Breakthrough Advertising: Making the Principles Accessible

Our guest on the 324th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast is Brian Kurtz. His 3rd appearance on the show is a good indicator that there’s no lack of what Brian is able to share with our audience. From gaining rights to one of the most notable books in advertising history to teaching copywriters how to be better marketers, this a conversation you won’t want to miss. Here’s what we cover: What Brian learned from having a near-fatal stroke at the same time as a book launch. Why he decided to launch a mastermind. Gaining rights to Breakthrough Advertising and selling over 10,000 copies. Is Brian a copywriter in secret? How he makes the principles inside Breakthrough Advertising doable. Can a book from the 60s still apply to today’s marketing arena? Creating upsells and bonuses for added value to customers. Is it a good idea to write a book? The reality of book launches. How to get better at relationship building. Why Brian hates the word “networking.” Giving more than you get – is it worth it? Press play or read the transcript below. The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: Join The Copywriter Accelerator The Copywriter Think Tank Kira’s website Rob’s website Brian's website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground Free month of Brain.FM Kim's website Episode 22 Episode 219 Full Transcript: Rob Marsh:  If you've been a copywriter for more than a few days, you've almost certainly been advised to read Eugene Schwartz's book, Breakthrough Advertising. It's listed on almost every list of the best copywriting books that I've ever seen, and it's true, this book is a must-read, but it's probably not the first book that you should read about copywriting, or marketing. It's a bit of a hard book to read, and the concepts are a little bit challenging. Our guest for this episode of The Copywriter Club podcast is Brian Kurtz, who along with Eugene Schwartz's wife, makes that book, Breakthrough Advertising, available to the world. He has recently created a companion volume called Breakthrough Advertising Mastery, that makes Schwartz's book even more accessible for anyone who has struggled with the concepts that he lays out in the book. So, we talked to Brian about that book, what he's been up to since we last spoke about a year and a half ago, and it's always great to connect with him. We think you're going to like this interview. But, before we get to our interview with Brian, I want to introduce my co-host this week. She's our friend and A-list copywriter, Kim Krause Schwalm. Welcome back to the show, Kim. Kim Krause Schwalm:  Oh, it's great to be here. Rob Marsh:  Yeah, I'm excited for this. You've been on the show a couple of times. We'll share those episodes at the end, so we make sure everybody can come back and listen to it. You've also spoken at TCC IRL a couple of times. Kim Krause Schwalm:  Three or four times. Yeah. Rob Marsh:  Yeah. You've been an awesome friend to The Copywriter Club, and just getting your ideas and feedback on the show. I'm really looking forward to it. Kim Krause Schwalm:  I am too. Thanks. It's weird to be in this role on the podcast, but I am excited. As soon as you said, "Brian Kurtz." He is somebody that I have so much respect for. I've known him for many years, and so yeah, I'm happy to be here, and hopefully I can add some value as well. Rob Marsh:  Yeah. Knowing how close you and Brian are, it was just a no-brainer to have you come and share some ideas. So, thank you for that. So, before we jump into the interview, let me just take a moment to remind you that this episode of The Copywriter Club podcast is sponsored by the Copywriter Accelerator. It's not a course, it's a five month long mentoring program, where we follow the Acceleration Formula, to create the foundation for a profitable business that doesn't struggle, doesn't struggle with things like pricing, or packages, or finding clients. You learn critical mindset strategies, you set goals, get accountability, and dive into the business skills, like positioning, pricing, creating client experiences, and getting yourself hired by the clients you want to work with. Most importantly, we'll introduce you to a curated network of copywriters who will help you get unstuck, and build a business that lasts. The next round of the Accelerator starts soon, so get on the waitlist now at thecopywriteraccelerator.com. Kim Krause Schwalm:  So, I think we need to get on with this interview. That was a great intro to that program, and I know a lot of people that have gone through it, and I think it's an excellent way to kickstart your copywriting career. But yeah, let's get on, and hear from Brian. Brian Kurtz:  Just to catch people up, I'm still alive, which is a good thing. Had a near-fatal stroke the day after my book, Overdeliver launched, which