5 Newsletter Growth Lessons From 2.5 Years of Publishing

“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/

FOLLOW ON SOCIAL

• Chenell: Twitter | LinkedIn | Substack
• Dylan: LinkedIn | Bluesky

OUR NEWSLETTERS

• growthinreverse.com
• growthcurrency.net

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Thanks to Tim Forkin for editing these episodes.