1/ I grew my newsletter from 0 to 1,000 subscribers in 5 months. Here's how I did it.

Thread

2/ When COVID began, I stopped traveling and taking meetings. My business partner, @ChrisBerryOH, encouraged me to create content. I didn't have a focus or an audience but did have experience with content creation.

3/ One of my current endeavors is running the Cleveland Tech Newsletter. Each week I'd interview a guest in the Cleveland Tech scene. I was going to apply that same lesson to my new newsletter. https://www.clevelandtechnewsletter.com/ 

4/ I started a weekly live interview series focused on marketing strategy. The first event had 22 email signups. After 3 events, I had 58 emails. This interview series turned into a podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mastering-the-attention-economy/id1521325428

5/ On April 28th with 58 emails, I launched a twice-weekly newsletter. I was just going to write and figure it out as I go. The focus was on marketing strategy, but nothing more detailed than that. My first article was about Jeni's Ice Cream. It was awful. https://app.goodbits.io/emails/e1254cd6-614d-4409-b75d-af9131b432c7

6/ My first newsletter was built on @goodbitsio. Don't worry about the tech. Choose something and start writing. Your tech stack is irrelevant if you have 0 subscribers.

7/ A few people enjoyed my first article so I kept writing. I'd be lying if I was consistent, but for the most part, I kept writing. Most of the articles were about marketing or communication strategy.

8/ My biggest growth hack is when I'd publicize my stats. The night before each newsletter, I'd tweet how many people I was sending the newsletter to and how many subscribers I earned. https://twitter.com/amlewis4/status/1311476888653754368?s=20

9/ Building in public helped me earn RTs and likes. I never had an "aha" moment. My newsletter would grow slowly, but up and to the right.

10/ Eventually, I found my niche and started writing about the Attention Economy. I still don't know if this is the right niche, but picking a niche helps. When people think of Attention Economy, they think of me.

11/ When you choose a broad topic like marketing strategy, there's so much competition. Thought leaders like @profgalloway already do such a great job. I needed to think smaller. I read the Attention Merchant by @superwuster and settled on Attention Economy.

12/ I spent a lot of time researching the subject and reading books. I would turn my content into tweetstorms. A tweetstorm would get a ton of engagement and by adding a CTA at the bottom, people would on my newsletter. https://twitter.com/amlewis4/status/1306440073970429952?s=20

13/ In late September, I finally crossed a 1,000 subscribers. Two things really stood out that I'd attribute to my success: consistency and writing for a specific audience.

14/ If you want to write a successful newsletter, you need to be consistent. You can't send it one week and miss it the next week. Yes, it's not the end of the world to miss a newsletter, but not being consistent will wreck your chances for success.

15/ Early on I realized that my audience was mostly people in communication and PR roles. While my topics varied, I focused on serving this audience. It definitely made a big difference.

16/ Want to sign up for the newsletter?

Subscribe to my twice-weekly newsletter to receive original content about the Attention Economy. I help brands grow their audience. https://www.arilewis.com/subscribe