👋 Hi Reader,

You know me.

I keep my eyes peeled on anything happening on Substack.

Be it the recent revelation for Substack sponsored ads (h/t to Tyler Morin and Louis Nichols from the LetterLand Live Show) or the recent ModernRetail article about brands taking Substack seriously below.

And I have a nagging feeling about this phenomenon. As if I have seen this playbook before. A deja vu which kept gnawing on my brain since the time I read this article.

The employees are taking over the newsletter

Here is the pattern I keep watching play out, every single time a content channel matures.

It starts with individuals. Regular people who figured out the platform early, built an audience, and owned the conversation.

Then the influencers and social creators arrive and make bank with their following.

Then the brands show up with budgets, trying to buy their way into the attention that these creators built organically.

And finally, and this is the part most people miss:

The employees take over the channel.

Watch this play out on LinkedIn and you will see exactly what I mean. And the present step of the LinkedIn evolution is where we are at, with brands like Buffer and beehiiv (case in point being the upcoming 16th July launch date) letting their employees totally hog your feed whenever a launch comes closer.

Here’s where the Substack playbook is

Substack currently is roping in brands to build their distribution channels, with real money being made through editorial traction. Once a brand gets a whiff of how many conversations they can drive the narrative with their own team, they would have tasted blood.

If a brand like the TheRealReal understands that their audience wants to get into seller merchandising, they can have their merch department start writing long-form about their decision-making process on partner onboarding. If they know an employee is already writing on the side about their weekly thrift hauls, they can bring them into the brand umbrella to compound their marketing efforts.

Substack's social graph makes this more likely than it ever was on social. An employee with 3,000 Substack followers inside a brand's category is already an owned distribution asset, even if nobody in the marketing department has connected those dots yet.

We already see early signs of this happening at media outlets, where the brand and its employees work hand-in-hand to compound their long-form audiences. Technical.ly did that recently with one of their editorial team starting out a beehiiv newsletter, along with their cohort of multiple local editorial newsletters.

We recorded a podcast recently with Danya Henninger from Technical.ly about this initiative - watch the Youtube link below.

​

​
Looking into the crystal ball

I know its early days for newsletter discovery, but employee-driven distribution on Substack might be a growth lever which is just waiting to explode.

So where’s the holdup, you ask?

It's the brand themselves.

They spend a lot of time hiring exceptional talent, but sadly when it comes to letting them create content, they do not treat them as adults in the room.

Individual employees at companies are already quietly building Substack audiences on the side. The question is when brands start treating that as a feature, not a liability.

Need a sounding board in understanding how to make this happen for your brand and employees? I would love to talk to you.

Let me know by hitting ‘Reply’ on this email, or send a note to marketing@letterstack.co.

This newsletter is sponsored by The Alien Design

Looking for a partner to bring your digital product ideas to life? Alien specializes in product design, web design, and Webflow development. Alien helps businesses build visually appealing digital experiences that drive results. From concept to launch, Alien focus on delivering solutions that fit your brand and meet your business goals.

Want to get featured as the next sponsor on LetterStack? Reach out to us on marketing@letterstack.co!

Make Sure You Get Our Emails!

To ensure our emails land in your main inbox, follow these easy steps:

1. Find this email in your Promotions tab.
2. Drag it to the Primary tab.
3. When Gmail asks, click "Yes" to get our future emails in your main inbox.
4. You can also add us to your contacts to stay updated!

We Value Your Feedback

Your feedback means the world to us! Just hit reply and share your thoughts on this edition - we're always looking to improve. You could also reach out to us on marketing@letterstack.co.

Cheers,

Renga from LetterStack

Was this email forwarded to you by a friend? Sign up here to get content like this directly in your inbox!