Want to direct traffic to your content and generate quality leads?
Substack could be your knight in shining armor.
It is an easy-to-set-up platform with a simple and intuitive interface. We’ll discuss some strategies to help you get the most out of it and gain subscribers.
But First, What is Substack?
Substack is a newsletter platform, much like Medium or WordPress. It was established in 2017 and has gained traction with small publishers, who can charge readers for access to specific newsletters and podcasts, among other things.
Using Substack has various benefits.
- It gives you access to a range of free newsletter publishing tools that can be customized per your branding needs.
- It allows you to connect directly with your customer base.
- The best thing is that it’s dedicated to seeing its creators thrive and has a practical and easy monetization plan in place.
The only catch?
Getting subscribers can be challenging.
But some tactics can help increase your subscriber count and generate more leads for your business.
5 Best Strategies You Can Use To Grow Your Subscribers on Substack
Here are some tried-and-tested strategies you can try to promote your newsletter.
1. Create an Email Campaign
Email marketing can offer an average ROI of $36 for every $1 spent. It’s an excellent option for generating leads and establishing a rapport with engaged readers.
Introduce yourself in your emails with your Substack, and share something relevant to your audience’s interest or about a topic they care about to build a connection.
For best results, consider using publication and blog email templates from PosterMyWall. They’re free to use, are available in a wide selection, and can be customized to provide unique details about your Substack to attract subscribers.
Set achievable goals, and be consistent with your publishing schedule.
2. Enhance Your SEO
You can optimize Substack for search engines with engaging content, text, headlines, meta descriptions, landing pages, slugs, rich links, and more.
Why does it work?
Well, Substack doesn’t just send your newsletters to your readers; it also posts them online as a blog. If it has the right elements and links to other pages, your newsletter will become more attractive to search engines.
This will help convert existing readers and new fans into paying customers.
3. Create Growth Movements with High-Quality Content
Offering valuable, high-quality content in your Substack newsletter is the best way to entice readers to spread the word about it to others. We recommend that you publish similar content to websites like Medium. This will get you quality leads, which you can nurture by adding a link to your Substack in the footer.
If you write big hits and focus on adding value to your readers, your content will get picked up by the A-listers, aka people with big audiences. This can give you hundreds of new followers — with very little initiative from your end.
4. Get Other Creators to Recommend Your Newsletter to Their Subscribers
Substack’s newsletter recommendations can help you get discovered by new readers.
You can collaborate with other Substack creators — particularly ones with an established audience, and ask them if they can promote your newsletters to their subscriber base. The cross-promotion will allow their readers to get a glimpse into your area of expertise, while your readers will gain knowledge from the other newsletter’s writer, which can drive the growth of both of your subscribers’ lists.
Friendly tip:
Make sure the creators you collaborate with have an audience that overlaps with yours, or you won’t be able to avail yourself of the benefits this strategy can offer.
You can also comment on other writers’ publications to get eyes on your profile. Substack displays your writer profile. So this can generate free publicity for you.
5. Promote Your Substack Everywhere
There are more than 5 billion internet users. With a statistic that is favorable, you must promote your Substack link online every chance you get to enhance your reach.
Here are some ways you can do that:
- Link it to your website — if you have one.
- Mention it in your Instagram and Facebook bio, posts, and highlights.
- Add it at the bottom of your email campaigns.
- Name-drop it on Twitter.
- Talk about it on Quora, LinkedIn, Medium, and other social community forums.
The more you talk about your Substack, the more it will be on top of your prospective audience’s minds. In addition, you can use excerpts from your newsletter to convert prospects into readers.
Promote to the Right Audience
Growing your subscriber count on Substack is about promoting your content to the right audience on the right channels.
For your strategy to be effective, you will need to keep tabs on what works and what doesn’t. Then, you can use the analysis to adapt the strategies to your specific needs and implement the tactics that work best in future Substack promotions.