👋🏻 Welcome to Newsletter Examples, where I highlight the most innovative features I’m seeing in newsletters to help you improve your newsletter.

This week, I’m sharing 3 strategies Louis Nicholls of Grow My Newsletter used to grow his list to 13k+ subscribers through his first 6 issues. Reading time: 2 minutes.

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Strategy #1: Land endorsements

Before launching in late May, Louis tapped 15 top creators, including Jay Clouse of Creator Science, Chenell Basilio of Growth in Reverse, and Justin Moore of Creator Wizard—to help publicize his new newsletter.

He followed a simple playbook:

1. Build a relationship that made those creators want to see him succeed.

2. Give them something valuable to share with their audience.

3. Make sure that sharing led to a positive business result for them.

With the help of those creators, he landed 5k+ subscribers in his first 48 hours (peep this 8-minute YouTube video for more on his strategy).

Strategy #2: Form growth loops

The majority of Louis’s growth has come from “growth loops,” he told me, where he:

• Forms partnerships with other newsletters that have a similar audience to his (in his opinion, Newsletter Radar is the best place to find these, alongside existing subscribers)

• Creates one useful, email-gated "freebie" each week (directories, swipe files, templates, quizzes, calculators, free tools, webinars)

• Proactively lets his newsletter partners know about products he’s created that their audiences might like, in the hope that they'll share them

• Features his partners in his recommendations widget, further encouraging them to share his stuff with their audience as it leads to new subscribers for them, too

The strategy has paid off: The freebies have led to anywhere from 1k to 5k+ new subscribers per week, “depending on how good my freebie is,” Louis says.

Strategy #3: Build a YouTube presence

Four videos he uploaded in May have provided surprising lift. Collectively, they get 300-500 views/day, converting into ~30 new subscribers/day.

One video—5 Newsletter Ideas That Can Make You $1M+—has 7k views.

Another—I Used This Secret to Blow Up My Newsletter—has 4.6k.

His YouTube channel has almost 1k subscribers, and he plans to keep investing in it—in part because it’s driving so many free newsletter sign-ups.

“If I can produce more videos and 10x my views,” Louis wrote in a recent issue of Grow My Newsletter, “I'll be at 300+ new subscribers per day from YouTube alone.”

BTW: You don’t have to start your own YouTube channel to leverage that platform. Just make content that gets the attention of YouTube stars like Mina Le, whose endorsement of The Trend Report in the first 10 seconds of this video led to thousands of new subscribers for that newsletter, along with others it recommends, including Ben Dietz’s [SIC].

Hope you enjoyed this week’s examples. I’ll be back next week with a new set.

☮️ -Brad

P.S. Did this email help you? Do me a solid by sharing this link with 1 newsletter pal… 🙏 

P.P.S. Want 5 more bullets on how Louis is growing his newsletter? Reply to this email with “growth loop god” and I’ll send ‘em your way!

ICYMI: Links to recent issues

⚛️ The secret to James Clear’s success
📬️ What’s the best way to start your email? Copy these 5 awesome intros
🔚What’s the best way to end your email? Copy these 5 killer closers
🥇How Yahoo Sports AM turned the Paris Olympics into newsletter gold
💰️How The Generalist’s revenue jumped ~20% in one week