Hello there
This is the #13 Issue of Weekly Dan.
Welcome to 87 new people (wow 🥹) who have joined this week. You are nice.
Every Friday, I share 5 golden nuggets with you:
One Personal Insight
One Marketing Tactic
One Product for Inspiration
One Thought-provoking Question
One Great Resource
Let’s get going.
Personal Insight 🤯
If you think about Indie Entrepreneurship, it’s funny sometimes.
We care about Product Hunt algorithms, Twitter Gurus, shadowbans on Reddit, marketing week procrastination, and other niche memes.
It’s easy to get caught up in the bubble and forget about the “life” part of life.
I am definitely guilty of this. And most of the time, I deeply enjoy this bubble.
But getting married this week reminded me of nice things outside the bubble:
Reading non-business book
Going for a hike
Connecting with parents and siblings
Playing video games together
Trying a new sport
Thank you for coming to my work-life balance Ted Talk.
Not back to the bubble.
Marketing Tactic 🧭
Twitter threads have been a disappointment for me lately.
I invested hours in writing them and only got 30 likes. Not the best ROI.
At the same time, I don’t want to write “9 Chrome Extensions that feel illegal to know” because it’s cringy and doesn’t attract the right audience.
So here is a new tactic for your audience building on Twitter.
Mindmaps
Only a few people tried this. Almost everyone went viral.
Yes, I am Sveta’s copycat. What are you going to do about it?
Making your tweets visual is a cheat code. Try it before everyone does.
Product for Inspiration 💫
There are support teams that I love interacting with: Namecheap, Typedream, Ghost.
And there are support teams that I hate: Twitter, Gumroad, Paypal.
If you don’t have money for a Support Manager, you need an exceptional Knowledge Base.
Meet HelpKit, a tool to turn your Notion pages in the self-service Knowledge Base.
There are 3 marketing tactics you might want to steal from them.
JTBD testimonials. They repeat the positioning in the customer language. Mix results and emotions, and you get irresistible social proof.
Don’t add another “Nice UI” testimonial. Instead, ask your customers specific questions to nudge them to write “the right” testimonials.
Monthly pricing by default. When I click “Yearly”, the price decreases. It’s a great feeling. Otherwise, I would suffer by seeing an increased price.
Eliminate dark patterns on your pricing page. Focus on making customers feel good, not optimizing Conversion by all means.
In-depth product video. Some users have unanswered questions about HelpKit. Giving them a 10-minute Loom from a Founder solves this problem.
Add a product video on your landing page. Put it on the bottom for the most curious users. Don’t forget to add subtitles.
Thought-provoking Question 🔋
Investing in what skill will give you x10 returns?
Indie Entrepreneurs wear a lot of hats. Sometimes too many.
And we wear some of them better than others.
Founders with developer backgrounds know how to code fast but struggle with copywriting
Founders with marketing backgrounds know to distribute their products but suck at making a great UX
So you are always in need of improving a new skill.
But which one to choose?
Think of the skill that matches three criteria:
You can become okay at it in 1 month
You can become great at it in 6 months
You will get x10 returns for your startup
I could learn 3D modeling and probably make some sick visuals for MakerBox. But it won’t dramatically grow our product.
So improving my copywriting skills is a better choice for me.
Better landing pages → More sales
Better cold outreach → More partnerships
Better threads → More audience
Better newsletters → More followers
Focus on skills that give you exponential growth.
Great Resource 🏈
How to be a better marketer?
Master psychology.
But you don’t have time to attend university and read tons of scientific papers. Hopefully, there is a solution for you.
Check Nick Kolenda’s blog. You will find 13 in-depth guides there.
How to price your products?
How to name your products?
How to write a better copy?
How to leverage colors in marketing?
One guide a month, and you are all set for the next year.
That’s it!
What have you enjoyed about this issue?
See you on Tuesday 👋
Absolutely not a CTA 🗿
No pressure. Whenever you are ready.
1) Get more actionable marketing ideas in MakerBox Workbook.
Crush your marketing goals without going crazy.
2) Let me roast your landing page.
It will be painful. You will get more paying customers from it.