Name-Dropping Publication Strategy
Share
Sam Parr proposes creating a quarterly or monthly hardcover magazine or physical newsletter that focuses on name-dropping industry professionals to drive subscriptions.
Key Points:
-
Target a specific industry with many employees (e.g., financial advisors, advertising professionals)
- Focus on industries where people are only "one or two degrees separated from each other"
- Choose a field with hundreds of thousands of potential readers
-
Content strategy: Name as many people and companies as possible
- Create rankings like "top person this quarter"
- The primary value is seeing your name in print
- People would pay an annual fee just to potentially have their name appear on paper
-
Intentionally low-production aesthetic
- Make it "the opposite of beautiful" unlike high-gloss magazines
- Use stapled printer paper in manila envelopes
- Create an "underground zine" or "mom and pop" feel
- The physical format creates more perceived legitimacy than digital content
-
Business model
- Companies would buy subscriptions for all their staff
- Professionals would subscribe to see industry rankings and their peers
- Pricing could be premium ($500-2000/year was mentioned for a similar concept)
- The physical format creates perceived legitimacy that digital content lacks
Sam Parr
Host of MFM and fitness influencer
Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur and business media pioneer.
In 2016, he founded The Hustle, a business news media company that started in his kitchen with just $12 and grew to eight figures in revenue.
Sam led the charge in making newsletters popular when few believed in their potential.
After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to found their own media companies and newsletters.
Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.