Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years • Hacker News Board

Re: Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

#31

Post by qeng-ho » Fri, Mar 19, 2021, 4:54 AM UTC

cavalcade119 wrote: post #9

A video recently went viral of David Bowie in 1999 saying that the internet was going to be the future. We're at a similar place with newsletters - a frontier that is on the verge of exploding. I run Thinking About Things [0], a simple newsletter that is a single link every other day to something interesting. The response has been astonishing - it's gotten thousands of subscribers in a single year with no marketing.…

As someone who is subbed to TAT, your newsletter has provided me with quite a few interesting reads, especially when some of the articles are years old, yet still relevant. Keep up the good work!

Re: Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

#32

Post by enobrev » Fri, Mar 19, 2021, 5:33 AM UTC

This is fairly unrelated, and late enough after this was posted that not many will see this, but it's interesting how marketing works.

I fast-forwarded through an ad for Morning Brew after some youtube video the other day and thought to myself that it might be worth looking into. I'd completely forgotten about it until I saw this come up. Haven't even read the article yet, but I have subscribed.

Had I seen one without the other, I don't think I would have ever noticed or cared about them - or at least not any time soon. But the two in combination got my email address onto their list. This is also that sort of stat that never shows up in analytics dashboards. I googled it and subscribed. There's no way for them to know that the ad, which I barely watched, along with this bit of PR, which I haven't actually read, was what brought me to them (unless they see it here, I suppose).

Re: Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

#33

Post by rorykoehler » Fri, Mar 19, 2021, 5:35 AM UTC

alex_g wrote: post #15

I thought the newsletter trend was a bit ridiculous, and then I started writing one. Writing a blog feels a bit like throwing messages into the wind, and tweeting sometimes feels like trying to start a conversation in the middle of a concert. Writing a newsletter and knowing there's a group of people who signed on to hear directly what you have to say feels so much more personal.

I don't understand how everyone is expecting to monetise newsletters. Who in their right mind pays for a newsletter unless the newsletter provides some transactable value (cheap flight deals etc)?

Re: Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

#34

Post by nishparadox » Fri, Mar 19, 2021, 5:41 AM UTC

alex_g wrote: post #15

I thought the newsletter trend was a bit ridiculous, and then I started writing one. Writing a blog feels a bit like throwing messages into the wind, and tweeting sometimes feels like trying to start a conversation in the middle of a concert. Writing a newsletter and knowing there's a group of people who signed on to hear directly what you have to say feels so much more personal.

Exactly. I started one newsletter a year back...I felt quite relieved writing in public [0], especially when I quit all other social media. So, I just write for my own knowledge reinforcement. There will be times when I had to force myself to write. Eventually, I took a break (and still on a long hiatus).

---

[0] - https://www.swyx.io/learn-in-public/

Re: Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

#35

Post by cercatrova » Fri, Mar 19, 2021, 5:47 AM UTC

enobrev wrote: post #32

This is fairly unrelated, and late enough after this was posted that not many will see this, but it's interesting how marketing works. I fast-forwarded through an ad for Morning Brew after some youtube video the other day and thought to myself that it might be worth looking into. I'd completely forgotten about it until I saw this come up. Haven't even read the article yet, but I have subscribed. Had I seen one withou…

This is well known in psychology, a combination of the mere exposure effect as well as Baader–Meinhof phenomenon (frequency illusion).

The latter makes sure you notice again something you've already seen. The former makes you associate that thing to being good, by its mere presence.

And as to your first sentence, HN will put newer comments at the top of the comments list in order to get people to see and engage with them (as I've done) :).

Re: Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

#36

Post by alex_g » Fri, Mar 19, 2021, 6:03 AM UTC

rorykoehler wrote: post #33

alex_g wrote: post #15

I thought the newsletter trend was a bit ridiculous, and then I started writing one. Writing a blog feels a bit like throwing messages into the wind, and tweeting sometimes feels like trying to start a conversation in the middle of a concert. Writing a newsletter and knowing there's a group of people who signed on to hear directly what you have to say feels so much more personal.

I don't understand how everyone is expecting to monetise newsletters. Who in their right mind pays for a newsletter unless the newsletter provides some transactable value (cheap flight deals etc)?

You could say that about any online content. And transactable value is not the only type of value to be found in the world.

Re: Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

#37

Post by maaaaattttt » Fri, Mar 19, 2021, 7:21 AM UTC

enobrev wrote: post #32

This is fairly unrelated, and late enough after this was posted that not many will see this, but it's interesting how marketing works. I fast-forwarded through an ad for Morning Brew after some youtube video the other day and thought to myself that it might be worth looking into. I'd completely forgotten about it until I saw this come up. Haven't even read the article yet, but I have subscribed. Had I seen one withou…

I learnt during my studies (can't remember the exact name or details of it) that seeing a product through 7 different channels (print ad, TV commercial, etc.) will leave you under the impression of knowing and thus trusting a product. Of course other factors come into play, but in front of the yogurt aisle for example, (given similar tastes, packaging styles, prices, etc.) you'll be much more likely to buy the one you've heard of through many channels, rather than the one you've barely heard of. Even if you've tasted none before.

If somebody recognizes this approach, I'd love to know the name of it

Edit: it could be the mere exposure effect mentioned in the other comment, but I'm pretty sure the number of different channels had a play in the process.

Re: Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

#38

Post by plorntus » Fri, Mar 19, 2021, 8:30 AM UTC

rorykoehler wrote: post #33

alex_g wrote: post #15

I thought the newsletter trend was a bit ridiculous, and then I started writing one. Writing a blog feels a bit like throwing messages into the wind, and tweeting sometimes feels like trying to start a conversation in the middle of a concert. Writing a newsletter and knowing there's a group of people who signed on to hear directly what you have to say feels so much more personal.

I don't understand how everyone is expecting to monetise newsletters. Who in their right mind pays for a newsletter unless the newsletter provides some transactable value (cheap flight deals etc)?

One way is likely through product placement and sponsorship. Just have to make sure not to lay it on too thick or you'll lose readers.

Re: Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

#39

Post by lotsofpulp » Fri, Mar 19, 2021, 8:37 AM UTC

cavalcade119 wrote: post #9

A video recently went viral of David Bowie in 1999 saying that the internet was going to be the future. We're at a similar place with newsletters - a frontier that is on the verge of exploding. I run Thinking About Things [0], a simple newsletter that is a single link every other day to something interesting. The response has been astonishing - it's gotten thousands of subscribers in a single year with no marketing.…

> It's impossible to underestimate the degree to which curation is becoming the differentiator in the digital economy; those who can be trusted to provide valuable content from the fire hose of all that's available on the internet will become the new information brokers.

Getting someone to pay for curation has always been the problem. It was easier in the pre digital days because access to information wasn’t as easy as a click.

Re: Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

#40

Post by itronitron » Fri, Mar 19, 2021, 8:43 AM UTC

Wistar wrote: post #26

codetrotter wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find the idea of a newsletter compelling. But I never read any of the newsletters that I signed up for. So to me it feels like even if I did have people sign up for a newsletter that I’d write, most of the recipients would not be reading it either. Like 98.8% of this hypothetical audience of mine probably would not read the letters I feel like.

I, too, have signed up for a few newsletter subscriptions——just in the last few months——that I never seem to read. Is there an email-newsletter equivalent for "tsundoku?"

For scientific research the rule used to be that if you printed out a research paper then you don't have to read it. Now that also applies if you just download the pdf.