99 | How Destini Copp turned her ‘struggling’ newsletter into a money-making machine
Turn Your Newsletter into a Money-Making Machine
WITH DR. DESTINI COPP
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In this episode, Dr. Destini Copp shares how she turned her struggling newsletter into a money-making machine! Plus, you’ll learn her proven system for creating engaging newsletters that you can take and implement yourself!
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Over the past 18 months, I've cut out a lot of marketing activities that require more time & effort than I'm willing to give in an effort to keep my business simple and enjoyable. In fact, I stepped away from Instagram and transitioned to a 9-grid feed at the beginning of this year and this has probably been the best decision I’ve made in a long time because it’s freed up so much more time and I’ve felt so much less pressure when it comes to my business and my marketing.
With that being said, the one thing I will NEVER step away from is email marketing. Email is a crucial part of my marketing strategy and it's the main way I communicate with my audience, share value and sell my offers.
Our guest today is also a huge advocate for email marketing and she is here to share her take on how you can set up a profitable email newsletter and streamline the entire process! Dr. Destini Copp is a certified business growth coach for digital product entrepreneurs. She helps business owners 10X their digital product revenue without the need to be glued to their desk, constantly live launching, or worrying about social media algorithms.
In this episode, Destini is going to share how she turned her struggling newsletter into a money-making machine! And she’s going to share her proven system for creating engaging newsletters that you can take and implement yourself!
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Episode Transcript
This transcript is AI generated. Please bare in mind that it may not be 100% accurate.
Tish
00:00
Okay, so this is your third time on the podcast, Destini, so I'm sure our listeners are already pretty familiar with who you are, but for those who are new listeners or need a little reminder, why don't you give us a brief introduction into who you are and the business you've created.
Destini
00:19
So Tish, first of all, thank you so much for having me. I am super excited to be here. I love your podcast. I love listening to it, and definitely, like I said, super excited to be here. I am a business growth coach for digital product entrepreneurs, and one of my core values is really just time and freedom in my business. Years ago, I was a service provider and came back from a family vacation and said, you know what, I am not doing that anymore. And that's when I went all-in on digital products. I have a strong love for digital products, and that’s what I love helping my clients do—getting that consistent recurring revenue from their digital product portfolio.
Tish
01:05
Wonderful, yeah, and it's always a pleasure to hear about your story and chat with you. I feel like we have quite similar passions with digital products and email marketing, so I always love having you as a guest on the show. And the reason you're here today is because you are going to be sharing your story on how you turned your quote-unquote "struggling" newsletter into a money-making machine. So I would love to start with some backstory. Can you tell us about this newsletter you had and why you deemed it as struggling?
Destini
01:40
So Tish, I'm gonna give you a little bit of background here. I’ve been doing my business when I went online back in 2018, and that’s when I started my email list. So, I’ve been doing this for a while. I wasn’t necessarily as consistent as I would have liked to have been with it, but I was fairly consistent over the years. One of the things that was really bothering me and I was really struggling with is that I felt like my newsletter—or how I was using my newsletter or email list in general—was primarily just to promote things. I was promoting either an event I was in or something that was coming up, maybe a webinar or challenge I was doing. Definitely valuable events, no doubt about it, but I just felt like I was missing the mark on what a newsletter really should be or had the potential to be. I started doing some research and, at first, I was kind of in this creator niche. I was looking at influencers and some bigger names with their newsletters, and they were doing what I think we had all been told—having a pillar piece of content. I was using my podcast for that, as I’m sure a lot of people do either with a blog, podcast, or YouTube video. I was sending that out, but it didn’t feel like it was meeting the mark. What I noticed was that when I was sending out my newsletter with my podcast, I wasn’t getting the engagement or clicks. When I really started looking at consumer behavior, I realized that when I got similar newsletters, I’d already be subscribed on Apple Podcasts, so I’d tell myself, "I'll go listen whenever I want," or sometimes, I wouldn’t even open the email. That’s what I was doing as well. So I knew there was a better way. I started conducting research outside our niche, looking at what others were doing. That’s when I noticed a lot of these, I’ll call them "newsletter operators"—people who built newsletters that were so valuable that people couldn’t wait to receive them and were getting tons of engagement. These newsletters could probably stand on their own as a separate business, and I realized they were doing something different. I thought, "What can I emulate and bring into my strategy?" That’s when I started pulling in all that research, looking at different people and best practices. I know I’ve given you a lot of information, so I’ll stop there and see if you have any questions so far.
Tish
05:57
Yeah, I think sometimes that’s the problem with email—people just aren’t sure what to send because they think it all has to revolve around promoting their offers or core content. Of course, we should be doing that, but we can make it fun too, and there are plenty of other things to share with your audience. I love how you do that in your newsletter. Could you give us an example of the kinds of things you share in your newsletter or the different sections you fill each week?
