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I’m having one-on-one calls with Newsletter Circle readers!

Everybody says, “Know your audience”, but very few mention HOW to do this.

So, I’ve decided to create my own process.

I posted about this on LinkedIn last week, and it got so much attention that I decided to share a bit more details here.

How did I decide to talk to my subscribers?

After building Newsletter Circle for a year and studying successful newsletters, it was time to level up. I want to create useful resources and meaningful revenue streams to turn it into a solid business.

But with so many ideas floating around – courses, communities, case studies, paid membership – I was stuck.

There is a lot to talk about and a lot of paths, but I couldn’t manage to decide which one to take. After an honest discussion with myself, I confessed the obvious truth:

I always said I write for newsletter creators & enthusiasts, but is that too broad? I needed specifics: who reads my content? Are they newbies or veterans, or both? What are their pain points and needs? 

I knew that figuring this out would shape who I interview, what I write about, and which products I ultimately create.

What exactly do I need to learn?

To make my thinking more structured, I listed three main questions that I desperately need to get answers to make iterations and further develop Newsletter Circle:

• Who am I writing to?

• What do they like / not like about my content?

• What are their main struggles with newsletters?

The answers to these questions will help me:

• craft a well-defined target audience persona

• ensure product-market fit

• create relevant products

How did I schedule the calls and get prepared?

After identifying the problem and the questions, I created a simple action plan.

First, I sent out a mini survey where I asked about:

• whether the respondent has a newsletter or has any intention to start one

• the size of the newsletter and the biggest challenges for the ones who have a newsletter

• social media accounts

Then, I started to book 15-minutes calls starting with survey respondents.

Having the survey answers beforehand helped me to prepare for each call by knowing where to focus and keeping the discussion as short as possible.

After reaching out to all survey respondents, I continue with VIP subscribers, as how I call them. This segment, which I’ve already been following separately on Beehiiv, has an average open rate of over 85% and a click rate of 12%. So, they’re already highly familiar with my content and have strong opinions about it.

Numeric objectives

So far, I’ve booked 27 calls in total and had 20 of them.

My objective is to have 100 calls. I believe this number is sizeable enough to generate insights to shape my strategy.

What’s next?

The process has been enlightening so far. I've already started identifying strategic shifts I need to make.

Plus, it is amazing to meet and talk to fellow creators.
As newsletter creators, we're building communities beyond numbers and metrics. It's empowering to remember I'm writing for real people!

I’m really grateful for anyone who has joined the calls so far.

Now, I continue with reach-outs and also prepare a small thank-you gift. I should have done this before, but I got so excited about the idea of having these calls that I couldn’t wait to start more.

I'm excited about what's to come and will share the entire process in detail once it's complete.

What about you?

I spent years doing market research for brands. I joined dozens of focus groups, designed surveys, and wrote reports on the results.

It is such a shame for me to wait so long to start connecting with you.

But here I am, entirely focused on listening to you.

Would you be up for a short call to meet and talk about newsletters?

If your answer is yes, you can book a call with me using the link below.

That’s all for today. See you on Sunday with another exciting interview!

Ciler

ICYMI

Stacked Marketer by Emanuel Cinca → “Focus on the truth when it comes to your readership, build a healthy business, and you’ll have all the options and leverage for the future.”

👉 Do you want to reach over 2,000 newsletter creators & enthusiasts?