<\/p>\n
Start spreadin\u2019 the news. While some brands are using Substack partnerships for affiliate marketing, others have opted to take it a step further and are creating newsletters of their own.<\/p>\n
In recent months, Madewell, American Eagle, Billboard, Rare Beauty, The RealReal, Bandcamp, and Tory Burch have all launched newsletters on Substack. At the same time, Substack has courted brand founders, including fashion brand owners Clare Vivier of Clare V. and Rebecca Minkoff, to build on the success of other founder-led newsletters, like that of Melanie Masarin, the founder of drink brand Ghia, according to Christina Loff, head of lifestyle on the Substack partnerships team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re always looking for bringing the most important, influential voices to the platform,\u201d Loff told us.<\/p>\n
For both Substack and brands, a newsletter can serve as a gathering place for a community of brand loyalists who can engage with long-form content for entertainment, advice, and even behind-the-scenes content.<\/p>\n
With that said, Loff cautioned against viewing the newsletter as just another form of email marketing. That\u2019s not just sage advice\u2014that\u2019s according to Substack\u2019s own content guidelines, which specify that the platform is intended for \u201chigh-quality editorial content, not conventional email marketing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bringing marketing copy and images to Substack newsletters doesn\u2019t work not just because it violates the platform\u2019s guidelines, Loff told us: it\u2019s also likely that people wouldn\u2019t subscribe to that kind of newsletter in the first place.<\/p>\n
What readers are looking for instead, she said, is a \u201cdeeper story\u201d or insider information, ideally told from a first-person perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best way for a brand to show up is if there\u2019s a founder or if there\u2019s that person behind it, because that\u2019s what Substack is about,\u201d Loff said, adding that \u201cpeople trust people more than brands.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of those people is Vivier, who started her Substack, La Vie de Clare V., in April 2024. Vivier said the format has been a natural fit because Clare V. is a founder-driven brand. In her newsletter, she shares content like the inspiration behind some of her designs, and she said she views it as a longer-format, behind-the-scenes look for her community rather than exclusively a marketing vehicle.<\/p>\n
\u201cSubstack is a way that you can get a little bit more personal,\u201d she said. \u201cI also just love sharing my design process and things that inspire me and stories of my travels.\u201d<\/p>\n
For less founder-forward brands, some have recruited known writers to spearhead their Substacks. American Eagle brought on Casey Lewis, who writes her own youth-culture newsletter, After School, to guest-edit the brand newsletter Off the Cuff. The RealReal, meanwhile, opted for a more Gossip Girl<\/em> approach, hiring a fashion writer who pens the brand\u2019s newsletter anonymously and signs off with, \u201cXOXO, The RealGirl.\u201d<\/p>\n To support the second iteration of its \u201cNo Ordinary Love\u201d campaign that kicked off in May, Hinge released five love stories on Substack, as well as in print, that were written by a cast of writers, including Hung Up newsletter writer Hunter Harris and The Bi Monthly writer Jen Winston.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I like about that is they\u2019re giving another monetary opportunity to these writers that are already on Substack, and they\u2019re working with trusted voices already on the platform,\u201d Loff said. \u201cIt\u2019s really smart.\u201d<\/p>\n Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Jackie Jantos, CMO of Hinge, told us that the campaign falls into the brand\u2019s broader creator marketing strategy as a way of reaching Gen Z via some of their favorite writers.<\/p>\n \u201cPart of our creator and marketing strategy is leveraging creators who have far more authenticity and credibility with our core Gen Z audience in order to tell Hinge stories,\u201d Jantos said. \u201cWe\u2019re doing the same through Substack here.\u201d<\/p>\n For brands and brand founders, the primary benefit of creating a newsletter is to build community. Viver told us she doesn\u2019t look at KPIs or follower counts on her Substack (although she has noticed that certain content, like posts about interior design, has led to more sign-ups and likes). Primarily, she said, she\u2019s responding to comments.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really about personal engagement,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s much more important.\u201d<\/p>\n Substack followers tend to fall into the category of what Vivier calls brand \u201csuperfans,\u201d since they have to opt into getting a newsletter sent to their inboxes.<\/p>\n \u201cThose are the people who are your ride-or-die evangelists who are going to go out and talk about your brand and tell their friends and family about it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n That community-focused approach can make Substack feel like \u201ca positive place,\u201d Liz Hanna, connections director at VML, told us. \u201cIt\u2019s not the dregs of the internet, like X, or even on Reddit, where people can really get nasty.\u201d (Of course, that all depends on where you look. Substack has faced criticism for its anti-moderation stance, which has allowed for certain forms of hateful content on the platform.)<\/p>\n For brands interested in building out brand newsletters on Substack, Hanna said the focus should be on leaning into a niche and building an ownable audience rather than building up huge audiences or fielding direct product sales.<\/p>\n \u201c[Substack] is a great place to have a two-way conversation and really get to know your audience and find out what they want from your brand,\u201d Hanna said. \u201cUltimately, that can even influence your future products or your marketing.\u201d<\/p>\n Hanna called newsletters \u201cthe new blog,\u201d and Vivier told us she was initially drawn to Substack because her brand \u201creally started with a blog\u201d back in 2007. But while it\u2019s easy to compare brand editorial content on Substack to the blogs of the early 2000s, Loff said it\u2019s not Substack\u2019s goal to revive that era. For one, she said the platform does not currently provide monetary opportunities for brands.<\/p>\n Still, there is something nostalgic about long-form content reemerging in the age of short-form video and endless scrolling.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething that I\u2019m really excited about is how Gen Z are engaging with the written word and engaging with newsletters,\u201d Jantos said. \u201cIt\u2019s a medium for exploring content in a slower way and really engaging and putting a bit more effort into what you\u2019re reading.\u201d<\/p>\n But not every company has a story to tell, Loff cautioned.<\/p>\n Ultimately, she said, \u201cWe don\u2019t want Substack to be flooded with brands.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nGet marketing news you’ll actually want to read<\/h5>\n
A place to gather<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The new blog?<\/strong><\/h2>\n