Brian Kurtz, a master of personal development and entrepreneurship, shares his unique approach to selling rights to outside books. He discusses scaling a product, discerning audience needs, direct marketing strategies, and journaling's influence on his life. This interview is crucial for entrepreneurs, marketing enthusiasts, and individuals on self-improvement journeys, providing insights into business strategies and personal development essential for success.

Here are the reasons why you should listen to the full interview

• Learn how to leverage journaling for personal development and success.
• Discover the key strategies for scaling a product based on audience response.
• Understand the role and effectiveness of direct marketing in business evolution.

Resources

• Brian Kurtz Website
• Brian Kurtz LinkedIn
• For more Informative Interviews Click Here

Interview Highlights 

The Power of Journaling with Brian Kurtz

• Our guest discussed how journaling trained his mind to focus on gratitude and victories, fostering personal growth.
• The practice led him to start a program of buying rights to outside books.
• Quote: "Being able to train yourself to think of your life in terms of gratefulness and wins is something that I've really developed over time."

Strategies for Selling to a Larger Audience

• The guest emphasizes marketing depth over breadth, noting that customers prefer to dive deep into narrow subjects.
• Quote: "People would much rather go a mile deep and an inch or two wide as opposed to going a mile wide."

Deciding to Scale

• Audience response determines when a product is ready to scale, according to the guest.
• The importance of selling benefits, not just the product, was expressed, along with the need for sophisticated online methods.
• Quote: "You can't force a product on an audience. You have to really sell benefits."

The Potency and Practicality of Direct Marketing

• Everything is measurable, and scaling is only proposed if it’s working.
• Resiliency is a characteristic one could retain even if the first test fails, as illustrated by a case on a diabetes book.
• Quote: "The beauty of direct marketing is that everything's measurable. I would never scale on something that isn't working."

Three Crucial Lessons

• The guest urged listeners to identify three lessons from the interview and apply them within 24 hours, emphasizing the importance of action for results.
• Quote: "Remember, taking action is the secret sauce to results. What three lessons did you just learn? What can you implement for yourself and your business in the next 24 hours?"

5 Powerful Quotes

“And I went into New York City. And I actually visited some headhunters. And I said, I'm graduating in May. And this was January, and I said, ‘I really want to have a job when I get out.’ And these headhunters, like looked at me, ‘Why, you know, you can't get a job. I can't recommend you for a job. You're not graduating for another six months.’ But interestingly, you know, my whole life's been about serendipitous stuff. So sometimes you do something.” 

“But I just loved, as you said, I think you hinted at it, that this idea that it was the audience's, it was how an audience responded to an offer. And my curiosity was so piqued by this business, that that's how I started getting all that curiosity to learn about copywriting and to learn about offers and to learn about the kind of direct mail.” 

“You know, there's another rule of thumb in the list business: that your ex buyers, or previous customers, is always going to be your best list. So that concept could be taken into almost any business. Someone who was a subscriber to whatever you do, and they lapse, their subscription usually laughs because of time or money.”

“What we did was we broke a big rule and said, we are going to go 25 minutes out of 28 and a half and not offer the call to action for the first time until we were maybe 24, 25 minutes in. (...) It was kind of a breakthrough format. Because we understood that that was a form that was clicked for that type of a product, we were able to get three out of four successes on TV in our first four shows.”

“But it's about really being grateful for the people in your life, and their expertise, what they do, how they share it, how they share it with you, and how you learn from it, instead of being envious.” 

About Brian Kurtz

Brian Kurtz is the founder and CEO of Titans Marketing LLC, which provides direct response marketing coaching, consultation, and educational services. He has an English major and Business Administration degree at Rutgers University.

As a direct response marketing consultant, he specializes in demographical and data marketing. Brian has been responsible for buying more than $80 million worth of direct response TV spots over three years. He has also overseen approximately 1.3 billion pieces of mails used for online and direct response marketing throughout his career. 

In 2000, Brian was inducted into the Direct Marketing Association’s Hall of Fame at the 14 Annual Circulation Day. He has received the Leader of the Year Award from the Direct Marketing Club in New York. The 2002 Silver Apple Honorees also acknowledged his work and accomplishments.

Brian is also a blogger and has written several articles exploring direct response marketing and other related topics.

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Marketing has significantly evolved over the past few years, transitioning from direct response to online marketing. Brian reminds us that the fundamental concepts haven’t changed despite the change in media. If you enjoyed the podcast, be sure to subscribe and share it with your friends!

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