Cross-promotions are one of the best ways to grow your newsletter for free. If you don't already have a large network to share your newsletter with it can be tough to find subscribers at the beginning. Advertising costs money and is difficult to justify if you're still figuring things out. This is where cross-promotion can be the best option.
Cross-promotion is where two newsletter creators agree to share links to each other's newsletter in their own. It's like a link exchange but via email. You both get the opportunity to appear in front of new audiences and find subscribers so there's no cost involved.
Even after you've found a solid audience it can continue to be a great marketing tool to continue to grow your subscribers.
The challenge is to find newsletters interested in cross-promotions and likely to give you the best results.
1. InboxReads Search
InboxReads offers a search feature that lets you find newsletters interested in cross-promotions. You can then filter those results by by subscriber count, topics covered, and more to find the best match. Then you can contact creators from the website and setup your partnership.
To keep track of new cross-promotion opportunities you can also receive email alerts whenever a new newsletter interested in cross-promotion is available. Just create an InboxReads account here, and then click the 'Create Alert' button in your dashboard to start receiving new opportunities.
2. Recommended Cross-Promotions
After submitting your newsletter for free to InboxReads you'll be given a list of other newsletters we think will make great partners for cross-promotion on your dashboard.
These newsletters are decided based on similar topics covered and comparable audience sizes. The best cross-promotions are when you're both in related fields and your audience size is close enough that it's a win-win.
3. Newsletter Communities
Communities for newsletter creators are also a great place to find potential partners. Check out Indie Hackers' Newsletter Crew, Newsletter Creators on Facebook, and r/newsletters.
These communities are filled with newsletter writers who will be happy to collaborate if you're a good fit. Simply share your your newsletter, a brief description of it and its audience, subscriber count, and what you're looking for. If there's anyone in the community that's a match they'll reach back to you.
There'll also be older posts from creators looking to start cross promoting so be sure to spend some time searching the forum as well.
4. Direct Outreach
You likely already read other newsletters in your niche or related ones. They can be the source of cross-promotion opportunities if you contact them directly. You'll already know a lot about their content and audience so it'll help you decide if it makes sense for both of you.
But keep in mind cross-promotion usually relies on each writer having similarly sized audiences. Don't expect someone with 100Ks of subscribers to cross-promote if you're just getting started.
Easy Right?
Finding cross-promotion opportunities can take a lot of research but it's a free way to grow your newsletter that can have great results. Once you've found potential candidates then it's simply a matter of reaching out and negotiating your partnership. And no matter the size of your audience it can be a useful part of your marketing arsenal.
