Introduction to Gary Bencivenga. Direct Response Copywriter Email Archive July 2019.

Copywriters You Should Know. Part 4. Gary Bencivenga.

I was in a Mastermind Group for 3 years. The organizer of the group, Brian Kurtz, who has by far the biggest Rolodex in direct marketing, brought a not especially well known former direct marketer to one of the meetings. This guy was a total rock star. And like many successful direct marketers, this guy never really went out on the speaking circuit, wrote books, or anything like that.

Today’s marketing world is replete for people who are famous … for being famous. They were in the game 20-30 years ago and had some success. But now they just travel from event to event and say the same stuff. You know who they are and the copy about them usually says something like, "Blaz Augustiniac rarely speaks at events and so here's your final chance to hear him."

But, as I’m often wont to do, I’m quickly off on a diversion. The very unfamous marketer I just mentioned was in charge of a large publishing company and one day, the CFO comes into his office.

“I’ve got a check here for $2.5 million,” said the CFO. “I can’t sign this. You have to.” Our friend the marketer quickly and gleefully signed the check.

The check was to, you guessed it, Gary Bencivenga. It was a royalty payment for a promotion that went on to become a control.

There were many others in direct marketing lining up to pay Gary Bencivenga many millions.

Why?

Because Bencivenga was by far the world’s #1 direct response copywriter. This was roughly between 1980 and 2010 when he retired. He generated tens of millions in revenue for his clients.

I’ve very closely studied Bencivenga’s work and I could write a book about the subject. Maybe I will, one of these days. How cool would that be?

But I don’t want to write an absurdly long email so I’m just going to provide you with some ways to discover more about Bencivenga and his work. It’s not easy, as he was, and is, a tad reclusive; but I’m going to point you in the right direction. And then I’m going to say something extremely important about his work, something you don’t hear very often.

First, I want to point you toward an ad I consider the greatest example of direct response copywriting on the planet.

Read and study this advertisement very closely.

If you have $5,000 lying around, you can invest in the DVDs of Bencivenga’s retirement seminar. Click here for the 30,000 words of copy.

Clayton Makepeace organized a great interview with Bencivenga. Click here.

The last time Bencivenga spoke in public was at the Titans of Direct Marketing event organized by Brian Kurtz. Recently, Kurtz was offering some bonuses if you bought his new and excellent book, Overdeliver. Check out Brian’s site here. One of the bonuses was a video of Bencivenga’s excellent speech at the event. But I don't know if Kurtz is still offering the freebies.

But by far and away the best Bencivenga resource is Bencivenga Bullets. These are not voluminous but they are extremely powerful. EVERY direct response copywriter must know and understand these. They are totally free and will give 1,000 times the sagacity you’ll find in a $3,000 copywriting seminar held in Poland or some such place. Click here.

You’ve got a lot of great reading coming up. A lot of fun.

Now for my final words about Bencivenga.

I met Bencivenga very briefly at the Titans event. I was starting a pleasant chat when three people rudely interrupted. Don’t do this. But in just a couple of minutes I could tell Bencivenga was a gentleman.

There are two schools of direct response copywriting.

The first … find the truth … tell the truth … be above board … sell great products … provide ample proof … make sure there’s a guarantee … do the right thing at all times.

The second … be outrageous … say anything … just make it up as you go along … hype is totally OK … let’s smack the punters for everything they’ve got.

No prizes for telling me which camp Bencivenga came from. And, as such, he made a very healthy income by totally being in the first school. It’s the school you should strive to be in and it’s where you’ll find most direct response copywriters. Everyone I know in this school is pleasant, happy, and generally amenable.

In the second school, you’ll find a couple of extremely famous direct response copywriters. REALLY famous.

But here’s a general observation about copywriters in the “second school” … they’re grumpy, ornery, difficult to approach, generally miserable, sheepish, and, dare I say it, sleazy.

Follow Gary Bencivenga and those of his ilk.

*

I received a comment from a subscriber saying that, of late, there wasn’t enough about finding clients in these emails.

So I’m going to solve this issue by giving you a chapter from one of the two books I’m currently writing. Here you go …

*

Chapter 97. Finding Clients. There’s An Ocean of Work Out There … And You’re a Thimble.

I could write a book about finding clients. Due to space constraints, this chapter can only provide some basic thoughts about finding the right clients for you. But I hope they’re helpful, nonetheless.

I’m a member of a couple of Facebook groups populated by copywriters. Sometimes, people who are looking for copywriters visit these groups and a mini feeding frenzy takes place. But the overall message I read in these groups is “woe is me … I can’t find any work.” The other message I read is “my clients are total idiots and I can’t stand them.”
A famous but controversial copywriter once said to a group of copywriters during a seminar, “there’s an ocean of work out there and you’re a thimble.” Totally correct.
I just met a very bright and experienced corporate writer who lost her corporate job about 18 months ago. She decided to pursue a freelance writing career and she’s generated over $80K in revenue on Upwork in less than 12 months. I’m going to write some words I never thought I would write in a million years. I’m going to take a second look at Upwork for my business. I’m not optimistic but, as I heard on a podcast the other day, there are some serious companies on Upwork and they’re not looking for the lowest price. They’re looking for quality. Are they willing to pay for this quality? I’m gong to find out.
Looking for clients requires a mindset. Once you develop this mindset, you’ll start to see clients everywhere. For example, I’m sure you get emails that click through to a sales page for some type of marketing event. Look at all the speakers. Guess what? A lot of them need copy. Look at all those ads at the bottom of your favorite websites. Guess what? They all need lots of copy. Look around. There are potential clients everywhere.
My website, ScottMartinCopywriter.com ranks very highly for some key search terms like “direct response copywriter.” This rank is purely organic and, to be honest, I’m not totally sure why I’ve ranked so highly, so long. It’s been about 8 years now. This ranking has given me over 800 leads. I know one thing about my website: It’s a lot better than yours, unless your name is Bob Bly.
How often do you follow up with leads? Do you have a list? I have a database of 2,000 potential clients plus I’m about to get another list of about 1,000 potential clients.
You’re a copywriter which means you’re a salesperson. So get out there and START SELLING … YOU. SELL YOUR SERVICES. LEARN HOW TO SELL.
There must be 20 online courses out there about how to market yourself as a copywriter. I’ve bought many of these but there’s one massive problem. They tell you some basics about marketing and how to position yourself and then they trumpet, “you must contact potential clients” … and that’s all good. But they NEVER tell you how to get a list of potential clients to contact. That’s a problem and you have to overcome this. HINT: start building your own database or maybe in the future I’ll make mine available. I’ve sold my database in the past.
There are lots of really, really bad ways to try to find clients. I won’t get into massive detail here but here’s a brief list.



Networking events.
Conferences.
Seminars about finding clients.
Referrals.
Facebook groups.



I know, I know, I know. You’ve been told these are all great. Yes … they can be effective at times but they’re unreliable and inconsistent at best.

A lot of my work over the last several years has come through my website. And there have been some great clients. But I’m changing how I go after clients, starting to focus on the clients I want to work with.

If you’re a copywriter, you’re a direct marketer. And this means you must act like one in your efforts to find clients. Build a list of clients you really want work for … write great copy for your website … get off your duff and start going after those dream clients.

*

Scott Martin Direct Response Copywriter

P.S. I’m not sure who I’ll write about next. And by the way, I don't receive any affiliate revenue for any of those links above.