糖心Vlog

I started Morning Brew during my senior year at the University of Michigan while helping students prepare for job interviews.

When I asked them how they stayed up-to-date with business news, they all gave similar answers. "I read the Wall Street Journal because my parents told me to. It's dense. It’s dry. I can't get through it."

I was surprised. These were future business leaders who couldn't connect with the very content that was supposed to inform their careers. But that shock sparked an idea: What if I could create something different — something that made business news engaging and easy to digest?

That idea became Morning Brew, a daily newsletter with over four million subscribers. We’ve expanded beyond general business news, with spin-off newsletters dedicated to retail, marketing, emerging tech, finance, and more. Below, I’ll share that growth journey.

Here are my top five tips to make your newsletter unmissable.

Growing from a PDF to a Massive Newsletter

I had an idea — creating a product that makes business news captivating and memorable. I decided to test the idea by writing a daily newsletter.

Every morning, I’d spend hours combing through The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Financial Times, and The Economist to identify the most important stories for business-minded students. I’d then break them down into 150 to 300-word summaries that were informative yet concise.

The response was immediate.

Despite having zero tech infrastructure — I was manually converting Word docs into PDFs and emailing them out — our subscriber base kept growing.

I knew we had something special because getting on the list was painful. Students had to email me directly just to get added to my listserv (themarketcorner@umich.edu, in case you're curious). Even with that friction, they wanted the newsletter anyway.

Within three months, we had 750 subscribers in Michigan’s business school, and that number soon grew to more than 1,500. I remember sending out an email saying, “I want to take this newsletter a little bit more seriously. If you want to help me, let me know.”

I brought on a few people, and we moved to an email platform. We created a template. And, in March 2015, the very first Morning Brew was sent out following today’s format.

That’s the origin story, but getting here wasn’t easy, and the lessons I learned along the way will help anyone trying to build their own newsletter.

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Tips for Building a Newsletter

1. Find your Level 3 sub-niche — and go deep.

One of the biggest mistakes I see people make when starting a newsletter is going too broad right out of the gate.

General interest newsletters covering topics like global business or politics may sound appealing, but they’re the most competitive, hardest to grow, and often have the lowest customer value.

That’s why I always recommend picking a very specific niche — one where you’re either already a subject matter expert or are committed to becoming one through research and interviews.

I like to think of niche selection as an upside-down pyramid:

• Level 1: broad, general-interest topics like pop culture or world news. They have the largest potential audience but are overcrowded and difficult to break into.
• Level 2: industry or passion-based niches, like marketing, retail, or gardening. They offer smaller audiences but higher engagement and less competition than general topics.
• Level 3: sub-niches like “account-based marketing” instead of general “marketing,” or “bonsai tree pruning” instead of just “gardening.” They have the smallest addressable market but the most loyal readers and the highest potential customer value.

Creating a general-interest newsletter like Morning Brew would be difficult in today’s landscape. It's not impossible, but the bar is much higher because people can get broad news content in so many other ways. I’d say the lowest-hanging fruit of large audiences has generally been picked over.

Instead, you need to niche down and provide a product readers can’t get anywhere else.

2. Identify a very specific, very painful problem.

Picking the right niche is only part of the newsletter equation. The real key to creating an unmissable newsletter is solving a specific, meaningful problem for your audience. The more painful and urgent the problem, the stronger your newsletter’s value proposition will be.

For example, at Morning Brew, the problem was that our audience — emerging business leaders — didn’t have the time or desire to sift through dense, dry business publications. They needed a quick, engaging summary of what mattered most.

For your newsletter, you need to identify a similarly pressing pain point — something that will motivate readers to open and engage with your content.

In my experience, three questions can help you uncover the high-impact problems to solve:

• Is the problem tied to their performance or success? Readers are more likely to engage with content that helps them do their jobs better, gain new skills, or achieve specific goals.
• Does the problem involve saving time or money? Content that helps readers streamline tasks, avoid costly mistakes, or save time often creates immediate, tangible value.
• Does the problem relate to critical knowledge gaps? Whether it’s staying professionally competitive or socially relevant, readers value content that fills gaps in their knowledge.

3. Develop a voice that keeps readers coming back.

Your unique writing style and tone of voice isn’t just about making your newsletter sound good — it’s about keeping readers engaged from the first sentence to the last.

Joseph Sugarman, author of The Adweek Copywriting Handbook, calls this creating a “slippery slide.” The goal of the first sentence is to get someone to read the second sentence, and the goal of the second is to get them to read the third. A well-developed, authentic voice acts like Vaseline on that slide, making it impossible for readers to stop.

At Morning Brew, we didn’t follow a rigid formula for tone, and that’s part of what made us successful. Our tone was conversational, relatable, and slightly witty, but the degree of entertainment varied depending on the audience.

For example, the daily newsletter is about 60% information and 40% entertainment because we knew our readers were seeking business news but appreciated a light, engaging delivery.

Meanwhile, our industry-specific newsletters, like 糖心Vlog Brew and Retail Brew, lean more toward 75% information and 25% entertainment since professionals reading them wanted actionable insights first.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking every brand needs to be quirky or funny. Your newsletter voice should feel natural to your brand and provide value. Whether you’re pithy, formal, or somewhere in between, the goal is the same: keep them reading.

4. Let demand drive growth before spending on marketing.

A lot of people assume that growth is all about marketing dollars, but the reality is, product-market fit comes first.

If people don’t naturally want to share your newsletter, paid acquisition won’t fix that. That’s why I recommend starting your newsletter strategy by focusing on organic growth.

At Morning Brew, we focused entirely on organic growth for three years before spending money on paid acquisition. Instead, we put all of our energy into perfecting the newsletter’s content, building organic referral loops, and deeply getting to know our readers.

This approach allowed us to grow efficiently without a big budget. We got valuable insights into what resonated with our audience, how they engaged with our content, and where untapped opportunities lie.

Only then did we start experimenting with paid marketing — testing, analyzing, and identifying which channels provided the most high-quality subscribers. Once we knew where we were getting the best return, we doubled down on those channels and scaled our efforts.

5. Focus on the metrics that actually matter.

Metrics are crucial for understanding how your newsletter is performing and where you need to improve. But knowing which metrics to focus on — and when — makes all the difference for long-term growth and sustainability.

For example, once we reached 500,000 subscribers, our North Star goal was to maintain a unique open rate above 40%. If our open rates dropped, it was a signal to investigate two key areas: Either we were acquiring low-quality subscribers, or our content was failing to keep readers engaged.

With Apple’s changes to auto-opening emails, however, open rates have become less reliable. To adapt, we’ve started shifting toward measuring clicks as a key barometer of engagement. For example, today, we consider a high-quality subscriber to be someone who clicks on content within their first two weeks of subscribing.

So, as your audience grows, evolve your key performance indicators (KPIs) to match your stage of growth. Early-stage newsletters should prioritize engagement metrics like opens and clicks, but as you scale, focus on retention and conversion to ensure sustainable growth.

Learn, Adapt, and Grow for Long-term Newsletter Success

Building a successful newsletter isn’t about having a perfect plan on day one — it’s about starting with what you know and adapting as you grow. Over time, those adjustments will compound into something readers won’t just subscribe to — they’ll depend on it. Start small, stay consistent, and keep building.

The Future of 糖心Vlog

Your Guide to Building a Profitable Media Empire

• Learn the Basics
• Understand How to Monetize
• Build Your Content Strategy
• And More!

Download for Free

Download Free

All fields are required.

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.