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20 Ways to Monetize Your Newsletter
Practical Monetization Strategies from the fastest growing Newsletters.
When it comes to earning a substantial income online from an owned audience, there’s no greater tool than newsletters.
If you run a newsletter and desire to earn a sizable income, you’re in the right place.
In this guide, we’ll break down 20 different strategies you can use to monetize your newsletter to generate more income outside of just traditional sponsorships.
Let’s uncover the 20 proven strategies you can use to build new revenue streams with your newsletter including real-life examples of creators who capitalized on each method.
Table of Contents
Before diving into the 20 methods to monetize your newsletter, we want to share with you some of our insights and trends we’re noticing in the newsletter space.
In the past few years, we’ve seen dozens of new monetization methods emerge for newsletter operators (that we’ll cover below).
Perhaps the most powerful monetization strategy we’ve seen is one that’s often overlooked when building a newsletter: Acquisition.
Since 2020, there have been dozens of major newsletter acquisitions we have been keeping an eye on.
In 2020, Morning Brew was acquired by Business Insider for $75 million, thanks to their 2.5 million engaged subscribers after only 4 years.
In 2021, The Hustle was acquired by Hubspot for $27 million after 4 years.
In 2022, Industry Dive was acquired for $525 million after 10 years.
In 2022, Milk Road was acquired for 7 figures in 10 months.
In 2023, The Peak was acquired for $5 million after 3 years.
In fact, we even have some beehiiv acquisition stories worth reading here.
If there’s something the world is catching onto, it’s that newsletters are incredibly powerful profit-generating machines and worthy media assets to own.
You may be thinking, “well those guys had massive audiences”. But, the reality is that in 2024, you don't need to have millions of subscribers or be a media giant to make your newsletter profitable and very attractive to potential acquirers.
The key is creating niche newsletters for very specific audiences and focusing on delivering value to that audience around your expertise.
20 Proven Ways to Monetize Your Newsletter (With Examples)
With a newsletter, it’s never been easier to cut through the noise of the internet's billion-plus websites and social media viral distractions.
Content is being pumped out at astronomical rates.
Instead of sifting through overwhelming information, readers are wanting a single, reliable source of truth to curate relevant and valuable content.
While a newsletter can serve multiple purposes, having a core objective anchors your efforts, and maximizes earning potential with your niche audience of readers.
We will break down each monetization method below in five parts:
The Strategy: How to plan.
An Example: How others have done it.
One Key Takeaway: What you can learn from them.
Your Next Move: What is the first action step you need to take?
Resources: Dive deeper and learn.
In 2023, the most important digital revenue stream for publishers was premium, subscription-based content.
Launching a paid newsletter (i.e. premium version of your free newsletter) is one of the most popular ways to monetize your newsletter.
The secret to premium subscriptions?
Creating a community of enthusiasts who value your insights enough to invest in them.
♟️The Strategy
Select a high-value niche where the audience is hungry for specialized insights only you can provide. Offer the majority of your content for free, showcasing unique and exclusive knowledge.
This strategy builds trust and positions the paid newsletter as the exclusive source for premium, indispensable insights, compelling subscribers to invest in the remaining 1% of your exclusive content.
🧠How the Milk Road did it:
Shaan Puri and Ben Levy combined their passion for cryptocurrency with a commitment to providing simple, understandable daily content.
They leveraged the power of paid social advertising, primarily on Facebook and TikTok, to rapidly grow their subscriber base.
The Milk Road was acquired in 2022 for seven figures. In 2023, they started a paid subscription tier to provide more value to their audience.
📝Key Takeaway
Milk Road succeeded by focusing on a high-value audience, providing mostly free, valuable content, and positioning their paid subscription (many years after launch) as an exclusive source for indispensable insights with a limited-time offer.
Their free content was not just curated crypto news, but insights backed by logic – making the audience feel smarter.
👷 Your Next Move
Offer free insights that solve real problems. This strategy hooks your audience, creating a need for your premium, exclusive insights.
You don’t need to sell yourself (directly), start by sharing sneak peeks of your premium content on social media channels like Twitter to create a sense of FOMO and redirect people to opt for a paid subscription to your newsletter.
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