Francis Zierer’s Creator Spotlight – Build An Audience With World Class Content

Every newsletter operator needs to understand:

• Social Media = Rented Discovery Platform
• Email = Owned Relationship Platform

Are there other relationship platforms?

Of course!

And podcasting is one of them.

That doesn’t mean podcasters don’t need an email list, though.

Actually, it's the opposite.

Podcasters still need an email list and newsletter to fully own their audience and convert subscribers into paying customers at an optimal rate.

So in this Newsletter Teardown, we're going to be looking at one of the best podcast newsletters out there.

Creator Spotlight is run by Francis Zierer, the Lead Editor (whom you'll see and hear in the interviews and find in your inbox), but it is a newsletter/podcast that is owned by BeeHiiv.

So it makes sense that this is one of the best newsletter/podcast operations.

The only difference between this teardown and the other teardowns we've done so far is that I'm not highlighting fancy revenue achievements here the goal of Creator Spotlight isn't to sell a product, it's to help level creators up and get them starting their list (and hopefully on BeeHiiv).

That said, we're still going to analyze Creator Spotlight's value proposition, how Francis achieves it with his content, and how he brilliantly structures his newsletter to ensure he has highly engaged newsletter subscribers AND podcast listeners.

Let's learn from Francis' newsletter content.👇

🎯 The Value Proposition

As always, we're starting with the value proposition.

💡 Coaches Note: Creator Spotlight is not looking to sell a product (though they do monetize with sponsorships), so the value proposition should inherently be more broad.

BUT, even then, pay attention to the fact that it's STILL more specific than most creators who are just starting out.

Creator Spotlight also doesn't have the fully optimized Main Header [H1] and Sub-Header [H2] that we normally see from a "perfect" newsletter landing page, but simplicity does a good enough job for them here.

And also makes it even easier to do this part of the breakdown...

Here's the main Creator Spotlight value proposition right in their Sub-Header [H2] line:

"Your guide to building an audience with world-class social media and newsletter content. Creator deep-dives every Friday."

That means that Creator Spotlight's value proposition is: We help creators build an audience with world class social media and newsletter content.

And they also tell us how they plan on achieving this for us when they say: "Creator deep-dives every Friday"

We now have the value proposition and the way it's going to be delivered.

Now let's take a look at how Francis and Creator Spotlight actually deliver it.

🚪 Sections 1-4: Header Into Core Content

Unlike some other newsletters that, like Justin Welsh's Saturday Solopreneur (delivered in 4 minutes a week), Morning Brew (built around 5 minutes or less) and many others, that look to optimize around fast bites of value, Creator Spotlight wins with depth.

Because remember: There's no such thing as too long, only too boring.

Francis has no problem sending out newsletters that take 15+ minutes to read.

And guess what, there have been many times that I have read through the 10-15+ minute deep dive in my inbox and then proceeded to go listen to the full podcast episode as well.

THAT is the value we're looking to analyze.

Here's what we can see at a quick glance at the first four sections:

1. Header Branding
2. Quick Sponsor Mention
3. Introduction Section
4. The Core Content

We'll break down what we need to know about each of these sections, starting with the header branding.

As I mention in every single one of our teardowns: Header Branding is one of the 3 must-have sections within a Creator Newsletter.

If you have been following along for our newsletter teardowns you are probably getting used to this by now.

Next, we have a quick sponsorship mention.

Note: I'm calling this a "mention" because while the last three creators we analyzed in our teardowns (Katelyn Bourgoin, Pat Flynn and Justin Welsh) had a large sponsorship SECTION towards the top of their newsletter, Francis is actually just giving a mention to the sponsor, and then we won't be seeing the full partnership section until way further down.

From there, getting back on track with the style we've seen with our other teardowns we see Francis’s introduction section.

This is actually a super quick introduction, almost resembling a longer version of a what I would actually call a table of contents (which is fairly popular in longer newsletters), and leads into the In The Spotlight section.

The reason I'm calling the top section an introduction is because while Francis gives us a quick table of contents style bulleted section, he actually leads with a 3-5 line introduction for his guest and what we'll be learning in the core content.

Then, the In The Spotlight is actually the core content section, where Francis gives more depth, sharing direct quotes from the interview, images, lessons, and a full breakdown that can range from 1000-2000 words.

This is the meat and potatoes of The Creator Spotlight newsletter, but it's coming in right at the top of our breakdown because we still have a lot to cover!

🤝 Sections 5: Sponsorship Section

As we have seen in our other teardowns, there are some sections that can be variable.

In this fifth section I'm showing Creator Spotlight's Sponsorship Section.

The reason I'm saying this is variable is because SOMETIMES Creator Spotlight has a paid sponsor (think back to Section #2 that I highlighted above), but sometimes they don't.

• When they DO NOT have a sponsor, we typically find a simple plug CTA for BeeHiiv.
• When we DO have a sponsor, THIS is where we see the full sponsorship section that we're used to see towards the top of newsletters.

Being that Creator Spotlight is owned by BeeHiiv is more of a Hybrid-style newsletter, but without the owned products (paid offers to sell), this style works well for them; but it's also going to be a bit of an anomaly.

🎤 Sections 6-7: Podcast Interview & Tactic

In sections 6-7 we have even more value coming in from Francis and Creator Spotlight.

It's Francis' goal to not only have us reading the newsletter, but then also potentially even listening to the full podcast episode.

By this point he has already delivered over 1,000 words in JUST the "In The Spotlight" core section we highlighted above, and now we're getting more value.

Francis starts with his Podcast Interview section, where he shares the video episode and a three-bullet recap of what we can expect from his conversation with the guest.

But he's not done.

From there we have the Steal This Tactic section that gives us another 350-500 or so words and creates some more separation from the podcast episode and newsletter.

Here's what I mean: This tactic is obviously coming right from the newsletter, but in this section Francis breaks it down in a way that allows us to come away with something very specific AND actionable.

The key here is that it's at the very bottom of the newsletter. So while the core content already delivers insane value, if you want this tactic — which is separate from the newsletter — you need to read through to the end.

🔄 Sections 8-9: Reposts And Varied CTA

To wrap up the newsletter we have a Reposts section and another varied section.

The Reposts section typically shares an episode of Tasteland, which is another weekly podcast run by Francis, and occasionally some other top resources he and Spotlight recommend.

Then, to wrap up, we sometimes see the BeeHiiv plug.

If the plug already appeared in the sponsorship section or between the interview and tactic section, it usually won’t show up again here—but this is a spot where it sometimes appears to close us out.

🧠 Key Takeaways

Even podcasters need newsletters.

While podcasts can strengthen your relationship with your audience, the majority of your sales and direct connections will still likely come via email.

Francis and The Creator Spotlight team put out one of the best podcast newsletters you can find out there.

And while I'm not recapping some impressive sales stats here, we can still go through some key takeaways.

1️⃣ There's no such thing as too long, only too boring. 

On average, Creator Spotlight is around 2,000+ words.

And it's a breakdown of a podcast that takes 4x as long to consume.

But there are times that I read through the entire breakdown and then proceed to go and listen/watch the entire podcast episode.

This is a perfect example to show us that you don't always have to try to create shorter content — you just need to make sure it's valuable.

2️⃣ Your newsletter sections can be variable at times.

Building your brand recognition and having people open your email just because of your name in their inbox is extremely important.

And being consistent with the value you provide — and even HOW you provide it — is extremely important. But that doesn’t mean some sections can’t be variable.

We have now seen multiple newsletters that sometimes make tiny tweaks while still providing the same awesome core content and overall structure.