Brand New Voices Newsletter Launch Challenge: Week 1
I wanted to give a little report from the challenge we kicked off Monday: It’s really been a cool experience so far.
If you’d like to participate vicariously, the first week has been all about ideation. I’m a firm believer in putting some effort into creating a newsletter that does the following:
As a small group, we are working our way through Dan Oshinsky’s Newsletter Positioning Brief (make your own copy if you’d like). It’s been fun to get feedback in the form of small group discussion.
Next week, we’ll move into the creation process.
Don’t forget, Curated is now FREE for up to 1,500 subscribers.
Join Me In A Newsletter Launch Challenge
The back story
Corrales Cachola, founder of Brand New Voices and champion of the creator economy is like the rest of us. He needs a little push to just do a thing he really wants to do:
Launch a Brand New Voices newsletter.
I think it’s going to be amazing and I told him I’d help however I can.
So we chatted and realized: this shouldn’t be just me helping him.
We should invite others who want to do the same thing.
Who need the same push.
Who need… TO BE CHALLENGED.
The goal is to get you from idea to sent in 3 weeks.
We're planning to meet live twice a week (starting next week, at 6 p.m. Eastern on Mondays and Wednesdays).
We'll provide a checklist and resources, form a community, and support each other as we brainstorm, strategize, build, and test. Yes, I have a side hustle newsletter I want to launch, too, and will use this challenge to build it.
And because his calling is to support the creator economy, we’ll make sure to help you think through and plan not only content strategy and audience growth but also consider revenue models and where your newsletter (paid? sponsored? free?) fits into your unique creation mix.
Week 1: Ideation and Positioning
Week 2: Creation
Week 3: Soft Launch and Test
Who’s ready to win the inbox?
Let me know if you want in by replying to this email.
And don‘t forget, Curated has a free tier now + we don’t take any commission on paid newsletters.
ICYMI: You can always check our Curated Public Product Roadmap to catch up on recent releases and find out what’s up next.
3 Cool Zaps You Can Use To Collect Links
When I was creating this feature feedback form last week, I got a little excited about the many, many ways you can collect links and have them waiting to be used in your next newsletter.
So, naturally, I spent some time this week figuring out how I could use Zapier to bring in content my readers might like and came up with a few cool use cases I want to share with you.
For this, you’ll find YouTube in Zapier.
Trigger Options:
New Video—When a new video is uploaded by a specific YouTube user name
New Video in Channel—When a new video is published to a specific YouTube channel
New Video by Search—When a new video is uploaded that matches a specific YouTube search string
New Video in Playlist—When a new video is added to a specific playlist
Tip: Everything is pretty self explanatory except for which thumbnail image to pick. I found that the one called Thumbnails High URL brought in the best quality image… but I may grab that and add a play button in Canva then bring that into Curated so it still feels like you press play.
Use Cases: Maybe you want to follow a certain search term you know your audience likes, you want to stay tuned to what certain news outlets or brands who post videos are announcing, or you post your own videos you know you’ll want to share. This Zap can automate that process.
In addition to using an aggregator to process links around specific topics, you can use RSS by Zapier to bring in links from sites you know publish quality content you’d like to share. You’ll need to find the RSS URL for those sites.
Trigger Options (these are very obvious):
New Item in Feed—When new content is added to a feed
New Items in Multiple Feeds—When new content is added to multiple feeds
Tip: Here’s how to find an RSS link if the sites you want to follow don’t have a RSS link available (it’s usually lumped in with the social account icons).
Use Cases: I think this is best for following writers and publications you know create high-quality, share-worthy content. In my case, I set up RSS Zaps to collect links from Ann Handley’s blog, Content Marketing Institute, and What’s New in Publishing. I’m testing to see if that sends me too much content to process or just the right amount. I also found the RSS feed for the Newsletter Crew podcast and set that up as well.
For this, you’d use the project management app your team(s) use and select the proper triggers for task/project completion.
Trigger Options
In Trello, that might mean moving any task into a Done column, while in ClickUp or Asana it might mean completing tasks within specific workspaces or projects.
Use Cases: I see this as primarily ideal for internal team or organization newsletters. If you’re collecting links to the tasks or projects your team has completed, that means they’ll all be waiting for you to add to the next newsletter. From there, you can determine which ones you want to include.
Additionally, if you maintain a public roadmap using an app like Trello, you could also set this up to make sure the marketing team is aware when a feature is deployed so that it’s included in the next customer-facing newsletter.
ICYMI: You can always check our Curated Public Product Roadmap to catch up on recent releases and find out what’s up next.
ICYMI: You can always check our Curated Public Product Roadmap to catch up on recent releases and find out what’s up next.
Add A Description To Your Sponsored Categories
Hey y’all, Seth here.
This week, we released a way for you to add a description to your sponsored categories so potential sponsors can learn more about the different sponsorship opportunities you offer.
This feature was inspired by Curated users who have multiple sponsored categories that need unique descriptions.
To add a description to your sponsored links,
Less Than 1,500 Subscribers? Use Curated For Free
It’s not official yet, but it’s official enough to let the cat out of the bag.
Curated is launching a free tier!
Sometime over the next week (probably Monday because Caitlin prefers not to launch new features on Fridays because she’s SMART), this will go into effect.
What’s the nitty gritty?
Accounts with subscriber lists of 1,500 or below will be free. If you’re a current customer who qualifies, this will be reflected in your account next week.
And if you haven’t tested Curated as a possible newsletter solution, now’s a great time.
Why are we making this change?
We want to offer the opportunity to launch and grow your lists and support you as you do that.
We’d love for you to start that journey with us and benefit from our full suite of features like
We’re confident you’ll like Curated so much you’ll stick around when your list grows.
Who’s excited? I’m excited!
ICYMI: You can always check our Curated Public Product Roadmap to catch up on recent releases and find out what’s up next.
ICYMI: You can always check our Curated Public Product Roadmap to catch up on recent releases and find out what’s up next.