How To Grow A Newsletter To As Many Subscribers You Want Even With 0 Followers On Social Media: The Sprout Method
My newsletter grows every day, and I hardly promote it, here's how
You want to start a newsletter, but you have no idea how to get started..
Or if it’s even going to work..
Or what you’re going to write..
Or how to grow without having a massive following
Because only big influencers have successful newsletters or email lists right?
I mean, how are people even going to know you exist?
You’d spend all that time writing and writing and writing..
Only for your mom and partner to read your emails, and no one else
Writing a newsletter is a personal development experience
It has less to do with “Who will even read it”, but “How will I stay consistent”
There are 8 billion people in the world..
What that means is, statistically, there are hundreds to hundreds of thousands of people who think like you
As long as you explore your genuine curiosity, you will attract likeminded thinkers
Likeminded thinkers turn into readers
Readers turn into customers, clients, or paid subscribers
And the more you grow, the more likeminded thinkers you attract
Whether your newsletter is successful, depends on 1 thing..
Can you write emails or newsletter issues, consistently
But how would you even pull this off?
I mean, there are millions of people who never do it
There are millions who never even write a single word online
They are too scared
They are too uncertain
They don’t stay consistent
What makes you any different than them?
They are not reading this article right now, that’s what
Over the last 3 years, I’ve started multiple newsletters..
I had ideas on what to write, but I could never stay consistent
Writing emails became a massive chore for me
I once pissed off a client because I wasn’t writing emails fast enough
I ended up stopping my emails lists/newsletters multiple times
I just had no idea to how to stay consistent, and how to actually enjoy it
So right now, I’m going to break down my entire framework for newsletter growth
These are methods based on 3 years of study, experience, and experimentation
Let’s get into it
Step Number 1 - Craft Your 3 Content Cores
Your newsletter should not be based on whatever is trending right now
I’ve met many marketers, creators, and digital business owners..
Only those in the minority are capable of just chasing money
Your newsletter needs to be your baby
It needs to be something you are passionate about
You need to get excited at the thought of writing an email
If you dread writing emails, you need to change the emails you write
You do this, by breaking down what it is that makes you, YOU
You can’t just throw sh#t at the wall and hope something sticks
You need to have a plan
You do this by analyzing your personality and interests
What is something you think about every single day?
If someone asks about your personality, what would you mention?
What is something you can talk about every single day?
Now based on those questions, name 3 things that came to mind
Now take those 3 things, and place them in a broad category
If you can’t shut up about logos, the broader category is design
If you can’t shut up about courses, then the broader category is business
If you can’t shut up about fitness, the broader category is personal development
These 3 broad categories, should be things you can talk about for the next 5 years
If you are certain you can talk endlessly about these things..
Then you’ve found your “3 Content Cores”
Your newsletter will be about anything related to these Cores
It makes the process of writing much easier, because you actually want to talk about these things
Step Number 2 - Use Your Content Cores To Solve Problems
Newsletter issues and emails that people actually read, fulfill a function
On substack for instance, readers often just seek entertainment or inspiration
If your emails or newsletter issues don’t help people in some way..
Then you shouldn’t write it
Let’s look at this newsletter issue for instance
Its:
Educational
Solves a problem
Promotes related products
But its also about business, which is one of my “3 Content Cores”
To solve a problem, you need to solve it yourself
I started writing in my newsletter 5-6 months ago..
And since then I’ve stayed consistent, never ran out of inspiration, and grown almost every single day
This means I’ve solved the problem to a certain extent
But the method I’m teaching you is also scalable
Similar to social media growth, if you keep doing this one thing, you will keep growing → Growth isn’t suddenly going to stop
This means the growth problem has been solved
Now I’m writing an article about it
So when you write an email, make sure it:
Solves a problem you’ve solved yourself (or to an extent)
Is related to your 3 Content Cores
And remember, talk about things you actually want to talk about
If you chose your content cores correctly, you should have no trouble doing this
To write something every week, you will need an idea bank
Setup a document or folder where you save all your best article ideas
As the ideas pile up (that are based on your 3 content cores), you will get infinite new email ideas to write
Step Number 3 - Find Your Traffic Source
To grow, you need eyeballs
If nobody knows your articles exist, nobody will read them
Now instead of building or owning a social media audience, I’ll show you a much simpler method to grow, that only takes 15 min of your time a day (with 0 followers)
First, you’ll need to start a newsletter on Convertkit, Substack, or Beehiive
Then what you do is use Notion or Google Docs to make a list
Go on your platform, and use the explore function to find as many creators with audiences you’d like to have, and add them to this list
Then you need to reach out to 1 of them every day (5-15 min)
Ask them for a collaboration, share with them what you write about, and tell them your open rate
If they ask for any other relevant details, share it with them
But that’s not all you do..
When you’ve done all of that, ask them to recommend you on the platform using the in built recommendation system
This means that with a the click on a button people will be able to subscribe to you when they subscribe to them
This is where 90% of my audience comes from
People see other people’s emails → They subscribe → They see what my newsletter offers → They subscribe
If you collab with other newsletter writers on a weekly basis, you can drive your newsletter subscriber number as high as you want, even with 0 followers
Step Number 4 - Monetize
Now that you’ve got all these subscribers, the logical thing to do turning them into a source of revenue
There are different ways you can go about this..
Build and sell courses
This one is not very effective, unless you have a gigantic email list or amount of subscribers
My articles function as courses themselves
Sell services
By writing your newsletter, you establish yourself as an authority
Now you can use that authority to sell related services
Article writing for instance, would be a good example of a service you can offer people
Sell books
One of the most effective performing things to sell for writers, are books
Subscribers are already used to your writing style, so writing a book that is filled with stories or interesting information based on that writing style, is a great idea!
Remember, just like courses, books can make a lot of money, but only if a lot of people know about the book itself
If you’d like to read my book when it drops, its about life philosophy, and adapting to the loss of loved ones, grab the pre-order here
Now we get to the most effective method of selling when it comes to newsletters (at least if your audience comes from a recommendation network)
And that would be Premium Subscriptions
Early access, exclusive access, and access to extra content, are all things you can base your premium subscriptions on
Take your best courses, books, and services, and give them to your premium subscribers for FREE
This creates incentive for them to sign up, and join the tier of subscribers that pay your bills
Step Number 5 - Really Scale
Your issue will always be a lack of traffic
Even with recommendations, you can only grow so fast
The best way to fix this problem, is to build a personal brand on social media, that is repurposed from your newsletter issues
This way you attract people who want to read your newsletter issues or emails
Using a social media account, you can grow your newsletter as a much faster rate, than if you depended on substack, convertkit, or beehiive alone
The more people see your newsletter, the more people subscribe to it
The more subscribers you gain the more people actively read your emails or articles
The more active readers you have, the more clients, customers, or paid subscribers you can get
“The hardest part about building a newsletter isn’t if it will work, its if you can stay consistent with it” - Ian Pierre
Something I’m working on that I’m really excited about
“On Mortality”, is an education based novel & book I’m writing that talks about the consequences of loss, how I dealt with it myself, and how drastically my way of looking at life changed after losing my brother, my best friend, and my dad, before the age of 25
It’s on pre-order right now, so feel free to grab it below if you’d like
Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can help you
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Thanks Ian for sharing. I can use all the tips I can get.
Off to go read it.
great article packed with lots of tips, thanks!