​Got a bizarre marketing urban legend for you today. Check this out: Recently, I was watching a documentary about weird stuff going on in Disney Parks all around the world. Some of these accounts were verified stories. And some were urban legends. One of the urban legends was about people constantly trying to dump the ashes of their loved ones […]

The aforementioned oxymoron crashed into my inbox at 19:32 local time on 21.08.2017 and left a heart-shaped impact crater in its wake: ===== “I think it’s time to make this official. I hate you. My air conditioner burst into fire today. So, I had to buy a new one. And I have been having a similar run most […]

You know how they say you can’t judge a book by its cover? Well, the same is true of sales emails. Just because a “launch guru” wrote it doesn’t mean that it’s actually any good. In fact, sometimes these guru emails are so bad that someone should take them to court for marketing malpractice. Sure, if you have 1.5 […]

Subscriber Samir asks: “How do you persuade someone higher up on the totem pole to partner up with you? Every time I pitch a guest post, seek webinar partners, or organise a virtual summit, I feel like a Bollywood mother trying to marry off his socially awkward 35-year old son into a mogul’s family.” Well, if I […]

Facebook ad strategist Dottie drills me about my unorthodox ways: === “It’s been a loooong time since I hit reply on a marketer’s email. But your emails are so so scrumptious, I look forward to my email appetizer everyday, and was compelled to reply. You took Ben’s stuff and amplified it 100x. Are you going to stick with daily emails? […]

​Something wicked this way comes… For I was going to do a “hall of fame” email today. Possibly on subject lines. But something in my newsfeed caught my eye and I decided to do a “hall of shame” email instead. Much more fun anyway. Grab your popcorn, put your colleagues on mute, and lean in for Gossip Friday… So what *was* […]

Littlefinger is my second favourite character from The Game of Thrones. Admit it… You love the bugger too. He’s such a devious schemer, you can’t help but love to hate him. Just when you think he slipped and is about to get what he deserves… it turns out that he outwitted everyone. Did you notice how he out-stealthed Arya in […]

I gave myself an unusual challenge today: You see, it’s been a boring week so far. Remarkably unremarkable. No weird incidents to turn into email fodder. (I know, it’s only Tuesday so there is still hope. I may yet grow a Life.) So I’m challenging myself to whip out an eccentric email… in the next 20 min… riffing […]

This is going to be controversial. I don’t believe that you should “give value first”. At least, the way it’s popularly taught. Let me explain why. Basically, “give value first” is the idea that you have to endlessly give away content for free before you “earn” the right to ask for a sale. Jab, jab, jab – right hook. I think […]

One of my customers asked me a tough question yesterday. In fact, I stood there gaping like a goldfish. I didn’t get much sleep last night. The question haunted me. Here is what William H. asked: === “Email Prodigy seems like the natural next progression from Fast50. I deliberated a long time about taking this class, and I had to […]