Newsletter operators chasing cheap dopamine

I’m pretty sure the “Milk Road bubble” is over.

I used to get so many DMs from people ready to spend big to copy what Shaan Puri did with Milk Road.

From zero to a multi-million dollar exit in less than a year.

When you think about it, it was a perfect storm.

A guy that seemingly wasn’t an expert in crypto, just copied what his friend did (Sam Parr), made millions — and told the tale on a podcast to hundreds of thousands of scrappy entrepreneurs.

Of course there was a tidal wave of newsletters being launched in the wake of it.

But now, I’ve stopped getting those DMs.

And what’s left are DMs with operators running newsletters with steady incomes and usually been in business for many years.

Most of our clients are in that latter category.

What separates successful newsletter operators that have been in business for years from the rest?

Mindset.

Specifically: How they think about their subscriber acquisition.

Most fresh newsletter operators that stay at it for a few months, will probably be able to get a good cost-per-subscriber with Meta ads — and they’ll see it as a win.

Because in their mind: More subscribers = more revenue.

But the Meta algorithm has no idea what you’re actually optimizing for, so it will feed you anything to get the cost down.

Making sure you’re acquiring the right subscribers is on you.

And if you have no idea about who you should be acquiring, then you’re basically chasing cheap dopamine.

If you’re monetizing with a high ticket offer for agency owners with $1M+ in annual revenue and $200k+ in profit, then you have to make sure Meta is acquiring that type of subscriber.

You have to survey all your subscribers, and make sure your ads are attracting the right subscriber with the right hook, copy, language and creative.

So:

1. Make sure you’re attracting the right audience using the right hook, copy, language and creatives.

2. Survey your subscribers to make sure they’re the right fit for your offers.

3. Track which ad is generating the best and worst quality and double down on the copy you’re using in the best.

4. Iterate until you have 3-5 great performers.

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I get requests from people that want to pay me to jump on calls with them.

They’re usually either starting out with Meta ads, or have done it for a while and want to use me to optimize things.

But I’m testing out something else.

If you want to get direct access to me, I’m setting up a few spots at AdvicefromMe — where you’ll be able to get direct access to me via DMs and ask me stuff like:

• How to make sure you’re buying the right subscribers

• How to optimize your cold traffic funnel

• How to get your CPL/CPA down

Get access here.

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All the best,

Gunnar S. Holm

Growjoy (agency).

Twitter.