DAY 3. Let's get into it.
When I had a few hundred subscribers, I reached out to a relatively popular newsletter that had 10x my subscriber count asking if they’d do a cross-promotion with me. I got turned down: “Sorry, I’m more interested in doing cross-promotions with newsletters more my size.”
Ouch. That stung and I resisted the temptation to try again for a long time.
Does that mean you shouldn't try? Absolutely not.
Greg Bussmann increased his Growth Mindset subscribers 30% with cross-promotions. He reached out to larger newsletters asking about cross-promotions:
"Cross-promotion has easily been the biggest growth strategy for me. It can be tough when starting out and your list is smaller, because you need someone with a big list but you don't have as much to offer them. If ask around enough, there are generous newsletter creators out there who remember what it was like getting started."
Follow Greg on Twitter and check out his Growth Mindset newsletter: "Resources to teach small businesses how to DIY their own content and marketing strategies."
I didn't do cross-promotion outreach for a long time because of that initial rejection. And I can't help but think of the missed opportunities.
Don't be like me!
Since my initial cross-promo rejection, I've leveraged this strategy to huge success lately. I was featured in Jay Clouse's Creative Companion newsletter (10,000+ subs) and Josh Spector's For The Interested (18,000+ subs) to name a few.
Find newsletters who are speaking to a similar or complementary audience—“complementary” meaning if your newsletter audience is for ketchup enthusiasts, you’ll want to find the newsletter that’s talking to the French fry fans.
But how do you find these newsletters?
Use Google —and/or— search in newsletter directories like:
→ Newsletters.co → InboxReads.co → InboxStash.com → RadLetters.com
And once you find a few, keep an eye out for newsletters they mention, recommend or promote. Then reach out to those ones, too.
Found a few newsletters? Use this outreach template by Dan at TLDR (copy + paste + edit underlined):