The Ben Settle Marathon

Troyglodites, Throssellees, Georgi-Porgies, Cattonians, Goffers. Every copywriter is part of a tribe.

And they'll defend their chosen copy deity to their dying breath.

Throssellees are particularly prone to hissy fits when they hear "the Daniel" does nothing for you.

So I feel the slightly pompous need to shove my flagpole into the ground. My copywriter of choice. The one I learn most from is...

Ben Settle.

Ooooohhhh edgy! Ask a hundred copywriters their opinion of Ben Settle and ninety-nine faces will redden in fury.

Ben Settle is the one you're not supposed to talk about. He's a mean mean meanie who says mean things.

Nobody polarises people like Ben Settle. Admittedly, his humour is a bit, umm, Borat-esque. And "adults" don't like that. It's not the done thing to smirk and snigger at such things. We've outgrown that.

But for a former class clown (idiot) like myself, that's like water for fish.

What I like about Settle is that he does things differently.

He admits he's anti-social media. Great. So am I! My plan is to follow his path and eventually remove myself from ALL social platforms.

Whether that day will come in a year or it'll take a decade, I don't know. But like Ben, I'm not a social media fan. I'll grit my teeth and use it... for now. But it ain't my long-term goal.

What Ben does differently is he builds mailing lists. And he goes on podcasts to promote those lists. At least he did before he got big.

And he builds killer lead magnets like books he also sells through online bookstores. Nothing like a bit of synthetic value!

So that's where I've been for the last month or so. Writing my book.

His plan is you create something which draws subscribers to your emails like moths to a flame. And then you email them.

Every day.

We're copywriters, after all, folks. We should be writing, right?

Would you trust a plumber who never did any plumbing? A doctor who only practised on dummies? A dentist whose experience consists solely of pulling teeth out of Barbie dolls?

So why should anyone trust a writer who doesn't, well, write?

And, guess what! Clients like it. And will be the ones to contact you. Rather than the other way around.

At least that's the idea.

How will it go for me? Will my path to success mirror ElBenbo's? Who knows?

But one things for sure, I'll be following the Ben Settle path.

It's different. It's anti-social media. And I like that.

If you want to know more about how Ben Settle does things, get hold of his book Email Client Horde. It's pretty special.