#14 Weekly Dan — Cold Twitter DM

Get new partnerships on Twitter without the hassle

Dan Kulkov

Oct 18, 2022

Hello there

This is the #14 Issue of Weekly Dan.

Ready to become a better Maker?

Every Tuesday, I deconstruct one framework for Indie Entrepreneurs.

Learn the new model and apply it to your product in 5 minutes.

Let’s get going.

Have you checked MakerBox? 🔥

There are a lot of new subscribers this week. So, here is a quick self-promotional plug.

I am building MakerBox, the ultimate place for Indie Makers to level up their marketing.

Trusted by 400+ Indie Entrepreneurs.

Why should you bother? 👀

Imagine that you are building a database of newsletters open for sponsorships (we are doing it with Sponsor This Newsletter).

You will sell it to startups and agencies that want high-quality traffic from the new acquisition channel.

But before selling it, you need to get at least 100 newsletters in your database. And not just the link to the newsletter but valuable information for advertisers.

How to get this data?

By reaching out to newsletter Creators on Twitter. No-brainer.

But here is the problem.

You want high-quality newsletters with 1000+ subscribers
These Creators usually have 10 000+ followers on Twitter
They ignore 99% of cold DMs

Here is how to write an excellent cold Twitter DM and get these Creators on board.

How does it work? 💡

You need to nail three aspects:

DM template
Deliverability
Trust

Let’s break down each one.

DM template

Here is my opening DM that already got me 70+ newsletters (and nine of them have 10 000+ subscribers).

It’s extremely simple, and that’s why it’s working.

Personalization. Use Creator’s name. That’s enough to make it look more human.

Elephant in the room. They know it is a cold DM. Acknowledge this and make it less awkward for everyone.

Context. Creators don’t understand who you are and why you are DMing them. Give them a quick overview in one sentence.

Offer. Answer the question, “So what?”. Bonus points if you highlight positive outcomes for users (I forgot to do it 😅).

Call-to-Action. Your next action should be a no-brainer to Creators. Otherwise, they will procrastinate answering your DM.

Objection. Creators have doubts about my offer. I handle the biggest objection before they even think about it.

Three tips to improve your DM template

Use paragraphs with 1-2 sentences. Keep your DM really short
Nail your CTA. Nobody wants to spend 60 minutes on a high-risk opportunity
Use stupidly simple language. Users skim the text on the toilet. You better be clear

Deliverability

Even if you have the best DM template, users still need to notice it.

Five tips to improve your deliverability

Follow before sending the message
Don’t send the link in the first message
Don’t send more than 200 DMs in one day
Engage with 1-2 posts before sending a DM
Don’t use tools for mass DM. You can do it manually

Trust

Every week at least 10 people cold-DM me.

Usually, they don’t even try to get a reply back. It’s just SPAM.

Would you reply to this absolutely not fake Jennifer? 😅

Five tips to improve your trust

Use an account with at least 300 followers
Use your real photo
Align your username with your Name
Have a self-explanatory and appealing bio
Have fresh tweets that got more than 5 likes

What’s next? 🛠

Let’s send some cold Twitter DMs, shall we?

Craft your DM template
Show it to 5 friends for 10 seconds and ask them to summarize the offer
Update your DM template
Source your leads
- Find leads in “Twitter Explore” with relevant keywords
- Find leads in the “Who to follow” section
- Find recommended leads in the Feed
Engage with their content
- Follow their account
- Like 1-2 posts
- Reply to the latest tweet
Send your cold DM
Enjoy the life

That’s it!

What do you think about this issue?

I would love to hear your thoughts. Hit me with a reply.

And see you on Friday with the usual 5 golden nuggets for Indie Makers.

Absolutely not a CTA 🙃

1) Learn more marketing frameworks with MakerBox Framework.

Only for Founders who care about marketing.

2) Let me roast your landing page.

It will be painful. You will get more paying customers from it.