Josh Spector’s Post

I just discovered the newsletter feature I most dislike…. Beehiiv just launched several new features. The one I hate the most? Gift subscriptions. Beehiiv states: "…your readers (or anyone really) can purchase a subscription to your paid newsletter and send it to family and friends." If you were a 'reader' would you send this to your family and friends? You're giving them, at most, a few months of free content (that they may not enjoy) and then asking them to pay for it. Is that a gift? Here are two other reasons I don't like this approach (and there are many more): 1. Gift subscriptions create an illusion of growth that isn't organic or sustainable. When someone receives a gifted subscription, they didn't choose to subscribe themselves, which means they might: → Have low engagement → Be less likely to renew after the gift period → Not be genuinely interested in the content 2. Potential subscriber fatigue Unsolicited content, even when it's a "gift," can lead to: → Negative perception of the newsletter → Potential marking of emails as spam → Reduced trust in the original newsletter creator The gift subscription feature seems more beneficial to Beehiiv's growth strategy than to your audience growth. I wouldn't do this, simply because it's not a core way to grow your newsletter subscribers. I suggest you focus on: Creating shareable content ✅ Building a relationship and engagement with readers ✅ Implementing personal referral programs ✅ Leveraging social proof and testimonials ✅ What's your opinion on this? Let me know in the comments. ******************************************************************* Hi, I'm Juliet, I rescue CEOs and CMOs who struggle to publish a regular newsletter. I've operated new letters, revived old letters, and written letters that sold for 6 and 7 figures. If you want to grow your subscribers and revenue, my offers include DFY newsletter services, strategy sessions, and newsletter teardowns. Check out my profile 😊

Last Friday, I started publishing a newsletter on LinkedIn! Here are the "TOP 10" things I've learned so far in my "testing"... #1: LinkedIn automatically invites all your existing and future connections/followers to subscribe. I've attracted just over 200 subscribers in less than 7 days. Not bad! #2: LinkedIn emails each edition of the newsletter to people who subscribe. Let me emphasize -- you're getting FREE email newsletter distribution. I'm sure subscribers can turn off this feature, but again very cool. #3: LinkedIn automatically notifies your subscribers (IN LinkedIn) when you release a new edition. Again, "free touch points." #4: Publishing the newsletter has garnered me some fresh engagement and outreach from people I haven't spoken with in a while -- and some people I've never had contact with other than connecting on LinkedIn. Can't complain about that! #5: It's a free tool... Like so many other social media tools, it's just sitting there waiting for you to use it. #6: It's a really easy process to publish. So easy, a cave man... I mean... I can do it. :) #7: You control the frequency. For this one -- my first -- I decided to go with a VERY brief, "1-minute" newsletter and publish it DAILY! This may prove to be a mistake at some point, because it requires consistency. However... #8: You can create and schedule these newsletters in advance -- all at one time -- and then let them "drip out" over whatever scheduled release you choose. Convenient and useful! #9: This could be outsource... or handed off to a team member. I recorded a loom video of me creating and publishing one of the editions. I plan to have one of my assistants take over in the near future. #10: As a LinkedIn user you can publish UP TO 5 different newsletters. That's pretty cool... I can see several ways to leverage this: - A newsletter tied to a podcast so it repurposes your podcast content on LinkedIn. - A niche newsletter for certain types of clients. - A newsletter for your network / strategic partners vs your target clients. Again, this is a test for me but so far I'm pretty please with the results. If you like this content hit me up in the comments below and I'll write up another update as I learn more from this little "marketing experiment." PS: Here's a link to the newsletter in case you wanna subscribe and/or binge: https://lnkd.in/eqG3Nd9z #linkedinmarketing #linkedinnewsletter #linkedincreator

Your social profiles are like a landing page for your newsletter. They can either drive lots of your growth, or completely kill it. It's 2024 and I still see so many operators getting it wrong. So, here are 3 profile tips to boost your newsletter sign-ups: 1) Specificity Above All "Subscribe to my newsletter" isn't enough. It doesn't give people a reason to care. Your bio should have: - Your value prop - The fact that it's free (if it is) - Social proof (subscriber count) This alone will help conversions. 2) No Linktree Having a Linktree will destroy your CVR. You'll convert 3x more without it. No exaggeration. If newsletter growth is your priority, direct the profile link right to your LP. No questions asked. 3) Optimize All Images This sounds basic, but it's important. Your PFP should be a clear picture of you. Your header should have some social proof (number of subscribers, places your readers work).

