BY RICHARD STONE

Substack is a publishing platform for any writer or business looking to publish e-mail newsletters. Its focus is on independent, in-depth content, which is free from social media noise and ads. Substack provides creators with a direct relationship with their audience, creative freedom and even a potential new revenue stream.

Think of running a Substack as owning your own media channel. It’s another platform for your message and, unlike traditional forms of media, Substack allows companies to bypass gatekeepers and connect directly with their target audience, building stronger relationships and deeper loyalty.

This owned-media platform gives organisations a direct line to their customers, helping them build brand loyalty and community. Granting customers lifetime access to premium content on the platform could help you improve retention. Offering them exclusive, behind-the-scenes glimpses of the business, early access to product launches and Q&A sessions could increase customer satisfaction and encourage further investment in your company’s offerings.

Likewise, insightful comment on industry news and trends establishes the company as a thought leader and could boost customer engagement.

There are other benefits too. Encouraging staff to share their behind-the-scenes insights in narrative form, along with embedded images and video, allows them to express their ideas. This creates more meaningful engagement with the audience and could help to attract new talent too.

The platform offers the option of paid subscriptions, where users pay to gain access to exclusive content. The most successful creators have tens of thousands of paid subscribers. That might seem a lofty goal, especially for very niche fields, but if your content is genuinely useful to people, they’ll pay for it.

Substack recommends weekly updates, so build up a bank of engaging material to keep readers interested.

Find your company’s tone, striking the right balance between informative and promotional, professional and casual. You can then vary the type of content you publish. Go beyond text with podcasts, videos, infographics, how-to guides and product updates to diversify your channel and appeal to various learning styles.