🔥 [NewsletterAZ] 4 Hidden Pillars to Boost Growth!

Growing a newsletter isn't about finding a single magic trick.

It's about combining different strategies to build a well-rounded approach.

The fastest-growing newsletters use four key growth areas: owned, earned, algorithmic, and paid growth.

Let’s break them down and explore how you can use them to grow your newsletter.

1. Owned Growth

Owned growth involves strategies on channels you control, like your website. You’re not dependent on any outside partners or sites for your growth.

Here are some tactics:

• Create a Landing Page: A dedicated sign-up page can capture new subscribers.

  

• Add Sign-Up Modules: Place them in your site’s header, footer, or within articles.

  

• Use Pop-Ups: These can effectively grab attention and encourage sign-ups.

  

• Build Lead Magnets: Offer something valuable, like a free guide, in exchange for an email address.

  

• Focus on User-Generated Content: Use surveys, polls, or reader contributions.

• Include a sign-up on a checkout form after someone buys something from you, like a subscription, course, or merch.

• Encourage an existing reader to sign up for an additional newsletter.

Owned growth could mean driving readers from another owned channel — like your podcast, print product, or app — to your newsletter.

But it could also mean converting readers at events you run. If you host a meetup or conference, ask readers to sign up when they register or buy a ticket and again during the event.

2. Earned Growth

Earned growth comes from the relationships you’ve built or the quality of your work.

Usually, if you grow your list outside of your owned platforms, you have to pay for that growth — but thanks to your work or relationships, you get this promotion for free.

Here are some tactics:

• Promote on Podcasts or TV: Appear as a guest to reach new audiences.

  

• Cross-Promote with Other Newsletters: Partner with others to recommend each other’s content.

• Join free directories to find other newsletters for cross-promotion campaigns. Directories are databases of newsletters.

  Here are some platforms that you can submit your newsletter to be included in and reach out to for cross-promotion campaigns: InboxReads, Newsletters.co, Letterlist, Rad Letters, Find Your Newsletter, Newsletter Junkie, Thanks for Subscribing

This was one of our email templates we used before to reach out to other newsletters for cross-promotion campaigns.

• Guest Blogging: Write articles for other sites with a link back to your newsletter.

  

• Be Active in Your Niche: Engage with influencers and reporters covering your topic. This may lead to invites to run a cross-promotion or appear on a podcast. The secret: Don’t be too pushy and ask for something immediately. Build the relationship first and let the rest happen later.

This is one of the creators in our niche. We keep contact with each other, and this is one of his posts that featured our content, which got 206k+ views.

Some newsletter platforms, like Beehiiv, ConvertKit, or Substack, make intra-newsletter recommendations easy.

But most services are compatible with SparkLoop, which allows you to recommend newsletters on just about any platform or set magic links for one-click sign-ups.

Earned growth doesn’t have to come from promotion via other newsletters. If you get shout-outs from readers on social media, that’s earned growth.

If other websites link to your published work, that’s earned growth. If your readers like your newsletter so much that they happily forward it to friends, that’s earned growth.

You can encourage your readers to share by including a CTA and a pre-written email within your newsletter.

Anytime you, someone in your network, or a reader promotes your newsletter — and you didn’t have to pay them for it — that’s earned growth.

3. Algorithmic Growth

Algorithmic growth involves using third-party platforms with an algorithm, like social media or search engines.

Let’s say you’re active on a channel like LinkedIn. You’ll want to take advantage of all the features an algorithmic channel like that has to offer.

You can try tactics including:

• Add Links in Bios: Include a sign-up link to your newsletter in your profile.

• Create Original Content: Like text-based posts or carousels where you share knowledge and then encourage readers to sign up for your newsletter.

  

• Use Power Commenting: Comment on popular posts to drive traffic back to your profile and newsletter.

• Repackage Content: Repackage some of your best content onto formats that work on that platform, like LinkedIn’s native newsletter feature, and then encourage readers to sign up for more valuable content.

  

Whatever algorithmic channel you use — Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, X, YouTube, etc. — you’ll find a few opportunities to convert readers into newsletter subscribers.

Some of these tactics also tie back to some of the earned tactics we discussed earlier.

If you’re growing a social audience and bringing people back to your site, you’ll want to ensure you’ve optimized your landing page and other sign-up forms to convert as many new readers as possible.

You should also think about how to grow via search. That might mean optimizing your website for certain keywords.

You could build multiple versions of a newsletter landing page to attract readers searching for specific words.

Let’s say you write a weekly newsletter about things to do in your area.

Sure, you want to have a page for anyone who searches for your newsletter’s name — but you’d also want ones with a headline and copy aimed at someone doing a general search (“free and cheap events near me”) or something a lot more specific (“best newsletter with events for families”).

These platforms can help you reach a wider audience, but remember, you don’t control these channels entirely. Social media sites or search engines can change the rules of their platform at any time.

4. Paid Growth

Paid growth involves spending money to acquire new subscribers. Here are some tactics:

• Social Media Ads: Invest in ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.

• Search Engine Ads: Pay for visibility on Google or Bing.

• Advertise in Other Newsletters: Use services like SparkLoop or Beehiiv to place ads in other newsletters.

  

• Run Giveaways or Sweepstakes: These can quickly attract new subscribers.

• Referral Programs: Reward readers for referring new subscribers.

Start with a small budget, test your ads, and scale up what works best.

Use Facebook’s Ad Library to see what ads other newsletters are running and try to mimic some of the formats you see there.

Spend a few hundred dollars to build your audience and establish baseline metrics for growth — what it costs to acquire one subscriber, the value of one subscriber, and how long it will take to make back your money on that first subscriber.

You’ll also want to know what kind of engagement you can expect from those new subscribers.

If you’ve already identified those metrics for your newsletter — and know that you’ll be able to spend reasonably to acquire engaged readers who will drive revenue for you in the long run — then you should consider spending more to grow.

Your Next Steps

Think about your own newsletter and which of these strategies you’re already using. Where are the gaps?

Start experimenting with tactics in each quadrant to build a more holistic growth strategy.

For more details on each method, check out other previous lessons in the Growth section. We’ve covered it all.

To help you get started, I’ve put together a worksheet. Use it to list your current tactics and identify new ones to try.

Get the Worksheet: Link to Worksheet

By operating in all four growth areas, you can build a well-rounded strategy that drives sustained growth for your newsletter.

See you in the next lesson!