3 mins

The marketing genius of Andrew Schulz

Content

Part 1

Let’s start in 2017.

Andrew Schulz had been killing it in the New York comedy clubs for over a decade. But no network would give him a shot.

So he spent $25k filming his own special. And handed it to the networks on a plate. They still said no.

Schulz realised he was going to have to make it alone. So he started analysing how people actually watch comedy.

I asked all my friends about different specials and they all said the same thing, “Yeah, it was good. But I didn’t finish it.”

I figured the hour is too long.

So Schulz cut his special down to 16 minutes and put it on YouTube.

Andrew Schulz 4:4:1 Special

He already had some subscribers from years of podcasting there. And it started getting traction.

YouTube was working. So I started treating my YouTube channel like my own network.

With every new joke his channel grew. But coming up with fresh comedy every week was insane.

So Schulz started honing his improv. Because learning to roast the crowd meant new content every night.

He'd film every show. Sometimes 7 in one weekend. Hoping to get one electric clip for YouTube.

Andrew Schulz comedy roasts

Between 2018/19 Schulz uploaded 125 bits of live comedy. Contrast this with the comic who puts out one special a year.

100 clips is 100 ways of discovering me. An hour on Netflix is one.

And who wants to listen to a stranger for an hour? But you'll listen to a 2-minute clip if a friend sent it to you.

YouTube Vs Netflix for marketing

In two years his channel grew from 140k to 840k.

Part 2

March 2020. Schulz was midway through his first worldwide tour. Then Coronavirus hit.

Most comedians were screwed. Schulz built a studio and started doing Late Night style monologues.

Except, the jokes weren't watered down to please network execs. Schulz was unfiltered. And people resonated.

For instance, contrast a “network” joke about Joe Biden with a Schulz one.

Another thing Schulz nailed was distribution. He tailored his monologues to fit each social media platform.

On Instagram he'd get your attention with a one-line intro. Then ask you to “turn your phone” to stop you scrolling by.

Schulz put out 17 monologues in 17 weeks averaging 2M views. That's more than the comedy networks who'd ignored him for 5 years.

* * *

Schulz’s story isn’t about comedy. It’s a lesson for anyone wanting to do anything.

When the gatekeepers don't let you in, start your own thing. Fail until it works. Then keep going until you've got momentum.

Schulz retells this Chris Rock story that sums it up:

“You see someone on the side of the road with their car broken down. You drive by. But if you see somebody pushing their own car, you stop and help.”

I was an entitled little f***ing brat whining about not having a special. I helped myself. Then people helped me.

Andrew Schulz and Joe Rogan

Support

Thanks for reading. If you'd enjoyed the story, I'd appreciate if you joined the email list. I share a new case study, like this one, each week.

— Harry

Logo
cegfilterplus copy 6
cegfilterplus copy 5
Group 3 Copy 2 1
Group 3 Copy 3
ACQUISITION ACQUISITION
ContentSEOSalesSocialAds
CONVERSION CONVERSION
CopywritingLanding Page
NEWSLETTER NEWSLETTER
Mixtapes
#1 Marketing Newsletter”
Read by 130k
30 secs

Same interview. 700x reach.

2 mins

Posting seltzer. Making money.

Creative
2 min

The saleswoman closing 33% of cold pitches

Sales
2 mins

A full-time “pizza influencer”

Content
30 secs

One of these videos has 18M views

Copywriting
30 secs

Should you offer a free trial?

Landing Page
30 secs

“Make Ugly Ads”

Ads
2 mins

The chocolate that goes viral every day

Ads
1 min

This rebrand cost Tropicana $55M

Brand
1 min

Rows' homepage test that doubled conversions

Landing Page
2 min

Adobe's Perfect TikTok

Ads
2 mins

Bou's Near-Perfect Google ad

Copywriting
2 min

How Loom Created a Category

Brand
30 secs

Four (not boring) ways to name a new product line

Copywriting
2 mins

The cold email that started a $100M / yr company

Sales
30 secs

Reforge and the Strategic Use of Language

Brand
3 mins

One line. Eight Rhetorical Devices.

