Latest / The Newsletter Podcast with Fexingo: Substack, Beehiiv, and Email Newsletter Business / How Newsletter Writers Use Partner Cross-Promotions to Grow
Transcript
- Lucas: So you've got a newsletter with a few thousand subscribers. You're writing great content every week, but growth has plateaued. You could buy ads — but that gets expensive fast. Or you could do what a writer named Sarah did last quarter: she added 1,200 subscribers in a single week, without spending a dollar on ads. Luna: I think I know where this is going — partner cross-promotions. Swapping recommendations with complementary newsletters. Lucas: Exactly. Sarah runs a newsletter called 'The Indie Investor' — it's about personal finance for freelancers and solopreneurs. She identified three other newsletters in adjacent spaces: one on freelancing tools, one on tax strategies for the self-employed, and one on side hustles. Each had audiences between 5,000 and 10,000 subscribers — bigger than her 3,000, but not massive. Luna: And she proposed a swap — she'd write a short blurb recommending their newsletter in her next issue, and they'd do the same for her. Lucas: Right. But here's the detail that made it work: she didn't just say 'hey, let's swap blurbs.' She came with a specific offer. She would write a dedicated 'recommended reading' section — about 100 words explaining why her audience would find their newsletter valuable. And she asked them to do the same, but she also offered to write the blurb for them if they wanted. That lowered the effort on their end. Luna: That's smart. The biggest friction in a cross-promotion is the writing. If you make it easy for the other person, they're much more likely to say yes. Lucas: Exactly. So she sent a short email to each partner — no long pitch, just a clear description of her audience and a sample blurb they could use. All three said yes. She scheduled the mentions to go out in the same week — Monday, Wednesday, Friday — so there was a compounding effect. Luna: And the result was 1,200 new subscribers over that week. What was her conversion rate like? Lucas: She tracked it with unique referral links. The biggest partner — the freelancing tools newsletter with 10,000 subscribers — drove about 600 sign-ups, a 6% conversion rate. The tax strategy newsletter with 7,000 subscribers drove 400, around 5.7%. The side hustle newsletter with 5,000 drove 200, about 4%. So the conversion was actually pretty consistent across the board. Luna: I find that surprising. You'd expect the biggest audience to have the lowest conversion because it's less targeted. But 6% from 10,000 is really strong. Lucas: Well, the freelancing tools audience was probably the closest to her niche — freelancers who need to manage irregular income. So it makes sense. But the key takeaway is that even the 'smallest' partner — 5,000 subscribers — drove 200 new sign-ups. That's a 4% conversion, which is still excellent for an email list. Luna: So what about the risk of audience mismatch? If you recommend a newsletter to your readers and it's not a great fit, you can lose trust. Lucas: That's the biggest downside. You have to vet your partners carefully. Sarah only agreed to partners whose content she had actually read and respected. She actually subscribed to each one for a month before reaching out. That way she could write the blurb authentically. Luna: That's a good rule of thumb. I've seen newsletters do swaps where they clearly haven't read the other one — and it shows. The blurb is generic, like 'Check out this other newsletter about business.' It doesn't convert. Lucas: Exactly. The best cross-promotions are specific. Sarah's blurb for the tax strategy newsletter said something like: 'If you've ever wondered whether you should be paying estimated taxes quarterly — and how to actually do it without a headache — this is the newsletter for you.' That's a real value proposition. Luna: And it signals to her audience that she's done the homework. Now, what about the timing? She scheduled all three in the same week. Is that better than spacing them out? Lucas: In her case, the compounding effect was real. When a new subscriber joined on Monday, they got her regular issue on Wednesday with another recommendation — but they also saw that other people had recommended her. It created a sort of social proof. However, if you have a small audience, you might want to space them out so you don't overwhelm your readers. Sarah's audience was already engaged, so it worked. Luna: Makes sense. I've also seen writers do reciprocal swaps where they run a series with the same partner — like one newsletter recommends the other in issue one, and then the partner returns the favor in their next issue. That can build a longer-term relationship. Lucas: That's a great point. A one-off swap is good, but recurring swaps — maybe quarterly — can turn into a steady acquisition channel. And you can even track cohort retention: are subscribers from partner A sticking around longer than from partner B? That can inform future partnerships. Luna: Let's talk about tracking. You mentioned unique referral links. What's the best way to set those up? Lucas: Most email platforms like Beehiiv or ConvertKit allow you to create custom sign-up links with UTM parameters. So for each partner, you'd create a link like yournewsletter.com/subscribe?ref=partner-name. Then you can see in your analytics exactly how many sign-ups came from each source. Some writers also build a simple landing page per partner to track even more precisely. Luna: Do you recommend asking partners to share their open and click-through rates afterward? That can help you gauge the quality of the audience. Lucas: Absolutely. If a partner has a 50% open rate and your blurb got a 10% click rate, that's a strong signal. You can compare with the overall average. Sarah told me that the freelancing tools newsletter had a 55% open rate, and 12% of readers clicked her link. That's how she knew it was a good match. Luna: So what's the biggest mistake you see writers make with cross-promotions? Lucas: They go after partners with huge audiences but low relevance. A newsletter about investing for freelancers reaching out to a general personal finance newsletter with 100,000 subscribers — the conversion might be less than 1%, and the new subscribers might not be engaged. You'd rather have 200 highly engaged subscribers than 1,000 who never open your emails. Luna: Quality over quantity. And I'd add that you should never pay for a cross-promotion. The whole point is mutual benefit. If someone asks you to pay for a mention, that's an ad, not a partnership. Lucas: Right. And finally, follow up after the swap. Send a thank-you, share the results if you're comfortable, and suggest a future collaboration. That's how you build a network of fellow writers who can become long-term growth channels. Luna: I like that. It turns a one-time tactic into a relationship. And relationships are what make the newsletter space so interesting. Lucas: Speaking of relationships — and I know this is a bit meta — but the reason we can have conversations like this, digging into real tactics without any ads, is that a small number of listeners choose to support the show. If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used, there's a buy me a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. A handful of listeners chip in monthly, and that's literally what funds us making this many episodes. Luna: Yeah, it's a small group, but it makes a huge difference. Keeps everything independent. Lucas: Exactly. So back to cross-promotions — one more thing I want to mention. If you're just starting out and don't have a big list, you can still do swaps. You can offer to write a guest post for someone's newsletter in exchange for a mention. That's essentially a cross-promotion with content. Luna: That's a great low-barrier entry point. So the takeaway: vet your partners, make it easy for them, track everything, and build for the long term. I think that's actionable for any newsletter writer. Lucas: Exactly. And if you try it, let us know how it goes. We might feature your story in a future episode.