Our world is saturated with negative news, but Sean Devlin took on the challenge of creating a platform that focuses solely on positive stories. His newsletter, Nice News, has not only succeeded in capturing the attention of readers but has also become a thriving business with 450,000 subscribers. Let’s examine the strategies that propelled Nice News to success and explore how you can grow your email newsletter base.
Research, Research, Research
Devlin’s background at Optimism, an incubator for email-related concepts, taught him the importance of thorough research. Before launching Nice News, he sought to understand the market and audience. He questioned whether there was enough positive news to curate, the daily demand for such content, and what readers wanted in their inbox. By launching and experimenting with different content and formats, he gained valuable insights.
Nice News intentionally features a broad range of positive stories, from scientific discoveries to feel-good local news. Devlin discovered that no single subject dominated; readers engaged with what was most relevant and interesting to them. Understanding that positive-news consumers tend to skew female and a little older helped him refine the product to cater to the target audience.
Use Partnerships for Growth
Nice News employs a strategy of “cross-pollination” by partnering with other newsletters for mutual promotion. Collaborative efforts and dedicated email campaigns to targeted user groups have proven successful. Giveaways, often criticized for attracting disengaged readers, can be effective when aligned with the newsletter’s ideal audience.
Devlin emphasizes the importance of targeting the right audience with giveaways. By using partnership marketing companies like DojoMojo, Nice News ensures that the prizes and marketing efforts align with the content of the newsletter. This approach helps attract subscribers genuinely interested in the newsletter’s themes, fostering a more engaged readership.
Build a System and a Team
While delivering positive news is the core of Nice News, Devlin realized that mere positivity wouldn’t suffice. The content had to be surprising and unique, standing out from what readers encountered online. To achieve this, he built a small but efficient team of staff writers and editors, led by a former People magazine editor.
The addition of “freelance curators,” based in the Philippines, further enhanced the curation process. This team scours over 100 news sources during the hours when the US-based team is offline. This meticulous curation ensures that Nice News delivers not just good news, but the most relevant and surprising stories, setting it apart from other sources.
