8 ways I plan to grow this newsletter

Our experiment to grow this newsletter is underway! This week I'm sharing exactly how I'm planning to grow in February.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [Creator Science]( Presented by [ConvertKit]() Hello my friend! We're a month into 2023 – how are things going on your end? I hope you're off to a quick start! And if you're not, there's still plenty of time to get things moving. This week I put the wheels into motion for the February experiment [I shared last week](=) – growing this newsletter to 20,000 subscribers by the end of February. There are 6-8 different mini-experiments I plan to run to make that happen: - Free workshop in front of another audience - Cross promotions with other newsletters - Paid promotion in different publications - Upscribe recommendations - Social posts (Twitter and LinkedIn) - LinkedIn Newsletter - SparkLoop referrals* - Twitter ads* *maybe Let me share give some context to each and where things stand so far... Free workshop in front of another audience In the hustle to build our audiences, it's easy to forget that our ideal audience may already be assembled somewhere – all we have to do is meet them there. I am a huge fan of Creative Mornings – an IRL morning speaker series in different cities across the globe. During the pandy, Creative Mornings had to adapt – so they started running online meetups called Virtual FieldTrips. These are sessions that speakers from across the globe provide for free to the Creative Mornings audience. But instead of attendees being limited by geography, anyone can attend any event from anywhere! I've hosted several Virtual FieldTrips and each has resulted in 500+ registrations and a room of 200-300 live attendees. Creative Mornings provides a reminder email and a wrap up email, through which I share the slides to my talk (in return for an email opt in). I'm hosting at least one of these in February. [You can apply here too](! Creative Mornings is a special community. If you plan to apply and host a virtual FieldTrip, please show up with a give-first mentality and leave the hard sales pitch at home. Cross promotions with other newsletters One of the best ways to get in front of newsletter readers is by showing up in other newsletters. Periodically I'll connect with another writer whose work I really respect and genuinely recommend. In those circumstances, we'll often run a low-pressure cross promotion in each others' newsletters (like [Creator Hooks](=) below). I have a couple of these lined up for February already. [Cross Promotion with Creator Hooks] ​ Paid promotion in other newsletters Sometimes the newsletters you want to appear in are at a larger scale or aren't open to straight up cross promotions. Often, those newsletters will still allow you to run paid campaigns. One of my favorite publications to run paid placement in is [Dense Discovery](). In February, I plan to run campaigns in The Publish Press as well as a few other independent creators. [Ad in Dense Discovery] ​ Upscribe recommendations As part of my [ConvertKit]() Creator Pro account, I'm given a [SparkLoop]( account as well. I'm a big fan of SparkLoop, and one of the best part is a new feature called Upscribe. ​[Upscribe]() operates like a recommendation engine for your newsletter. When someone subscribes, you can recommend they also subscribe to other newsletters (in one click): [For The Interested Recommendation] ​ I personally recommend Creator Wizard, For The Interested, and The Tilt. They recommend my publication as well (as you see here). As a result, any one of us capturing a new subscriber can benefit the others. But it gets better – you can pay to be recommended too (therefore incentivizing more publications to recommend you). I may play around with putting some paid spend into Upscribe for this experiment. Social posts This month, I got a LOT better at directing social media attention (on Twitter and LinkedIn) to my email newsletter. [Twitter Auto Plug]()​ ​ This is great, because my goal is to leverage social media to grow my newsletter – but until this point, it was kind of a "I hope they find their way over here" approach. Later in this email I share a thread where I describe my new workflow and how effective it is. The challenge is, even if you put a lot of work into a Thread on Twitter, you can't guarantee that it will go viral – and the viral posts FAR outperform even weeks of average engagement. So I can't depend on this strategy to hit my goal, but I'm going to try my best. LinkedIn Newsletter I have a [LinkedIn newsletter](=) with more than 40,000 subscribers. And the only thing more insane than that number is just how hard it seems to be to convince those subscribers to come over to THIS newsletter. ​ The analytics are terrible so I used my own SparkLoop tracking link on the newsletter issue pictured here. As far