taught me a lesson which we could talk about later, that you can launch a book anytime. You can only live once. So, weighing those two things, it made sense to continue to live, and not pay much attention to the book launch. And the book did well, it didn't... I mean it was never going to be a New York Times bestseller anyway. So, and you can always... Book launches are forever, in a way, especially if it's evergreen material, which my book is. So, that was April of 2019? Rob Marsh:  Yeah. Brian Kurtz:  Yeah. Rob Marsh:  It was the year before COVID, yeah. Brian Kurtz:  Right, right. So it was April of 2019, and then the rest of that year, I was really recovering. I mean, I didn't miss a beat on my business. I still had Titans Mastermind. I didn't know... I've always wanted to launch a virtual mastermind. So, in December of... And then I started getting better. I went on my own little tour, my speaking tour in October. I did a GKIC event, it was my first event. And then I spoke at Jeff Walker's Launch Con. So I got myself out, after spending four or five months, not in hibernation, but kind of just kissing the ground I was walking on, and saying, "I'm alive, and it's great." And I didn't have a come to Jesus moment, either. It was like, it's just that I always live my life day to day. But when you're faced with the fact that the neurosurgeon, when I went to see him two weeks after my stroke and he said, "I'm surprised you're still here,” that kind of hit me with a jolt. Rob Marsh:  Not the kind of thing you want your doctor to say to you. Brian Kurtz:  Yeah. He said it, and he certainly thought I'd be paralyzed, or my speech would've been... And of course my kids were hoping that my speech was gone, but that didn't happen. So, in late 2000... So, I did those speaking engagements, I'm coming out of it, and in December of 2019, I launched Titans Xcelerator. And the interesting thing is that, I always said after the fact, that I predicted the pandemic, because I launched it as a virtual mastermind, all on Zoom, in December of 2019. And I launched it, got 150 members, and in March, we were shut down. And so one of the things that I learned through all of that was that it's really good to have a virtual mastermind during a pandemic because my live mastermind became virtual for a while too. But also, it was interesting, because it also taught me to overdeliver. Now, my book is called Overdeliver, but it taught me to overdeliver in a new way, and how that would affect renewals long term. Because I'm a big on renewals, I'm big on the second order, versus the first order. I'm not the guy that teaches copy, cold copy, to cold traffic. It's much too frigid for me. I want to go to warm copy, and I want to go to warm copy, to warm traffic, to hot traffic, and renew people for their lifetime. That's where my business has always been at Boardroom, and it's always where my business is now. So, one of the features of Titans Xcelerator, when I launched it in December of 2019, was a once-a-month live call with me, where I would do hot seats. I didn't even think I was going to bring in speakers or anything, but I guess I probably would've gotten to it eventually. But I was going to do hot seats. discussions, just an open-ended, ask-me-anything Q&A, and I thought that would be enough. And so, in March of 2020, all of a sudden I said, "Well, I'm home. I'm going to go to weekly calls." And so, I went from monthly calls to weekly calls. I had nothing else to do anyway. And they were fantastic. It was like, I already realized that Titans Xcelerator was kind of what I was born to do. I mean, I was born to connect people, and contribute to people, but contributing not so much on Zoom, because I did end up getting a lot of Zoom fatigue, as we all did. But it was very much in my DNA to do it virtually, as well as live. And so the weekly calls, then I started getting guest speakers. All the guest speakers that were... Getting them on virtual is... I got them live. I got Jay Abraham live, not bragging, but I did. I got Perry Marshall live. I'm not bragging, but I did. I got Dan Kennedy live, but I got him on video. He only comes on by phone, actually, doesn't come on video. So, what was interesting is that the weekly calls... And I promised right from the beginning that weekly calls would not be forever. That the pandemic would probably end, maybe in six or seven years, and then we would no longer do... I didn't say that, I said it would end before that, but we're not going to do weekly calls forever. But when I went to like... But then, we're not going to go back to monthly, either. So, I built in an over delivery that was huge, and then I still had an over delivery, even when we came back to normal. And by the summer of 2020, or late in the summer, in the fall, I said, "We're going to do at least two calls a month now." And sometimes I do four calls a month.