I’ll tell you what a snowflake newsletter is in a moment. But let me set it up first, with something surprising that happened to me last night:
I got in a taxi last night. I’m in Croatia, and my driver was local, and very white.
“Good evening,” he said. “Where are we going?” In just those few words, it was obvious he was from the coast town of Split, one of the strongholds of Croatian national identity.
I told the man where to drive. As he took off, he put on some music — that was the surprise.
It was some kind of solo stringed instrument. The only way my western ears could describe it was “oriental.” After a few moments, I leaned forward and asked the driver what music he was playing.
“It’s Persian,” he said. “If you’d prefer, I can put on some jazz.”
I’m visiting family for a few days and jumping around town all day long. I’ve taken a cab probably 15 times in the past 5 days. Each cab ride I’ve taken has featured an entirely different kind of soundtrack:
Romantic 1960s crooners from Yugoslavia… James Brown humping and groaning… Croatian folk music with little mandolins and bass fiddles… generic 2023 pop music… techno.
Last December, a guy unsubscribed from my list. I often check the “unsubscribe reason,” hoping to find something good. This time I was rewarded. The guy wrote as he unsubscribed:
“I’m getting too many emails overall… I get 50+ per day so I’m only going to stay on the lists that I want to read daily”
Too many emails today, right? Too crowded? Too late to get in?
I’ll make the exact opposite claim. Right now is the best time to get in.
Previously, I’ve called this snowflake positioning.
The classic marketing book Positioning is all about how great it is to be unique, how great to be first. But you don’t need to be either, not globally. You just need to be unique and first to a small number of people. And that’s very doable.
The fact is, there’s an unimaginable tonnage of humans in the world today. They are all easy to reach. What’s more, all of them have slightly quirky and unique tastes, even if, for example, they all fall into the broad category of taxi drivers. Or direct marketers. Or online business owners.
Here’s what I’ve found:
With a little bit of luck, and simply by showing up today, tomorrow, and the day after, some of the 8+ billion people in the world will join my newsletter. And of those, some will become customers, for a long time, worth hundreds of dollars, or maybe thousands of dollars, or maybe even tens of thousands of dollars. That’s started adding up to a nice sum of money for me each month.
The same can be true for you. Assuming you can muster a little bit of luck, and you can manage to show up today, tomorrow, and the day after.
The sooner you get started, the sooner you can turn this into a nice living. That’s why I say right now is the best time to get in.
Anyways, since you are on my email list, there’s a good chance you are interested in marketing and copywriting topics.
Maybe you’d also like to write about those topics, and not just read about them. In that case, let me remind you of my Most Valuable Email training.
I only recommend you get Most Valuable Email if you are writing, or want to write, about marketing and copywriting.
By the way, I wouldn’t necessarily suggest you write to an audience of copywriters, but that’s a topic for another day.
Still, if you do want to write about marketing and copywriting for an audience of marketers, business owners, or maybe curious taxi drivers — then this course can show you one type of email that has been most valuable to me.
Most Valuable Emails have given me all kinds of hard benefits — including sales and list growth and valuable endorsements. But the greatest benefits of writing these Most Valuable Emails have been soft — the fact that they make me better each time I write them, and that they make it fun and easy for me to stay motivated today, tomorrow, and the day after.
My Most Valuable Email is available today, and will be available tomorrow, and the day after. But you’ll get most value out of it if you get it today, and if you start applying it today.
In case you’d like to get started: