How NOT To Build A Newsletter & Lead Magnet 🤦‍♂️ - What I've Learned

Hey guys,

I'm not one to post here often, but I wanted to share some tips on lead magnets/newsletters having created one that succeeded in its own right, but failed to drive any traffic to my main product.

So for context, one of the businesses I run is https://blogwritingservicesuk.com/. We figured that people using our service were probably also guest posting on other people's sites and potential customers were likely doing the same (agencies etc). So we launched a newsletter https://guestpostjuice.substack.com/ where every week we shared places that were looking for guest post submissions, helping readers to save time looking for guest post opportunities, so they could spend more time submitting pitches.

The newsletter grew at a fantastic rate. Subscribers really found value in the newsletter with many reaching out to share their successful guest posting wins. So in that sense, it was a raging success, we'd built something people liked and that they could access easily.

However, we didn't see a single one of these subscribers become a paid customer of our blog writing service. With no way of getting an ROI on the newsletter, we realised it wouldn't be financially sustainable. We thought about advertising as a revenue source, or even adding a paywall. But neither aligned with our overarching goal or values.

Following some feedback from readers we pivot the newsletter into a paid database, that was filterable. The newsletter although no longer updated regularly remained free so those willing to hunt for what they wanted could still get it free.
This avoided the need to be continually updating a newsletter week on week, while still providing great value at a reasonable cost.

Ultimately the product was successful in its own right, but an absolutely sh*t lead magnet, as it generated zero leads. So here's what I learned:

Ensure you really know what your customers want - Don't build something you think they want. And ensure you understand your ideal client personas. It turns out a lot of SEO's and founders loved Guest Post Juice, but didn't have the budget or interest in our Blog Writing Service.
If it's not financially sustainable, make it a one-off so you're not having to continually spend time updating it.
PIVOT - If you have a subscriber base, they're there for a reason, don't ditch them, find a way to make it work where everyone wins.
Know when to quit - While many people quit things too early, if something isn't meeting your goals, or achieving what it set out to do, end it or pivot.
For lead magnets or newsletters - create something that truly adds value, the kind of value where they're going to email you telling you how awesome you are. If nothing else it's a nice ego tickle!

I hope this helps someone. In the meantime, you'll find the database version of Guest Post Juice on Product Hunt here -
https://www.producthunt.com/posts/guest-post-juice-2

If you have less than 5 paying customers drop me a DM and I'll give you free access to the full database, no questions asked 🙂