“If you spend 80% of your time making incredibly good content, you probably only have to spend 20% marketing it."
In this special episode, we’re bringing you Chenell’s conversation with Darrell Vesterfelt, VP of Growth at Mighty Networks, for a recent Creator Summit.
In the chat, Chenell talks about why she started a newsletter — and why she chose a newsletter — way back in December 2022.
Chenell and Darrell also dive into the art and science of growing a newsletter from scratch — from picking a topic you’ll never get bored of, to building relationships that fuel growth, to deciding when and how to monetize. If you’re looking for a behind-the-scenes look at how one of the most well-known newsletter growth strategists thinks about audience building, this episode is loaded with ideas you can apply immediately.
>>Get 30+ video lessons and ideas for optimizing your newsletter: https://growthinreverse.com/vault
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Why passion for your newsletter topic is a wildly underrated growth lever
- How Chenell leveraged “content-led growth” to get early traction
- The commenting strategy that landed her first subscribers
- Why treating your social profile like a landing page matters
- The balance between high-quality content and active marketing
- How to use “cryptic teasers” to generate curiosity before publishing
- The biggest mistake she made with social posting frequency
- Why she didn’t run Facebook ads for Growth In Reverse (and when she would)
- The simple poll that landed her first paid sponsor
- How she would structure a paid newsletter if starting today
LINKS MENTIONED
- Mighty Networks
- Darrell Vesterfelt on LinkedIn
- Chenell's first Deep Dive on Mario Gabriele @ The Generalist
- Ask us a question or submit a podcast topic idea: growthinreverse.com/questions
- Get Chenell's brand-new course: The Growth Vault — newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.
- Growth In Reverse PRO Community
- Want your newsletter roasted? Submit it here.
- Check out past Growth In Reverse Deep Dives: https://growthinreverse.com/archive/
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OUR NEWSLETTERS
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Thanks to Tim Forkin for editing these episodes.
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