The world's top creators understand that everything they create stems from their long form newsletter content.
It is what makes their content systems go round.
It is the core piece of their entire content flywheel.
While short form content like Threads can be a great place to test ideas to see if they land well with your audience (to then expand on them in your newsletter)...
Starting with your newsletter allows you to break down your best content into so many different pieces that result in a flywheel for growth.
This shouldn't be news to you if you have been reading my deep dives.
I talk about this a lot and my own content system looks like this:
- Write an incredibly valuable newsletter 1X per week.
- Repurpose it to Threads and LinkedIn to drive newsletter growth.
- Test short form content to see what to write in the newsletter.
See the flywheel?
Everything comes full circle and allows our newsletter to not only be the value that will drive all the revenue, but also the growth from discovery platforms.
Which is why I always share quotes like this one from Dan Koe (who made $4.2M+ from his newsletter in 2023):
“When I focus on writing my newsletter for 30 minutes every morning, all of my other content is handled. It's as simple as deconstructing the newsletter and repurposing it everywhere in less than 10 minutes a day (once you have the process down)."
And this one from Justin Welsh (who made $2.3M+ from his in 2023):
"Nothing is easier than writing a newsletter and then looking back at the newsletter and easily seeing 5-7 pieces of content.”
Okay, one last one from Koe to wrap up our quotes:
"Stop thinking about it as just a newsletter that disappears when you hit send."...
"It is the foundation of your entire brand (and most people don't have that)."
The foundation of your entire brand!
We've also seen repurposing we're talking about today done in other deep dives:
- How Dan Koe Repurposes His Newsletter To 5+ Other Platforms
- How Newsletter Operators Repurpose Their Content To LinkedIn & Twitter
But in this one we're going to be going a bit deeper into how a few more creators do this so you can see this far from just Koe.
The goal is to give you inspiration from these creators so you can go out and build your own flywheel...specific to YOU!
Dan Koe Newsletter Repurposing
We'll start with Dan Koe being that we've already gone through a full deep dive on his repurposing flow, and this is more-so just a recap of how it works.
Dan has said:
People ask why I recommend writing a newsletter first, even with 0 subscribers.
Because it doesn't matter how many people read it if:
- It is your YouTube script
- It is published on your blog
- It can be condensed into 20+ posts
And here's part of the flow he shares that we broke down in our other deep dive:
"How I turn 1 piece of writing into content for all platforms:
- Write a quality newsletter.
- Use it as a YouTube script.
- Condense it into a thread & carousel.
- Write tweet from big ideas.
- Copy / paste to IG and LI.
- Read the tweets for reels."
You see big creators talking about how you have to nail your "systems" - and this is the part that transforms your entire content system - and the driving force of your business.
In the first quote I shared in the opening section Dan talked about how you can nail this process "in less than 10 minutes a day (once you have the process down)"; and by the end of this deep dive I want to make sure you are on your way to creating your own process.
He has also said:
I've had people (mainly marketers) laugh in my face when I mention my monetization strategy which is:
- Promote in my newsletter
- Promote my newsletter on the timeline (as a blog post)
- Read my newsletter to a camera and post to YT (include links in description)
3-5 hours a week.
In this one he is not only talking about repurposing, but he is literally showing us that his newsletter is the core of his entire business.
His "recommended selling" tactic is what he uses inside his newsletter, within his blog posts, and even in his YouTube videos.
The same way Justin Welsh (next up on our list) uses his "Combo Approach To Weave Products In Naturally" after leading with "problem solving value"; Dan believes in taking the same approach for his marketing.
Note: We've seen this recommended selling tactic in our deep dive on The Top 5 Ways To Sell Passively In Your Newsletter.
Justin Welsh Newsletter Repurposing
The image above shows how Justin Welsh shares his "Hub And Spoke Model".
In this case your "Hub" is your newsletter, as shown in the middle.
And Justin tells us there are "6 pieces of Spoke content that I love creating:
- Stories
- Observations
- Threads
- Contrarian takes
- Past vs. present
- Listicles"
Which you can see stemming off of his Hub/Newsletter.
