Newsletter Monetisation 101: Premium Content, Sponsorships, and Growth Hacks

01. The Lucrative World of Newsletters

Newsletters offer a unique business model, especially appealing to those who prefer working behind the scenes.

Monetising a newsletter can be your path to financial independence. There are several methods to do this, but let's explore three effective examples:

1. Free Front-End, Paid Back-End: Offer high-value content for free and monetise through back-end products such as courses or consultancy packages. This AI newsletter made $260,000 in 112 days selling a course.
2. Premium Access: Create exclusive content only accessible to paid subscribers. Your Local Epidemiologist makes $500k+ per year via her Substack.
3. Paid Placements: Include sponsored content within your newsletter. For example, The Performance Nutrition Newsletter illustrates this method effectively.

By the end of this article you’ll have the blueprint to monetise a newsletter.

02. Identifying a Market Need

Every successful product begins with addressing a problem. Solve a problem in a market, make money. Pretty simple.

The Problem

Take, for instance, the Performance Nutrition Newsletter. The problem all nutrition coaches face is staying up to date with news, without getting distracted by the social media hamsterwheel.

The Solution

The solution? A concise, high-quality newsletter that provides the latest industry news and insights.

Sounds simple? It is.

A bonus of this format is that a newsletter is away from noisy social media platforms and is generally a more enjoyable way to consume content.

The Process of Launching Your Newsletter

Success in newsletter business often hinges on having a substantial email list. For example James, the creator of the Performance Nutrition Newsletter, built his list over a decade of hard work. While creating the newsletter itself is straightforward, having a big email list is crucial.

To set up a newsletter you need:

• Email software
• Basic design tools
• Skills in content research and writing

For the Performance Nutrition Newsletter, I (Alfie) was recruited for research, writing, and design, leveraging my skills in tools like Canva.

03. Launching Your Newsletter

The launch involves several components:

• Design and content research
• Structuring the newsletter
• Developing a landing page for email sign-up
• Creating a video sales letter (optional)
• Utilising email automation software

Below is an example of the final newsletter design:

The newsletter is a valuable piece of content for a number of reasons. It was designed to highlight the value upfront. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.

You know exactly what you’re going to get. 1 research review, 1 mentorship conversation etc.

There is also a practitioner of the month section. Being featured in the newsletter raises the status of coaches.

Anything tied to an increase in status = increased value.

It’s why many companies give out awards to their customers. A good example outside of the fitness industry is Russell Brunson who founded Clickfunnels software. He gives out clickfunnels awards. You can learn a lot from Russell Brunson’s books.

You also get free traffic from the practitioner as they will often share this with their network.

Content is content at the end of the day.

Now, there are many more sections, but the final one I want to highlight is the research review.

Sharing intellectual content with your readers is very important.

People feel smart reading it. This stuff doesn’t perform as well on the timeline, but in a 1-1 VIP private email conversation, this is incredible for building a relationship.

You can subscribe to the performance nutrition newsletter and view all the elements here.

Overnight success?

Dr. James Morehen is the reason this newsletter example is a success and got sponsored. He already had a big email list which he earned through years of providing value, unique industry experience, and hard work. To gain +1000 email subscribers you need to offer exceptional value and hold influence in an industry. This is no small feat. Producing the newsletter is the easy bit!

Growth strategies for the performance nutrition newsletter included:

• Leveraging social media platforms
• Offering free downloads (aka Lead Magnets)
• Featuring a "Practitioner of the Month" section for shared traffic
• Collaborating with practitioners
• Including links to authoritative sources

04. Revenue and Financials

While specifics vary, a successful newsletter like James' with over 1000 subscribers can generate significant revenue, especially when backed by sponsors like HealthSpan Elite.

I do not know the sums involved in the sponsorship of the aforementioned email newsletter. However, a rule of thumb for expected earnings is $1 per email subscriber per month. This is a bit dubious though!

Your co-founders advice

The challenge lies in consistently providing value to encourage sign-ups. Offering exclusives and freebies can be a great strategy. In my experience, unique offerings like templates and AI prompts have been effective.

Recommended Tools for Newsletter Creation

Choosing the right software is crucial. If you are unsure, start here ⬇️

• Klayvio/Activecampaign/Mailchimp for businesses/ecommerce
• ConvertKit for small businesses
• Substack/Beehiiv for simple newsletters

05. Books and Resources for Further Learning

To deepen your understanding, explore resources like Beehiiv, Cold Email Wizard, and free copywriting courses.

06. Advice for Founders

If you're not leveraging newsletters, you're missing out on a valuable opportunity to build relationships and explore sponsorship avenues.

*Convertkit link is an affiliate link and I will earn a kickback if you sign up at no extra cost to you.