Grasping at Straws

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Hey honeys and hustlers,

Paid social is not a replacement for brand storytelling. Yes, I’m aware there’s an ad in this newsletter article; I said what I said. Since joining beehiiv, I’ve seen many newsletter writers who are growing their audience by leaps and bounds. But when I look closer at their Twitter feed or check them out in the Slack group, I realize that the ones experiencing exponential growth aren’t doing it organically. They’re growing their lists with paid ads on social media. There’s nothing wrong with having a paid social strategy, but it’s far from the silver bullet it was once thought to be.

While paid social can drive short-term results, sustainable growth requires a more diverse approach centered around authentic brand storytelling. A lot of the newsletter writers I see experiencing massive growth are also experiencing massive churn because they don’t have an existing connection with their new subscribers. If you want to build a genuine connection with your new subscribers (or customers and clients), or just don’t want to pay Meta (also valid), here are some things I recommend:

1. go all in on YouTube. Yes, this may require some money upfront and definitely requires time and effort, but it pays dividends. I spoke more about why I stan YouTube in my previous article: Top 5 Best Marketing Channels of 2025.

2. creator partnerships. Find other creators who do or talk about something similar to what you create and find ways to partner with them. Cross-promotions are popular and mutually beneficial and can work across just about any creative medium. A 2-part collaboration video that’s shared on each of your platforms, podcast feed swaps, guest posting on a newsletter or blog. The possibilities and upsides are endless.

3. creator/influencer sponsorships. If you want to spend money, paying a creator with a sizeable and engaged audience may be a good option. Sponsoring a newsletter, a first-hand product review, or a social media post that goes live in coordination with a launch are all good options.

4. live events. Hear me out. You don’t need to turn into an event curator or event coordinator overnight. You could sponsor an event, not just with money, but with your services or products. You could speak at an event and include a freebie or CTA to subscribe to your newsletter (or listen to your podcast, etc.). You could also become an event vendor, and have a signup sheet at your table.

5. loyalty programs. I also spoke about the effectiveness of referral programs in incentivizing repeat purchases, generating word of mouth, and warm leads. You can read more about how to structure these here: Top 5 Best Marketing Channels of 2025. They may take a while to set up and see what perks people want in exchange for their continued support, but they pay off in the long run.

6. brand building on organic social. Social media is a top-of-funnel engagement platform. Growing on social media means that you’re expanding the reach of the people who will see your posts and potentially click on links in your posts. Online audiences are leverage for your long-form content, services, products, and more. Despite the shuffling on social media these days, your audience is out there, you just have to find them and accept that they may be spread out across different platforms. Brand building doesn’t mean just posting, it also means hopping in the comments sections and DMs of people you want to connect with. Don’t be shy, say hi (I write, as one of the most introverted people you’ll ever meet)!

The Power of Organic Social

I’ll always be bullish (do people still use this word?) on organic social. If you can’t find an audience for what you want to create, throwing money at the problem isn’t going to change the fact that no one wants it. What I hope you realize with this list is that anything you get quickly, you can lose quickly. Marketing isn’t something that happens quickly and doesn’t take much effort. This can be hard for businesses and organizations to wrap their head around sometimes (in-house creators and freelancers, I feel your pain), but it’s the truth.

You should have to earn support from people. You should put in effort for the things you want. Whether that’s more subscribers, more customers, or more clients. Behind every successful launch or marketing campaign are months and years of dedicated work to master creative concepts that resonate with people to build trust. And sometimes that can mean spending money, but more often than not, it doesn’t.

Please Hustle Responsibly,

🤙🏾✨

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