Copywriting
30 secs

Four ways to write a CTA

Landing Page
1 min

I love this DTC retention strategy

Retention
30 secs

“Press B anytime to Buy”

Landing Page
30 secs

Innocent’s Wooly Hats

Creative
1 min

I love Blinkist's free trial paywall

Landing Page
30 secs

“How can I do the ad without any adjectives?”

Copywriting
30 secs

I love True Classic's upsell

Landing Page
1 min

Growth Design's 60% open rate

Content
1 min

Two million clicks from one email

Copywriting
1 min

Lizzy's email worked on me

Sales
1 min

How the 🌀 took over LinkedIn

Referral
20 secs

How to approach viral content marketing

Content
2 min

Sky Bet's Perfect Offer

Copywriting
2 min

70% of Calvin Klein's tweets are questions

1 min

The most upvoted Reddit ad ever

Ads
2 mins

How Chamaripa turned celeb heights into shoe sales

SEO
15 secs

Three ways to add warmth to your CTA

Landing Page
4 mins

My step-by-step guide to landing pages that convert

Landing Page
2 mins

Veed, Miro and Canva's strategy in one line

Content
3 mins

“The Dream 100”

Sales
1 min

Innocent know how to write copy

3 mins

One thousand replies to cold emails

Sales
30 secs

Barbie Newsjacking

Creative
25 secs

How Basecamp makes $99/month feel cheap

Landing Page
1 min

Wine List's Counterintuitive Pricing

Landing Page
20 secs

My favourite sales email pattern

Sales
30 secs

4 years. 4 AMA's. 1M views.

2 mins

Seven ways to build your “founder brand”

1 min

My favourite “Meta Images”

Landing Page
30 secs

10% of ARR from typo domains

Creative
1 min

My new favourite agency ad

Ads
1 min

The content marketing sweet spot

Content
3 min

Nine marketing examples that tap into cognitive biases

Creative
1 min

The tale of two Twitter strategies

1 min

How Vogue tapped 5M views from a 3 year old interview

Content
30 secs

Sticker Mule's plain text emails

Sales
1 min

A crash course in improving your open rate

Retention
1 min

How to grow a YouTube channel in 2022

Content
1 min

Copywriting is more like math than you suspect

Copywriting
30 secs

Inside Steven Bartlett's ad library

Content
30 secs

Don't write “labels”...

Landing Page
1 min

I love this abandoned cart hook

Sales
10 secs

My favourite indie rock band

Creative
30 secs

AG1's welcome offer is idiot-proof

Brand
1 min

An influencer ad that doesn't SUCK

Ads
1 min

Why is the Angostura bitters label too big?

Creative
30 secs

A crafty social media giveaway

1 min

A brilliant response to Amazon cloning your product

Creative
2 mins

How Jürgen Klopp makes fans smile

Brand
1 min

Arc'teryx's TikTok Fame

2 mins

I love Billboards designed for social

3 mins

How Chewy delights customers

Brand
3 mins

Refactoring UI: A lesson in high prices

Landing Page
1 min

How brands make friends on Twitter

3 mins

Using GIPHY for free brand awareness

Content
40 secs

If you want to grow on social make yourself easy to sum up

30 secs

A Table of Contents can work wonders for SEO

SEO
3 mins

How I got 2,000 new subscribers from Product Hunt

2 mins

Cronitor's Little Side-Project

SEO
1 min

Kapwing's YouTube strategy

Content
3 mins

How I promote my content

Content
4 mins

The marketing genius of Lil Nas X

4 mins

My guide to conversational copywriting

Copywriting
3 mins

How to write a landing page title

Landing Page
1 min

People Warm to People, Not Brands

Brand
30 secs

One Tweet. Eighty media placements.

