How The Blueprint Uses Content to Scale Beyond 15,000 Subscribers

Joining us this week for our Creator Spotlight is Ben Teller from The Blueprint, a newsletter that keeps you up-to-date on the world of residential real estate. Read on to learn about the strategy that generated 15,000 subscribers in less than 10 months, starting from zero.

This approach is a refreshing take that explores content testing, compounding benefits of great content, creating happy readers, and an engaged audience.

Let’s get into it.

Q: Thanks so much for taking the time for your spotlight. First question: what motivated you to start a newsletter?

Ben: I was put in touch with two successful real estate agents, James Harris and David Parnes, who were coming off of a stint on TV and looking for a new media opportunity. After the pandemic, everything shifted with news and the creator economy. I thought it would be really fun to give it a go.

When I was thinking about what the real estate media company’s thesis would be, I knew it had to resonate with James & David. Fifteen years ago, when the guys came here from London to Los Angeles, they knew they wanted to be successful in real estate. They kept mentioning how they didn’t have anybody telling them what to do. They said they wish someone gave them the blueprint to making it in the industry. And that’s how this newsletter was born. We realized we could share all the lessons and learnings that James & David wished they had when they first got started.

Through a friend, I was put in touch with people at Morning Brew who knew Tyler. I eventually landed on a vision of a creator-led real estate media company, starting off with a real estate newsletter based on a similar model to Morning Brew. Then Tyler and I connected, and made beehiiv the clear choice.

Q: How was it at first? Did you have any challenges getting started?

Ben: I knew nothing about newsletters when I started–just that I liked to consume them. I had a background in viral content for social media creators, and knew how to get a lot of content in front of people's eyes. I sort of based it on a similar concept to Morning Brew with my own background, and it became a fun challenge.

Q: So the content part seemed easier based on your background, and that helped you get started?

Ben: Actually, not quite. I didn’t have the content down either, in the beginning. I didn't even know how I was going to make the newsletter. I didn't know what people in real estate wanted to read. I didn't know anything. But after speaking to a handful of real estate agents, I quickly learned that people were not able to get real estate information in an easy or accessible way.

I knew that real estate information was hard to get. So, by identifying the information fragmentation in the industry, and then consolidating it into a newsletter, it started to come together. I then came up with the format and tested it for a few months. This helped me develop an understanding of how newsletters worked.

People loved them, and we built the team. From there we got to work and focused on distribution.

Q: Would you say that was the core of your content strategy? Is there any more on your content strategy that you can share with us?

Ben: For me, the content strategy was based on what information was the most applicable to a real estate agent in their day-to-day life. What would help them get out there and feel more empowered to crush their day? There were so many options. Do we go city by city? Do we focus on the luxury space? We decided that the best move was to stay as macro as possible, but make all the stories feel applicable to your day-to-day. Trends are crucial in real estate, and as an agent, being the one with a wealth of information in your circle is one of the strongest advantages you can have to generating business..

We also didn’t want to just pigeon hole ourselves, so we thought about who else likes real estate information. We then started formulating content around people who were buying their first home, or looking to use real estate as an investment vehicle. For example, what’s happening in the single family market for AirBnBs? How can millennials buy their first home? Is it a buyers market or a sellers market (and what each of those means)? What does it mean when interest rates go up? Things like this can get confusing, but our format helps condense and simplify most of this information. This is hard. So I wanted to make it like real estate 101 to help anybody understand it, as well.

Q: That’s amazing. And how are your numbers?

Ben: We just hit 15,000 subscribers in month 10 with a 50% open rate. We're growing pretty steadily, five to ten percent month after month. We get a lot of good feedback, and people really are finding this valuable. At the end of the day, we are confident we are providing value, and that was our goal from day one.

The feedback’s been great. We get so many messages just saying ‘Thank You.’ It’s the little things at the end of the day that feel great!

By having James and David comment about what each story means to them, readers feel like they are getting expert opinions and mentorship right away. Building a community around trust matters a lot to us.

Q: Did you have an audience prior to starting on beehive?

Ben: Everything was fresh. Of course, having James & David gave us a little bit of a head start, but if you’ve built a newsletter, you know how hard it is to get emails read, and have readers engage consistently. To be honest, I thought it would be easier! Ha. . I think people underestimate how hard it is to develop an email list. We had a couple of mentions from other newsletters, and posted on social media about it, so we started from about 900 emails. Then we hit all the growth levers possible, ground and pound mentality!

Q: Speaking of those growth levers, which of the features do you think have been best for you?

