This is a different type of newsletter so buckle up.

Today, I want to explain how I’m using Beehiiv to grow my podcast.

Newsletters are exploding in the digital world right now. More and more people are writing about very specific topics and building a connection with their audience. I saw a newsletter about dog training the other day. The creativity and diversity of content is incredible.

The unique thing about newsletters is how growth is built into it. You can have a reward program, boost your newsletter to reach even more of your ideal listeners and even promote your show on other newsletters.

Let me breakdown my plan to grow my podcast using my Beehiiv newsletter.

How This Helps Podcasting

Podcasting doesn’t yet have a way to be discovered. There are platforms like GoodPods and Spotify has new engagement tools but that still isn’t enough. To put things into perspective, most YouTube channels go viral due to discovery and recommendations. In fact, YouTube has a tab for subscription videos that I never click on. I’m always watching what they recommend to me.

Podcasting is still missing this feature.

That’s why having a newsletter is so valuable. You can easily build a massive audience and continuously connect with your ideal listeners using a newsletter. Here are some direct tactics you can lean on to get listeners to become podcast subscribers.

All of these tactics are easy to execute on Beehiiv. You can start your free trial here.

Tactic 1: Sign up Email

As you create your email list, make sure your welcome email is setup. Your subscribers should be invited to your community in a very welcoming way. I like to give away a free resource, a survey to get data and a link to my podcast. This builds a real relationship with your listeners immediately upon subscribing. Make all your audience aware of the value you’re providing and why they need to be part of your community.

Tactic 2: Unique Content

Try to make your content on the newsletter different from what is on the podcast. Some of your posts can be a summary of the podcast episode, although I wouldn’t advise it. It’s much better to create content that people want to read and need to see. The lazy path would be using a summary of your episode in Claude or ChatGPT and asking for a newsletter post. Again, this would get you a ton of content but it wouldn’t be the best content that’s unique.

If you struggle with writing, try outlines. Take the time to outline what you want to write about at the highest level. Then write an outline for each section. Then write bullet points for each section. Now when you start writing, you’ll have a lot of content to help you get started!

Tactic 3: Link the Episodes

LInking your episodes in each email is key. But I think everything can go a step further. You should create a playlist that you link in each of your newsletter posts. For example, if I know podcasters want marketing tips for their show, I can create a list of 20 episodes for my audience to binge. It’ll be a complete game changer for you and your business.

Boost Campaigns

Yes, boost campaigns cost money. Putting money into growing your newsletter can change your entire life. (I know that sounds like an exaggeration but its definitely true.

I love boosts because you can set your price to start. Putting money into growing your newsletter this way makes it a lot easier to get your newsletter off the ground. Using that tagline of “Join 500+ podcasters” sounds a lot better when inviting new hosts to my community. It’s a weird thing but people care more about joining spaces where other are already present. Your newsletter could be incredible but a lot of people won’t subscribe until they see others are active. Boosts help you speed up this process.

I have a boost campaign going for this newsletter right now. The plan is to put at least $500 into my newsletter growth for the launch of the Podcast Playbook. I think every podcaster should use at least $50 per month to grow their newsletter, which will ultimately grow their podcast.

Reward Programs

I know the popular opinion is that reward programs are done for newsletters. I disagree. I believe the bigger problem is that newsletters now have to get better at rewarding subscribers. The hardcore fans and supporters of your brand will be lined up to promote you and get the right rewards.

Talking to your subscribers about the rewards they want is huge. But I wouldn’t just send out an email making that ask. A survey would be good but an actual meeting would be even better! Nothing compares to getting someone on the phone or Zoom to understand what they want. I like to start with having them rank the things they’d like to have the most to the resources they find to be the least valuable.

As far as rewards, always give people the things they actually want. Masterclasses, workshops, and even consultations are real needle movers. Help people solve problems. The reward doesn’t matter if you’re helping someone move closer to a solution that they want.

I’m now making the PodCentral Podcast subscriber only. Don’t worry! It won’t cost you anything. In fact, you’re already subscribed and the episodes will be delivered directly to your inbox.

But now, we’ve started a reward program. You can get things like masterclasses, courses and even one on one consulting sessions. You can get started with the referral program below!