• Mention your newsletter on all your social channels.
• Plug your newsletter a few hours after a viral tweet.
• Join niche podcasts. Promote your content on the episode. Then write a newsletter to promote it.
🤔 I'll explain...
Creating this podcast-promotion flywheel enables:
• Distribution. (Host will link to your newsletter)
• Ideation. (Interviewing may inspire new ideas for yourself)
• Incentive for other hosts to have you. (Show them how you'll promote the episode)
7/ Make subscribing easy
• Create a personal site and add your newsletter signup.
• Or just start a Substack.
• Or set up a Revue newsletter that lives on your Twitter profile.
If needed, create a Zapier automation to funnel Revue subs to your ESP.
Whatever you choose...
Always lead with value.
On your sign-up page:
• Tell readers what to expect
• Show your credibility
• Offer sample content
• Add social proof
Think: How can you de-risk the signup?
Recap: Growing a newsletter 0-1k:
1: Build an audience on rented space
2: Develop a repeatable format
3: Ask family & friends to subscribe
4: Co-market with friends
5: Create a sign-up magnet
6: Promote yourself
7: Make subscribing easy
By some standards, 8 months to 1k subscribers isn't that fast.
But I wasn't optimizing for growth.
I focus on open rate — which is 60%+.
I spent months creating a newsletter worth sharing. So when I did promote it, growth was a lot easier.
If you want more advice on going from zero to 1k subscribers...
Check out my friend (and incredible writer!) @stewfortier's thread: