Which newsletter platform should you use?
Substack, LinkedIn, Medium, Beehiiv, MailChimp, Constant Contact, Marketo, Pardot?
I’ve been writing newsletters for a long time. But right now they are sort of having a renaissance with the explosion of Substack, Beehiiv, and Medium.
Both Mailchimp and Constant Contact platforms have been around a long time. Mostly geared toward SMBs and MidMarket. But now, the emergence of Substack, Beehiiv, and Medium are democratizing newsletters for anyone who has an opinion and wants to get the word out on any topic.
Things that are often banned on social media, such as politics, are not banned on newsletter sites like Substack, for example.
To be honest, today’s newsletters feel more like blogs except you don’t have to worry about hosting.
Where you once before needed to rely on ads to drive folks to read your publicly available content and have no idea who they were, now they can easily discover your content on these platforms more easily.
Substack, Medium, Beehiiv
I have tried all of these platforms, and I keep coming back to Substack. But first let me tell you about the others.
The draw that Medium has is its large viewership. They make content very easily discoverable. But the drawback for me was in order to really get your content noticed, you have to sign up for the Medium Partner Program, which requires you to become a paid member (minimum $50/year) and post regularly.
Beehiiv is more focused on businesses rather than individuals, and has a smaller footprint overall. But the tool is easy to use, feels almost like a WordPress interface. The drawback for me was you’re limited to 2500 subscribers on the free plan, then you have to pay to upgrade.
Substack has a larger footprint, 36M active monthly users and over 5M paid subscribers. It doesn’t limit your publication based on subscribers. It’s free to use as there is (currently) zero cost for publishing and storing your content. They also don’t make you pay to be a member before you’re able to monetize. They rely heavily on their network effect, which can be a draw back if you can’t connect with other writers to recommend you. However, the community is rather large and quite engaged, you’re sure to find cross promotion by someone. They make their money with a small cut of your paid subscriber revenue.
A golden opportunity for B2B SaaS brands
Most brands use Marketo, Constant Contact, Mailchimp, Pardot, Eloqua, or some other corporate email platform. These platforms are fine. However, your reach is limited to your email database --> and this puts pressure on Demand Gen to build up the database. That usually costs money.
“Brands are missing out on the discoverability of their content via the network effect of newsletter sites like Substack, Medium, and Beehiiv” — Tracy Sestili, CMO/CRO
What brands are missing out on is the discoverability of their content via the network effect of sites like Substack, Medium, and Beehiiv.
- Medium has over 100M active monthly users
- Substack has over 36M active users, but a more engaged community
- Beehiiv doesn't release their numbers but assume it's less than 10M MAUs
The pros:
👉 You own your subscribers on these platforms
👉 You own your content on these platforms
👉 You can establish thought leaders within your organization on them
👉 They have built-in networks you can leverage, extending your reach & brand
👉 They have high domain authority
The cons:
❌ there is no tracking for lead scoring. But does a click on your newsletter really mean that much?
❌ the content is disconnected from your website. But isn’t most thought leadership content off-site?
Developing authority, trust, and credibility in your category are far more important than tracking and scoring a click for intent or worrying about the lack of connectivity to your site.
Example
Elena Verna’s newsletter, Elena’s Growth Scoop, has over 64K subscribers. She just took a role leading marketing and growth at Lovable (👏 ). For Lovable, this is a huge win because Elena can now talk openly about Lovable’s product using her same newsletter platform which already talks about growth. Lovable just got brand exposure to her 64K+ subscribers on Substack and will continue to gain exposure through this avenue.
For brands, it’s another avenue to get your content discovered and manufacture thought leaders within your company.
When you have thought leaders, you:
build trust and credibility among the buying team
reduce perceived risk because they already know you
can pre-sell solutions and educate the market, accelerating sales cycles
command higher prices because buyers focus on value, not cost
You don't have to switch your entire email program over to these platforms, but it might be worth considering just switching out your newsletter to see what it gets you.
What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments.
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