Me: “Ok, but what’s the point of the newsletter?”

Them: *silence and blank stares*

Me: “Why are you even starting this newsletter? What’s the outcome you’re hoping to drive?”

Mr. Withoutcome finally spoke up: “We’ll, uh, we’ll figure that out once we get some reader feedback. Probably start with ads.”

Me: *dies a little bit inside*

This was a real conversation I had during a real kickoff call with a real newsletter consulting client called Head of Content ^AI.

Don’t worry, I have their express written consent. Oh, and I don’t air the dirty laundry of all my consulting clients, but HoC has been awesome enough to let me share parts of their newsletter buildout.

We’ll check in with them from time to time, and I'll share the actual frameworks I’m using to help them build a must-read newsletter.

You’d be shocked by the number of “serious” newsletters that have no idea what the point of their newsletter is. Imagine starting literally any other business without a business outcome in mind.

Most answers to the “business outcome” question are some variation of “there isn’t one… yet” or, worse, “we’ll just start selling ads when we get big enough.”

Those two answers alone have probably killed more newsletters with clever names and great writing than using the word V*agra in a subject line (seriously… don’t ever do that).

You might be wondering why I feel so strongly about the question in question.

It’s simple…

Because your business outcome will drive everything you do in your newsletter biz. Think: content decisions, growth tactics, CTAs. And every decision, input, and piece of content will be measured by whether it's driving your business outcome forward.

If you don’t anchor the newsletter to a real business outcome, good luck trying to justify the time, headcount, and attention (read: blood, sweat, and tears) you’re about to pour into this thing.

I can’t know exactly what moves the needle for your business or what KPIs your org gives a damn about, but the good news is I bet you or someone else does (if not, you might have bigger problems).

Linking one of those business outcomes/goals/KPIs/rocks/whatever the hell you call them to your newsletter is probably a good place to start.

It’ll probably look something like…

To be clear, the biz outcome doesn’t have to be transactional… or even directly financial.

A technical engineering newsletter might exist to attract elite talent. In that case, the outcome is recruiting. Or a founder’s newsletter might exist to land speaking gigs or media opportunities. Still a business outcome, just a bit harder to tie directly to the bottom line.

Let’s look at some examples in the real world…

If I had to guess, smart operators like those listed above have dialed it in a whole lot further than “lead gen” or “sales.”

That’s because buzzword-soup outcomes look great in pitch decks but are pretty worthless if you can’t measure them.

The fix? Attach numbers whenever possible (it almost always is). 

This is the part where you need to be honest with yourself.

“Drive sales of our products” is fine.

“Drive $1M in sales of our AI-enabled SaaS product in year one” is much better.

Making it auditable forces you/your team to be accountable. It’s hard to lie to yourself when the numbers are staring you in the face.

If you can’t complete this sentence, you can’t start a newsletter (sorry, I don’t make the rules)...

If you’re unsure whether it’s any good, ask yourself one simple question: What would those nerds in finance say if I put this in front of them? 

Are they nodding or calling bullsh*t?

Back to the Head of Content ^AI newsletter.

Here’s the first-pass, half-baked version of the business outcome they sent over: “HoC exists to drive cohort sign-ups.”

This, of course, left me with more questions than answers.

The second go around was better: “Gets heads of content to sign up for our 6-week cohorts focusing on using AI to increase output.”

Ok, now we’re onto something.

But it still doesn’t exactly pass the sniff test.

So, I forced them to put it through the one-sentence outcome framework:

I love that we got to a number of content leaders (“40”) and that we’re able to define what type of content leaders (“at growing B2B companies”).

We’re still working to tighten up the newsletter’s value prop, but I like where it’s heading. It’s not perfect, but we’ve come a long way from “f*ck if I know.”

We build the best damn newsletter in the Content game. And converting those 40 content leaders into cohort participants will be the lens through which we make every decision:

It’s the North Star we’ll think about every time we make a move. It’s the sorta thing you write on your whiteboard or stick on a Post-It note on your desk.

Next week, we’ll get into finding your newsletter’s unfair advantage.

In the meantime, I’d love any and all feedback on the first CNLO. I promise you won’t hurt my feelings (seriously, I used to be on camera at Barstool Sports).

If you’re still jonesing for newsletter content (delivered via newsletter), go check out some of the best in the business…