The Modern Marketers

Stories of marketers who have made AI a core part of their work. Subscribe to our free newsletter!

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

Sam Parr (@thesamparr) once mentioned copywork is the best way to learn copywriting

It's basically writing down good copy word-for-word to internalise the frameworks behind great ads

I just copywork(ed) 985 words from ads about marketing newsletters

(because I'm making ads for my own: @modernmktrs)

It helped me notice patterns like:

The Marketing Millennials newsletter cracked crisp copy. The value per word is high. But Your Attention Place newsletter has a lot of yapping and is vague. They could easily cut 10 seconds and be more specific about the value.

Now that I know the working formats, I will adapt them to my newsletter

PS: I'm using https://t.co/2kWnAHcBce to make ai videos from my scripts

In case you want to see the scripts I copied word for word:

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

it has been a good weekend for @modernmktrs

i have set up a 5-day email seq as a welcome gift

it's the ai marketing principles i use daily at work

yet to make it live because i'm working on a couple of bonuses, but will drop an email for readers today

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

who is building tools for marketers?

i run a newsletter for 2000+ marketers and i'm building a tools directory for them

if your tool is cool, drop it in replies or dm. i'll add it if it's useful for my readers at @modernmktrs

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

at some point, i want to make @modernmktrs invite or application only

rn, if you see value in my posts, newsletter, or landing page, you can just pay and enter the community

but the best communities say no to more people than they say yes to

moving towards it; one day at a time

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

got my first two newsletter sponsors within 15 mins of shipping /advertise page:

[The Modern Marketers @modernmktrs]

hello new marketers

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

284 new subscribers for @modernmktrs in june

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

things i'm doing at @modernmktrs this week:

- arrange micro meets b/w members. two members spending 30 mins w an agenda of "what if i'm your cofounder"

- deploy new website design, change email design

- create a content system and calendar. been rushing content lately and that sometimes hinders w quality

- do some subscriber math and focus on growth. also, for paid marketing, looking to spend 10k inr a month on us audience and 5k on india. mainly around setting targets for q3

- push /advertise-with-us. have a couple of warm leads + there will be a launch offer for 3 sponsors

...all while not compromising on health, family and fun

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

reminder:

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

Just set up an unsubscribe survey for my newsletter

Last December at @RoachMafiaGroup retreat, @MehulFanawala and @itsParthVader spoke about revops and churn

That's when I started taking unsubscribes in newsletters seriously, so I could learn from churn and improve the experience for current subs, positioning, etc

It helped me make content more actionable for my previous newsletter, Cognition

Now I'm excited to learn more from @modernmktrs unsubscriptions

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

Marketers' goal setting is f*cked up

So... about goals and baselines

In marketing teams, people shoot in the air with goals without measuring baselines

For example, founders throw statements like "we will get to 10,000 newsletter subscribers in the next three months"

...and the teams just work towards that.

My question is: what data do you have that suggests you could reach 10k readers in 90 days?

Lead magnets, social media engagement, meta ads, SEO, something?

If I am leading the thingy, I'd form a baseline first. Do my best work and observe the metrics. Look at competitors, proven frameworks, trends, etc.

After three months, if we reach 6k readers, we will have a baseline of 2k readers per month.

Now I set a goal of 3k (or basically anything more than 2k that makes sense) readers a month, based on what we already saw

My point is, without a baseline, goals are just aspirations.

Aspirations are not bad. Some of us set a number and reverse engineer processes. Some of us persist until we meet our aspirations.

Great... as long as we know if our target is a goal or an aspiration

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

One thing I love about @RoachMafiaGroup is you get to see what makes a person great, up close

On social media, you see a bunch of folks and it's all filtered content. You see milestones and checkpoints but not processes

This gives you imposter and fomo that you're not good, not doing enough

But when you stay with founders for 3 days, the masks come off, and you'll be incredibly surprised by how helpful each of us can be

...and how genuinely we want to see each other win

In places like the Roach Mafia, the fomo gets replaced with inspiration because you might not relate with the person 10 steps ahead of you, but the steps they took to get there

Back home from another incredible retreat in Bengaluru, my fourth after Kochi, Lonavala, and Ranthambore

Until next time 🫡

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

ai has made it so much harder to choose what task to work on

with literally everything being done in seconds, the skill to identify and choose high impact tasks will be more valuable than bias to action

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

build newsletters. always build newsletters

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

my hooks suck

so i'm building a skill to give me options to iterate on my first thoughts. will test it within our @modernmktrs community first before making it available to all

mom test

feel free to share the best hookwriting frameworks or resources you have come across

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

Ever since marketers realised they could go from prompts to solutions, I see most of my friends, me included, move towards building apps

This is great. With the code democracy and guidance from good resources and dev friends, the number of non-technical people building apps and making revenue will only increase

But but...

I don't see the same people solving their daily problems with AI

If I can give my example, my first instinct was to build a saas, which I might one day

But it was game-changing when I realised how much I could use AI in my daily tasks that 10xes the output and creates new possibilities

Without AI, I am a marketer. With AI, I have a marketing team

If a younger Vikra were to come for advice, I'd say spend at least 70% of your time solving current career and personal problems, and the rest in new experiments

PS: Not saying this is how everyone should do it. But sharing a POV I think most marketers miss

[The Modern Marketers @modernmktrs]

looks great: https://t.co/Mlk7DZLSJp

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

pov: your boy just made his personal website using claude code

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

always earn readers, not subscribers

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

what newsletter metrics you should actually care about:

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

my 3-day bangalore trip roundup:

- met 21 friends. love love love catching up w online homies
- fav cafes: still, the kind, nerlu, anāma (++++ for cookie), paper and pie
- pizza 4p's is worth the hype
- pink trees are too beautiful. calms my heart
- meghana biryani is meh
- love corner house and magnolia bakery for dessert
- iifc was great. this was my first time and i have no baseline. but loved it

always love visiting blr. until next time 👋

[Vikra Vardhan @vikravardhan]

Milk Road (300,000+ subs) keeps things simple yet effective