How to Generate 10,000 Subscribers in 2 Months

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Last week I came across this post from CoFounders Nik.

Firstly, I love big, public statements so I was immediately hooked.

Secondly, since Nik is talking here about the exact thing that I’m doing daily, I thought my two cents could help him on his journey to 12,000 subscribers and monetization.

After all, I truly believe that a personal newsletter in a specific niche, when done right, is one of the assets that can achieve the highest level of growth while being profitable.

So, I put together a simple plan that covers:

• Growth

• Monetization

• Optimization

and I shared it with Nik and today, I’d like to share that same formula in a more compressed format with you.

This is my recipe to grow a profitable newsletter in the least amount of time possible.

📈 Growth

There are 6 main components to consider with the first 3 being, in my opinion, must-do’s.

1 - Content Alignment

Double down on content and make sure that all roads point to email. The biggest newsletter creators like James Clear and Tim Ferris, grew their newsletters by pointing all their resources (free value) to their newsletters.

2 - Lead magnets

Giving away free resources aligned with your audience’s interests is still by far the best tactic to grow your email list. Even better if it’s something that a person can quickly consume or use (template, tool, etc.). And, if you want to monetize your newsletter with your own products, you can align that lead magnet with the paid product. This way, your lead magnet validates your subscriber’s interest and creates actual prospects.

3 - Meta ads

Set up Meta ads and offset that cost through Boosts and your own products. This is something called a self-liquidating offer, i.e. you’re trying to get a subscriber for net zero. Let’s assume you pay $.5 per subscriber and 1 out of 50 subscribers buys your $25 product. This way, you’ve essentially generated 100 new subscribers for free.

Additional tactics:

• 4 - Beehiiv boosts

• 5 - Referral program

• 6 - Recommendations (leveraging your network)

🤑 Monetization

We’ve got 4 things to focus on. This section will depend on your current offer and whether you have anything to sell.

If you already have a proven offer, be it a product or a service, this should be a fairly easy thing for you.

1 - Ads / Industry sponsors

The most common way to monetise your newsletter is through ad placements / sponsorships. If you have time, reach out directly to relevant sponsors (especially if you have sufficient data on your subscribers and you’re operating in a specified niche) and agree on a flat fee + an optional performance fee.

2 - Boosts

Recommend other newsletters and get paid for doing so. This is a built-in feature in Beehiiv but you can also use tools like Sparkloop to achieve the same results.

3 - Own products and services

If you have something (or can create something) to sell in your newsletter, it’s the most stable way of monetising your newsletter. Plus, as I’ve mentioned earlier, you can offset the costs of your ads with it.

Additional:

• 4 - Programmatic features based on segmentation data

🧪 Optimization

This is how you’re going to get the most out of your growth efforts. By pulling the right growth levers while having a fully-optimized newsletter funnel, you’re able to convert the highest number of subscribers in the least amount of time possible.

And most of these tactics won’t take you long. Plus, once you’re done working on them, they’ll passively bring you more subscribers over time without having to ever tweak anything.

1 - UVP and your landing page

Think about the value proposition of your newsletter and make it visible on your landing page. While it’s fine to remain vague if it’s your personal newsletter, you have to make sure it appeals to a specific group of people if you can about growth.

2 - Post-subscription flow (survey, confirmation page, confirmation email)

There are two things that you can do right after someone subscribes.

The first option is to redirect them to a survey. This is how you can get a ton of quality data and have a well-segmented list.

The second option is to present a thank-you page that either guides them to the next step (look out for an email, etc.) or presents an offer.

With certain tools, you can do all two. That is take them through a survey and present the most relevant offer.

3 - Email template

Most newsletters are bland and same-ish. There are some simple visual elements that you can add to the template to make it pop - color, border, and other branding elements. 

A well-structured email template will also complement the format of your newsletter by highlighting its different sections and making it easier to consume.

Additional:

• 4 - Auto-purging (for quality control)

• 5 - In-newsletter feedback

There you go!

This is exactly, step-by-step, what I’d do if I were starting a newsletter and wanted to achieve the highest level of growth while doing it in a sustainable and profitable way.

👉 If you’d like to grow and monetize your newsletter (and achieve a bold goal like Nik) but you’d rather leave that part to experts, reply to this email and I will create a custom growth and monetization plan for your newsletter.

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Focus on inputs and output will follow 👇

Thanks for tuning into today’s issue of the Newsletter Navigator!

Again, If you want to launch, grow and monetize your newsletter - reply to this email and I’ll create a custom growth and monetization plan for your publication.

See you next week!

-Jakub