Harry Dry

Harry Dry is the creator of Marketing Examples, a website and newsletter that breaks down real-world marketing tactics into short, visual case studies. He studied Economics at Durham University, taught himself to code, design, and write, and built Marketing Examples as a one-person operation. He grew the newsletter from zero to 38,000 subscribers in about 18 months with no ads, no connections, and no existing audience. Before Marketing Examples, he built Yeezy Dating, a viral Kanye West dating site that generated press coverage but no revenue. He worked at Crowdform in London, negotiated down to two days a week, and quit only after securing his first sponsor (Email Octopus).

Key Patterns

Distribution is the product: every growth tactic (Facebook groups, Twitter loops, popups) was treated as seriously as the content itself
Risk elimination over risk-taking: he de-risked every transition step by step
Personal brand as distribution: rebranding from faceless to personal drove 50% of shares
No single growth channel: growth came from dozens of tiny channels compounding
Self-taught skill intersection (coding + design + writing) enabled a one-person operation

Origin and Background

Economics Student Who Taught Himself to Code — Self-taught coding, design, and marketing writing from an economics degree with no CS background Yeezy Dating - Viral With No Plan — Viral Kanye dating site that failed as a product but led to his first sponsor and taught him distribution

The Crowdform Exit

Risk Killer, Not Risk Taker - Harry Dry’s Crowdform Exit — Negotiated down from full-time to 2 days, only quit when sponsor revenue existed

Marketing Examples Growth

First 100 Subscribers - No Silver Bullet — First 100 subscribers came from dozens of tiny channels, none dominant Facebook Group Stealth Strategy - Zero Branding, Maximum Reach — Stealth distribution in 20 Facebook groups with zero branding, value first The Growth Loop - Newsletter Feeds Twitter Feeds Newsletter — Cross-platform amplification: newsletter subscribers boost Twitter threads, new followers subscribe Exit Intent Popups - 50 Percent of All Signups — Exit intent popups generated 50% of all subscribers through conversion optimization

Content and Craft

70 Percent of the Work Is Visual — 70%+ of time spent on visuals; condensed 4 books into 17 images One Great Article Is Worth 50x Average — Week-plus per article; two bad ones and subscriber rate crashes from 45% to 25% None of My Ideas Are Original - The Curation Method — All ideas sourced from existing material then repackaged visually Your Emails Should Sound Like You’re Messaging Your Mom — Empathy as the core copywriting principle; write like you’re texting family

Brand and Identity

People Buy From People - Rebranding to Harry’s Marketing Examples — Rebranded from faceless to personal because 50% of shares were driven by the person, not just the content