as I can tell, out of 40,000 subscribers, my CTA received 97 clicks (and converted 21 into subscribers). Woof. But it seems like a huge opportunity – so I'm going to keep trying. SparkLoop referrals Before Upscribe, SparkLoop was created to support email referral programs. I've tried this in the past with some lackluster results – but the issue wasn't the tool, the issue was my incentive. I have some new ideas for more effective incentives for referrals, so if I have the capacity to put them into action, I'll give this another shot. Twitter ads I may have missed the boat on this, but Twitter ads got a lot cheaper when Elon came onto the scene. I heard some chatter that Twitter ads for email subscribers were proving to be cost effective – but as a social ads amateur, I didn't pull the trigger. For the sake of this experiment, I may give it a shot. --------------------------------------------------------------- So that's the current plan! I'm sure more ideas will pop up throughout the month. Over the coming weeks, I'll share the results of each of these experiments as they trickle in. I've gotten a lot better at understanding [where subscribers are coming from](), so the data should be pretty fun! ​ ​ PRESENTED BY CONVERTKIT Jumpstart Your Email List Growing your audience and building an email list can feel daunting. You want to create something beautiful, fast, and simple that will help you get started – but you may not know where to begin or how to make it happen. ConvertKit is here to help. This very email was sent using ConvertKit because not only am I a major advocate, but I'm a power user. Join the Grow Your Audience Challenge and ConvertKit will give you all the tools you need in just 30 days - from creating a landing page to on-demand workshops teaching list-building tips. In less than 10 minutes, have your next big idea live and ready for the world. Sign up now and start growing your audience today. [Join the free challenge]() ​ ​ LISTEN ON CREATIVE ELEMENTS #133: Mariah Coz Selling high-ticket programs on evergreen (without sales calls) [Creative Elements Cover Art](=) Mariah Coz is the founder of [Fearless CEO](. Mariah teaches coaches, course creators, and CEOs strategies for growing a course company that is sustainable, impactful, and evergreen. In this episode, you’ll learn how Mariah thinks about pricing, how to design your high-ticket hybrid program, how to avoid sales calls, and why you may want to consider an evergreen offer. [Play episode](=) [Apple Podcasts]() [Spotify]( [Stitcher]() [YouTube](=) New to the show? Start with a [curated playlist](). ​ CLICK WORTHY 🔥 Check these out 🗓️ [Join me at CEX 2023](=) – Join me and other creators at Creator Economy Expo this May in Cleveland. Amazing agenda (including a few sessions with me) and even better networking. Save $100 with code CLOUSE100 --------------------------------------------------------------- 🎧 [Macklemore on The Great Creators podcast](=) – Guy Raz must've seen Creative Elements and thought, "That's a great idea!" He has a new show called The Great Creators, and this episode with Macklemore was a fun look into the music industry. ​ ​ [Featured Image]() OVERHEARD ON TWITTER Turning a viral thread into 800+ email subscribers Two weeks ago, I had a thread go viral: ​ - 2M impressions - 3000+ followers - 4600+ Likes - 750+ RTs - 250+ replies But what happened next is even more amazing... Read about the ripple effect 👇 [Keep reading (3 min) ↗]() ​ ​ LAST WORD 👋 My first solo YouTube video drops this week! My team and I have been hard at work on our first non-interview video for the channel this week. It's been fun! But it's also been a lot of work – creating a new process of planning, researching, scripting, editing... I'm in a real testing/experimental mindset right now. I have momentum, things are working well, but things don't yet feel "figured out." So I'm continuing to test assumptions and try new things. Here's a quick preview... ​ It's going to be LIT!** I'll share that full video later this week when it's out. But, if you haven't already, take a second to [subscribe to the channel]()! Cheers, Jay **are people still saying this? trying to sound cool. --------------------------------------------------------------- [Photo of Jay Clouse]( Jay Clouse [Say hi 👋 on Twitter]() or [Instagram]( ☎️ [Book a coaching call]( Thanks for reading! Reply any time. [Edit your profile]( or [unsubscribe here](. This email was sent with [ConvertKit]() and designed using [Palladio](=). Want to work together? - [Work with me 1:1]( – book a coaching or strategy session. - [Sponsor this newsletter](=) – get in front of 17K+ creators (booking into March). - [Join The Lab](=) – my membership community for creators (<40 spots open). - [Courses & Workshops](=) – learn the essential skills to become a professional creator. Send mail to P.O. BOX 797, Worthington, OH 43085