Hello there
This is the #9 Issue of Weekly Dan.
Welcome to 2 new people 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 🤯
I have an “Always Up” mentality.
MakerBox should grow double-digits every month
My Twitter following should get +1500 every month
My newsletter should get at least 30 new subscribers weekly
Ambitions are effective until they are not.
Because there is a harsh truth.
You can’t always grow.
Sometimes you will stagnate. Or even decline.
The sooner you will be okay with it, the sooner you will grow again.
So, hi to my new 2 newsletter subscribers. It’s great to have you here.
Marketing Tactic 🧭
What is the difference between the headline and the rest of the copy?
People actually read the headline.
Me 3 years ago would argue: “But the content is king”.
Now I know that content is useless without the distribution.
And the great headline is the first step to having effective distribution.
It works for Blog articles, Twitter threads, YouTube videos, Podcasts episodes, and any other piece of content.
And you only need three ingredients to make your headline better:
Rational reason to read it
What practical value can I get from this content?
Examples: build a landing page, learn how to do yoga
Emotional reason to read it
Why it’s intriguing to read this content?
Examples: 50 creative ideas to do X, 15 surprising facts about Y
Social reason to read it
Why do I trust this piece of content?
Examples: advice from a bestseller author, a guide from the Lehman Brothers’ ex-CFO
Time to combine it.
Product Hunt Guide [original]
20 Counterituve Product Hunt Tips From Golden Kitty 2021 Winners [new one]
And another one.
How to reach $1000 MRR [original]
Get $1000 MRR Without the Landing Page (we did it twice) [new one]
Grab the attention. Then overwhelm with value.
Product for Inspiration 💫
One of the biggest perks of being an Indie Entrepreneur is not having Zoom meetings.
Previously, I had 5-8 Zoom calls every single day.
Not fun.
And the biggest “no fun” was scheduling those meetings. Sadly I didn’t know about Cal.
Cal.com is a great tool to make scheduling easy. Calendly, but better.
Here are 3 ideas you should steal from their marketing:
Interactive CTA. Instead of having the usual “Start for free”, Cal.com has an input field to claim the username. It grabs attention better and clarifies the next step.
Make your CTA more engaging. Nobody likes to click the CTA button only to click the “Sign in with Google” button. Be different.
Product-led Growth. Cal.com has recently made its Individual plan free. It covers 99% of Calendly’s paid plan functionality.
If you are in the B2B niche, try giving individuals your product for free. It’s not easy, but it can be your predictable word of mouth.
Open startup. Cal.com tells you everything. From salaries and runway to Google searches and GitHub stars.
Go beyond sharing revenue milestones on Twitter. Instead, share your product statistics, discuss your plans, and spotlight your problems. Transparency builds trust.
Thought-provoking Question 🔋
What is your rising tide?
There is a famous saying: “A rising tide lifts all boats”. It applies to business too.
If you are building a product in the growing market, you will benefit from it
If you are building an audience on the growing platform, you will benefit from it
If you are learning a skill with growing demand, you will benefit from it
It’s better to be the average in the growing market than the best in the shrinking market.
How to find the right tide:
Pick the tide
Platform
Market category
Target audience segment
Solution format
Skill
Check the tide-likelihood
Was it growing in the past?
What signals do you have for growing in the future?
What long-term trends influence it?
What risks are associated with this tide?
How fast can you switch to another tide?
Great Resource 🏈
Copywriting Gurus on Twitter post the same platitudes over and over again.
This is your sign to go back to the foundation.
If there is a decent copywriting tip, David Ogilvy already said it.
Pro-tip: Schedule an email to send you this tweet every 6 months.
Your copywriting skills will thank me later.
That’s it!
What have you enjoyed about this issue?
See you on Tuesday 👋
Absolutely not a CTA 🗿
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.