Companion Newsletter Jam Fest 🎷

Katherine Spiers shares her podcast-to-newsletter pipeline

Hey Besties!

I have an exciting announcement: Libsyn/AdvertiseCast is the presenting sponsor of the Podcast Bestie party in Los Angeles on Tuesday, December 13th. I’m super pumped about this partnership, and Mike and I are stoked to connect with our local podcasting community. It’s gonna be a blast! However, space is limited, and there are already 55 podcasters signed up, so RSVP asap if you’re planning to attend.

P.S. Libsyn is an excellent hosting service. I was a happy customer for seven years before Private Parts Unknown had to move to Megaphone for our network. If you’re looking for podcast hosting, they’re offering Besties up to two months of free hosting. Use promo code BESTIE or sign up here.

Okay, now for my latest obsession that I won’t shut up about… I’m bullish on companion newsletters for podcasts. I think it’s a great way to build a direct and deeper relationship with your listeners outside of the podcast by providing additional content or resources, promoting events and courses (as well as the show itself), and making monetization efforts more effective. And with the rise of Substack (free built-in podcast hosting) and CovertKit (powerful list segmentation options), it’s a no-brainer.

I offered my manifesto on companion newsletters in Lauren Passell’s Podcast Marketing Magic a few weeks ago. Here’s that article if you missed it.

Today I’m following up on that post with a Q&A from a podcaster, newsletter purveyor, and early Substack adopter Katherine Spiers. She’s the host of the Smart Mouth podcast. And then I’m going to share some of YOUR companion newsletters, which should provide plenty of inspo to Besties trying to improve their newsletter game.

What's your podcasting origin story?

KS: I was a journalist who had worked only in print, with a little dabbling in TV. I never thought about radio. I was asked to come on KCRW (a local NPR affiliate) to talk about an article I had written, and it was super fun, so I asked if I could come back regularly and get paid for it. And they said yes! I don’t think I would’ve podcasted without that experience, but I learned very quickly that hosting is much, much more difficult than being a guest.

How did your experience as a journalist translate to your foray into podcasting? Which of your journalism skills came in handy? How did that impact the sort of show that you make?

KS: I’m very good at research, and Smart Mouth reflects that. (My business partner Drew Mackie’s shows are the same way; I think we’re both happy with our ability to distill complicated ideas that we spent weeks reading up on in a very approachable, sometimes even funny, way.) I’m also able to ask a question and give the guest time to respond without getting nervous and piping up again — this sounds obvious, but once you learn it, you’ll see that people rarely do this in day-to-day conversation.

What’s your favorite episode of the Smart Mouth podcast you’ve done, and why? 

KS: “Mayonnaise with Curtis Cook,” based entirely on Curtis’ talent as a guest. Very engaged and very funny.

What's the most popular episode of Smart Mouth? 

KS: I’m not totally sure because we switched hosting platforms a while back, but I think it’s Lobster Rolls with Alie Ward. I’ve learned that podcast-famous folks get you more listeners than famous-famous guests — I know that episodes with people like Jordan Morris and Georgia Hardstark did very well, too. (The possible exception to the famous-famous rule was Anthony Bourdain.) 

You took a unique approach to your companion newsletter by sourcing a large part of the content from contributors. It seems to have been a very smart choice. Tell us about that decision and how it panned out. 

KS: The Smart Mouth newsletter was born out of the idea that there are people all over the world with food stories I could never even begin to approach, and I wanted to provide a platform for that. I also wanted to pay freelancers $1/word, which, unfortunately for writers, is a very good rate right now. Luckily we’re still able to do that, but I am disappointed with how few readers have signed up for paid subscriptions. I’m trying to save journalism here, folks — help an editor out!

I heard you mention in a podcast interview that one sentence about some Girl Scout cookie news has been your most clicked-on link in the newsletter. Is that still true?

KS: Probably! If not that, then something similar, for sure. That’s how it always works: something you tossed off in 28 seconds will always do better than an essay you agonized over. 

What's been your most popular newsletter issue? 

KS: According to Substack, this one that’s just links to various food media. Extremely demoralizing. Luckily the second most popular is one that I wrote.

You just launched a NEW newsletter. Tell us about that. 

KS: I’m so excited. It’s called How to Eat L.A., and it’s coverage of the wonderful eating places across the county that don’t get much attention, even though they absolutely deserve it.

I’ll be doing weekend recommendations and video series that put LA’s food in historical and cultural context, and then restaurant reviews will be paywalled, as are commenting abilities. There’s also a tier if you want to ask for personal recommendations — if I’d been charging for those for the last 15 years, I’d be a gagillionaire. 

Get a little nerdy for all the creators and entrepreneurs in the house: How does your digital ecosystem — podcast and two newsletters, etc. — work together to attract new listeners/readers and generate revenue? 

