Be an influencer without an audience

Newsletters!
Yes, they’re still a thing—and many authors are earning serious revenue from them.

Think about it: social media is cool, but it’s tough to build a stable audience, and going viral isn’t exactly a reliable growth strategy.

Newsletters, on the other hand, make you an “influencer without an audience,” as my friend Nesters said once:

I was recently a guest in Hassan’s podcast “Writer’s on the side” https://www.writerontheside.com/selling-books-using-facebook-ads-with-francesco-ambrosiano/. He even featured me in one of his newsletters. There’s definitely a lot of curiosity and interest around growing a newsletter through ads—and I’m now working with five different authors on exactly that.

I’m also experimenting with growing this very newsletter through ads (some of you probably found your way here because of one).

Now, my clients have audiences of all sizes—from 250 readers to 250,000—but the strategies to grow a newsletter are essentially the same.

The first crucial element is the ad itself.
It needs to be eye-catching, stop the scroll, feature a strong hook, and—most importantly—clearly communicate to Meta what the newsletter is about. Only then can Meta deliver the best possible readers at the lowest acquisition cost.

The second key part is the landing page. There are a few approaches:

• Use a valuable article as the landing page, and tailor your ads to match the content.

• Create an external landing page with an embedded subscription form or a link to your newsletter site. This approach also allows you to trigger additional funnels or offer a downloadable resource.

• Use Beehiiv’s native landing pages, though this option is only available on their most expensive plan.

There are many types of newsletters that perform well, but I want to focus on two:

1. Local newsletters

2. Niche or specific-topic newsletters

Both are relatively easy to run. A local newsletter can cover news and events from your city, town, or region. You can then run ads targeted to that specific area, ensuring you reach a hyper-targeted audience. These newsletters are generally inexpensive and quick to grow, but they do require consistent, fresh, and appealing content.

They’re also easy to monetize, as local businesses are always looking for advertising opportunities.
You can watch this video interview featuring TJ Larkin and learn a lot about local newsletters:

Then there’s the niche newsletter. We all have something we’re good at and passionate about—so why not share it with readers?

The topic can be anything: sports, cooking, personal development, or something more technical. There’s an audience for everything, and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) will help us find the right readers.

I’m willing to bet every one of you is already subscribed to at least three of these kinds of newsletters. So why not build your own audience?

Two great examples I personally enjoy:

• Creator Spotlight – inspiring stories from creators across different spaces.

• Growth in Reverse – one of the best breakdowns of how newsletters grow from zero to massive.

Newsletters are powerful because people always check their inbox—for all sorts of reasons.
So why not be there too, with your email, and take advantage of that attention?

Another update:

I’m now a RESIDENT EXPERT in the awesome Smallbets.com community by Daniel Vassallo.

It’s an incredible community—and if you join, you’ll be able to ask me anything about ads. Plus, you can tap into the knowledge of other experts in fields like SEO, Amazon FBA, audience building, and much more.

Thank you for your invaluable support of my newsletter—I hope you found some useful insights here.
Feel free to reply to this email with any questions about growth or paid ads. You can also book a session with me anytime at adsformakers.com.

Yours truly,
Francesco “The Ads Dude”