- beehiiv Blog
- Posts
- How the Decade Investor Built a Loyal Audience With beehiiv
How the Decade Investor Built a Loyal Audience With beehiiv
The Power of beehiiv's Ad Network and Design Tools
Kanishka Kumawat
June 19th, 2024
Meet the Decade Investor, who shares long-term investment tactics with his weekly newsletter on beehiiv. With over 17,000 subscribers and an off–the–charts growth rate, he's sharing his secrets for building a successful newsletter that resonates with your audience in this case study.
Learn how the Decade Investor leverages beehiiv to build this newsletter but also about how he grew from 0-17k subscribers so that he could own his audience.
Table of Contents
- Kanishka
Why Start a Newsletter
Whether you have an audience on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok, having a rented audience comes with both perks and challenges. Rented audiences allow you to share your content widely, but they also come with inherent struggles:
Platform Instability: TikTok was banned in India in 2020, abruptly cutting off access to millions of users.
Algorithm Changes: Instagram frequently changes its algorithms, affecting how and when your content is seen by your followers.
Account Vulnerability: Accounts can be suspended or banned, often without warning or clear explanation, as seen with several high-profile YouTube creators.
Monetization Restrictions: Platforms impose restrictions on how and when you can monetize your content, impacting revenue streams.
The Decade Investor has a similar story: He decided to own his audience and started his newsletter in February 2023 after multiple people told him how important it is to have a newsletter.
He launched his newsletter on beehiiv because it was easy to use, had progressive features, and was all over his social media feeds on X (formerly Twitter). Leveraging his massive following of 194k on X (formerly Twitter), the Decade Investor grew to over 2,000 subscribers in the first month. Talk about a quick start!
The Decade Investor’s Growth Timeline: A Steady Climb
The Decade Investor's newsletter has been steadily climbing since day one. In its first 12 months, it reached over 14,500 subscribers. Today, it has over 17,000 subscribers!
The Decade Investor's newsletter has seen significant success, with an open rate of around 47%. This is impressive, especially considering that he uses Boosts to drive revenue with every sign-up.
Here are some key tactics that you can incorporate into your emailing strategy for good open rates:
Personalizing Your Subject Line: Keep it short and sweet. Short subject lines are more effective.
Including the subscriber's name or other information adds a personal touch, making the email feel more relevant.
Segmenting and Micro-Segmenting the List: Dividing the list based on demographics, interests, or behaviors helps tailor the content to specific groups, increasing engagement.
Further dividing segments based on more specific criteria, such as purchase history or browsing behavior, allows for even more targeted content.Keeping the List Fresh: Removing inactive or outdated subscribers ensures that only engaged contacts receive emails, reducing the likelihood of low open rates.
Regularly cleaning your list helps maintain a healthy sender reputation and improves overall email performance.
The Decade Investor’s Favorite beehiiv Feature: The Ad Network
The @beehiiv ad network is growing so fast, I don't even know what kind of chart to use.
But seriously:
- publishers are earning 100's of $1000's a month with the ad network
- advertisers are coming back for more
- comment if you need ads
- come join us— Jake Schonberger 🐝 (@SchonbergerJake)
6:35 PM • Jun 5, 2024
The Decade Investor loves beehiiv's Ad Network. Gone are the days of scrambling to find sponsors for his newsletter. beehiiv does all the heavy lifting, presenting him with ad opportunities that align with his messaging.
beehiiv’s Monetization Magic
Monetizing your newsletter isn’t difficult – you could have 200 subscribers or 10,000 and still monetize your owned audience. Here’s how The Decade Investor is monetizing his newsletter in his own words:
“This week, I was presented with three ad opportunities that all fit my messaging, so my ad spots are filled for the next three weeks. That is a great feeling and one thing that I do not have to worry about. I am currently monetizing in three ways.”
1. Boosts: My social media traffic drives people to sign up for my newsletter, so I am leveraging Boosts to drive revenue to the newsletter with every sign-up.
2. Ads: The beehiiv Ad Network is amazing. I have been able to fill my weekly ad spots because beehiiv presents me with the opportunities. I am working with companies that are paying me $$$ to get in my newsletter.
3. Subscriptions: I recently turned on a paid subscription. However, it is fairly new to share the results. I have about 30 people currently on a monthly or yearly membership.
The Decade Investor’s Tech Stack
Youtube + Podcast
This is where he shares his ideas on investments along with building a sense of community by asking his followers for finance tips!
X (Formerly Twitter)
Out of many of his viral tweets, one thing to note is how actively the Decade Investor shares his thoughts on finance, investments, and all things money every day on his X (formerly Twitter).
This is where he repurposes some of his content from X (Formerly Twitter) and TikTok and also shares Reels on all things money 💵.
Saving the best for last...all of the Decade Investor’s social media handles have a CTA to his weekly newsletter in his bio! That is exactly what owning your audience means.
He also ensures that people who make an effort to subscribe to his newsletter get instant value along with his weekly emails—his 25 Stock Terms Every Investor Needs To Know guide.
Key Takeaways
Here are three key takeaways from The Decade Investor's newsletter journey that you can incorporate into your strategy:
Leveraging Social Media as a Top-of-Funnel Strategy: By using his existing social media presence, The Decade Investor effectively drove traffic to his newsletter. His large following on X (formerly Twitter) was instrumental in quickly growing his subscriber base to over 2,000 in the first month.
Utilizing beehiiv’s Ad Network for Monetization: The Decade Investor found beehiiv’s ad network to be a standout feature, allowing him to fill ad spots and generate revenue effortlessly.
Maintaining High Open Rates through Personalization and High-Value Content: The Decade Investor achieved an impressive open rate of around 47% by sharing content that makes a difference in his subscribers' lives. This approach ensured that the content was relevant and engaging to his audience, fostering better connection and interaction.
One Piece of Advice to AnyoneThinking of Starting a Newsletter
The Decade Investor's advice is simple: Just start.
“Don't worry about being the next big newsletter; focus on creating great content and leveraging your social media presence. beehiiv's ease of use and innovative features make it the perfect platform to help you build and grow your audience.”
beehiiv was the top choice for the Decade Investor when launching his newsletter. If you are looking to build an audience that you fully own, look no further than beehiiv. There is no other platform out there that compares.
Did this inspire you to start your newsletter and own your audience?
Are you ready to focus on what matters most and create content that resonates with your audience?
Start building your email list today.
With beehiiv, you can start your 30-day, free trial today and see if it is the perfect fit for you.
Reply