How long can you run ads for a new newsletter before sending the first issue?

About three weeks. I start Facebook ads before a single issue is written, send two short emails to buy time, and publish the first real issue around day 21. All of my list growth comes from Facebook ads, so this is the launch I've run the most.

I also learned the long-wait lesson the hard way. On one of my Austin-suburb newsletters I ran ads for about eight weeks without sending anything but the welcome email. When issues finally started, that brand's open rate was 10 to 15 points lower than any of my other launches.

"Remember, as soon as you start running ads, it's go time pretty quick."

Can you really run ads before you've written anything?

Yes. When I launched a B2B insurance newsletter, I hadn't written a single issue. There was a bare page and ads. That's the whole point. You collect subscribers and survey answers first, then write for real people.

You'll start at zero, of course. If ads start on the first of the month, you have no subscribers on the first. Someone once asked me if they should write a newsletter before they had subscribers. No. Why waste your time writing into a void?

What's the day-by-day sequence?

When	What goes out
Signup	Welcome email, sent immediately, asking them to reply
Day 7	"You're one of our first subscribers. We're finalizing things."
Day 14	"Final touches. Next Thursday the first issue goes out." Or a sneak peek: one restaurant, three events
Day 21	First real issue with news and events

The day 7 and day 14 emails are about buying yourself time while still giving readers something. Set them up as an automation the day your ads start. You can even write the first one right now and schedule it for seven or ten days out.

Make them engaging. If I did this again I'd be way more interactive in those two emails: a poll (they're easy to make in Beehiiv), "what's your favorite restaurant?", or "send us a photo, we'll feature local people's photos in the first issue." You want people replying and clicking before issue one ever lands. You're treating them like insiders.

What should the very first email say?

Short and human. Thanks for subscribing, you're one of the first people on the list, we're putting the finishing touches on everything, and what do you want us to share?

• Ask for a reply. My welcome email asks people to reply "I'm ready" or "yes." I probably get three or four replies a day. Answer them, even from a template, and engage personally when someone says something interesting. It shows you're human.
• Put a face on it. At the bottom of my newsletters there's a photo of the publishers with our names. If you launch with a local owner, make them the face and save it as a template.
• Introduce the person. For a business owner's newsletter, the welcome email can say who they are, how long they've been in the community and why they're excited to do this.

How many subscribers should you have before issue one?

Hopefully at least 1,000 by day 21. Realistically I want 1,000, and ideally 2,000 to 3,000, before the first real issue. On one launch we sent a "getting ready" note about a week in, then launched about 20 days after starting ads, at around 1,000 subscribers.

Don't hold the first issue hostage to a number, though. Once people are on the list, send something about once a week.

Expect a dip too. You get the most attention and replies in the first couple of weeks. The next couple of weeks are quieter, and you'll wonder why. That's just what happens.

What happens if you wait too long?

Your open rate pays for it. That eight-week brand opened 10 to 15 points below my other newsletters at the start. For a while I thought the damage was permanent, because subscribers had gone almost two months with no contact after signing up.

It recovered more than I expected. A few months later that list was opening in the mid-40s, only a couple of points below my others. It hurt, but it wasn't devastating. I still wouldn't do it again on purpose. Three weeks works. Eight weeks hurt.

What has to be ready before you spend a dollar?

1. The landing page the ad points to, finished. It's super important.
2. The survey, final. On Beehiiv's built-in survey you can't easily change it later without starting over.
3. The redirect or thank-you page after the survey. I send people to the brand's Instagram page.
4. The welcome email and footer. The welcome email is the most important piece.
5. A proven ad. When I coach new operators, I hand them my ad and urge them to use it. Run one or two.

With focus, all of that is one to two days of work. It's still a lot of work even with AI, so give yourself those days.

Do you need a website or anything else first?

No. At launch, run everything on your email platform's hosted pages. A website is too much work early. Build one when you're getting traction, say 6,000 to 10,000 subscribers and people loving it. With AI site builders, that's faster than it used to be.

If subscribers come in through a Facebook lead form instead, speed matters. Connect the lead form to your email platform with Zapier, so each submitted email gets pushed across almost instantly. They get the welcome email five or ten minutes after signing up.

I raised this on my podcast as a fix for open rates slipping on growing lists. I wasn't running lead forms myself, so treat it as a setup tip, not a tested result. I send my own ads to a subscribe page.