The Marketing Millennials Podcast Summary

Episode: 303 - How To Start/Scale A Newsletter in 2025 with Matt McGarry, Founder + CEO of GrowLetter
Host: Daniel Murray
Guest: Matt McGarry, Founder & CEO of GrowLetter
Release Date: January 3, 2025

1. Introduction to the Episode

In episode 303 of The Marketing Millennials, host Daniel Murray delves into the indispensable role of newsletters in modern marketing strategies with Matt McGarry, the Founder and CEO of GrowLetter. The conversation emphasizes why newsletters remain a pivotal tool for building engaged audiences, driving trust, and scaling revenue in 2025.

2. Guest Introduction

Matt McGarry shares his extensive background in newsletter marketing, highlighting his experience with renowned newsletters such as The Hustle, 1440, Milk Road, and Mo. He explains how GrowLetter assists media companies and creators in growing and monetizing their newsletters, enhancing email lists, and generating revenue through information products and sponsorships.

“I run a marketing agency called Grow Letter. We work with media and education companies and creators. We help them grow and monetize their newsletters...”
[02:19]

3. The Importance of Newsletters

Matt underscores the significance of owned media, particularly email, as the most valuable and controlled audience channel. He contrasts it with rented and earned audiences, emphasizing that newsletters provide a direct line to subscribers without algorithmic interference.

“Email is by far the best type of owned audience channel and it's the most valuable type of audience you can have.”
[03:48]

4. Getting Started with a Newsletter

Starting Simple and Iterative: Matt advises newcomers to launch their newsletters quickly without striving for perfection. The focus should be on defining the value proposition and understanding the target audience deeply.

“Don't spend too long figuring out all the details of being a perfectionist. The best way to get better at content is to publish content.”
[04:07]

Defining Value and Niche: Utilize the "jobs to be done" framework to clarify what the newsletter offers and who it serves. Establishing a clear niche ensures the content remains focused and valuable.

“What job is this newsletter doing for the reader? Is it going to help me get smarter, invest better, save time, etc.”
[04:07]

5. Building Your Subscriber List

Initial Subscriber Acquisition: Matt recommends leveraging existing contacts by sending a simple announcement email to personal and professional networks to kickstart the subscriber list.

“A simple way I see people do this and get 100 subscribers very quickly is they'll go into their contact list... and just send them a short email and message that just announces that you're starting a newsletter.”
[08:01]

Utilizing Social Media and Content Flywheel: By repurposing newsletter content across various social platforms and optimizing profiles to drive subscribers, one can effectively grow the email list.

“Newsletters are a content strategy. So the best way you're going to grow is through a content flywheel.”
[08:01]

6. Optimizing Your Capture Page

Creating Effective Landing Pages: Matt emphasizes the importance of a high-converting landing page, ideally converting at least 50% of traffic into subscribers. A streamlined, single-section layout with a clear value proposition and minimal friction (e.g., only an email field) is crucial.

“Newsletter capture pages... are super important and most people just completely overlook them.”
[11:54]

Key Elements:

• Logo and Branding
• Compelling Headline and Subheadline
• Simple Sign-Up Form
• Testimonials (optional)

“If the copy is good in those elements, it's going to convert well.”
[11:54]

7. Growing and Engaging Your Audience

Content Repurposing: Matt suggests transforming each newsletter into multiple pieces of content for different platforms, thereby maximizing reach and driving more subscriptions through diverse channels.

“Every newsletter that I publish turns into 10 different pieces of social content.”
[16:04]

Pre and Post Call to Actions (CTAs): Utilizing teasers before and summaries after newsletter releases on social media can create FOMO and drive subscriptions.

“A pre CTA is simply a teaser that you post on social, usually 24 hours before your newsletter is sent.”
[08:01]

Personal Outreach: Sending personalized messages to new followers on platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn can significantly boost subscriber numbers.

“I have a virtual assistant. Reach out to people who follow me... and just send like a nice message that is not super salesy but just says hey.”
[16:04]

8. Metrics and Engagement

Focus on Quality Feedback: Matt advocates for collecting direct feedback through polls and surveys embedded in newsletters to gauge reader satisfaction beyond basic open and click rates.

“Having a poll at the bottom of every newsletter that just asks people like how did they like it? And so... tools like Beehive have a built-in poll feature...”
[15:08]

Understanding True Engagement: Emphasizing metrics that directly impact business goals, such as sales from newsletters, over superficial metrics like open rates, which can be misleading.

“With marketing emails, the number one metric matters is sales. It doesn't matter how many clicks it drove or opens if it drove more or less sales.”
[22:14]

9. Monetizing Your Newsletter

Immediate Monetization: Matt advises integrating monetization strategies early on, whether through promotional content, selling information products, or consulting services, even with a small subscriber base.

“You have to do that as soon as possible... You can sell your time at the very least.”
[28:38]

Scaling Through Sponsorships: Once reaching a substantial subscriber count (1,000 to 5,000), leveraging sponsorships and advertisements becomes viable. Building a strong foundation with valuable content ensures readiness for such monetization.

“If you're building a sponsorship focused business, you have to have a large enough audience to sell sponsorships...”
[28:38]

Diverse Revenue Streams: Combining product sales, sponsorships, and services can create a robust monetization model, ensuring multiple income avenues from the newsletter.

“A business is all based off of revenue and profit. And so you have to do that as soon as possible.”
[28:38]

10. Key Takeaways and Conclusion

Email as a Core Asset: Matt passionately asserts the paramount importance of email as a controllable and valuable owned media channel, urging marketers to prioritize building and nurturing their email lists over other audience growth methods.

“I believe email is the most valuable audience you should, you can build and you should prioritize that over any type of audience growth you have out there.”
[32:58]

Continuous Improvement and Feedback: Consistently seeking and integrating feedback ensures that the newsletter remains relevant and valuable to subscribers, fostering long-term engagement and growth.

“It would look like a poll at the bottom of every newsletter that just asks people like how did they like it?”
[16:04]

Final Thoughts: Daniel and Matt conclude by reaffirming the enduring relevance of newsletters in staying top-of-mind with audiences, building trust, and driving business growth through strategic content and monetization efforts.

“I'm glad email hasn't died yet... build your email today.”
[33:52]

Where to Find Matt McGarry:

• Website: newsletteroperator.com
• Upcoming Event: Newsletter Marketing Summit in Austin

Conclusion

This episode highlights the strategic significance of newsletters in contemporary marketing, offering actionable insights on starting, scaling, and monetizing newsletters effectively. Matt McGarry’s expertise provides listeners with a clear roadmap to harness the power of email marketing, ensuring sustained engagement and business growth.

For more insights and actionable marketing strategies, subscribe to The Marketing Millennials podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your preferred platform.