Our plan to scale this local newsletter from $80,000 to $500,000 per year | 040
Aug 8, 2024
auto_awesome
Marissa Lovell, the mastermind behind the 'From Boise' newsletter, shares her journey to generating impressive revenue from local storytelling. She delves into strategies for scaling subscriber bases and optimizing sponsorship deals. Lovell emphasizes the shift from blogs to newsletters and the importance of long-form content for community engagement. The conversation touches on innovative revenue streams, leveraging social media for growth, and the delicate balance between personal branding and authentic community connection.
The newsletter From Boise generates $87,000 annually primarily through sponsorships, highlighting the essential role of strategic partnerships for revenue growth.
Focusing on long-form storytelling allows the newsletter to engage readers meaningfully while steering clear of contentious political topics.
To scale from $80,000 to $500,000 in revenue, the creator plans to diversify income sources and enhance marketing strategies.
Deep dives
Building a Profitable Newsletter: Key Metrics
The newsletter From Boise has achieved significant milestones, earning $87,000 in revenue for 2023 from 22,000 subscribers. The majority of this income, around $77,000, comes from sponsorships, with the remainder from reader donations. The creator recognizes the need to balance content production and revenue generation, indicating that maintaining consistent sponsorships and growing their audience is crucial. Over the next three years, their goal is to reach $500,000 in revenue, which will require strategic planning and execution.
Content Strategy: Long-Form Stories vs. News
The newsletter opts for a unique content approach, focusing on long-form storytelling about local figures, places, and events, rather than traditional news reporting. This decision helps the creator avoid political issues, allowing them to concentrate on enjoyable topics that resonate with their audience. By providing engaging content, the newsletter positions itself as a go-to source for fun and interesting stories, differentiating itself from competitors. The newsletter also emphasizes community engagement through fun local events, helping foster a sense of connection among readers.
Marketing Strategies: Paid Ads and Social Media
Paid advertising has been pivotal for subscriber growth, allowing the newsletter to maximize its reach effectively. The creator acknowledges the need to develop a more structured approach to their current marketing strategies, including running effective ads and utilizing social media to its fullest potential. The newsletter has approximately 24,500 Instagram followers, which presents an opportunity to convert these social media users into newsletter subscribers. Planning a referral program and giveaway campaigns could further enhance engagement and increase subscriber numbers.
Diverse Revenue Streams: Balancing Income Sources
The primary income for the newsletter comes from sponsorships, but the creator recognizes the necessity of diversifying revenue streams to ensure stability. They were encouraged to implement additional strategies, such as member donations and potentially launching products that would provide value to their audience. Although merchandise sales previously underperformed, the exploration of digital products and services could offer new avenues for income. Engaging readers through membership opportunities or product sales may complement their current offerings without compromising the newsletter's free access model.
Challenges of Scaling a Local Newsletter
Growing the newsletter involves navigating the challenges of operating as a solopreneur while managing a substantive amount of content production. The creator expressed the challenge of balancing multiple tasks, from content creation to sponsorship management, and highlighted the importance of finding a scalable model. Hiring a sales team or creating solid systems may alleviate workload pressures and enhance profitability. Ultimately, the goal is to effectively scale operations without compromising content quality, thereby establishing a robust local resource for readers.
Are you looking to start or scale a newsletter business?
In this episode, Nathan is joined by Marissa Lovell, writer of the ‘From Boise’ newsletter, which generates $87,000 in revenue annually.
Nathan helps map out various tactics to expand the newsletter’s subscriber base, strategies for increasing revenue per user through sponsorships, and creating new revenue streams with digital products.
Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 00:50 Challenges of Starting a Local Newsletter 01:38 From Boise Newsletter 05:14 Revenue Breakdown and Sponsorships 07:46 Impact of Craft and Commerce Conference 09:16 Sponsorship Strategies and Pricing 11:48 Blogs vs Newsletters 15:56 Evolution of the Team 20:06 Hiding Behind a Brand 24:50 Additional Revenue Streams 28:27 Future Goals and Revenue Projections 32:23 Newsletter Growth Tactics 33:38 Social Media to Newsletter Conversion 35:19 Increasing Revenue per Subscriber 42:52 Growing Other Channels 44:57 Effective Use of Social Media 46:39 Streamlining Sponsorships 48:19 Building a Sales Team 56:15 Lead Magnets 59:01 Closing Thoughts
If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe, share it with your friends, and leave us a review. We read every single one.
Learn more about The Nathan Barry Show: https://nathanbarry.com/show
Featured in this episode: From Boise: https://fromboise.com/ Justin Moore: https://www.instagram.com/creatorwizard/ ConvertKit: https://convertkit.com/
Highlights: 12:12 Why Nathan switched from blogs to newsletters 43:02 Newsletter touch points 46:58 Tim Ferris: “What would it look like if it were easy?” 48:40 Effectively building a sales team 01:01:42 Creating too many lead magnets
Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts
Save insights instantly, chat with episodes, and build lasting knowledge - all powered by AI.
