LOVE This Newsletter Idea, Which I Shamelessly Stole from a Famous Creator
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If you’re looking for monetization strategy ideas for your Substack publication you are going to love this idea. I stole it from the fabulous Zulie Rane.
Zulie is a prolific Medium writer, YouTuber and creator coach with hundreds of thousands of followers, and the woman who introduced me to Medium way back in 2019 (thank you, Zulie!)
Monetizing a newsletter
Traditional monetization strategies look like this:
- Get lots of free subscribers > keep subscriptions free > sell ad slots (‘sponsorship’);
OR
- Get lots of free subscribers > keep subscriptions free > sell your own stuff;
OR
- Turn on paid subscriptions > offer extra value or features to paying subscribers.
Zulie just shared another approach, in a recent Medium post and it’s genius.
Too much selling upsets subscribers
Zulie uses her email newsletter to sell her own products and services. She sends up to 8 sales emails per product launch, because people don’t always take action unless they have been asked a few times. An email campaign with 8 emails sells twice as many products as one with 4 emails, so it’s worth the extra effort.
Problem is, some of Zulie’s subscribers don’t like getting a lot of marketing emails. She says “The last time I ran a campaign, I got a few emails that said, “Hey, I love your newsletter, but I don’t want to be sold stuff.””
If Zulie’s ordinary emails were not incredibly helpful and well-written, people who didn’t want to get sales pitches from her would simply unsubscribe. Instead, they took the time to actually write to her, essentially saying I love your emails can you please send them without any sales content?
That’s proof of how much subscribers love Zulie’s work. ❤
A genius solution
Zulie understands that people don’t want to be sold to all the time. But she also has to make a living. So she did something ultra smart!