7 newsletter mistakes that slow down your growth (More than 90% creators did #5): 1) Weak content & format Signs you have this problem are your content is random and not consistent. Listen, when people subscribe to your newsletter, they want something that consistently delivers values, whether educating or entertaining. You can't send a deep dive in one week and cute things you find on the internet in the other week. If you play around with content without consistent topics and value, prepare to lose subscribers! 2) Hiding the subscribe button If you have a website but put the subscribe button at the bottom of the page, you are losing potential leads. If you have a website but your newsletter headline uses "Join my newsletter for a weekly update," you are playing to lose. Make sure your subscribe button is easy to find, and use a more compelling headline to encourage readers to subscribe. 3) Using too many links on bio This issue happens a lot for creators who use Linktree. Look, I know you want to optimize your business growth, but you are overwhelming your leads by making them choose which links to click. Let's be simple this time. Include one link that you believe will grow your business the most. 4) Unclear value People want to join your newsletter because they believe you can deliver the value they expect. But, if all you do is just mess around or just sell them shits, then readers have no more reasons to listen to what the hell you say. Be clear with your value: Be a better writer, Learn to write with AI, or How to grow your social audience, etc. 5) Not sending a welcome email Your new subs won't remember you if you don't send them your welcome email. Your welcome email is important to build relationships and warm up your audience. Eventually, it will affect your future email engagement rate: more opens, clicks, and sales. Lesson: Send a welcome email! 6) Not having a lead magnet A lead magnet is like using steroids to boost the number of your subs and eventually help you boost sales by providing high-value content. Without a lead magnet, your newsletter's growth will eventually stagnate, and you want to have a lead magnet to boost its growth without ads. 7) Not thinking about revenue early on Building a newsletter is the same as building a business. It's not charity. You need a plan for monetizing early on, whether through a coaching business, course, consulting, or advertising. Whatever it is, have a plan! That's it. Credit to Chenell Basilio and Dylan Redekop on new podcast! It's already been my new fav since Day 1!

Last weekend, my weekly email newsletter crossed the two-year mark. Here’s how I did it. - Know your why. - Have a goal. - Have set topics. - Know who you are. - Make it a priority. Let’s expand that a bit. 𝗪𝗵𝘆: Starting something because someone else said you should do It will lead to you giving it up before you ever get any momentum. My “why” is that I wanted to have a place to share my journey; a kind of reality TV series, but in text. If you have a reason for why you want to do this, you’ll be more likely to do it. 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹: I wanted to get 1000 people to subscribe to it within the first year so that I could use it to get more attendees to my educational webinars. I actually got 7000 in that first year, in the end. If you have no goal to reach, it’s going to be hard to keep writing something new each week because you simply won’t see it as a priority. More on that in a moment. 𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰𝘀: this doesn’t have to be the same as your social media topics, but it helps if it’s similar. On social, I talk about entrepreneurship, personal branding, digital marketing and public speaking. In my newsletter I talk about things related to that, like personal development, life’s lessons and marketing. 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗜 𝗔𝗺: I never could have done this if I didn’t have a good grasp on who I am and what my strengths and weaknesses are. Because I had promised myself that I would be sharing my journey, warts and all. I had no desire to paint my life as something people should aspire to. You’ll need some self-awareness around who you are - and aren’t - in order to stay real and not turn into some wannabe influencer. 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆: My newsletter is my one thing that I simply have to get done each week. I had to be strict with it in order to build a habit out of it. And once I had a habit in place, I had an expectant audience waiting for it each Saturday. And now I have an audience, I have income coming in each month because of it. That income would never have happened if I hadn’t forced a new writing habit into my life. 𝗕𝗼𝗻𝘂𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁: Don’t start a newsletter just because some guy on LinkedIn said that you should. There are dozens of other ways to grow a business that take less effort and time. I choose to keep doing mine because I enjoy doing it. I am as excited today about the next edition as I was about the first one. Thanks for those of you who get it each Saturday.

⚠️ I learned the hard way that growing a newsletter is a grind... For two years, I ran the email newsletter for my educational project Curious Muse. Eventually, I had to stop to make time for other priorities. Growth was slow, mistakes were made - but I walked away with zero regrets and many lessons. If I were to start an email newsletter again, 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 is what I’d do differently: 1️⃣ 𝗣𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗮 𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘂𝗽 𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 Choose a topic you obsess over, can endlessly explore, and where you bring a unique perspective. Ask yourself: Will I still be excited about this in 3-5 years? Most likely, only one or two topics make the cut. My mistake? I picked a broad topic (arts & culture) that became too hard to sustain and where I was more of a hobbyist than an expert. 2️⃣ 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 - 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗳 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 Consistency beats perfection. Creator success is a long game. Most people stop after the 2nd or 3rd edition (whether it's a podcast, YT channel or anything else) - stick with it, and you’ll stand out. My mistake?  spent too much time perfecting each edition, which slowed me down, caused skipped weeks, and led to lower audience retention. 3️⃣ 𝗔𝘀𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳: ‘𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗜 𝗽𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱?’ It’s ok to treat your newsletter as a hobby, but if your ultimate goal is a paid audience, every piece needs to meet this bar. When you’re excited to hit “Send,” your audience will feel it too. My mistake: writing content just to “tick a box” doesn’t build an engaged audience. 4️⃣ 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 Focus on one platform (LinkedIn or X work best) to build your brand. Share snippets, engage, and move your audience from social media to your subscriber list. My mistake? Early on, I underestimated how much your personal brand can fuel newsletter growth as I relied on our community social media channels. 5️⃣ 𝗔𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 Struggling for topic ideas? Ask your audience what they want to learn and then write an email as if you were writing to that person. Their questions can fuel inspiration - and through personal touch you build stronger engagement. Pro tip: This is one of the easiest ways to connect with your readers. 6️⃣ 𝗦𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗹𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗹 Set up a system for delivering emails based on user actions. Think about the next piece of content that would be most helpful for your reader and build a funnel around it. Then, follow up with weekly editions manually. But the biggest lesson based on the newsletters I read myself and find valuable: newsletters aren’t about writing - they’re about helping. Build them to solve real problems, and readers will stick around. 🚀 If you were to start an email newsletter next year, what would it be? #EmailMarketing #GrowthHacks #CreatorEconomy #NewsletterGrowth

