Hey,

this is Jakob Greenfeld, creator of Newsletter Story - every now or then I write this email to help you level up your newsletter game.

Let's dive in.

🧙‍♂️Better Human

This week’s interview is with Niklaus Gerber, a Zürich based product guy, a who runs Better Human.

“I am running Better Human to make more sense of my thoughts and to share what worked well for me. If I have one or a million subscribers should not impact how I curate and create my content. This also means less pressure which helps to keep Better Human going.”

Read the Interview

📈 Growth Signals

• Startup Definition Sunday just reached 300 subscribers. (“Insights on Africa tech, startups & gender-lens investing.”)

• Write on hit 1,500 subscribers just one week after the launch. (“The newsletter that makes you a better copywriter.“)

• Wednesday Wonders just hit 600 subscribers. (“Tips on teaching your craft, courses & solopreneurship”)

💡 Ad Arbitrage

Matt McGarry @JMatthewMcGarry

Here's the secret that newsletter founders DON'T want you to know about building a massive newsletter business… It’s all about ad arbitrage. 🤫 Here’s how it works:

2:26 PM ∙ Jan 26, 2023

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• Great thread by Matt McGarry! Core insight is that big newsletters get 80% or more of their subscribers from paid ads but that’s usually not what they talk about when asked about growth.

• The way it works is simple: acquire subscribers at a cost below the lifetime value of a subscriber to you. Say you can acquire subscribers at $2/subscriber using Facebook ads and over the lifetime of that subscriber, they will generate $10-$30 in revenue (from sponsorships). In this scenario putting more and more money into paid ads is a no-brainer.

• According to Matt, the content most big newsletters publish is mediocre. What really sets them apart is their skill at paid acquisition and sponsorship sales.

🔥 Twitter ads vs. Facebook ads

Marketing Max @MarketingMax

Newsletter biz update: Been investing $500 a day in ads on FB & Twitter to grow DTC Daily Open rate from Facebook ads subscribers: 28% Open rate from Twitter ads subscribers: 50%

3:06 PM ∙ Jan 26, 2023

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• Interesting insight by Max. While the cost per subscriber is similar ($2 on Twitter, $1.5 on Facebook), subscribers coming from Twitter ads seem to be a lot more engaged.

End Note

As always, if you’re enjoying this report, I’d love it if you shared it with a friend or two. You can send them here to sign up.

In addition, here’s one specific way I can help you:

• Sponsor Hawk. Struggling to fill your newsletter ad spots? Looking for fresh newsletters to sponsors? Let me help you. I’m directly connecting newsletters that have available ad spots with decision makers looking for newsletters to sponsor.

Have a great week,

Jakob