How beehiiv Powers Our Local Newsletter Strategy

Let’s talk newsletters. 

They’re an awesome way to stay in touch with our community, share cool updates, and promote what we’ve got going on.

But let’s be real—managing a newsletter is tough.

That’s why we started using beehiiv. 

It’s seriously changed the game for us. 

But before I get into the details, let me give you a 30-second overview of the lay of the land and how we’re using the platform. 

To start, we run multiple newsletters through the platform, which was actually one of the main reasons why we switched to beehiiv - 3 newsletters are included with all plans! 

I run a newsletter for my personal brand and our local media brand.

Both of those are WordPress sites, and you can see that we use the beehiiv embed forms right on the homepages (and also in our blog posts).

We treat our beehiiv websites as separate entities from our websites, since we already had our WordPress ones in place. 

But what’s interesting is that even my personal brand beehiiv page, and our local media brand beehiiv page get SEO traffic -- which was a free and unexpected bonus!

Ok, let’s get into our favorite parts of using beehiiv for our local brand.

Selling Sponsorships? beehiiv Makes It Simple

We all know that running a newsletter takes time. And time is money. 

As a content creator, my favorite part is creating.

I don’t enjoy lining up sponsors and selling ads.

But it’s one of the main revenue streams for our local newsletter.

Here’s the kicker. 

beehiiv will sell sponsors for you. 

It’s like having an extra person on our sales team. 

Our payments have been lower than any deals we line up locally.

But this is to be expected. 

Plus, it’s seamless (beehiiv is incredible at reducing points of friction).

Here’s how it works: 

1. beehiiv sends you an offer that you can accept or reject.

2. You pick the creative that they provide.

3. You choose a date to run the ad.

4. When it’s time, you click a button while crafting your newsletter and the ad magically appears.

There’s no need to figure out creative or copy.

No need to invoice or track down payments.

beehiiv does all of it for you.

The result? More sponsorship deals and less stress. 

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Getting the whole team involved in the newsletter used to be a bit of a struggle. 

Not everyone’s a writer, and figuring out who’s doing what was a bit chaotic. 

Good thing beehiiv has made everything so much smoother.

First off, the editing tools are super easy to use. 

Even if someone’s not a tech whiz, they can jump in and start creating. 

beehiiv also lets multiple people work on the newsletter at the same time, which has made collaboration way more fun. 

We’re all in there, sharing ideas, making edits, and making sure everything looks just right.

And speaking of looking right—beehiiv’s templates feature is great.

They keep our branding consistent, so our newsletters always look polished, even when we’re scrambling to get them out the door (which happens).

And the scheduling feature is great.

We can plan ahead and make sure our content goes out exactly when we want it to.

Thanks to beehiiv, putting together our newsletter feels more like a team effort and less like a chore. And that’s pretty awesome.

Why Trust Me: Brooks Conkle is a full-time side hustler who is always testing out new ideas to inspire others to think outside the box and take bold action in their lives.

Growing Our Audience (Without Breaking a Sweat)

Getting more subscribers is always the goal, right? But it's tough to figure out how to do that without spending a lot of money. 

That’s where beehiiv’s referral program comes in. 

The program is super easy to set up and simple for readers.

They get a unique referral link they can share with friends, and when someone new signs up using their link, they get a reward. 

You can customize those rewards, too.

Not to get cheeky, but most folks will ever only a few people. Something like a shoutout in your email (our first tier) is what most will get.  

Rarely will someone refer enough people to your newsletter and get the items that have hard costs for you.

We’ve added 100 or so readers to our list at no additional cost. 

And the best part? beehiiv handles all the tracking for us. 

We can see exactly who’s referring new subscribers and how well the program works. 

And there’s this cool community vibe that’s come out of it. 

Our readers feel like they’re part of something special, which makes them more engaged.

Event Marketing? Nailed It.

Here’s the thing—we don’t just send out newsletters; we also host some pretty awesome events. 

Silent discos, community meet-ups—you name it. And beehiiv has been our go-to tool for getting the word out.

As we grow our newsletter, we grow our marketing channel to help us sell tickets. 

The design tools let us put together eye-catching promos that make people want to click that RSVP button. 

Plus, we can segment our audience so the right people get the right invites. 

For example, we can target the party crowd with disco invites and the family crowd with more chill events.

And because beehiiv lets us track engagement, we know exactly who’s interested in what. 

It helps us tweak our strategies and make sure each event gets the attention it deserves.

So, while many may see their newsletter as just that, I’d advise us all to think bigger.

Let’s start with a newsletter, but expand to see it as a larger business marketing funnel.

Wrapping It Up

beehiiv has totally changed the way we run our newsletter. 

From selling sponsorships and growing our audience to making content creation a team effort and marketing our events, it’s been a total game-changer.

We’re more connected with our community than ever before, and our newsletter is stronger for it. 

Heck, we even launched our own local media crew to talk shop and share growth ideas.

So, if you’re looking to take your own newsletter to the next level, beehiiv is definitely worth a look. 

It’s helped our business run more smoothly, and it could do the same for you!