Candice Brathwaite wrote a line this week that stuck with me: “I’m leaving here with something.”

Sidenote, Candice is a legend, I think you might enjoy her blog.

She’s spent years writing books, building a personal brand, being on stage, blogging, vlogging. Y’know doing all the influencer jazz.

And now she wants it to stop. And I get it. 

We talk about key people of influence, about sharing our work, about building in public. But also in the same breath, fuck that. Y’know?

So, let’s get into it..

🧠 Copy Chops → Don’t be a clever dick

🧲 Magnetic Marketing → DTF with RFM?

📣 Client Chronicles → Life without clients

🌀 Weird Marketing → 34 ways to get the click

Look, I know how impressive you are. I know you’re smart and eloquent and have a unique POV. 

And I reckon sometimes you write something and you do this..

But here’s something I have to remind myself. Copy isn’t for applause, it’s for action.

I mean, if we can get both, then suuure..

Claude Hopkins (godfather of scientific advertising) said: “The sole purpose of advertising is to make sales. It is not for general effect. It is not to keep your name before the people. It is not primarily to aid your other salesmen. Treat it as a salesman. Force it to justify itself.”

Woah Claude, chill out man.. 

But still, fair point.

So here’s how to tell if you’re being a clever dick:

Old-school direct marketers had a simple way to rank their customers:

It’s not sexy, but it’s simple. And we want simple, yes? 

Apart from being a decent human, you probably don’t need to treat all your customers the same.

Some need nurturing. Some need to be thrown in the sea. re-activating. Some need the red-carpet treatment. 

So run the RFM test on your list. Or draw up a chart of your clients. You’ll instantly know who to delight, who to save, and who to let go.

So… I’m not taking on new clients.

Not because I don’t love my work. Not because I don’t love my clients. 

Because I want to work in a way that supports how I actually want to live. 

Which is basically more ease, more play, and less evenings in google docs.

They say don’t tell people your goals. WHOOPS. 

But the traditional agency/freelancer model trades time for money. And look, I get a bit triggered when I hear stuff like that. I'm like, ‘some people have real problems'.

And it’s pretty good. I’m there for every school event, I cover most of the holidays and later, I might go to the tip.

But I also work evenings, the house is grim and I haven’t dropped my right shoulder in 25 years.

If you're not careful, it's a treadmill, and I’m not here to run myself into the ground.

So I'm thinking about systems and partnerships and things that stand on their own. That's what I'm working out.

I'll share more as I go, you know the drill..

🌀 Weird Marketing → 34 ways to get the click

IIt says get the c-lick, you naughty thing

When one ad isn’t enough, how about thirty-four?

Steven Bartlett’s ad library shows him running 34 different variants of the same campaign. The differences are tiny. In fact, it’s just the hook.

Check it out..

It looks obsessive. It is obsessive. The difference between a winner and a dud could be just 0.3% CTR.

But the ones that get the biggest click through rate are the ones he’ll use for the latest DOAC pod. For these guys, that difference is worth tracking.

And if you hate SB, but you still want to some headline inspo, then I still think it’s worth checking out.

Ok, godspeed, happy weekend, tell me stuff.

Beijinhos,

Annabelle