💩 Local Newsletter Spam?

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As someone who’s been building (and struggling) a local newsletter for 9 months now, I have a lot of thoughts on the topic.

I also consume a lot of media on the topic of local newsletters, and honestly newsletters in general.

And today is the second time I’ve been shocked to hear how a big player in the industry does business.

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Not My Style

When I was learning everything I could about niche newsletters, I did a deep dive on Optimism Media.

If you’ve ever found yourself subscribed to a newsletter that you never signed up for, it was likely these bastards behind it.

That’s why I studied them as I ended up on several of their newsletter lists without ever consenting to do so.

They apparently scrape Instagram and other sites, then just bulk add people to their newsletters.

Today is the first time I’ve come across a local newsletter operator doing something similar. But it’s not just some rando - it’s 6AM City, the largest local newsletter company out there.

I was listening to this on YouTube today when I heard one of the 6AM City founders sharing how they get free subscribers for their newsletters.

He mentioned a local sports team (I think, or maybe it was a local venue?) that they partnered with where the deal is they give them free advertising in the local newsletter in exchange for the emails of people who buy tickets to the events.

People who likely never consented to getting signed up for a local newsletter from 6AM City.

I dunno, I just don’t like this as a strategy. It feels shady.

And I don’t know why you want people on your list that don’t want to be there. Sure, some of them will stay around but don’t you want high value subscribers?

Facebook local groups, local subreddits, and NextDoor have been my best sources for free subscribers that actually want to be on my local email list.

Thoughts?

Coming up…

More on what I’m working on and how it’s going.

Stay awesome,

Shawna

P.S. If you’re looking for high level discussions or tips on things like local SEO and Rank & Rent, I highly recommend Jacky Chou’s Advise community. I’ve been in it for several months and there’s tons of value in it, including a SOP for local SEO.

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