Destini
06:29
Yeah, so I think you’ve really hit upon a key point. One of the key findings from that research was that these newsletter operators weren’t just focusing on one piece of content. They were treating their newsletter kind of like an old-time magazine. If you think back to maybe high school, and I might be dating myself a little, but think about that Cosmo magazine you loved—you’d save it, go back and take the quizzes, read articles, and bookmark certain pages. That’s what these newsletter operators were doing. They had consistent sections—maybe a section promoting pillar content, a section on events, a section on quick tips, or my favorite, a "bookmark-worthy" section. When you have a newsletter with thousands of subscribers, they're going to be interested in different things. Some might hone in on the podcast section, some on the events, some on quick tips or the bookmark-worthy section. Those are some of the sections I have, and I’ve found that you’re appealing to more people that way. I get emails every week from people saying, "I love this section," and someone else will comment on something completely different. It’s about giving your audience various things they can learn from and get value from each week.
Tish
09:02
Yeah, and the thing I like is that even if someone isn’t interested in one section, there’s likely going to be another section they are interested in, which gives them a reason to open your newsletter every week. You really get to appeal to the masses. I was wondering, how do you balance creating content that readers love with content that generates revenue?
Destini
09:30
First and foremost, I want to make sure I’m providing value. If I don’t feel like what I have will provide value to my audience, I won’t include it. I have people who contact me every week wanting to sponsor the newsletter, do a newsletter swap, or ask me to be an affiliate for something. If I don’t think my audience will be interested or get value from it, that’s off the table. That’s one of my core values. The other thing is, I’m not being super salesy. I present offers, events, or gifts I know will benefit my audience, but I’m not pushing hard sales in my weekly newsletters. The goal is to make money, yes, but these are not sales emails like those I’d send during a launch. When I’m launching a program, those emails are different—they’ll invite people to a webinar and promote my group coaching program. What we’re talking about here are my weekly newsletters, and while I am promoting things, I’m not super salesy about it.
Tish
11:34
Yeah, and I can see that because I’m on your email list, and I never feel sold to, but I always know there’s a way to go deeper. I love how you present those opportunities. But let’s shift gears a little bit. How can you help other entrepreneurs who want to start or improve their newsletters? If someone listening wants to start a newsletter but hasn’t yet, what advice would you give them?
Destini
12:10
That’s a great question! If you’re just starting out, one thing I’d encourage you to do is get very clear on your ideal reader. Who is receiving your email? What are they interested in? How can you help them? What kind of information and value will make them want to receive, open, and engage with your emails? You want them clicking on sections and emailing back. Your ideal reader is usually your ideal customer for your business, so get clear on that. If you’re just starting out and still figuring that out, just start writing and growing your email list. Also, think about the sections in your newsletter that make sense for you. If you’re a blogger, you’ll want a section to promote your blog content. If you’re a YouTuber or podcaster, have a section for your pillar content. You also want to promote your products and services weekly—whether it’s booking a discovery call, linking to a tripwire, or another offer. Get comfortable promoting your offers; it’s okay to do so because while you’re giving them a ton of value, you’re also running a business.
Tish
14:49
Thank you for breaking that down so simply. Before we started recording, we were talking about some fun offers and projects you have going on to help online business owners monetize their newsletter. Can you tell us about them?
Destini
14:49
Yes, I have the Newsletter Profit Calculator, which helps you understand and analyze how to monetize your newsletter. It gives you options for monetizing, and you can input numbers like your email subscribers and click rates to get estimates of what you could earn per newsletter. Definitely check it out!
Tish
15:34
That sounds great, and I’ll put the link in the show notes for anyone who wants to learn more. Now, you’ve been a guest on this show before, so you know the last question I like to ask all my guests. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to online business owners who want to scale their business?
Destini
16:00
I’d say to keep experimenting. We’ve all heard the saying, "What got you here won’t get you there," and it’s true. If you want to grow your business, you can’t keep doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. Take risks and experiment with different strategies—whether it’s a new offer, an email marketing strategy, or something else. Some things will work, and some won’t, but you’ll never know if you don’t try!
Tish
16:35
Great advice, and thank you again for being here, Destini! Where can listeners find you and learn more about working with you?
Destini
16:45
Thank you, Tish! Listeners can find me at Destini.com or follow me on Instagram @DestiniBiz. I’d love to connect!
hey, I'm Tish!
I'm a multi-passionate business owner, digital marketing strategist, business mentor & part-time digital nomad ✈️
I'm on a mission to help you create more time, freedom & profit in your business through the implementation of sustainable & scalable business and marketing strategies!
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The Simple Marketing Podcast is for ambitious entrepreneurs who want to build a sustainable & scalable online business. With bite-sized, actionable episodes, you’ll learn how to create more time, freedom & profit in a way that feels good to you.
