S01E47: Coaching Session: Tips from a Newsletter Pro — with Josh Spector of For The Interested
— A one-paragraph newsletter shows you simple, proven ways to use writing to grow your business based on how others have done so.
1hr listen
How LeQwane Lynch launched, scaled & sold the Alerts Daily newsletter—in 11 months.
Growing a newsletter to 35K subscribers in under a year—without spending a dime on paid growth sounds… impossible.
But that’s exactly what LeQwane Lynch did.
LeQwane started and scaled the Alerts Daily newsletter from 0 to 35K readers organically—in 11 months.
But that’s not all.
He was also earning 4-figures in monthly ad revenue before agreeing to sell the newsletter.
So let’s recap…
→ 35k organic subscribers
→ 11 months
→ publishing a daily newsletter
→ with ad revenue
Respect 💪
Now let’s find out how. In this week’s Friday Feature, you’ll learn how LeQwane:
- Leveraged community to validate his newsletter idea
- Used social media to grow to 35K subscribers in 11 months
- Monetized and sold the newsletter
Let’s dive in!
#1 - Leveraging the community to validate your newsletter
In 2018, LeQwane started a paid Discord community of sneaker enthusiasts (collectors and resellers) where he shared public and proprietary information with them that was hard to find.
The idea was to provide trends and exclusive deals that members could capitalize on.
But there was one problem → Members found it time-consuming to check Discord daily, browse through different links, and find related information.
So, LeQwane launched Alerts Daily—a newsletter to share information in an organized way: latest news and a few links directly to your inbox.
🧐 Why it’s awesome
If your community isn’t helping you validate ideas like a newsletter, you’re missing a HUGE opportunity. Members of your community can help you…
→ Validate interest
→ Gain unique insights
→ Grow via word-of-mouth
🙋 How Alerts Daily did it
LeQwane got the first 500 subscribers from his Discord community. He asked them what content they wanted to read and continuously iterated based on their feedback.
It worked.
95% of surveyed subscribers were happy with the content.
They even promoted Alerts Daily to friends and on social media. This helped Alerts Daily grow from 500 to 2000 readers.
LeQwane knew he was onto something.
He religiously monitored the open rate (to keep it >50%) and never compromised the content’s quality, growing every week.
✏️Steal this for your newsletter
You don't have to start a community just to build a newsletter. Using the term more generally, leverage a social & online community:
→ Identify your target community: Find and join relevant subreddits (like Eric did), Facebook groups, and/or Slack channels.
→ Take valuable action: Don’t just share your newsletter link and ask people to join. First, become an active member. Share insights, solve problems, and build relationships.
→ Present your newsletter idea: Introduce the newsletter and share a content sample of what it will look like. Ask for people to subscribe and share their feedback.
→ Collect feedback: Gather and apply suggestions from early readers to fine-tune your content to match their needs.
🎧 Bonus: Learn more about how LeQwane grew his newsletter & social content to over 4M monthly impressions in our recent chat →
#2 - Using social media to drive organic growth
LeQwane didn’t have thousands to spend on paid growth.
So he leveraged “free” channels where he knew ideal subscribers would be hanging out: Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube—mainly focusing on short-form video.
He created Instagram Reels, TikToks, and YouTube shorts to drive social traffic to his newsletter.
🧐 Why it’s awesome
LeQwane was generating over 4M in monthly impressions over social media & his newsletter at the time of sale.
Paying for those impressions would’ve cost $thousands. All it cost LeQwane was time.
If that’s not reason enough to spend time on creating quality content for social media, here are a few others…
→ Free traffic: Millions of your potential readers spend 150+ minutes on social platforms every day. Hop onto these “rented” platforms, share your expertise, and convert them into your newsletter readers.
→ Virality potential: Most social platforms are prioritizing short-form videos. So, if your content resonates with your audience, the algorithm will likely boost its visibility to millions of users.
🙋 How Alerts Daily did it
First, LeQwane set up his ideal reader profile.
He created a persona named “Brandon” along with Brandon’s preferences and goals.
So whenever he planned social content, he’d ask himself these two questions:
a) Will the information help Brandon achieve his goal?b) Is it something he needs to know?
Next, he crafted posts that were simply…
- Consistent (in both frequency and aesthetic)
- Helpful & informative
He even went viral once in a while:
This strategy helped LeQwane grow his social audience to 100K+ on Instagram and 17K+ on TikTok.
He had his newsletter’s link in the bio of these platforms to turn them into newsletter subscribers.
✏️ Steal this for your newsletter
LeQwane's success had more to do with consistency than virality. Start converting your social audience by...
→ Knowing your audience: Copy LeQwane’s ‘Brandon’ persona and create an ideal reader profile to post content that resonates with them.
→ Geting creative with content: Post videos highlighting key takeaways from your newsletter and share reader testimonials. Or hop on trends. Or partner with your fellow creators to cross-promote each other's newsletters.
→ Pointing eyeballs to your newsletter: Tell your followers & traffic how/where to subscribe to the newsletter. And of course, include the link in your bio.
#3 - Monetizing the newsletter with the "right" brands
LeQwane believes in the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mantra.
So, instead of trying different monetizing models, he went with the proven one: sponsorship ads.
🧐 Why it’s awesome
→ Start right away: You don’t have to set up any infrastructure. Just contact relevant brands (bonus if they’re are already advertising) and pitch.
→ Scalability: The more subscribers you have, the higher the potential ad rate—but remember: engagement matters. A lot. LeQwane steadfastly maintained a 50% open rate.
→ Focus on your strength: A well-oiled sponsorship strategy allows you to do what you do best: content creation.
🙋 How Alerts Daily did it
When LeQwane hit 22K-23K subscribers, he was ready to sell ads.
He had a list of brands he thought would be the best fit for his readers.
But LeQwane was new to ad sales and had no idea how to price ad spots for Alerts Daily.
He reached out to people he knew in the newsletter industry for advice. He learned about CPM rates and started pitching brands.
Overtime, who eventually bought Alerts Daily, became one of its first advertisers.
✏️ Steal this for your newsletter
First, check out some great resources about ad sales:
→ Newsletter Office Hours: How to sell more newsletter ads & sponsorships in 2023
→ The $3M playbook for newsletter ad sales - with Dan Barry of Revenews
Next…
→ List out potential brands to work with: Based on your audience demographic and interests, create a list of brands that will benefit from sponsoring your newsletter.
→ Create a Media Kit: Create a shareable file—like this example from Manu Cinca of Stacked Marketer—to share with advertisers.
→ Reach out to sponsors: Contact brands from your list. Ensure you personalize your pitch, and don’t forget to follow up consistently.
Adding it up…
LeQwane planned to sell the newsletter eventually. So, when the right offer came, he sold it.
He’s now running Reach, an agency that helps newsletters use social media to expand their users.
Here are 3 things to do next:
1. Check our whole chat with LeQwane on our podcast ...
2. Check out what LeQwane is up to next on Twitter →
3. Give us your take: what newsletter is doing something different and innovative we should feature next? Maybe it's yours... EMAIL US and let me know!