Category: Email MarketingCategory: Email Marketing

Sarah Fay and I focused on how people are using Substack right now, especially the temptation to treat Notes like another social feed to optimize and post constantly.

We talked about slowing that reflex down and prioritizing email subscribers instead—saving strong ideas for newsletters, reposting things from Notes into emails so subscribers actually see them, and measuring success by retention rather than public subscriber counts. The emphasis was on engagement, keeping people on the list, and treating email as the primary channel rather than chasing visibility inside Substack itself. 

We also covered practical approaches to writing, video, and business models on Substack. That included writing in a way that feels natural, publishing without waiting for perfection, and getting comfortable sending work to small groups before larger audiences.

On the business side, we talked about proximity, like keeping most work public while charging for closer access through Zoom calls or live discussions, and using Substack as a tool that supports existing goals rather than becoming another platform to manage. We also discussed live video formats, replays, YouTube workarounds, and treating Substack as a professional practice without overcomplicating the model. 

Mario’s been shipping The Morning Shakeout every Tuesday for almost a decade, and the through-line is simple: doing the work every week is the “trick. It’s not hacks, not social reach, not “growth systems.”

We talked about how having your own website isn’t optional if you want staying power, how platforms come and go but archives and backlinks keep paying dividends, and why consistency beats trying to manufacture viral hits.

Mario’s approach is boring in the best way: show up, write, publish, repeat, and do it long enough that people can’t ignore you, and long enough that you actually figure out what you’re here to say.

Here’s a bit of some Email Guidance I wrote someone recently, about launching a newsletter. They were wondering if they should plan out what to write, and I started riffing on stories:

But think of three stories you like telling people. Or even three stories that involve the wonderful people in your orbit. It all comes back to you, right?

The people you’ve worked with. Recorded with. Performed with. So many people!

BECAUSE then you can send that newsletter to those people! Re-connect, catch up, laugh together about it.

Maybe follow that energy. Instead of thinking about what you’ll write, think about who. Who lights you up? Who made you happy? Who’d you make memories with?

Because if you’re writing from a place of joy and good memories, it’ll probably be easier for your audience to connect with, you know? I mean, you gotta write the music for yourself first, right? Same could be said for a newsletter – write around the good energy of the people you’ve met, and the stories you’ve created with those people.

For artists of all types, it’s very easy to get stuck in this broadcast mode of talking the things we do, and who we are. We are interesting people, of course, but writing about ourselves is HARD. It never feels good, right?

Which is why I suggest writing about other folks in your creative orbit. Weave that into your newsletter, and see what unfolds.

You’re a one person team, I get it. But the marketing team needs a week off.

This week we’re not looking for more subscribers. We’re gonna put “growth” on hold this week.

Instead, your job is to get your sales team making sales. Your shipping team making your paying customer happy. Your front office team working smarter and more efficiently.

YOUR SALES TEAM: Can you send an email and get 5% of your fans to click something? Anything?

If you emailed your fans and said, “next 10 people to email me will get an exclusive demo MP3 of my next single,” would 20 people reply?

If you marked down something 25%, would it spur even one sale?

Would 20 people who already exist in your current creative universe take the time to hit reply?

Figure out how to motivate 20 people to do something. Anything.

YOUR SHIPPING TEAM: I ordered a hat from someone I’ve been following for years. It showed up in a plain box, and shipped from an “order fulfillment company” with a name like U.S. Logistics Corp.

I had no idea what this mystery box was on my doorstep until I opened it.

You don’t want your customers to feel bewildered when getting their orders. Your order confirmation emails don’t have to be boring (see how CD Baby did it back in the day).

You don’t have to outrun a bear, you just need to outrun your friends.

YOUR FRONT OFFICE: Set up an actual online store that can be optimized for the 10 people a month you’re serving. Build it today so you can handle 100 people a month a year from now.

Take the photos you’ve uploaded to Instagram and the videos you’ve posted on Facebook and put them on your website. Build a place for your existing fanbase to fall head over heels for your work. Turn it into a place so cool that your fans wouldn’t dare tell their friends to follow you on Instagram.

Reply to the people leaving comments. Reply to the emails already in your inbox.

Make every reply a giant hug.

Write an email that people love to see in their inbox.

YOUR CREATIVE DEPARTMENT: Do you have current photos on your site? A current bio? Are there any broken links in your LINK IN BIO? In your Bandcamp sidebar? When’s the last time you updated your profile photo? Your logo?

Is the design of your online ecosystem coherent or a jumbled mess?Subscribed

Someone emailed me (see below) asking how to get more people to their site without social media, so they could make more sales. A reasonable challenge in the year 2025.

All their fun, flashy, informative videos were on Instagram, miles away from their online store.

They had a nice site, sure – but all the immersive media, the videos, were sitting on Instagram, for 90% of their followers to never see.

I told them to move that cool stuff to their website. Put the sauce next to the sexy ADD TO CART button.

We don’t need more traffic. We need to captivate the people right here in front of us.

Maybe we don’t need more subscribers.

Instead, we need to optimize what we’ve got because just throwing 1,000 more people at a bad set-up won’t help.

1. Stop worrying about the algorithm and include the link. Put in two links. I’d rather 10 people see my post with a direct link than sending 100 people on a wild goose chase to find my link in bio or in the comments. Do everything you can to offend the algorithm.
2. Got an important update for your subscribers? Venue change, running late for a group Zoom chat? Email, don’t post. Not everyone sees your Substack Notes. Heck, most of your subscribers probably don’t even have the app installed. A recent note of mine was seen by 135 of my 6,000+ subscribers – that’s 2.2% of my audience. Send the email, it’s the most direct way to reach your audience. Another excuse to delete your social media entirely.
3. “Do work. Be seen.” Wise words from Rob Cannon (read it here). Don’t “yeah, but” me on this. You have to do the work first. The work must be done. Keep doing the work until the work is better. Then, when the moment is right and you are “seen,” the work will be ready for the moment because you’ve been doing the work. Less worrying about the “seen” part, and more work. Bonus points if you do that work with and around other people (you should host a group Zoom call).
4. Use less tools. Less automation. Less funnels. Less drip campaigns. Less “email blasts.” AI ain’t gonna win because it can’t show up at an art gallery, curate a photo book, book a show, or be a good podcast guest – but you can. Do work that doesn’t scale. Add so much humanity and grace to your work that people question your sanity.
5. BONUS: Be careful sending a “re-engagement campaign” to all your zero and one star folks, because it can lead to a very low open rate email, which can trigger spam flags, and get your sending privileges suspended. Proceed with caution with “list hygiene” here on Substack.