Welcome to another Strategy Thursday. Today, a story, with a handful of important lessons.
The one and only… David Bullock.
Just yesterday I was talking to my friend and colleague, David Bullock.
David and I go way back.
He was actually my very first freelance copywriting client. At the time, he’d already become the world’s best-known expert on the multivariate marketing testing strategy called Taguchi. In short, it’s a way to test thousands of different combinations of variables in a dozen or so tests. It’s heady stuff. But also incredibly valuable if you have the traffic or sales volume to support it.
In working with David, I actually learned all of it. I ended up writing a book with Bob Bly on the topic, called The Taguchi Testing Handbook (with David’s blessing). It outlined how with a spreadsheet and Google Website Optimizer (now a defunct product), anybody could run this advanced form of testing on their marketing — with the potential to multiply response many times over.
(Heck, I’d even done it with Google AdWords and scored a 16+% click-through rate!)
Bob Bly called it the best job any one of his writers had ever done on an ebook.
It made it stupid simple to walk through the process. How to think about testing. How to set up the test. What you needed to do to run it. What to do when you got your initial test results. How to pick and verify a winner. What to do after that.
And yet we ran into an incredible discovery.
People are lazy.
Taguchi is complex. Even my “easy” Taguchi was complex. We were largely selling to the internet marketing crowd. Entrepreneurs and bedroom wannabes. Folks who were more interested in the getting rich part than building a biz or the other hard work it would take to get there.
And so this incredible ebook got very few readers.
Nobody was willing to do the work. Even with the simple steps laid out in front of them.
David and I had many conversations through this all. It wasn’t just Bob and I coming to this realization. It was David, too. We all recognized that with the exception of a few dedicated students who were getting incredible results, we couldn’t rely on anyone to actually do the difficult work.
Of course, this is why there’s so much room at the top. Because nobody’s willing to do the climbing it takes to get there.
That’s why even if you climb up the first few levels of the pyramid, you’ll suddenly be showered with opportunity and praise.
Because so few people make it off the ground.
It’s easy to become exceptional. You simply have to do the things that others aren’t willing to do. Learn what they’re not dedicated enough to learn. Take chances they’re too scared to take. Live the life they’re too timid to live.
And even just a little bit of effort will start to go a very long way.
Since our Taguchi days, David and I have taken wildly different paths. He quit the “Internet Marketing” world, and followed Barack Obama’s social media strategies in the 2008 election. Separate from anything you think about politics, that was a revolution in political social media marketing. David and his co-author analyzed it for business owners. And published their findings in a book called Barack 2.0.
Then he stepped back and started doing high-level consulting for CEOs and business owners, creating all sorts of breakthroughs in their business. Everything from revolutionizing product sourcing methods, to opening up new markets, to applying simple marketing innovations that dramatically boosted profits.
And you know my story. I’ve become an in-demand direct response copywriter and marketing consultant. Known for working for some of the very best.
David and I have been talking about “next steps” though.
What we can do together that will completely revolutionize a segment of the market.
What two radically-effective marketers and thinkers can do if we put our heads together. (Both of us have a knack for creating simple systems out of complex ideas — and handing those systems to our clients on a silver platter to solve their business problems.)
And we’ve talked about how each of us can build on our own foundations, to create incredible opportunities together.
We’re talking equity deals in high-growth private companies. A level of consulting far beyond what most copywriters and either internet or direct response folks ever think about.
Creating and unlocking value where it didn’t exist or was completely trapped before.
Multi-million dollar companies created out of thin air (he’s already been doing it) and creating fast multiplications in the value of existing businesses (amping up what we’ve both been doing).
As my reader, of course you’ll be along for the ride.
In the mean time, remember…
This is something YOU can do, too.
This opportunity is only coming to me because I’ve continued to develop and hone my marketing and copywriting chops. Doing the things others are unwilling to do. Dedicating myself to learning the things others are unwilling to learn. Taking the calculated risks that others are too timid to take. And where all of that has gotten me.
This next chapter is based on the same advanced direct response thinking that goes into every promotion I write.
It’s simply a right-angle application of the principles and strategies that have made me a successful copywriter.
Maybe we can chat about it at the wine tasting I’m hosting at my November Advanced Direct Response Copywriting workshop…
In fact, as I work with David on this project, I know some of the lessons will leak into what I talk about in November. This could be an even more transformative experience than I was even imagining.
Remember, tomorrow’s the deadline to save $900 on attending the workshop…
And you can reserve a spot for as little as $397.
What the heck are you waiting for?
Click here to reserve your spot now.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
Editor, Breakthrough Marketing Secrets
