How to Create a Profitable Newsletter

There are so many poorly done newsletters/email campaigns. As someone who turned an organization's newsletter w/ 15-20% open rates (quarterly) into two weekly newsletters each with consistently 65-70% open rate for years, I've learned a lot of lessons. Here's how to make your email something your audience can't wait to read: -Find the anti-pattern -5x value rule -Get over yourself, focus on delight -Trash compactor mindset -Only serve your fans What these mean: 1. Find the anti-pattern Figure out what your audience is craving for, that difference that would be so refreshing they would exhale when they learn about what you write. When I worked my first VC job, most VC fund newsletters were self-congratulatory announcements about portfolio company raises, investor press mentions, and occasionally a thoughtful piece. Pattern: Self-promotion in service of fund promotion. Anti-pattern: Zero self-promotion, only pure value given. Figure out what everybody does that is bad, and flip the script. 2. 5x value rule A lot of writers lack the humility to consider the fact that their idea/message/offer is simply just not as valuable as they think. When marketers/writers ask me for feedback, I tell them to consider what they think would be enough to get someone to care about their writing. Then 5x that bar. Make it so high a bar for value that it would be an "of course" decision for someone to read/respond/share about your stuff. 3. Get over yourself, focus on delight. It is obvious when newsletters are written with a KPI/explicit transactional goal in mind. Impress LPs to get them to invest. Convert those customers to subscribe for a plan. Get people to request meetings with you. If you provide delight in their experience of your product, the results will come. What would you do if you only want to make them as delighted as possible by your email every time they read it, without any conversion needed? Do that. The conversions will come. 4. Trash compactor mindset Remove the excess volume from your emails. I don't just mean concision in terms of length. Every marginal word you write should provide something of value - learning, insight, engagement, social proof, etc. If the next sentence doesn't raise or maintain the average value per word of your piece, don't include it. That might mean segment your audiences with different versions. Every sentence is a chance for the reader to lean in, or for them to rationalize why this is the last one of yours that they will read. 5. Only serve your fans. Don't try to get people onto your newsletter for subscriber-growth-sake. Every subscriber should be on your distribution because they make the active choice to become an audience member. If you had to describe what you write about and someone wouldn't automatically sign up, don't do it for them. Make something that will be shared word-of-mouth that will get them anyway. Opt-out list building does not make up for a low bar for content.

My business earns $300k+/month. Here's what I'd do if I were starting from scratch: Context: I have 64k+ newsletter subscribers, 50-60% open rates, and have done $224k in sales in 1 day. I've also helped clients at GrowLetter do much more. I'm not sharing this to brag, but to show you there's a proven system behind these numbers. Here it is: ✅ 1) Get real experience first People want to learn from those who've actually done what they're teaching. You don't need to be Tiger Woods (10/10 skill level) to help beginners (1-4 level). A 5-6 skill level is perfect. ✅ 2) Pick ONE discovery platform Don't start with newsletters or podcasts - they have zero built-in discovery. Choose LinkedIn, YouTube, X, or IG. Their algorithms can help you reach people even with no existing audience. Commit to 3-5 posts per week for at least 90 days. ✅ 3) Solve your own problems The easiest content to create is what YOU want to read. When you scratch your own itch, you can judge quality directly instead of guessing what others want. Plus, it's sustainable long-term. ✅ 4) Collect emails from day 1 Your email list will be your most valuable asset. Set up a simple landing page immediately. Add CTAs to your profile and posts. ✅ 5) Own a word, idea, or category The most powerful marketing concept is owning a word in people's minds. I've spent 3 years owning "newsletter" - when people want newsletter help, they think of me. ✅ 6) Start a weekly newsletter Weekly is the sweet spot. Keep it simple - I use just two sections: Curated links and a 500-1000 word article. Always repurpose your newsletter into social posts. ✅ 7) Monetize from day 1 4 ways to make money before creating your own product: - Newsletter recommendations (SparkLoop/beehiiv boosts) - 1on1 coaching/consulting (use Calendly + Stripe) - Sponsorships via ad networks - Affiliate marketing This covers expenses and builds momentum while you learn what customers actually want. ✅ 8) Convert followers to subscribers DM every new follower (hire a VA for $7/hour to do this - converts 20-30%). Include subtle newsletter CTAs in almost every post. Create new lead magnets monthly. Optimize your social profile for sign-ups. ✅ 9) Build relationships Be genuinely helpful first -- engage with creators in your niche, share their content, and help for free. Eventually, ask for comments on your posts and testimonials when you've provided real value. ✅ 10) Launch your signature product Through consulting calls and audience interactions, you'll spot problem patterns. Then create a product offer that solves real problems and aligns with the word you own. And - always pre-sell before building - people vote with wallets, not surveys. Hope this helps! LAST THING: If you want the full 1000+ word guide on this, comment "start" and I'll DM you the link.👇

