How to earn 7 figures from a newsletter
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How to earn 7 figures from a newsletter
Marketing Powerup #54: Matt Ragland, Managing Director at Good People Digital, shares his 7-figure newsletter monetization strategy.
Hello, and welcome to Marketing Powerups! 👋🏽
I’m writing this email with my pumpkin spice latte while waiting for the turkey to cook. Why? It’s Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend! 🦃
Let’s dig into today's powerups, which include:
Salesforce’s customer-led growth strategy.
A powerful storytelling technique for marketing.
Matt Ragland’s 7 steps to a 7-figure newsletter.
Ready? Let's go! ⭐️
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⭐️ The 7-figure newsletter monetization strategy
Building a profitable business from your email list is possible, but it requires strategy. In this post, we'll cover the 7 steps to make 7 figures from your list, with insights from email marketing expert Matt Ragland (Managing Director at Good People Digital):
1. Create valuable content. 🔥
The first step is creating helpful content that establishes your expertise and credibility.
"Sharing thoughts and ideas builds trust. Sharing your expertise on platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn can even open doors to unexpected hiring opportunities."
A power-up in this step is to stay focused on a niche topic rather than covering a wide range of themes. What do you want to be known for? Then, share tips and solutions to problems around that topic.
2. Distribute your content. 📢
Get your content onto the major platforms to increase exposure. You need to leverage online platforms such as TikTok, Reels, newsletters, and social media to reach a wider audience. By consistently sharing valuable content, professionals can gain visibility and build a reputation that attracts potential clients and employers.
"If I go look you up on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, whatever, I want to see 30 pieces of content, probably minimum on a niche topic. Consistency is the key."
3. Generate referrals. 🎉
Referrals happen naturally when you create helpful content. But you can amplify them by asking satisfied customers to share your work. According to Matt, "Referrals is just a type of distribution. You're distributing it through referrals."
4. Offer a paid membership. 🤝
Consider offering a paid subscription for your most engaged subscribers. Matt explains how this works for Ryan Holiday's Stoic emails:
"He has a membership that I don't think most people know about. It's a natural extension of the newsletter itself. You get weekend emails. So it truly is daily. You get access to a forum. And you get access to all of his courses."
5. Sell impulse products. 🏎
Impulse products are inexpensive offerings under $100, such as e-books, templates, or mini-courses that cater to customers' spontaneous purchase tendencies. They allow subscribers to support you financially in a low-risk way.
"It's easier to find 100 people to pay you $50 than to find one person to pay you $5,000. Find ways to get people to open up their wallets in a low-risk way."
6. Create commitment products. 💋
Commitment products are more extensive educational offerings priced around $1000. According to Matt, this is a "premium cohort model" that requires greater customer commitment but is highly scalable. For example, you could offer a four to six-week cohort course.
7. Offer private coaching or advising. 🧠
One-on-one coaching is the pinnacle of monetization. Matt explains, "you can only have so many clients at once unless you become a coaching certifier." But it allows you to charge premium rates to high-value clients up to $10,000 or higher.
Free powerups cheatsheet 🔖
I’ve created a powerups cheatsheet exclusively for Marketing Powerups subscribers to apply Matt Ragland’s 7 steps to a 7-figure newsletter.
→ Download and make a copy of it here (a direct link with no email required).
In the latest Marketing Powerups episode, Matt further explains his 7 steps to a seven-figure newsletter.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcast and Spotify now, or watch it on YouTube.
✨ Mini powerups
Fun-sized tools, links, and blurbs to boost your marketing.
📝 Transcribe, translate, and summarize your media files (tool): PlainScribe can help you effortlessly transcribe your media files, break language barriers with translations, and distill key insights through summarization.
🏆 Ultimate guide to product onboarding (sponsored): You can increase your signups with great marketing. But if you don’t nail your product onboarding, you might just be wasting your marketing team’s time and resources. My friends over at Inflection.io launched a massive product on boarding guide full of tips, examples, and best practices.
🦄 The powerful storytelling trick no one talks about (LinkedIn post): Parker Worth, Founder of The Business Storyteller, shares how juxtaposition can help make you a master at hooking and holding attention (fast). Why? Because it leads to tension, curiosity, and interest. I love this take from Parker!
📈 Community-led growth strategy at Salesforce (article): Salesforce is one of the biggest SaaS companies, with over $30B in annual revenue and almost 80,000 employees. The company masterfully leveraged community to grow over the years. Some of the details might surprise you.
If you enjoyed this, you’d love this Marketing Powerups issue from the archives featuring Camille Trent (Head of Content and Community at PeerSignal) about the newsjacking strategy for rapid email list growth.
That’s all for now, friends!
Have a powered-up day,
Ramli John
Connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter
P.S. If you found this helpful, would you share the love by tapping the heart below? ❤️
It’ll help me know what’s resonating with you and get more people to know about my newsletter. Thanks!
