Soap Operas vs. Seinfeld

Can two seemingly conflicting marketing techniques actually work together when used correctly? ---Transcript--- Hey everyone, this is Russell Brunson. I want to welcome you to another amazing, awesome, exciting episode of Marketing in your Car. Hey guys and gals, I had a really fun experience last weekend that I wanted to share with you. I joined a mastermind group called the Ocean's Four mastermind group. It was out of Vegas. I joined it because it was just a different type of mastermind group. It was only meeting one time. It wasn't one you have to join for a whole year so I knew the commitment timetable wasn't too big. The other reason was Ocean's Four was because there were four people that were in the mastermind group. Two of them I've been studying a lot for a long time. I was really intrigued to get their opinions and ideas. The two guys that I went to go see, one of them, his name is Andre Chaperon. He has a bunch of products. By far, his best and most prolific is a product called Autoresponse Madness. The other guy was a guy named Ben Settle who runs BenSettle.com. He's got a print newsletter called The Email Players Club. What's interesting is I've been watching these guys for the last year, 18 months or so, and trying to understand. They have two very different perspectives on email. With Andre and Autoresponse Madness, his whole goal he teaches is that you need to create a soap opera sequence. If somebody joins your list and over the next 20 to 40, however many days you create this soap opera, it's bringing your audience in and engaging them. You're opening loops in one email and closing them in other emails, having many episodes and this big huge story line which I think is really cool. It engages people and pulls them in. You look at the other person, Ben Settle. His model is very different. You join his list. From that point forward, everyday you get an email with an email I call them Seinfeld emails. It's kind of like the TV show Seinfeld where they're basically emails about nothing. Everyday, he sends an email out about whatever, and somehow always ties it back to his core product which is The Email Players Club. He's relentless. Everyday since I joined his list, I've gotten an email. I don't think he's ever missed a day. Every single day, it tells you some random thing that happened that day and then boom, pushes you back to his product. Again, two very different styles. In fact, it was kind of funny, Ben at the mastermind said, "If you were to look at our styles, I would look at what Andre does as a sniper, getting up on the rooftop, aiming, and trying to make this perfect thing and crafting it so you can perfectly close the sale and close the deal whereas with me," this is Ben talking, "it's kind of more like walking into the mall with a shotgun and just unloading as many rounds as possible as fast as you can." That's the difference between their two styles. It was interesting because from their perspective, what they do could conflict. I think everyone else in the room, they think it conflicts. What's interesting is as I've been building out our funnels over the last 18 months that I've been watching these guys, I'm a big believer in both of their styles but in a very specific and very important sequence. What I've been teaching our students, what we've been doing is when someone joins your list, you put them through a seven to day day email soap opera sequence with the core goal of that to build the bond, to build the attractive character, and build the audience's engagement with the attractive character, to help them to build that bond to get to know the person and to make them want to continue to open emails and purchase products, and be engaged with that person. After that initial soap opera sequence is done, then we drop people onto a broadcast list. Then we start doing the Ben Settle style daily Seinfeld emails. As you look at my whole philosophy and belief patterns with email marketing is you lead with the soap opera and after they watch the soap opera, then you dump them onto the Seinfeld emails. I think that as a one-two punch, I think it's the smartest. I think it's brilliant. I think it's the best thing to do. I think if you go directly to the Ben Settle style Seinfeld emails, the audience doesn't have a chance to build a relationship with attractive character. If you just do Andre's soap opera sequences, you do a soap opera but eventually, you just keep writing this thing and you want to kill yourself because they're intricate and it takes awhile to write these things out. If you're carrying on those story lines, they're lasting days, months, and years. I think it's really difficult. If somebody joins your list in the middle of this thing, they have no idea of all the back story. It's like trying to watch a show like 24 where you start halfway through the season. It doesn't really make any sense. What I think is the blending of the two things. If somebody joins your list, initially have a seven to ten day sequence that's a soap opera sequence that builds a relationship with the attractive character, and as soon as that sequence is over, then drop them on a broadcast list where you do the daily Seinfeld emails. I think the blend of those two worlds is the most powerful way you could possibly do email marketing. It was really fun to have a chance to go meet those guys and learn the system they have behind each of their businesses, but I think more importantly, how to blend those two things together into what I think is the perfect, most ideal way to your email marketing. I'm at the office now. I appreciate you guys listening to the Marketing in your Car podcast. I hope you get a ton of value out of it. By the way, if you want some help with your funnel, we have a new coaching program set up. We're doing some amazing things with it. You just have to go to BlackBoxFunnel.com/application.php. If you do that and apply, you have a chance to work with me and we can look at your sales funnel and have some fun with it. That's about it for today, guys. I will talk to you all again soon.