10 Proven Ways to Grow Your Newsletter Audience from Scratch

Did you know only 10% of newsletters will ever hit 1000 subscribers, let alone 10k. This shows how tricky it is to actually grow a newsletter. It is not impossible though ever year new newsletters appear and make their fair share of money, Yes many of these may have some financial backing but it is still very much possible to do it without a big budget to spend on marketing.

Audience growth is hugely important at the start of your newsletter journey, as the amount of money you'll make from your newsletter is directly correlated to actually having more than ten subscribers. Although amount of subscribers isn't extremely important as depending on niche you could easily make 10X more than a larger more causally niched newsletter thats 10X your size.

1. Define Your Niche and Value Proposition

You need to know your niche and value proposition before you even think of starting a newsletter. Why should someone subscribe? Who are you trying to get to subscribe? These are all very important questions you need to answer before you write your first newsletter.

The newsletter market is very crowded so you must know these to stand out, you want to be like marmite, the people interested in what you write about should love you and everyone else shouldn't care at all.

This will make your marketing much easier and finding potential subscribers a whole late easier.

2. Optimise Your Landing Page

Your Landing is the first point of contact that anyone looking to subscribe to you, and it is extremely vital. A few months back on my fantasy football newsletter I had a near 0% conversion rate on an early ad due to the fact that my landing looked awful.

Some examples I love are https://www.malachidaily.com/, https://vvd.red/ and https://www.gethalfbaked.com/.

Remember to

• Keep it simple: Only ask for essential information (name and email).

• Make it visible: Place it on high-traffic pages like your homepage, blog posts, and contact page.

• Add a compelling CTA: Use action-oriented language like, “Subscribe for exclusive tips” or “Join 15k business owners in…”

3. Leverage Social Media

Using social media is vital in terms of free growth, these platforms will push your content for you, and find free and hopefully engaged readers.

There are many Social Media platforms you should be using but i really think it is important that you just pick too and really focus on them. Preferably where your audience is.

For example I will use LazyFPL, their main growth tool is through the use of X, who have 97k followers on the platform but yet barley have 1.5k on Instagram, this is due to focus on the platforms that their audience is on rather than focusing on where they aren’t.

Another example could be from the GOAT of newsletters for newsletters Matt Mcgarry. Can you find him on instagram no? But linkldn and X he is there.

4. Offer an Irresistible Lead Magnet

This is a free resource that you offer to anyone who subscribers to you in order to encourage them to subscribe. A few good examples of these would include

• E-books or guides

• Templates or checklists

• Exclusive videos or webinars

Make sure your lead magnet aligns with your newsletter's focus and provides instant value.

5. Collaborate with Other Creators:

Okay so it does sound very simple, but its one many people miss, even one i would say i miss, but linking up with other creators can be huge in the newsletter game.

Typically you’ll need to find someone who has a somewhat similar audience(size and niche), who would be happy to write a part of your newsletter in return for you writing a little bit of yours. Then placing links to subscribe to each other in that. This can be a free but effective way to grow your audience, and best of all these people should be very engaged considering they are coming from other newsletters.

You can find these newsletters on the likes of https://app.lettergrowth.com/dl/d8fc49 or https://inboxreads.co/

6. Encourage Word-of-Mouth Referrals

Create a referral program, Where subscribers get something for free in order to encourage sharing your newsletter with people they know.

Make sure your referrals is relevant and makes sense to the niche you are in, there is no point giving away free gym tips on a marketing newsletter. A better thing to give would maybe be a case study of Apples marketing strategy or SEO tips and tricks.

One of my favourites has to be from Ryan Sneddon who offered a birthday shout out on his local newsletter as one of his lower referrals, this drove over 1,000 subscribers to his newsletter.

Remember to also add in sharing buttons on your newsletter to make it as easy as possible for your readers to share.

7. Use Pop-Ups Wisely

As a beginner this is something you probably never even thought about, but think how many people through search find your newsletter articles and never subscribe and therefore never see your newsletter again despite being interested, all because there was no pop-ups to remind them to subscribe before leaving.

When done correctly it can help grow your newsletter massively.

• Timing is key: Trigger pop-ups after a user spends time on a page or scrolls to a specific point.

• Keep it user-friendly: Avoid disrupting the user experience by offering an easy exit.

• Offer value: Use the pop-up to highlight your lead magnet or a unique benefit of subscribing.

8. Write Guest Content

Again another simple idea that can help with your newsletter growth. Offer to write for free on other websites and Blogs in return for them including a link to your newsletter. This not only helps get your name out there, but also positions you as an expert in your niche and allows people to become introduced to you and your writing style

9. Add a Signup Link to Every Digital Touchpoint

Maximse the amount of times people see your sign up button, and give readers as many opportunties as possible to sign up.

Make sure it is in all your social media bios, include it you your email signature. Anywhere you can think of putting it, just put it, this make sures anyone no matter how they are looking at your newsletter or content around it will be within a single touch of a button to subscribing

10. Focus on Quality Content

Finally you must focus on actually producing great content. No one will read something that doesn't provide value in some form to them. At the beginning feel free to experiement with as any different formats as possible, try different lengths of newsletters, different sections and even ask your subscribers to tell you what they want.

Keep consistent, start writing once per week and try new things this is the most important thing when it comes to actually growing a newsletter. You can place your links where ever you want, have the best referral system in the world and have the best social media strategy in the world, but without good high quality content no one will subscribe(or stay subscribed), to your newsletter.