on the silver screen…it’s bound to be worth your time.

According to “the world’s great mail-order copywriter”, there are character traits that will make or break your success as a skilled entrepreneur and marketer…

These 2 things, he says, are more important that offer, audience, or copy itself.

What are they?

Well, have you ever read “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie?

If you haven’t, you should absolutely pick up a copy, delve into it, and mine the riches of knowledge contained therein.

The book appeals to a truly universal human desire…I mean, who DOESN’T want to have friends and be influential? (Probably the Grinch who stole Christmas…but that’s another story).

The book was published in 1936, has sold over 30 million copies, and is widely considered to be one of the most influence American books ever written. To this day, it is still used often in the business world as a primer for how to adult.

The guy who made this book a bestseller (aka, worked on the copy and marketing) is Victor O. Schwab.

He spent 44 years in marketing and copywriting, and left his knowledge in a widely hailed classic, How to Write a Good Advertisement.

Now…according to Schwab, the 2 character traits any copywriter, entrepreneur, marketer (or honestly, any inquisitive human wanting to test something and learn from it) needs are: humility…

…and doubt.

Why those?

Because, as Schwab quotes, humility is the common quality among all great advertisers and copywriters.

You have to acknowledge when you’re wrong. And be willing to own up to that and fix it.

And to find out where you’re wrong, you need doubt.

Doubt makes demands. It “impels the copy man to take the first giant step toward better copy by making him more demanding about his own work.”

These two character traits are the first things you need before even approaching your copy to see how things are.

Of course, there’s also the flipside of doubting everything to the point where you just can’t trust anything you produce.

I mean, that’s happened to me. I believe the kid’s are calling that “imposter syndrome” these days.