Brand
2 mins

A simple idea that’s makes Gillette $60M/yr

Referral
6 mins

My Twitter Inspiration Handbook

5 mins

17 tips for great copywriting

Copywriting
30 secs

27 words that sum up the psychology of copywriting

Copywriting
3 mins

Grubhub's link building strategy

SEO
1 min

Signal's Instagram Ads

Ads
2 mins

Real Marketing

Brand
2 mins

£8k Instagram Giveaway → 1M followers

4 mins

A crash course in getting press and building links

SEO
30 secs

Neiman's magazine ads

Ads
3 mins

How LadBaby started a movement

Brand
3 mins

How to build a website which converts email subscribers

Landing Page
3 mins

A story about my dad and PPC ads

Ads
2 mins

The genius of Tesla's marketing strategy

Brand
1 min

Taylordle

Content
3 mins

Rewriting landing pages with a pro copywriter

Landing Page
3 mins

How Convert Kit grew from $1.5k to $100k MRR

Sales
3 mins

“Michelin Guide” Marketing

Content
3 mins

Email Segmentation — A practical example

Retention
2 mins

Counterpunch like Carl

2 mins

The most creative Coronavirus company pivots

Creative
1 min

How a creative Google ad got an investor's attention

Ads
3 mins

The genius of no name's brand

Brand
30 secs

Barilla's pasta playlist

Creative
2 mins

Using Unsplash for brand awareness and backlinks

SEO
2 mins

How Steve Jobs clarified Apple's message

Copywriting
2 mins

Let your customers write your copy for you

Copywriting
2 mins

How Rev. Chris grew 100k Instagram followers

3 mins

My guide to brand positioning

Brand
1 min

The Vegetable Name Change

Creative
3 mins

The marketing genius of Andrew Schulz

Content
4 mins

Growth Loops

Referral
30 secs

Why Burger King sponsored Stevenage F.C.

Creative
4 mins

My favourite low-budget viral ads

Ads
3 mins

How Nomad List dominates longer tail keywords

SEO
1 min

Apple’s “Shot on iPhone” campaign

Ads
30 secs

Dave Gerhardt's 1 line sales email

Sales
Hey, I'm Harry. Every Monday I share:
3 short examples
2 copywriting tips
1 favourite tweet
Marketers voted it the “#1 marketing newsletter”. 130k people enjoy it.
Try it
Dave Gerhadt
“My favourite newsletter on the web”
Dave Gerhadt
“The newsletter is so f***ing great!”
Dave Gerhadt
“Better than my marketing degree
Dave Gerhadt
“🦄🦄🦄 — Nuff said
Dave Gerhadt
“The best thing is it works
Dave Gerhadt
“How is this still free?
Dave Gerhadt
“A genius that actually gives a sh*t
Anne-Laure Le-Cnuff
“I have no regrets
Dave Gerhadt
Best newsletter I'm subbed to”
Dave Gerhadt
“You ALWAYS find something useful”
Dave Gerhadt
“No fluff marketing. Works right now
Dave Gerhadt
“Shit you actually want in your inbox”
Dave Gerhadt
“Sadly, there's only one Harry Dry”
Anne-Laure Le-Cnuff
“Most wisdom per newsletter of all time
Dave Gerhadt
“One of the best marketers I know”
Dave Gerhadt
One of the best things on the web”
Dave Gerhadt
“I can feel my brain getting smarter
Anne-Laure Le-Cnuff
“The Sir Alex Ferguson of marketing”
Dave Gerhadt
“I haven't read a bad one yet”
Dave Gerhadt
I wanna be Harry when I grow up”
Dave Gerhadt
Gems everywhere
Dave Gerhadt
Dangerous in the wrong hands”
Anne-Laure Le-Cnuff
“If you don’t read Marketing Examples you aren’t really a marketer
Dave Gerhadt
“I literally can't wait for new issues”
Dave Gerhadt
“Multiple notifications so I never miss it
Dave Gerhadt
“The only newsletter I share with every person that joins my team”