1/ I often get asked how @MorningBrew got its first 10k subscribers. So, I’m just going to share some thoughts here:
[thread]
[thread]
2/ I joined @businessbarista in 2014 to transform a PDF attachment with 250 readers into a media business.
We had 0 money to spend on marketing, so we had to get creative.
We had to (quote @paulg) do things that don't scale.
We had 0 money to spend on marketing, so we had to get creative.
We had to (quote @paulg) do things that don't scale.
3/ We were students at the University of Michigan at the time, and knew many business lectures had 400+ students.
We spent weeks asking professors if we could speak in their econ/accounting/finance 101 classes.
We spent weeks asking professors if we could speak in their econ/accounting/finance 101 classes.
4/ We thought it would be EASY.
Who didn't want to get smarter about the business world in 5 minutes?
We thought: make a quick 5 minute pitch in front of 500 people, and 500 people would sign up! Not so easy...
Who didn't want to get smarter about the business world in 5 minutes?
We thought: make a quick 5 minute pitch in front of 500 people, and 500 people would sign up! Not so easy...
5/ Professors let us pitch their classes, but they gave us the *first* 5 minutes of class.
No one was paying attention. Not a single person.
They were checking the news or prepping for class, but definitely not listening to us.
No one was paying attention. Not a single person.
They were checking the news or prepping for class, but definitely not listening to us.
6/ We decided that if people weren't going to go and sign up themselves, we had to do it for them.
After we pitched a lecture, we'd pass around pieces of paper for everyone to write down their email.
Simple, but turned out to be *very* effective.
After we pitched a lecture, we'd pass around pieces of paper for everyone to write down their email.
Simple, but turned out to be *very* effective.
7/ This simple act took conversion rates from <10% to >75%.
No one wanted to sign up themselves. But, no one had a problem writing their email on a piece of paper if put in front of them.
We then sat outside the lecture hall and manually signed everyone up.
No one wanted to sign up themselves. But, no one had a problem writing their email on a piece of paper if put in front of them.
We then sat outside the lecture hall and manually signed everyone up.
8/ Within a few weeks we got to thousands of daily readers.
We then asked ourselves: "what if we can did this on every campus across the country?"
So we launched the "morning brew ambassador program".
We then asked ourselves: "what if we can did this on every campus across the country?"
So we launched the "morning brew ambassador program".
9/ We had hundreds of college students across the country replicating what we did at Michigan.
Ambassadors would:
1. Pitch their classes
2. Pass around a paper
3. Send us a picture of that paper
4. Track their progress
Ambassadors would:
1. Pitch their classes
2. Pass around a paper
3. Send us a picture of that paper
4. Track their progress
10/ We spent months and then eventually years modifying the ambassador program.
We tested the pitch, incentives, and size of the program.
While running the program took a ton of effort and time, we wouldn't have hit 10k subs without it.
We tested the pitch, incentives, and size of the program.
While running the program took a ton of effort and time, we wouldn't have hit 10k subs without it.
(cont) Takeaway:
Sometimes you have to handhold people throughout a process.
A "conversion" may seem so simple "go to MB . com and sign up" but is actually too much to ask when no one knows who you are.
No one cared what we were doing. So we forced them to care.
Sometimes you have to handhold people throughout a process.
A "conversion" may seem so simple "go to MB . com and sign up" but is actually too much to ask when no one knows who you are.
No one cared what we were doing. So we forced them to care.
If people enjoy this storm, I will do one all about the ambassador program, answering questions like:
- How did we run it?
- How did we incentivize our ambassadors?
- What were tips/tricks needed to succeed?
- How did we run it?
- How did we incentivize our ambassadors?
- What were tips/tricks needed to succeed?
Make sure to follow me if you are interested in threads like this.
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