How I got 700 newsletter subscribers WITHOUT sending a single email
Exactly 8 months ago, I bought the domain marketingideas.com. I planned to create a newsletter packed with powerful marketing ideas.
But my content wasn’t ready.
So, what did I do? I put up a straightforward Wix landing page featuring a "Join the waitlist" button for visitors to leave their email addresses.
It looked like this:
People told me that what got them hooked was this golden line: "The sooner you join, the sooner you'll get access" — the urgency bias here is strong here.
Then, I got busy writing LOTS of marketing advice online - completely free! I shared on platforms like Reddit, Indie Hackers, Twitter, you name it. At the end of each and every post, I'd mention it, nudging people to join the waitlist. Yeah, also here on IH :)
I also volunteered to speak at webinars and conferences. At the end of my presentations, I mentioned my upcoming newsletter.
Did it work? You bet!
692 people joined the waitlist, giving me their emails for the soon-to-launch newsletter.
Yesterday, I launched marketingideas.com on Substack. And boy, what a kickstart those early registrants gave me! 🥳
Here's my key takeaway:
Don't wait until your project is complete to start promoting it! Share valuable content related to your project online, and offer to speak at events. You can totally promote yourself (as long as you give value to people).
So, what are your tactics for expanding your subscriber base?
I'd love to hear 🙏
Congratulations! A newbie here, but can you give an advice on how can one actually create valuable content (a pdf lead magnet, a blog/article, etc)? Been trying to take a jab at it for months but to no avail.
Really impressive! One more subscriber here haha🔥
Yay thanks!
Congrats! The strategy is quite different from what I heard before!
Thanks Akshay!
Congrats man! And this is truly great advice. How long did it take you to get the first 100 sign ups? I have been trying to promote this past week with only 1 sign up hard to not get discouraged ngl.
It's actually magical - the first 100 came within 60 seconds (like a BOOM), exactly when I talked about it at the end of this webinar (Hebrew): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGoqnJgmvAs
The pre-launch strategy is powerful! I remember when I was starting CategorySurfers.com and managed to get my first 100 subs in a week.
Nice! Great pace! May I ask what made you choose Beehiiv over Substack?
Congrats Tom! Great execution, indeed! If you don't mind me asking, what was your main acquisition channel for your newsletter?
Currently, my main channel is Substack network - it's a huge driver of new signups. Once I publish more content, I aim to officially launch it on Linkedin, Twitter, etc.
Substack seems to be the perfect platform for that! Will keep an eye on your launch on LinkedIn, Twitter! ;)
Congrats! Your pre-launch strategy is inspiring. Building trust and offering value is indeed the way to go. Keep up the great work! P.S. +1 subscribed 🙂
Thank you Daria!
Awesome Story, and great strategy. Sometimes it is the small things!
Totally!
Nice ideas, very inspiring...
Thank you!
This was very insightful, thank you for sharing!!!
Much needed here.
And very well depicted using all the images and data.
This also adds validations.
Good posting strategy!
Thanks! I'm a visual storyteller :)
You got one more subscriber. Btw really loved the domain name. Having invested into domain names, it feels good to know how a good domain name with a strong execution plan is a killer combo.
Thank you so much, I agree with you 100%. It will allow me to claim the space of marketing ideas and become the #1 "category king" with such authority in the .com
Hii ! Is making 'blog using ai' a good micro saas idea ?
It's a nice gimmick IMO, but I don't think anyone would love to read AI-written texts on their own
Right, how u come up with the ideas ? I thought to start a website in which i give good business ideas to rich people, but now I am struggling to get a good idea for my startup 😂😂
I have hundreds of ideas to write about already. I gathered them through my 10+ years of experience.
Hey Tom,
Just read your first article on GEO ( and I am hooked), added something new to my worldview.
Also, as a side note, I am launching a newsletter reading and discovery app called addletter.com, do let me know if we could collaborate on this.
We would love to feature you at the top of our Marketing Category.
Sweet! Just dropped you an email (using your google form), let's talk
Great strategy. Congrats on the execution!
Thank you Ben!
This is a great one.
I haven't begun building a subscriber base, but I do have an app for content creators and businesses to analyze competitors and manage the content creation process.
I appreciate this perspective as it gives me ideas for how I could grow.
Here, you're doing it right now 👏 I assume your app domain is viralapp.io ?
If so, that's a genius move — because it's your IH username.
Oh man thanks. I’m actually now at the beginning stages of figuring out how to market it.
One step at a time.
Congrats Tom! You've gained another subscriber :)
How are you planning to monetize it?
Thank you Dima!
Substack allows for paid subscriptions, so I'm thinking about that for the far future... But for now, I enjoy giving away marketing ideas for free :)
Congratulations, Tom.
Promoting before completion works because you get to know if the market needs what you're offering OR NOT.
You definitely killed it using this strategy 👏🏽
Thanks! I totally agree. Some validation is required here pre-promotion.
Absolutely, as a product manager, I wholeheartedly embrace the idea of proactive promotion. Waiting until a project is complete to promote it can hinder its success. Instead, I advocate for a strategic approach where we share valuable content for our project online and actively seek opportunities to showcase our expertise. By offering insightful articles, informative videos, or engaging social media posts related to our project's domain, we establish ourselves as thought leaders and build anticipation among our target audience.
This is crazy.
I don't have any webinars or conferences to speak to but the rest is great advice. Although I also believe it depends on the type of content. "Powerful marketing ideas" definitely sounds cooler than "supercharge your learning".
Insightful marketing strategy
Great strategy! Promoting your project before it’s complete is a smart move. It allows you to gauge the market’s
Awesome, thanks for the advice
That was indeed a very good move! Thanks for sharing it.
Congratulations! This is fantastic advice. How much time did it take you to secure the initial 100 sign-ups? I've been promoting it for the last week and have just one sign-up. It's tough not to feel disheartened, to be honest.
awesome! congrats :) sometimes you just need to get started :)
Love the marketing urgency!
Dang. That's awesome. A great way to validate the idea before you launched it. You got people hyped up.
Excellent advice.
You didn't send an email ... but you did promote the heck out of it.
Answering questions on Reddit is a great way to get the word out about a newsletter.
This is awesome, Tom - particularly inspiring at the current moment as I'm planning to launch a newsletter any day as well :) Just subscribed to Marketing Ideas!
Any other platforms you'd recommend for sharing free content/advice, starting to build relationships, etc.?
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