Chenell Basilio from Growth In Reverse did an incredible job mapping out some of how Justin does this and he also shared a TON of information on the Ship 30 for 30 podcast with Nicolas Cole and Dickie Bush.
Here's how he broke it down on the podcast:
- Next Week 12PM: Repurposing
- Pre-Newsletter CTA: Friday
- Newsletter: Saturday
- Post-Newsletter CTA: Sunday
- Full Blown Story: Next Monday
- Listicle: 2 Tuesdays
- Twitter Threads: 4 Tuesdays
- Observations: 3 Wednesdays
- Tear Down / Analysis: 4 Wednesdays
- Contrarian Take: 4 Thursdays
- Carousel Post: Next Saturday
Note: You can insert "From Now" or "From Publish" after each of the weekdays with numbers before them.
For example: "2 Tuesdays From Now", meaning the content is all pushed far out so people have already forgotten the previous posts and newsletter (or never saw it)!
They're all staggered so Justin's content plan is prepped weeks and weeks in advance, all stemming from his Hub: The Newsletter.
You can have different Spokes, of course, and your Spokes could technically even be more similar to Dan Koe's model, which is diversifying out into tons of other platforms; but it all stems from the newsletter, and depends on your personal preferences.
Ben Meer Newsletter Repurposing
Next up we have Ben Meer.
Ben sent out a newsletter titled "Giving Yourself a Personal MBA".
That same newsletter has been repurposed (like much of his other content) not only to other platforms, but on the same platform multiple times.
As you can see in the images above Ben has posted his book choices for giving yourself a personal MBA:
- On LinkedIn as a One Pager.
- On LinkedIn as a Carousel.
- On Instagram as a Carousel.
- On Twitter as a Thread.
And I'm sure they've been reposted on Instagram and Twitter quite a few times by now as well!
He does this same thing with all of his "Systems" that his newsletter "System Sunday" functions around (even if they're not actually systems).
Ben's content repurposing isn't as complex as Justin and Dan's, but that's one of the reasons I specifically wanted to highlight it here.
You don't have to overcomplicate the process.
Start with your newsletter. Test. Iterate. Nail down your process.
My Newsletter Repurposing
I was originally planning on doing another section on either Dan Go or a different creator, and then I realized my own example could be pretty powerful for you as well.
In the image example above you see this flow:
- Newsletter Deep Dive on Newsletter Sponsorships
- LinkedIn Carousel on Justin Welsh's Newsletter Sponsorships
- Threads Thread on Justin Welsh's Newsletter Sponsorships
Can you catch what's so special about this one?
The deep dive itself was not only on Justin Welsh's newsletter sponsorships.
It was actually, similar to my other deep dives, covering 4-5 different creator examples.
Which means I was able to put together a carousel and a thread (both considered longer form social content; which could be broken down into a bunch of short form); all with one tiny piece of the total newsletter.
You can, and should, repurpose your newsletter content into a handful of different pieces, and these pieces can eventually become YOUR Spokes, as we discussed above in our Justin Welsh breakdown.
For me, it usually becomes something like this (though it varies):
- Content On Each Creator I'm Deep Diving
- Content On The Deep Dive Overall (The Core Example)
- Content Similar To Justin's Spokes
And then the grand finale: The Compilation.
Since I'm doing all different deep dives on creators, and there's often overlap in the creators I'm researching, I also have compilation carousels and threads that allow me to combine multiple newsletters into one piece.
The below image is a good example of how Chenell Basilio did a compilation post from all of her deep dives in Growth In Reverse.
Building Your Newsletter Flywheel
The examples above are meant to be inspiration for building out your own newsletter content system and flywheel.
Too many creators want to copy-paste their favorite creator's content system, and that's where they go wrong.
You don't need to follow exactly what Dan Koe is doing.
Or exactly how Justin Welsh repurposes.
You can take Justin's Hub And Spoke Content Model, and learn from Dan Koe's system for repurposing to nearly every platform under the sun...
And use them both to put together your own perfect system.
But the most important part of the entire thing...?
Knowing that your HUB is your newsletter.
It all starts with your newsletter.
