Stop lying to people

6 weeks ago, Ben “elBenbo” Settle sent that email to his 40,000+ subscribers.

If you don’t know Ben…

He’s a 7-Figure “clientless” copywriter.

He’s absolutely fucking jokes.

And I thoroughly encourage you to go and check out his newsletter today.

But what does he mean?

“Stop lying to people”?

Well….

One of the first things you ever get taught when you dive head-first into the copywriting sphere is…

NEVER blame your readers for their problems

Nothing is EVER their fault.

They are Midas and everything they touch should simply turn to gold (and if it doesn’t, it’s because of the government, big Pharma or the fact Mercury was in retrograde that day…)

In fact, I’ve even given this advice out myself in the past.

But ever since I read Ben’s email, I’ve been thinking a LOT about this point.

Because it goes against all “common” copywriting wisdom.

I mean, just last week I was reading Allan Dib’s Best-Seller “The 1 Page Marketing Plan”, which straight up listed all the people and institutions you can use to shift blame away from your reader (the govvy, their pig-headed boss and “rich fuckers” being the most alluring culprits for the chop).

And just last night I downloaded a free guide from $500k/year digital writer Kieran Drew which said the EXACT same thing:

“It ain’t your fault you’re struggling to be creative! The public school system has being pummelling every shred of original thinking out of your little ol’ brain for years!”

So…

What’s the REAL answer?

Because, on the surface, it seems like we’ve got two opposing schools of thought here.

One says to tells ‘em to open wide while we ram a cold, hard pill of the bitter truth down their gullets.

And the other tells us to coat it in honey, sweetly ask them to open wide, and gently feed it to them off a silver spoon in a “here comes the aeroplane!” fashion.

I got stuck on this apparent contradiction for a LONG time.

But, after a LOT of thinking, I think I have my answer…

They’re both right.

And they’re also both wrong.

Huh?

How does that work?

Well, lemme do my best to spew my thoughts out on the page this morning (you can make up your own mind and tell me I’m an idiot if you like - thick skin and all).

Because, here’s the way I see it…

People DO hate being blamed for shit.

You know this yourself.

If I were to tell you “you’re tweets suck and that’s why you can’t gain any followers”, you’d probably (and rightly so), tell me where to stick it.

On the other hand, people can feel when someone is feeding em a big, steaming pile of horse shit pie.

“You’re just big boned, sweetie!”

Sure, they might believe that on a surface level.

It might make them feel slightly better in the moment.

But, deep down, they know damn well they’re the only one who’s been choking down cupcakes, cookies and deep-fried Hershey’s bars for the past 7 years straight.

So, how do we overcome this?

How do we avoid alienating our audience by blaming them for all their ailments while also not making them feel like we’re pulling the wool over their eyes in an attempt to make a sale?

Here’s the way I see it.

There’s two distinct phases you need to take them through with your copy.

First, you need to…

Show them how they got into this state.

This is where you can attribute blame elsewhere.

For example…

If they’re a big ol’ porker who sends shudders down the spine of even the sturdiest kitchen chairs, you can explain how fucked the modern food system has become, how even the healthiest of healthy looking foods are now laden with seed oils, hidden sugars and high fructose corn syrup just waiting to turn their arteries into a traffic jam that’d give the 2023 Burning Man festival a run for its money.

The government.

The public school system.

“Big” anything (pharma, tech etc).

Without realising it, they have in fact been battling against a raging (but silent) onslaught of social programming, conditioning and manipulation which has landed them in this (metaphorical) pig sty of a life.

And, of course, you must back all this up with actual evidence.

But that is where you must STOP relieving them of their sins.

Because they’re no longer a dewy-eyed baby.

You’ve made them aware of the problem.

You’ve shown them how they got into this big, sticky ol’ mess.

And now it’s their job to wriggle their way out of it.

So, now it’s time to…

Give them the power to change.

This is where you shift the responsibility onto their shoulders.

Show them there is a way out.

And they’ve now got everything they need to make it happen.

Do you see the slight nuance here?

You are NOT blaming them for their current situation.

But you are blaming them if they don’t do anything about it.

And that, to me, is the best of both worlds.

Because you’ve won them over by absolving them of their guilt.

You’ve avoided triggering their “fuck you, it’s not my fault!” mechanism.

You’ve shown them that, for their whole life, there’s been some external force pulling the strings.

But now you’ve empowered them.

You’ve put the reins in their hands.

And you’ve used your copy to make them feel like they can overcome whatever dire situation they see staring back at them in the mirror.

And who knows…

Maybe the answers they’re searching for lie just behind that big, shiny “Buy Now!” button…

Talk soon,

Harry

PS. I’m building a cold traffic funnel for one of my clients over the next few days.

That’s my number one priority right now.

And, as a result, emails might be a bit “sparse” from me this week.

I’ll do my best to continue popping my big ‘ol beak into your inbox, but just a heads up if you don’t hear from me for a few days xxx