Ben: Yeah, I mean the referral program has been unbelievable. We offered some incentives around chatting with James & David that helped us early on. Many subscribers want to Zoom with James and David, so that's been super helpful. We've also offered a ton of content marketing. When you’ve sold over $3 Billion dollars of real estate, their information is invaluable. We offered toolkits and a door-knocking ebook. Given the experience James and David bring to agents, it’s like having ten years worth of lessons learned in one download! Recommendations with other newsletters have also been very good. Partnering with other publications and offering information for sharing recommendations and content has been amazing.

Q: And did you reach out to them, or was it an existing connection?

Ben: There's no doubt that building trust in news is crucial. I was able to get trust early on because of the team we built. Now it's been my job to maintain that trust and be consistent. So we've been delivering two newsletters a week for ten months without missing a day, and while keeping quality high.

Q: Is there anything more about your process that you can share with us for creators who struggle, especially in the beginning? Would love your thoughts.

Ben: Studying the newsletters that do better than the others. Learning from audiences is key. Why are they clicking on these links? Which subject lines work better? Just like, doing some analysis on that.

We have a very succinct process. I have an analyst and researcher that picks the stories. I go in and I say, “These are the ones.” We like to have a writer and copy editor work with us to refine as much as we can. Real estate is not necessarily about sudden news, so we focus on covering the best stories and keeping quality high.

Q: Okay. Sounds like you got a pretty big operation going. Is it fair to say you’re scaling up?

Ben: Yeah, I mean, I want it. I want to scale it quicker. I feel like it's never fast enough, but we're doing a good job.

Q: It sounds like you’re scaling fast if you have a team in place. Are you currently monetizing the newsletter?

Ben: We're completely bootstrapped and have started talking to advertisers. Some things are lined up for Q1.

The first goal for us was to make sure we had a really good product and let the advertising come naturally. That happened at the end of Q3, and we actually closed our first advertiser last month and are eager to build more partnerships in Q1.

Q: Congratulations. How about paid subscriptions?

Ben: Not looking at those at the moment. Because if you're sharing news, it's kind of hard. You know, something that's like being your agent if you don't have one, it's really tricky to put that behind the paywall.

I think the name of the real estate game is just always trying to be better at your job. So, if you're reading a newsletter by two guys who are extremely successful, you’ll be curious about what they’re doing. That’s so key, because something like 87% of agents don’t make it past two years.

The beehiiv ad network is great for our monetization. It’s hard to get in touch with advertisers and build that trust, so any way to get a head start there, we are all about. Q: Now that you’ve reached this point, do you have any advice for creators getting started?

Ben: My biggest piece of advice is, make sure there's an audience looking for what you’re trying to create. Go talk to people who might read it and ask, “would you read something like this?” I think testing the idea first is important. Not even the content yet, just asking and listening. I probably spent 3 months doing this.

Q. So now that you’ve reached this point, what are the goals looking like for 2023 and beyond?

Ben: I want to be at 50,000 by the end of 2023, and I want to make sure that we're consistently delivering value in an industry that needs constant information to help peoples’ careers. This is not just a newsletter. I genuinely believe that we are building a community that is going to help real estate agents be better at their job.

So I need to make sure that we're doing that consistently. So as long as I'm building the product in the right way, I think it's alright. Also, I want to do live events in 2023.

Q: Are you doing 40 hours a week? Or is it non-stop?

A: Yeah, it's just non-stop, right? It’s like being on a mental treadmill, always thinking about how to grow the newsletter, how to sell advertising, how to write a better product, how to make it just a little bit better every single time. And I would say, I have a running list, and it never stops. It’s definitely been one of the harder things I've done in my life career-wise.

No matter how much I complain about how tired or stressed I am, I think providing this kind of value feels really good.

Q: Last question: what’s been your favorite reply from a reader? Something that gives you that feeling you just described.

Ben: I get five to ten messages per newsletter, with people sharing how they find the information so valuable. They say things like, “you're helping me so much.” Someone wrote to me last week from Canada. They’d found our door knocking ebook (mentioned earlier), used it, and now they have a potential $15M listing.

They asked about what they should do, what I think, etc. So I called James about what this lady said. He sent me a half-minute voice note. I typed it out to her within 30 seconds, and she was so excited that we responded with more personal advice. This, for us, is an important part of building a great product, and we’re all rooting for her.

Wrapping up:

If you would like to learn more, subscribe to The Blueprint here. 

You can also check out a few of the featured articles:

• The Truth About Falling Home Prices

• Our Secret Formula For The Luxury Market

Thanks for reading!