Learn how to level up your newsletter from successful creators.

Sundays 👉 The unique journey of a different newsletter creator

Wednesdays 👉 Articles with unique insights and recommendations

CREATOR INTERVIEW

Today, you'll not only read an interview about the journey of a newsletter, but you'll also find a quick guide on how to approach effective segmentation and apply it to your newsletter.

Des Brown is an email expert with 12 years of experience. In addition to his full-time job at TouchBasePro, one of Africa's most notable ESPs, he is the founder of Email Experts Africa, a community of email enthusiasts.

What I find particularly valuable in today’s issue:

• His detailed segmentation strategy, including tips and tricks for a quick start and maintenance of those segments

• How Des uses strategic DMs to grow his list

• A rich set of useful tools

• Insights on quality vs quantity, being more planned, and the importance of focusing on what you can control

Finally, I'd like to mention that Des is one of the kindest and most collaborative people I've ever met. Besides his expertise in the newsletter space, his unique personality sets him apart, and I'm thrilled to feature his work.

Now, I'm passing the mic to Des Brown.

Let’s dive in!

🏷 NEWSLETTER IDENTITY CARD

🛠 TOOL STACK

• ESP → TouchBasePro

• Writing → Grammarly

• Planning & Note-taking → Notion

• Website → Wix

• Website Analytics → Google Analytics, Google Postmaster, Sendmarc

• SEO → Search Console

• Growth → Gumroad, Linktree, Lettergrowth

• Social Media Tools → Metricool to manage Meta - IG, FB and Threads, as well as X, AuthoredUp for LinkedIn

• Sponsorship → Stripe, Gumroad, TouchBasePro

• Automations → TouchBasePro

• Design of visuals → Canva

• Payment → Stripe, Paypal

• Other → Email Love, LinkShortener.io, SubjectLine.com, Spamhaus

👋 MEET THE CREATOR

Welcome Des. Let’s start with getting to know you.

Firstly, it’s a privilege to be here! I’m a big fan of Newsletter Circle and where it’s going.

For everyone here - I’m Des 🙂 I’m a Director at one of Africa’s most notable ESPs, TouchBasePro, and the founder of Email Expert Africa, a community for people who want to find ways to become better email senders.

Email accidentally fell into my lap. Having worked for TouchBasePro for over 6 years now, I’ve had the privilege of studying my marketing management BBA while immersing myself in email knowledge and strategy.

I’ve refined my leadership skills under the mentorship of our CEO, Greg Phillips, who has shown that strong yet empathetic leadership can be achieved within a scaling organization.

My love for email led to the birth of Email Expert Africa and its growing community of email aficionados.

🥁 START

How and why did you decide to start Email Experts Africa?

My attraction to email and to building knowledge in this space felt like an opportunity to create a way to monetise my knowledge. I built an in-depth email guide for email senders starting in their email journey (which is still ongoing), and to create an environment to build an audience, created Email Expert Africa.

Over the past 11 months, Email Expert Africa has evolved into a community for knowledge sharing, solid digital relationships and a way for me and the community I serve to continue learning and growing in email.

A big part of this is Email Advice in Your Inbox, our bi-weekly newsletter, which has been an immense part of my life over the last year.

There are so many exciting opportunities in the email and newsletter space on the horizon, and my goal is to help advocate for good email sending and the growth of this space in the time to come.

🚀 GROWTH

Which growth strategies did you utilize to reach 700 subscribers?

My biggest ongoing growth strategy is constantly referring to the newsletter and creating a way for folks to easily join, regardless of where they interact with my content.

Every social page’s main CTA is to join the newsletter; my resources heavily support this.

I also use strategic DMs to great effect.