Small audience? This is the fastest way to grow it

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I’m super jealous of people who grow fast on social media.

I wrote this comment to a creator who informed us in a Slack that he went from 5k to 30k followers on LinkedIn in FIVE MONTHS.

Some people make it look easy and effortless to find their audience online. I’m so happy for them. Really I am.

But that’s never been me.

That’s why I focus so much here on how to monetize with a small audience.

But, let’s say you want to find new people?

Social media isn’t cutting it and you really want to get something out there. Where should you look? 👀 

Stick with me, kid—today, we’re headed to the candy land of co-promotions! You can tap into a whole new audience with the help of one trusty collaborator. I’ll show you how to get started in today’s issue.

This is the last edition of our Grow Your Email List series. Want more??? Get in on the 100 Subs Quest live. We begin Tuesday!

Cross-promote to grow your list faster

You might think everyone is just building their business by themselves brick by brick.

But I’m here to remind you that A LOT of entrepreneurs are renting readymade houses.

This became clear to me when I worked for The Black Tux, an online retailer for tuxedos. Never heard of them? It doesn’t matter much because you know who they partnered with to get sales? Nordstrom. One of the biggest department stores in the US. You help us, we help you. Sales for everyone!

The premise is the same for you and me. Partner with another business who has your ideal audience and both of you reap the rewards.

⚙️ Automated co-promotion

ConvertKit, beehiiv and Substack all have automated co-promotion for newsletters.

ConvertKit calls it The Creator Network.
beehiiv and Substack call it Recommendations.

It works essentially the same in all three platforms.

1) You recommend newsletters and they can recommend you back.
2) Reach out to that newsletter writer if you want this to happen faster (they might not notice if you don’t reach out)
3) When someone joins your list, a page or model shows with the recommendations you made and people can select which to opt into (or out of). Here’s mine ↗️ 

This works best the closer the other newsletter topic is to your topic. Does their audience want what your audience wants? Yes? It’s a match!

It also helps a ton if they are growing their newsletter actively or at least matching your pace on growth. A newsletter that has stagnant subscriber count doesn’t make for a great partner. Aim for an even-keeled relationship.

You can juice this with Boosts on beehiiv where you pay other writers to promote you. If you’re doing paid ads, this is one of the easiest ways to do that because you only pay if someone actually subscribes and confirms their subscription.

Not using one of those platforms I mentioned? You can use Sparkloop with most email tools. I found it to be buggy but other people tell me they like it.

🤝 Manual co-promotion

Don’t want to use a recommendation tool? You can still team up!

1) Scan your inbox for newsletters you love (that you think your audience would too)
2) Reach out to those newsletter writers to team up
3) Feature each other in a couple issues (or make it a longer term partnership)

This is called a newsletter swap and I wrote a quick guide on it here.

There’s lots of ways to grow together with other business owners and newsletter co-promotion is a great starting point! I’ve met some of my best referral partners from this very simple activity.

The Stacking Up Subs Challenge is winding down!

Want to track your email list growth? Last chance for the Stacking Up Subs Challenge! It’s free to participate and it’s running one more week. Get motivated and get it going with this friendly competition.

Are you already in for the challenge? Update your sub count on our leaderboard! Winner will be chosen on August 7!

Want to join our challenge? Comment on the board with your name, newsletter link and current sub count and I’ll add you!

→ Read more about the challenge

NEXT WEEK: Grow your email list with us in the 100 Subs Quest 🧭 🎉 

Marketing your own business is exhausting. It’s cool when you can hire help, but if you can’t outsource it, why not make it MORE FUN?

That’s what we do inside Quests.

About our last Quest, Kari Ginsburg said:

“Like all of Lex's QUESTS, this one didn't disappoint. It allowed me to get organized and test approaches in a way that felt fun, easy, and low-commitment.”

Ben Mosior who did the Selling Yourself Challenge said:

“It's so easy to get lost when I'm on my own, but having a week of programming and work to do was so helpful for giving our sales challenges the attention they deserve.”

Of course, Quest participants hit their goals too. Matt Herron said:

“My first LinkedIn Levers Quest was a blast! I met lots of cool entrepreneurial people in the group, booked a couple sales calls, made new connections through my network, and signed up six people for my new content strategy mastermind group.”

Our next Quest begins in less than a week. We’re venturing out in search of 100 NEW SUBSCRIBERS for your email list.

You’ll join me and your fellow questers for 4 live missions where you’ll be offered very doable, bitesized tasks to find your new subs.

By the end, you’ll have expanded your list with fresh readers AND you’ll have tested out 4 different channels for newsletter growth.

Quests are one of my most popular programs. See what people have said about them and join us by August 5! (that’s in 6 days!)

P.S. Since you made it to the end, I’m having dinner with 5 strangers next week all thanks to an app with a scary name.