Newsletters are hot right now. It’s easy to feel the FOMO and start a newsletter without a direction.
Growing your newsletter is never a bad idea. But an email list without intent and direction is.
So I’m all in for newsletters (I mean, it’s a personality trait at this point.)
Because if you do newsletters right, it should contribute to your top three revenue streams. This could be your product, service, or a standalone media asset.
Keeping revenue as the goal, here are 8 questions you should ask yourself about starting a newsletter.
These are simple yes or no questions.
If you say yes to atleast 50% of the questions, start building a newsletter today!
Ready To Put Your Thinking Hat On?
1/ Do you have capital? This could be social capital (10k+ followers) or money ($1000+)
Newsletters don’t grow on their own and you will have to build organic or paid channels to acquire readers.
If your content doesn’t get the momentum it deserves, growth feels slow, and you’ll eventually give up. So build capital before you start a newsletter. Or have the patience for relatively slow growth.
PS: This question is valid for ad-sponsored newsletters like Morning Brew. If you have a product or service, start today.
Conversely, if you have build rented audience on social media and don’t have a newsletter, you’re missing out on access with your audience.
2/ Does your ICP hang out online, especially to get educated about the problem you solve?
3/ If you can send 8-12 emails, one per week to your ICP, educating them about their problems and how you can solve them, will you be able make them consider your offer?
4/ People love video content. Can you make your ICP read text if the value is good?
Some niches like gaming and cooking, are a part of visual learning. Audience prefers YouTube and Instagram.
Sometimes there could be restrictions. I run a newsletter for coffee homebrewers. Coffee is a visual art, but we don’t have the equipment and video production value to create videos. So Caffeineletter started as a newsletter, and it’s doing well (1500 subs, 51% OR, 5% CTR)
PS: If you’re exceptional with your knowledge and marketing, you can make this work.
5/ Do you have leverage?
It could be anything you have access to that others don’t. People you can talk about/talk to, experience you have gained, projects you have built, results you have brought, your education, etc.
Anyone can talk about nutrition, but people take you seriously when you’re a gastroenterologist. That’s leverage. That’s what happened when I built Dr. Pal’s newsletter.
6/ Do you have a product or a service? At least, directionally do you know what to do with the audience you build?
7/ Do you have 3-5 hours per week to spend on your newsletter? Not just writing, but to focus on analytics, building distribution, talking to readers, etc.
8/ Do you have an angle that differentiates you from other newsletters in the same niche/industry?
Without an angle: Daily AI news for founders.
With an angle: AI for creators to automate content creation and distribution.
If you still need more clarity or have ideas on your mind, feel free to ping me on my LinkedIn or X. I’m happy to help you out.
Best,
Vikra