Breaking news: newsletters matter. If your business doesn’t have a newsletter, we think you should start one. They might seem a little old hat and yes, social media is king, but newsletters work and better yet, they’re having a renaissance. Firstly, they’re an incredibly cost-effective method of marketing. Once a newsletter design is fixed, all that’s left is to fill in the words and add some photos. They scale too: writing a newsletter for one person takes the same amount of time as for 10,000. Secondly, they allow for more discursive content. Want to do a deep dive on a topic but don’t have the room on Instagram? Newsletters are the place. So flex your fingers and write a missive. Thirdly, they’re very trackable. Newsletters give stats: how many were opened, on what kind of device, what links were clicked, and so on. Fourthly, you should never, ever be solely reliable on one platform. Things change on a dime. El*n trashed Twitter, leaving many creatives scrambling. Be prepared next time. A newsletter creates a devoted list of clients and interested parties that you can take with you. So don’t be subject to the whims of Big Tech. And finally, the connection between you and your mailing list is far greater than the one between you and your non-committal social media following. Think of it this way: if someone has gone to the effort of signing up to your mailing list, it shows they care. They have taken the extra step. Treat these people like gold, whether that’s first access to offers or regular discounts. Use them as a focus group. Their opinion matters because they care about you. Of course, make sure your newsletter is well-written. Make sure it IS written too: don’t regularly miss your weekly output. And don’t be disheartened if 40% of your readers aren’t opening your newsletter. Just by landing in someone’s inbox and reminding them you exist, you’re keeping yourself in the game. Photo: menie.gee.art #business #marketing #entrepreneur #startup #socialmedia #comms

I fixed Jasmin Alić's newsletter page! (From invisible to irresistible in just 7 days) [Disclaimer: Not a real project - but it shows exactly how I can transform any newsletter from basic to brilliant ]👇 first, let's look at the challenges: →the current situation • his newsletter main page gets 5K monthly visitors from linkedIn • Sign-up form buried at bottom = almost invisible • the copy is good but the same problem , Basic 'Get Newsletter' message →now ,Here's my Strategy: 1. (finding Jasmin golden content)     His podcast with Chris Do in 2023 - a goldmine of LinkedIn growth strategies that hit 421K views. Pure value. 2. (converting the content → email course )     • writing All of Jasmin's best LinkedIn strategies, organized and digestible 5-day crash course. • Each email = actionable LinkedIn growth lesson • Delivered instantly when someone subscribes 3. (Creating a no-brainer offer)→The LinkedIn Authority Blueprint -showing exactly what readers get: • Profile optimization secrets • Viral post psychology • Visual tricks for 700K+ views • Strategy for 2,000+ comments per post • Client acquisition without DMs 4. redesign opt-in page : • Strong, benefit-driven headline • Powerful bullet points showing real value • Compelling CTA →The Impact: • At least 50% opt-in rate (vs standard 8-10%) • Higher open rates (readers eagerly waiting for daily lessons) • 7x faster email list growth • Better email deliverability • 24/7 lead generation machine      that's how you transform a newsletter page from invisible to irresistible.      ♻️this post took me more than 2 days to finish, so if you find it valuable, i appreciate your share      P.S. want me to analyze your newsletter page?

I’m never creating a newsletter, and here's why: You don't need another newsletter. But you do need help beyond a LinkedIn post. So instead of the newsletter I promised? I created something different. Enter: Spark It. I’ve spent years creating LinkedIn content. And while I love it, I know it's not enough. There’s only so much I can fit into a post. So, I built Spark It. Not a newsletter. No fluff. It’s designed to give you actionable to-dos, not just insights. Here’s how it works: ➜ Actionable tips you can apply today. ➜ Downloadable guides, templates, and tools. ➜ Searchable, like a library of LinkedIn resources. ➜ Delivered weekly [for now], but ready when you are. The first one? It's already live. It's a content guide packed with strategies to boost your engagement, visibility, and results. Once you sign up for the first one [the 2025 Content Guide], you're signed up for all of them. [So, yeah, kinda like a newsletter. Haha.] [But one with a FREE RESOURCE in every issue.] I didn’t build Spark It because I needed something new to offer. I built it because it’s what I wish I had way earlier in my LinkedIn scale. And it’s totally free. No strings attached. ➜ Hit the link in my Featured section to download the 2025 Content Guide – and I’ll send new tools weekly. 📌 What’s one LinkedIn goal you’re chasing in 2025?