My email newsletter has 3.8 million subscribers and generates nearly $30 million in revenue per year. Here's how to build a killer newsletter business: #1 - Have a clear understanding of who you are writing to. Who is your subscriber avatar? How old are they? What gender are they? Where do they live? What are their interests? #2 - No "me too" content. Write with personality and write from an original perspective. Don't copy the other stuff is online. The world doesn't need another A.I. trends newsletter. Also, be funny. #3 - Start with a solid tech platform. ConvertKit is my favorite ESP for content creators. Beehiv is fine too. #4 - DM people you think would like your content to get your first 1,000 subscribers. "Hey, I am launching a new newsletter about XYZ topic. Would you like me to add you to the list?" #5 - Publish frequently. 2-3X per week is a good starting point. Increase frequency as you build out your writing team, #6 - This is where it gets hard. Develop a personal brand by having active social media accounts and engaging with big accounts. Also do as many interviews as possible on relevant podcasts/YouTube channels. #7 - This is where it gets even harder. Develop a paid strategy to grow your list using Meta Ads, Google Ads, and Co-registration platforms (tools like Sparkloop). This is about the only way to get to a 1 million+ subscriber list unless you are Joe Rogan. #8 - Next hard thing: develop a monetization strategy. Which companies want to reach your audience? Reach out to them and ask for ad deals. You will probably need dedicated person or team to do this. The site "Who Sponsors Stuff" is a good site that has a list of potential advertisers. #9 - Monitor deliverability. Make sure your deliverability infrastructure is setup properly and unsubscribe users that haven't opened/click in a long time (6 months or so). #10 - Repeat the advertising income -> paid growth flywheel. Take your advertising income and plow it back all into growing your list. Take only what you need to out of your business. #11 - Don't give up. This stuff takes a long time time. You will need to survive 2-3 hype/bust cycles to build a real business (mid 8 figures). I launched my newsletter 12 years ago(!). #email #marketing #newsletters #startups #business #technology

7 Ways I Grow My Newsletter Without Spending A Dollar 1. Word Of Mouth The best marketing tactic in the world is a valuable product. My newsletter is awesome. So readers tell others about it. Seems obvious, but most creators spend more time looking for "growth hacks" than they do improving the newsletter itself. 2. Optimized Social Bios My Twitter and LinkedIn bios are designed to drive people to subscribe to my newsletter. There's a clear call to action in the bio and the link takes people straight to my newsletter signup page - not the home page of my website. 3. The ConvertKit Creator Network and SparkLoop The best newsletter recommendations tools around. 4. Pre-Promotion Of Upcoming Issues On Social Media It's fine to promote your newsletter after it comes out, but it's more effective to do so BEFORE it's published. Teasing it with the specific value people will get from reading that issue gives people a clear reason to subscribe so they don't miss it. 5. Signup Forms and Links Everywhere If you read one of my blog posts (old or new), it's impossible to not know I have a newsletter. There are forms at the bottom of every post and mentions of the newsletter with links to my signup page within the content of most posts. 6. Cross-Promotions The single best way to get new subscribers for free is to find someone with a similar audience and offer to promote their newsletter in exchange for them promoting yours. When a cross-promo works well, do it again a few months later. And again a few months after that. 7. My Podcast and YouTube Channel Just like with my blog posts, it's impossible to listen to my podcast or watch the episodes on YouTube and not know I have a newsletter. Most importantly, the topics of my podcast are in alignment with the topics of my newsletter. If you listen to my show because you're an expert who wants to grow their business... Chances are you're going to be interested in my newsletter which is about... (You guessed it!) Learning how to grow your expertise-based business. Speaking of which... If you haven't checked out my newsletter yet, you can do so at the link on my profile. It's in my bio. 😉

