Lessons for Newsletter Growth
As much as journalists hate to admit it, our writing can only take us so far. I believe in pursuing what you love and hoping it pays the bills, but it can be hard! The lessons I learned this week about newsletter growth were practical and will be useful as I try to grow my own newsletter.
I came to Lehigh convinced I would be graduating from the College of Business. I spent my first semester studying in Rauch, but my plans shifted as I found out where my true passion lies, which was in journalism and communications.
I always said that I hated business school, so why am I still working on my marketing minor?
The simple answer: I don’t hate business school, I strongly dislike calculus and economics. Thinking in a business oriented way is extremely valuable, as proven by Alex Lieberman, co-founder of The Morning Brew with over 1.8 million subscribers.
After doing some research, I found out Lieberman studied business administration at the University of Michigan. Thinking back to my past and applying to colleges, it was once a dream of mine to get into Ross Business School. To see that Lieberman did that, then switched gears to newsletter journalism, is inspiring.
He started with PDF newsletter attachments to send out to a list of 45 friends and family members, the best stage for feedback. I’m sure he made some edits and tweaked the design, but within 4 months of sending his first business roundup, Lieberman’s subscriber list hit 1,000 email addresses.
The best thing about Lieberman is that he didn’t forget about his business roots. His first 300 subscribers came from “the daily grind,” which is what we’re doing in our Media Entrepreneurship course. Next, he physically advertised his product/brand with fliers and promoted it at Michigan, a school known for their business prestige. He used a referral plan as a marketing technique to increase word of mouth influence and took a natural route to pay for other advertising.
Knowing the pitfalls Lieberman ran into are telltale signs of what could happen when we start growing our newsletter. He tried cross-promoting with other newsletters, but the hassle of financial deals seemed to be worse than the payoff; however, this doesn’t mean cross-promoting your own newsletter on other platforms isn’t useful. I am excited for my newsletter’s potential growth with the help of cross-promotion on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Lieberman hired a professional writer, but they weren’t able to “feel” the cause of The Morning Brew. I liked the idea that he hired a “professional,” or someone with a journalism degree to successfully communicate his ideas. It was clear that his journalist needed to find passion in what they were writing about or else they wouldn’t be able to write. It was a learning experience for Lieberman and helped him hire someone more fit for the job.
Along with learning about Lieberman’s success, I’m excited to keep exploring Substack and believe it’s backend is very user friendly. I am also grateful for the 21 ways to grow your newsletter reading as it lays out social analytic skills I have not yet learned. Newsletter growth starts with hard work and some failure, as well as a lot of pure word of mouth communication. It will be challenging riding through the lows but will feel great to reach new heights.
