Hey. I'm Harry Dry, founder of Marketing Examples. AMA 👇
Harry Dry
66 replies
Two and a half years ago, I started Marketing Examples. People liked the case studies. So I left my job and went full-time.
Since then, they've been read by more than one million people. Which... still blows my mind.
Ask me anything about growing the site and newsletter to 90,000 subscribers. Or share what you're working on and get a few quick marketing and copywriting tips. Cheers.
Update #001 — Replying atm.
Update #002 — All done. Thanks.
Молитви за Україну
Replies
Ryan Gilbert@ryangilbert
Loops
Q: What are some of your main growth tactics for the newsletter specifically?
Share
@ryangilbert Hey Ryan — Quick checklist
• A format people like. Not just I write a newsletter sometimes...
• My newsletter is my content marketing.
• I share it natively on other platforms. Then say subscribe to the newsletter. It's a loop.
• Website popup that converts well
• Newsletter issues live as blogs on my website. That's the honeypot that attracts people
• Cross Promos. Encouraging subscribers to share
Hi @harrydry 👋
Sorry for my late comment -- the week has been pretty hectic launching Specify.
To celebrate this moment, we gave our website a small update.
Would love to have your thoughts?
Check it out 👉
Does marketing for software developers exist? What would be your strategy to nail it?
Hey Harry! Fan of your work and thanks for doing this.
I'm working on a disc golf blog (thealbatross.net) and weekly newsletter (https://thealbatross.beehiiv.com...). The blog covers the culture, big stories, interviews etc. And the newsletter curates the best content, stories, links around the disc golf world (like the hustle/morning brew but weekly for disc golf).
I'm curious how you would approach growing the weekly newsletter which is the main focus right now but at the same time the blog?
It's more of a passion project right now but something I believe can turn into something and even bring in revenue, eventually. Any feedback and advice is appreciated!
@headhanchoarod Hey Alex — Cool idea. Wish you luck.
Unfortunately, newsletters don't grow themselves.
I'd focus on making each newsletter awesome. And the using that content throughout the week on social channels, Reddit, FB groups etc... to promote the newsletter. Essentially your newsletter is your content marketing.
This is how I got my first 20,000 subscribers. I've written about this process in more detail here.
What mistakes do you often see people make when it comes to the copy on their Product Hunt submissions?
@jondotjames Hey Jon.
Overcomplicate them. “Big things are best said in small words”
• Copywriting Examples — The world's best copy. In one place
• Remove BG — Remove the background of any image 100% automatically
• Nomad List — Find the best cities to live and work remotely
Make yourself easy to sum up :)
OpinionX
Hey Harry — your content has been super influential in shaping our marketing approach at OpinionX, so thank you for the work that you do!
Question: Do you feel like the Community Distribution approach (ie. www.marketingexamples.com/conten...) to getting new content out there is still as relevant as when you wrote it 2 years ago? Does it still reflect your strategy for distributing new content?
Daniel, Co-Founder & CEO of OpinionX (https://opinionx.co)
@daniel_kyne Hey Daniel — So the answer is contextual. My approach worked *for me* at *the time*.
I didn't have a big startup budget to spend on ads. The articles weren't geared for SEO. And I had no existing audience to help promote.So I had to do all the heavy lifting.
But things have evolved...
For example when I launched Copywriting Examples my promotion was different. I had 90,000 on an email list so I ran a really big giveaway asking everyone on the list to share my launch posts on LinkedIn and Twitter...
That was the easiest way to get the word out there... But you can only do that when you have the audience.
One thing I still believe is that you should focus on taking the time to make great stuff and repurposing across all platforms.
For example right now I'll share a short example for the website. Then that example goes on the newsletter, on Twitter, on LinkedIn, on Instagram. 4 birds. 1 stone.
But even this is a little contextual. Because a lot of content written for SEO has no real place on Twitter etc...
Anyhow. Hope this helped :)
All of Harry's content is amazing. It's worth your time to read it. Sign up now!
@thewoolleyman Hey Chad — Very nice of you. Cheers.
If anyone wants to join the newsletter I've linked it :)
Mind Body Tab
@ckpleiser Hey Carsten — Congrats on the launch today. And the very kind words.
I'll keep the answer short. No.
Good luck with Paperless :)
nocsdegree
Congrats on all your growth mate.
How would you grow the No CS Degree newsletter? :)
@petecodes Hey Pete — Appreciate it Sir. Hope all's well with you.
So, firstly, I think you could improve conversion on your site.
• A more specific format.
Right now you're hook is ”Get inspiration for learning to code”
That's too vague for me. Get specific. E.g.
3 tips from No CS developers
2 success stories from the community
1 inspiring tweet
• Add social proof to the popup
____________
Then the other half the battle is open rates and traffic.
Re open rates
• I'd encourage people to reply to the first email
• I'd encourage unsubscribes. The “lazy mans” unsubscribe is mark as spam. That will massively hit your deliverability. So you really want to make it as easy as possible for folks to unsubscribe.
• I'd encourage people to add to your address book.
______
And traffic. Ahh. It's midnight and I'm exhausted. Will have to hold that for another day :)
Good luck man.
Holoframe | Augment your NFTs
What happened to that marketing SaaS/course/project that you were working on?
