Daniel Bustamante

Sharing the email growth & monetization playbooks we use for clients + inside our $20M portfolio. Building my email marketing agency to $1M ARR

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

i'm back!

i haven't tweeted consistently since ~2022.

but a lot has happened since then:

- helped scale a portfolio of info businesses to over $20,000,000 in revenue

- moved to TX, then Arizona

- built an audience of over 45,000 people across LinkedIn and email

- launched a paid newsletter called AI Email Marketing Prompts

- launched my new business, Velocity, a done-for-you email marketing & ghostwriting agency

I really miss X though.

here is where I got my start, where I learned to write, and where I found my people.

so I'm pumped to be back!

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

3 ways to make your CTAs more compelling:

- Add an outcome or benefit
- Add social proof
- Add both

Here's an example.

V1: "Click here to join my free newsletter."
V2: "Click here to join my free newsletter—and start growing your email list faster."
V3: "Click here to join 9,000 others inside my free newsletter."
V4: "Click here to join 9,000 others inside my free newsletter—and start growing your email list faster."

Small tweaks.

Big difference.

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

The fastest way to improve your email copy:

Make it more specific.

Especially when it comes to describing pain.

After all, pain happens in specific moments.

And if you can accurately describe people's pain, they'll trust you can help them solve it.

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

This is one of the best newsletter landing pages I’ve seen in a while (and I see dozens of them every week):

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

If you want to grow your newsletter faster, don't promote your newsletter.

Promote a lead magnet instead.

Newsletter offer: "Give me your email for weekly content about X."

Lead magnet offer: "Give me your email and I'll solve this specific problem right now."

Which one is more compelling?

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

How to never run out of newsletter ideas:

Create a simple survey where readers can easily share questions & topics they'd like you to write about in future editions.

Then, link to your survey in the PS section of all your emails.

That way, you're constantly gathering pre-validated ideas from your most engaged readers (instead of just guessing).

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

You don't need to reinvent the wheel with every lead magnet.

Most people think they need new, groundbreaking frameworks to get attention.

But that's not true.

One of my best-performing lead magnets is a simple swipe file with 100+ newsletter subject lines.

Curation can be very valuable and useful too.

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

Welcome email tip:

Ask for a reply.

When someone replies to your welcome email, it helps improve your sender reputation.

And as a result, they're more likely to get all your future emails in their primary folder (instead of spam).

And if you want to take it a step further, offer an incentive (like a free bonus) in exchange for the reply.

Works like a charm!

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

Try this with your next newsletter:

Write your first draft.

Then read the whole thing out loud.

Mark every place where you stumble, pause, or feel bored.

Those are the sentences that need fixing.

Rewrite them until they flow smoothly when spoken.

Repeat this process until the entire email sounds like something you'd actually say to a friend.

Your writing will instantly become more engaging, more personal, and more readable.

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

2 ways people ruin their ChatGPT Projects:

1. Too little context → Generic, bland output
2. Too much information → Confused, inconsistent output

Your AI needs clear patterns, not random examples.

Solution: Curate 3-5 pieces that perfectly represent your style.

Every document should teach the AI something specific about your voice.

If you can't explain why it belongs there, don't include it.

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

Underrated way to differentiate yourself as a writer:

Use unique visuals in your work.

For example:

Neville Medhora's copywriting newsletter is awesome.

But ironically, my favorite part isn't the copy—but the drawings & visuals he always adds to his emails.

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

All the best tactics in the world are useless if you're not doing the fundamentals consistently.

So here's your weekly reminder:

Optimize for consistency before you optimize for growth.

80% of winning is just showing up.

The question is:

Are you showing up consistently?

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

The problem with (most) newsletters:

They ask for commitment before delivering value.

Lead magnets solve this by flipping the order.

Instead of "Trust me to send something helpful each week," it's "Here's help right now."

Plus, if you execute it well, a lead magnet funnel gives you multiple touchpoints in week one (instead of making people wait a whole week to get one email).

More touchpoints = faster trust building.

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

How to follow-up with your warmest leads (automatically):

Set up "abandoned cart" sequences for people who:

- Click your CTA but don't apply
- Start an application but don't finish
- Book a call but don't show up

Wherever there's an "incomplete action," there's an opportunity to follow-up.

And the best part is:

Once you set it up, these sequences can run forever.

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

99% of creators think their job ends when they make the sale.

But your real goal isn't just to sell your course.

It's to help people get results—so they:

- Love your product
- Send you referrals
- Give you testimonials
- Buy everything you create next

Which is why a post purchase sequence is SO important.

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

Stop trying to get AI to write perfect content.

Instead, use it to get 80% of the job done (10x faster).

My process:

- I manually outline the piece
- AI interviews me to gather extra context
- AI writes the first draft (using previous examples)
- I give my AI feedback on the draft (for easy tweaks)
- Lastly, I manually execute the more nuanced edits

The goal isn't for AI to "replace" you.

The goal is to use AI to accelerate the process.

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

Before: Struggled to write even 1 newsletter/week.
Now: I write 3 newsletters/week (plus all my social content)

What changed?

3 things:

- I started writing every day
- I built a big library of content as a result
- Then, I built systems to streamline my process

The caveat is:

All the systems in the world are useless if you don't build a daily writing habit in the first place.

So, don't skip that step.

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

An easy way to get more clicks (and sales) from your marketing emails:

Format your main CTA as a "heading."

Here's why:

After running multiple AB tests on this, I've learned this:

The easier it is to see the main CTA, the more likely people are to click it.

And when you're sending a sales/promo email, more clicks = more chances to make a sale.

Simple as that.

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

Harsh truth:

The reason why AI won't write content that "sounds like you" is because you don't know what that means (yet).

You haven't taken the time to think through & articulate what goes into "writing like you," objectively.

And you can't expect AI to sound like you when you can't even explain it.

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

A friend and I wanted to launch a course together...

But weren't sure if people would actually want it.

So we decided to find out (before investing months building it).

What we did:

- Clarified the promise & audience of the course
- Outlined what we'd teach based on our real experience
- Sent one email to test interest via waitlist signups

48 hours after sending that email:

200+ waitlist signups.

Message received!

In the following weeks, we built & launched the course. And in just 3 days, we sold out and generated $15,000+ in revenue.

That's the power of validating first, building second.

[Daniel Bustamante @dbustac]

Weekly reminder:

It doesn't matter how big your email list if people:

- Don't trust you
- Don't read your emails
- And don't buy your stuff

Don't let vanity metrics fool you.