When a venerable weekly newspaper vanished from a small New York community last year, local resident Janine Annett was bereft–and galvanized.
“People were shocked. Everyone believed someone should start a new local paper,” recalls Annett, "and then I thought, I am a do-it-yourself person. How about me?”
Within months, the Rivertowns Current newsletter (The Current), distributed on Substack, signed up more than 1,000 subscribers in a town of about 8,000. Annett's easy-to-launch online publication quickly unearthed exciting new possibilities and potential partnerships, while establishing her as a trusted source of local news.
This is not a unique story when it comes to entrepreneurship. It's almost second nature to identify a gap in the market, or daydream of reinventing a beloved business that closed down.
But for Annett to observe the shifting need in her community and take the necessary action to fulfill it, now that’s truly a story that must be shared.
Identify an opportunity and taking action
While Annett was a published author and seasoned freelance writer, she had never before reported local news. She had eagerly devoured every word of the now-defunct Rivertowns Enterprise weekly, and with it's sudden shutdown, Annett and many others in the media-heavy town grieved its loss. One of those people was Annett’s husband Tim, an accomplished full-time business journalist who suggested she start a Substack.
One of several leading services used to create newsletters, Substack was new to Annett. So was the role of digital publisher.
She chose to focus The Current on providing localized and informative content, even though Substack offers a variety of features for community engagement like user comments. Annett wanted to avoid divisive conversations around potentially hot local issues and knew she wouldn't have bandwidth to monitor comments regularly.
"I didn’t want Current to become Facebook, with people arguing,” Annett shares.
Instead she reimagined a popular feature of the previous weekly newspaper: an event calendar. She adapted Google tools to build the calendar of events, ensuring it could be painlessly updated on her end, easily imported to readers’ devices and didn't require any start-up costs.
Producing content her neighbors needed
Annett began penning feature stories, profiles of interesting people and places and the occasional local issue. Having lived in her scenic Hudson River town, north of New York City, for 12 years, she was steeped in local culture. This gave her a good sense of what people wanted to hear about, get excited about and what they got upset about.
One of her first stories was born from careful interviews of candidates applying to a rare school board position.
“Nobody else was covering this, and nobody knew much about the people running for this position, so I talked to each one, asked the same questions, allotted the same space for the articles on each one, and when I was done, I felt I’d informed the public and myself,” Annett says.
Her readers agreed and her inbox filled with feedback and ideas for more articles. Then, something unexpected happened.
Although The Current allowed for monetary donations, Annett never expected to raise funds. Despite that, more than 30% of her readers offered to pay for subscriptions, enabling The Current to hire experienced freelance journalists.
As I was doing it (creating The Current), I developed a real appreciation for my town, made many wonderful new connections, and re-confirmed my belief in the importance of local news.Janine Annett
Spreading the word with more than digital marketing
Instead of running online ads or undertaking other typical digital marketing tactics, Annett adopted guerilla public relations tactics that other entrepreneurs publishing newsletters should take note of.
- Postering: Volunteers helped plaster announcements throughout town with The Current’s QR code, bringing in additional readers.
- Public appearances: Getting on podcasts, radio shows and even public access TV programs were all ways Annett could reach her audience directly. One of her public appearances was getting featured in the Hastings-on-Hudson mayor’s newsletter.
- Swag: Branded merchandise like baseball caps, mugs and tee-shirts served as walking advertisements, increasing awareness and interest in The Current.
Annett's choice of marketing doesn't mean digital should be ignored entirely. Engaging with not just your readership, but other local businesses on social media, and using platforms like Nextdoor and Google Business as free options to spread the word.
Substack itself allows readers to highlight articles on their personal pages, and built-in recommendation buttons collect reader endorsements on content.
Newsletter start-up basics
As The Current gained visibility, Annett developed a reputation as a local influencer and advisor to other aspiring content creators. She suggested that they:
- Do their homework
- Know their audience
- Feed the (content) beast
- Track daily progress
Annett had spent hours testing potential newsletter providers and assessing individual pages to determine The Current’s look, feel and tone. As a well-informed local, Annett understood local issues, but she made it a point to do more listening than talking. Her willingness to hear people out brought in numerous ideas.
In terms of feeding the beast, online sites require constantly refreshed material. Annett shared several original stories each week, as well as jam-packed local listings every Thursday.
Substack has a daily dashboard feature, which allowed Annett to track information about what readers sought out in The Current. The dashboard includes insights like where readers come from before visiting the site, as well as what articles they avoid. These statistics shaped Annett’s subsequent content decisions.
An unexpected pivot
While The Current had quickly become a beloved source of local news and community engagement, Annett faced challenges common to many entrepreneurs.
I really enjoyed what I was doing, and I gained so much from it, but I’d become stressed by trying to do everything almost by myself.Janine Annett
Luckily, other local groups were working to create a new publication, and one of them approached Annett several times with proposals to fold her publication into theirs. It was a tough decision, but Annett eventually opted to join the group.
In business, tough decisions are inevitable, especially when growth comes unexpectedly. Annett went into this project with the short-term goal of filling a news gap.
Her pivot didn't mean failure. On the contrary, it showed a deep level of self-awareness and reflection on her personal values, the needs of her audience and opportunities for a new and different chapter of business success.