@ilijarolovic hey Ilija — So I had the idea for Copywriting Examples and thought this will be a quick two weeks and it turned into a long seven months...
Back working on the course now Announcement soon. Appreciate the support.
Undefeated Underdogs Podcast
What's the experience of working on the Kanye project? And how did it change your life?
Hey @5harath — Thanks for inviting me to do this :)
• If you want to make money don't start a dating site
• There are no adults. Everyone is making it up as they go along. Figure it out yourself. And do it.
• I was hungry and foolish. It's a powerful combination.
The Kanye Story for anyone interested.
I don't think it changed my life. Was just another business of mine that ultimately failed and I learnt a lot from it...
Prolinky
Harry, I've been following you through the years, getting inspired, and learning a lot, not only for marketing/copywriting but also for making projects and consistency. Thanks for that.
Currently, I'm working on transforming my design/development agency into a learning resources platform. After 15+ years, I really do not enjoy working directly with people for their businesses and their goals.
It would be great to have a second look: https://1984.design 👀
Hey @boraoztunc — Thank you. Appreciate the kind words. The design is very nice. Some thoughts:
• The copy generally is too vague. You need to get specific. For example “Be part of a global creative community”... “Get feedback from 75 designers...” Try and rewrite every paragraph and make it more specific.
• There's no social proof. This is the lowest hanging fruit to fix. Go onto Copywriting Examples. Filter “Social Proof”. Find an example you like. Fill up the page with real faces and short quotes.
• The pricing section is confusing. I think the free studying plan might negatively impact conversions to the Working Plan. I'd cut the “studying plan” out completely. And then just add a section or a line that you're supporting students and they can get it for free. Free for students is cool. But putting them side by side like that it just makes the paid plan look bad.
• Not a huge fan of the general offer. I'd repackage as “the place for a [specific group of designers]. Tools and resources is a bit vague and fluffy. Sorry haven't got a better alternative off the top of my head.
• Got no idea who Don Norman is
• Put yourself into it. Who are you. What have you done. Why should I want to join your community.
Good luck.
Prolinky
Hi Harry, thank you for your great work.
Does moving to "the middle of nowhere" help you get inspired?
Web stories Code generator
Hey I am building https://subask.in for slack.
How do you go with marketing an app for a niche audience?
@pratiksharm Hey Pratik
I'd start by defining what your niche is. I go on your website and I don't see **who it's for**. E.g. — You could go after developers. “The Slack extension that boosts dev teams productivity” type thing...
Then I'd start cold emailing developers. Take a leaf out of how Nathan Barry did direct sales in the early days of Convert Kit. When you get replies get feedback on the product. And see if you're building something people actually want...
I'd try and validate the idea before going all out with the marketing...
Hey Harry,
how would you rank platforms (social, newsletters, forums. etc) according to their engagement rate and lead generation?
And how do you determine specific content post was successful? Which metrics do you look at? Reach? Leads? Something else?
@dtm0032 Hey sir! Thanks for sharing my Copywriting Examples project.
I don't think there's a right answer.
Theres no general “engagement rate” for each platform. It's contextual. E.g. — Fenty beauty is going to have more engagement on IG than Ahrefs...
But broadly speaking I'd rather double down on 1 or 2 channels and make them awesome. Rather than be spread across a newsletter, podcast, IG, FB, TikTok. Growth is very non linear... The top 1% gets 99% of the attention. So work to get into that top 1% on whatever channel you choose.
In answer to your second question —
I'd say revenue is the goal of marketing. That's the North Star. But it can take a while to drip through... So then I'd look one step above in the funnel. For me... that would be email subscribers and open rates.
You always want to pull people in as close to revenue as possible.
Reach isn't that important. Millions of people watching some viral content on Instagram. But how many of them are coming back...
Hope that helps a bit.
Hey Harry, really enjoy your content. Would love your 2c on the copywriting on https://www.almanac.io
@alancassinelli Hey Alan — Appreciate the kind words. Some thoughts:
• Add some above the fold social proof. Just below the free account button. “Rated 4.6/5 by 2400 customers” or “290 accounts created in the last 7 days”
• Too many cliches. E.g. “Unleash your creativity — Create dynamic docs that are only constrained by your imagination”. This really tells me very little. It's a project management app. You're talking to us like we're Pablo Picasso. I'd get more specific.
I'd follow this “features and benefits” pattern
1/ Write down the feature
2/ Ask, “so what?” to find the benefit
3/ Contrast the *old way* with your *new way*
• You can do much better than “Work Differently” as the main value prop. Write the title only you can. Hundreds of companies could write that.
I've been a bit scathing. But the visuals and app look very impressive. Good luck!
@alancassinelli i'm getting 522 error, btw. Would love a copywriting feedback community. Does that exist?
@alancassinelli @gehrigkunz Watch this space. And page loaded fine for me.
Hello Harry, I know you are done with AMA, but I wanna take a chance.
Do you mind looking at https://cmate.super.site/ and sharing what you feel as a first-time visitor of the site?
Thank You!
Ah man. I love your stuff. Do you have a community related to your website?
@xansurnamehere Thank you. Not yet. But possibly soon. Shall see. And appreciate it :)
Hey Harry! Would love to get some landing page feedback: https://socialscri.be/
It's also a product you can use to grow your conversions. :)