Welcome to the 249,324 people who joined the Menu this week. Don't believe me? Well, you're right. I was kidding. Anyway, this newsletter is sponsored by MarketerHire, which helps you find freelance marketing talent that is definitely better than my absurd jokes.

Deleting your email subscribers could actually be a good thing.

I know. You worked your butt off to get to that next hundred, and removing subscribers is the last thing you want to do.

But if you've never cleaned your list before, I would wager a solid 20% of people haven't opened your last 3 emails.

You can go ahead and check. I'll wait.

(I'm right, aren't I?)

When you remove those cold subscribers, your open rates will increase and your deliverability should be even better. Plus, it's just the considerate thing to do. Why bother continuing to email people who won't even do you the courtesy of quietly unsubscribing?

The last time we did this in my day job at SparkToro, we improved open rates from about 25% to 45% — which I think is pretty darn impressive considering we have over 50,000 email subscribers.

How to do this? The details will vary depending on your email service provider (ESP), but a cold subscriber campaign can be done in three steps:

Step 1: Send a message to people who haven't opened your emails in about 90 days:

Step 2: Make sure that "click this link" text links to some kind of confirmation page that triggers your ESP to keep them on the list.

Step 3: Wait 5-7 days. Delete the people who did not click.

That's it. A pretty easy campaign that will improve engagement of your list. And after all, raw subscribers are mostly a vanity metric, right? It's the high open rates we want. Trust me, bro.*

*Eagle-eyed readers will realize this phrasing/subject line is an easter egg.

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This doesn't just need to be for your personal writing, either. Businesses are now tapping into Foster for help with their business/marketing content.

Petits Fours

Four bite-sized blurbs linking to interesting content.

🔹 I Tried 21 Flavors of Mountain Dew For Some Reason: "And while the soda has, for decades, claimed to 'take flavor to the extreme,' original Mtn Dew never actually professes to taste like anything. There is something brilliant in this – if you aspire to nothing, you disappoint no one."

🔸 Did Medium Succeed? "There was a lot of lofty rhetoric in the early days about fixing the attention systems that feel so dysfunctional on the internet, and I think it’s clear those systems are going as strong as ever. But was it ever reasonable to expect otherwise?"

🔹 Understanding and Profiting from Crypto Hype Cycles: "Within each of these 'meta cycles,' there are many other hype cycles that occur, and they have so far been getting more diverse with each meta hype cycle."

🔸 What it's like when strangers get mad at you on Twitter: In 3 screenshots.

🎛 Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Fish Sauce

Don't be a baby. Fish sauce is delicious.

• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon each sugar + water
• 1 teaspoon sriracha (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Halve Brussels sprouts and toss in olive oil and a small pinch each of salt and pepper. Roast on a sheet pan until browned and crispy on the outsides, about 40 minutes. Flip in between.

In a small bowl, whisk together fish sauce, apple cider vinegar, sugar, water, and blob of sriracha. Toss with the roasted sprouts. Throw some freshly chopped parsley at it if you want. Serve.

🌳 My week in Seattle was lovely

MozCon was my first marketing conference ever.

It was refreshing to step out of my Twitter watercooler and meet folks in person. I said hello to friends I've been chatting with for well over a year. I met lots of new friendly faces. And I got to see some of the really cool things that SEO folks are working on.

The whole experience was a great reminder that the marketing community is both bigger and smaller than you think.

But the true highlight was getting to spend two solid days working with Rand and Casey on SparkToro. We're cooking up some pretty cool stuff. Stay tuned. 👀

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