KS: Two ways: the less tangible one, where you just add a link to the other two products in every post and hope that people actually click. [Like finding one of her newsletters through the podcast and then becoming a paid subscriber.] I can see in the stats that it happens enough to make it worth it. The more obvious moneymaker is when someone approaches me about advertising on one product, and I say, “yes but give me more money, and I’ll shill for you on this other platform too.” I don’t get a ton of advertisers, but so far, this has worked every time.

How does your background as a journalist inform the media business you're building? 

KS: My job is all about asking questions, so it’s very easy for me to accept that I don’t know what I don’t know. I give contractors (engineers, artists, marketers) a fair amount of freedom because I figure they know better than I do, so I get a lot of great work done that I could never have envisioned on my own. 

What’s your #1 piece of advice for podcasters trying to use their show as a launch pad for a larger media business?

KS: Absolutely everyone’s making it up as they go along. You can too.

Anything else you’d like to add?

KS: You can change your mind about anything at any time: show format, theme music, even show topic. No sunk cost fallacies in podcasting!

Thank you, Katherine!

➡️ Keep up to date with Katherine on Twitter and Instagram.

➡️ Listen to the Smart Mouth podcast and check out the Smart Mouth newsletter and How to Eat L.A. for more mouth-watering content.

Last month, I requested examples of companion newsletters done well and reflections on how podcasters are approaching their email counterparts. And the Besties pulled through — thank you so much to the following people for sharing their thoughts and experiences.

• Brandon White of the EDGE podcast: Yes, I have an email newsletter that accompanies my podcast(s). It has over 17,000 subscribers and gets, on average, a 39% open rate. Some weeks as high as 49%. With some recent tweaks, we are now growing it from 70-200 subs a week. Best Investment Advice I Ever Got That Has Made Me a Lot of Money - Week 41 is an example of the newsletter, and here’s the subscribe page.

• Sasha Willis: My podcast network, Boundless Audio Podcast Network, has a bi-monthly newsletter. We share the latest news in the podcasting world, tips for making a better podcast, upcoming podcast events, and highlight a show on our network. The strategy is to help other women podcasters become better and spread the word about our member shows. Here’s a recent newsletter and the subscribe page.

• Tiana, Villain Next Door co-host: We have a newsletter that goes out about once per month! I like to provide: additional villain insights or villain poetry during the "Villain of the Month" segment, recent episodes with an “oldie” episode, additional insights about empathy or a humorous villain-related post, villain quotes, personal news, social links, and villain memes. The newsletter's focus is to provide additional villain-related content that villain fans will like while also encouraging them to listen to our episodes. One way we got subscribers is by putting up our own self-made Which Villain Are You? quiz online. Once people received their results, they saw a blurb about our podcast and were asked if they wanted to subscribe to our newsletter. This worked well in getting some subscribers, but once newsletters went out, those who weren't our actual current listeners wouldn't open the newsletter. I'm assuming it's because the new people who took the quiz are not sure who we are. I also noticed an issue with the newsletter going into spam folders. I also have some difficulty getting current listeners to subscribe, but some are, and it's a work in progress. I currently have 29 subscribers and a 40% open rate. Did I fail? I'm not sure yet. :) What I've learned is: podcast newsletters might just work best for current listeners (but I also don't want to totally throw away the idea of recruiting new listeners through the newsletter), I should consider more thoughtfully if our audience likes emails (they're on Instagram and TikTok...are they on email? Hmm…), and I need to figure out a way to prevent it from going into spam folders, but I'm not sure how to do that yet. Here’s an example from September and another from May.

• Jodi Murphy of Dorktales Storytime Podcast: Our newsletter strategy is centered around building our engaged audience. We send out a newsletter once every two weeks when a new episode is released and sometimes once a week when we have information and resources that we feel are valuable for our subscribers. We include ways their kids can be part of the podcast. Our content includes new episode announcements, articles featuring playlists, highlights of kids who send in their questions (with their grownup's permission), plus exclusive resources we only make available for our newsletter subscribers including activity guides, conversation cards, social emotional activities, and more. Here are two examples: Helping Kids Find Their Calm 🦋 and New! Mary Had a Little Yes And 🐑.

• Share Your Genius: Here are two PHENOMENAL examples of how a brand/person can use the pod as a flywheel for content, specifically as it relates to their companion newsletters.

  • Formstack's Practically Genius has a whole episode each month that ties back directly to the newsletter. Here’s a link to the podcast and the newsletter.

  • Tiffany Sauder is a thought leader who uses both her Scared Confident podcast and newsletter to create content with a similar strategy. She directly connects the two by following the same theme discussed in the podcast as content in the newsletter.

• Natalie Davey: Our companion newsletter to the Reframeables podcast is a Reframeables Substack. In it, we do a recap of what happened on the pod that week, share all of the links from the show notes for whoever might have missed them, and we also share a healthy recipe (that, 50+ recipes later, has just recently been turned into a beautiful e-cookbook!).

To be continued…

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