Want to build a local newsletter in 2025?
Start here
Welcome to issue #029 of Insideletter!
Each week, I share 2–3 editions in which I outline the exact steps to build a newsletter business to £1K a month.
2025 is the year of local newsletters, and big, big media brands have started their own local newsletters.
And I wasn’t much aware of this, but Brady pointed me towards that in my The Growth Flywheel podcast.
And after that, I also started a local newsletter.
It’s in Bengali, and only about my town, Kolkata.
You can check it out here, but you won’t be able to understand. But AI is there to help :)
In today’s edition, we will learn how to build a local newsletter and make it profitable.
But first of all…
What is a local newsletter?
A newsletter that gets delivered within a specific geographic area. In my case, it’s Kolkata.
Why should you start one?
This ‘why’ changes everything. Trust me.
You can do anything and everything, but if you don’t know the why behind it, it’s very much likely that you’ll stop doing it after a certain time.
Let’s understand this: what happens when you start a general newsletter? irrespective of any niche.
You attract that particular audience based on your niche.
The same happens here, instead of a niche, you are targeting based on a geography.
Now, when you target based on a geography, here’s what happens:
You attract the local brands
You increase the likelihood of your audience consuming your newsletter more
You build a trusted community
You can become a media leader in that space.
In one line, you increase the chance of making money.
Now…
How to start one
Choose your audience
It becomes so easy to write for people whom you already know. When I say, you know them, that means: you know their interests, you know their preferences, you know their dislikes.
In my case, I chose Kolkata because I am a Bengali. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be the same for you.
You can pick any audience and conduct research.
Also, one crucial thing to make sure of? Your goal and audience type should match.
If you want to promote something through your local newsletter and your audience can’t afford to buy those products, then don’t proceed further. Change any one of them.
Content
If I write something totally irrelevant to you, would you bother reading my newsletter? The direct answer is no.
The same thing happens to your audience.
If you write something they can’t relate to, they won’t even care.
So, here’s an exercise for you:
A. First, know what you’re doing, solving a problem or just entertaining
B. List down their emotions, interests, or problems and match with your content
C. Now ask someone local to review if they can understand it or if it excites them or not.
Foundation:
There are some basic things you need to figure out before starting anything
A. Your audience (we have talked about it)
B. Your goal (We’ve talked about it)
C. Your promise (You need to make sure what you’re promising)
D. Frequency (How many times you’re actually sending the newsletter, is it daily? or weekly or bi-weekly? )
E. How long will each issue (if it’s daily, keep it under 150 words, if it’s bi-weekly, keep it under 250 at max, if it’s once every week, you can touch 400-500 max)
Business model
As I’ve mentioned earlier, know what you’re doing.
What is your business model with it?
Is it brand sponsorship
Is it a paid subscription
Or what? define that
Next steps
A. Pick a channel to promote
For me I chose Instagram because I can showcase a lot about Kolkata and collaborate too.
B. Pick a growth strategy
Everything needs to come under a strategy. How will you grow the audience and offer value?
C. And finally start working on it
People think 1000 ideas in their minds. But they never actually start, don’t be one of them.
If you really want to start. Start now.
Don’t wait for the perfect time, because it will never come.
Now, go and crush it.
Example of a local newsletter.
Please give me some feedback in the comments, so I understand whether you’re loving it or not.
Thanks mate! Bye!
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Talk soon,
Anirban “helping you build a local newsletter” Das.
This is interesting. How’s your local newsletter going so far??