Why I am not moving my business newsletter to Substack
You’ve heard of Substack, right? The platform that has become very popular for writers, authors, and small business owners? When I still had a personal blog, I moved it to Substack, and I loved it! This also gives you the first clue as to why I am not moving my Studio Notes newsletter there:
Substack is a blogging platform with great engagement features.
It’s a powerhouse, for sure, and what I love about it is its simplicity, coupled with exceptionally well-developed functionality and analytics. I love the Substack comment section, for instance, where you hover over a person’s name and see a snapshot of their profile with a subscribe button. It’s pretty genius how this platform is designed to drive engagement and audience growth. My personal blog subscriber list, for instance, quadrupled after I moved it to Substack!
However, I won’t be using Substack for my business newsletter.
This is actually a topic that came up after I sent a newsletter about creating my first proper sales funnel using Squarespace Campaigns. One of my subscribers replied:
“I have been having a huge internal debate about joining Substack or not and leaving behind my Campaigns Squarespace newsletter. But I have a gut feeling it’s not the right thing to do.”
I completely agree with that gut feeling.
As many of you know, I am a huge fan of using Squarespace Campaigns for my business newsletter. My subscribers love it, too! Thanks to Campaigns, I get positive feedback all the time, not just on the content but also on the way I design and structure my newsletters.
Please keep reading for my reasons for continuing to send my business newsletter from Campaigns.
5 Reasons I am staying with Campaigns
1. Substack is a blogging platform
Meaning: my newsletters would be publicly available and searchable. The only way to make them more private is to put them behind a paywall, which I don’t want to do.
It took me a while to figure out the distinction between my blog and my newsletter, but these days, it’s very clear:
My blog is where I share how-tos and business tips. It drives traffic to my website because my blog posts answer people's questions on Google. That's also why I wouldn’t move my blog to Substack, either. I’d lose a big contributor to my website's SEO. Plus, you cannot export Substack posts as an XML file, which makes it harder to export your content if you decide to change platforms in the future.
My newsletter, on the other hand, is a more intimate conversation that I have with my audience. It’s where I offer behind-the-scenes glimpses into my business and where I muse candidly about my processes, thoughts, and challenges. It’s also where I share new courses and events. There is a footer with links to my free resources. So basically, there is a lot of information in my newsletter, and this would quickly look cluttered in Substack, whereas in Campaigns, I can make it look good without feeling overwhelming.
2. Calm Funnels
With Campaigns Automations, I can create simple and highly effective nurture sequences, lead magnet funnels, and product upsells; I can’t do that with Substack.
For instance, when someone subscribes to my mailing list, they receive not just a welcome email (which you can do with Substack as well) but also what I call a nurture sequence: 3-6 follow-up emails that foster a personal connection and help build trust. I can’t tell you how often I get appreciative replies to my nurture sequence emails. My subscribers love them! And they help me build relationships and trust.
Calm funnels are short and intentional email sequences that support my newsletter and lead magnets and even lead to direct sales! I don’t see how I would use Substack in the same way and with the same result.
Want to grow your business and connect with potential customers without social media?
In Calm Email Marketing, I teach you how to create a welcoming and highly effective funnel that turns loyal subscribers into happy customers.
3. Seamless website integration
With Campaigns, I have easy access to:
My branding, e.g., colors and logo.
All of my assets, such as photos and graphics.
All of my blog posts and products, via the built-in content blocks.
Internal URLs, using the awesome link editor.
Discount codes for my products.
I can’t emphasize enough how much I love this seamless integration! It keeps everything consistent and effortless.
4. One place for everything
With Campaigns I can easily send emails to my subscribers, leads, existing customers and members, all from the same place.
Whenever I write a newsletter blast, for instance, I can choose to send it to multiple lists, which I love! It allows me to be intentional and smart with my calm email marketing.
5. Styling
Last but not least, Squarespace’s built-in styling options make it easy to create visually beautiful newsletters.
Now, I do like Substack's simplicity. They also make it easy to add photos and use attractive fonts. Substack newsletters can feel very good and have great functionality for engagement. However, they also have a sameness about them, making it harder for your newsletter to stand out from all the other Substack users.
What I like about Campaigns is that I can customize section background colors, use built-in image styles, and easily add blog posts and products. This allows me to structure a longer newsletter with a lot of information in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming.
Conclusion
Let me be clear: I enjoy Substack. It’s an awesome platform for writers, authors, bloggers, and thought leaders. But in my business, I am an educator and course creator, and my website is the central hub for all my business activities:
Commerce: My courses and the Eule Planner.
Blogging: I want my SEO to drive traffic to my website, not Substack.
Email Marketing: newsletter, lead magnets, upsells, member communications.
Acuity Scheduling: Ask-Me-Anything sessions.
Running an online business can be complex, but using Squarespace as the hub for most of my business activities keeps it simple. And calm.
As you know, I am all about simple and calm in my business 🙂