7 months ago, I started a newsletter to solve a problem I had. I posted once a week every week. Last week I hit 1000 subscribers. Here's how I did it: Problem: I was looking for businesses to acquire on your usual platforms like: acquire.com Flippa.com, BizBuySell, BitsForDigits etc. 1. But none of them gave an honest opinion on what to look for and how to actually filter through the right deals. Finding the right deals with commentary was the solution. 2. What I wanted was for someone to scrape through a bunch of listings from different platforms. Give me the top listings that I should pursue and enquire. And do this on a weekly basis. 3. Previously, I would update my Notion board with deals I would find. I would also record loom videos and send business listings to friends breaking down my thoughts on these listings. They loved it, and that's when I started thinking how can I get this to more people. 4. That's when Acquire Weekly was born. - Created an account on beehiiv - Started writing content - Building a template to make it easy to consume - Providing 3 top deals a week Keeping it simple. 5. The growth of the newsletter came in a couple of ways: 1) Answering questions on reddit and plugging my newsletter 2) Friends sharing the content amongst themselves After initial traction I started running ads. 6. Our current subscribers range from VCs, first time entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs looking to buy their second business. Last week we had our second sponsor reach out from one of my weekly sends. It was a perfect fit, so I sent our media kit and we went live. 7. Still being in early stages my core focus now is to keep working on the quality and growing our initial subscribers. Every week I: - Request feedback from our subscribers - Analyse the data - Work on delivering the right type of business based on the above 8. What's next? 1) Figure out how to provide more value in my newsletter 2) Monetise it through SparkLoop & Sponsors 3) Acquire a business and talk about it internally #3 is what I'm looking forward to the most. Acquire, talk about the process, how I'm planning to grow it. If this is something you'd enjoy to read then feel free to subscribe below: https://lnkd.in/g6bccbPz

On July 17th 2022, I wrote the very first edition of my newsletter: Fresh Salmon. It was sent to 3 people. I had no existing email list. Started from Zero! Since then I have sent out 97 editions. Today Fresh Salmon is growing fast, especially since August of 2023. I've 4 takeaways for you, if you are planning to start a newsletter or currently running one: 1. Niche matters a lot:  I'm in the B2B Marketing niche, it's a tough niche to grow a newsletter. Beehiiv recently analyzed 4.3 billion emails sent on its platform in 2023, and shared that avg. Open Rate for Marketing niche was 29%, my newsletter is hovering around 43%. In fact, Marketing was in bottom 6 niches in terms of engagement metrics. 2. Differentiating your newsletter is essential: It's very important to differentiate yourself, therefore, how you position your newsletter matters a lot. The more saturated the niche is the better job you will have to do to differentiate yourself, which makes positioning statements really important. After 3-4 iterations, today my positioning statement is - "Helping you master B2B Demand Creation and Audience Building for market dominance!". 3. Think growth from the word go: Growing a newsletter is tough, you should put equal or more effort in growing the newsletter as you put in writing the newsletter. I personally didn't do a great job on growth in my first full year, but in the last 6 months, I have 10x my subscribers. You must focus on growing the audience, and based on your niche deploy both organic and paid channels. 4. Show up, show up regularly: Consistency is the secret to growing and building an engaged audience. You must be consistent, and show up with valuable content to your audience on your regular schedules without missing a beat. If nothing works, your consistency will help you build brand affinity, and help you find your die-hard fans. #newsletter #audienceengagement #audiencebuilding #b2bmarketing #freshsalmonnewsletter #viveknanda #b2bcreator

6 ways to monetize your newsletter to $100,000 I started my Passive Profits newsletter last October. I spent a couple days laying out my plan to hit $100k in my first year. It will take a LOT of work. Even a bit of luck. But having a plan made things feel, not only real, but possible. Here are the 6 "sales channels" I'm building: 1. Premium subscriptions 2. Newsletter referrals 3. Sponsorships 4. Exclusive (high-ticket) products 5. Commitment (mid-ticket) products 6. Impulse (low-ticket) products 1️⃣ PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTIONS Revenue from a percentage of your subscribers who pay for exclusive content, perks, and/or access to you. 2️⃣ NEWSLETTER REFERRALS You get paid for recommending other sponsored newsletters. 3️⃣ SPONSORSHIPS Brands pay you to have their products/services featured in your newsletter -- similar to ads, but the brand is prominently (or exclusively) placed. P.S. Check out Justin Moore's stuff for a masterclass on sponsorships. 4️⃣ EXCLUSIVE (HIGH-TICKET) PRODUCTS Owned products you sell for $1,000+ like private training, consulting, bootcamps. These offer extensive access to you and your expertise. 5️⃣ COMMITMENT (MID-TICKET) PRODUCTS Owned products you sell for $200 - $999 like masterclasses, shorter bootcamps, and 1:1 / cohort-based coaching. 6️⃣ IMPULSE (LOW-TICKET) PRODUCTS Owned products you sell for <$200 like ebooks, toolkits, online courses, email-based courses, memberships, scripts, and digital downloads. These are primarily passive. As a product person, the owned products are my favorite to spend time. ❓ Would love to hear... Which channel are you most interested in?