What’s up, locals? Sorry for not sending this newsletter last week. I was skiing all week and my assistant was off. I barely got my local newsletter out. Life of Scoop took a backseat. But I got a good one for you today.

But before that, I want to tell you about my 5-Day Local Newsletter Starter Kit. It walks you through everything from finding content to getting your first 100 subscribers. Saves weeks of headaches for less than $20 a day. Check it out.

Alright, ready for the goods?

How to grow a local newsletter without Facebook ads

I hear it all the time.

How can I grow my local newsletter without spending thousands on Facebook ads?

Well, here’s a tactic I wish I thought of when starting. I’d have saved heaps of cash. Facebook groups.

Your town has at least one active FB group. It probably has lots. My town of 40k has dozens. So here’s what you’re gonna do.

1. Pick 3 FB groups. The biggest and most active ones in your town.

2. Make friends with the admins. This is a sanctioned mission. DM them, introduce your newsletter (with a link so they see how good it is), and ask if you can occasionally post upcoming events with a link to your newsletter.

3. Once you have permission, make a post on Thursday about events that weekend. Pick some events from your newsletter and write all the info people need in the post. Then explain that you send stuff like this all the time in a newsletter. Link it.

The mods are gods

The most important thing about this is that you must get permission from the group admins. If you don’t, I guarantee. . .

• You’ll get booted from every group you join

• You’ll be able to count your new subscribers on one hand

You may have to get on the phone with them like Life of Scoop student and Tucker Today founder David. You may have to post about events without a newsletter link for a couple weeks to earn trust.

So how many subscribers can you get?

Quite a lot actually.

Life of Scoop student Beau from Tennessee got 700 subscribers from 2 FB groups. I got lucky once and got 600 subscribers overnight because a reader posted my newsletter in a FB group.

There’s no reason why you can’t get your first 2,000 subscribers from FB groups without spending any money. There are just 2 critical things you need to keep in mind:

1. The mods are gods. Treat them as such. Their egos are usually fragile. You NEED their blessing for this.

2. People hate self-promotion on the Internet. Add value with the great info in your post, then ask for the newsletter subscription.

Alright, now get out there and grow. Let me know how it goes. Maybe you’ll be Life of Scoop’s first case study.

If you share Life of Scoop, I’ll reward you.

• Get 2 folks to join and I’ll send you a PDF of all the tools I use to run my local newsletter.

• Get 15 and I’ll evaluate a writing sample and tell you how to improve.

• Get 100 and I’ll give you a free hour of local newsletter consulting ($350 value).

• And if you somehow get 1,000 I will fly you out to my newsletter’s annual party, put you up in a hotel, and make you the guest of honor.

Life of Scoop stuff

• I do local newsletter consulting. Click here to schedule.

• My 5-Day Local Newsletter Starter Kit

• My beehiiv referral link (gets you 20% off)

• You can sponsor this newsletter (563 hungry entrepreneurs, 72% open rate). Email me to get up in here.