--- title: "The Milk Road grew to 250,000 subscribers and sold in <11 months. Here's the secrets behind their growth. 👇 (From someone who's been working with them since Jan). First off, to" canonical_url: "https://typefully.com/t/0JcyxIW" markdown_url: "https://typefully.com/t/0JcyxIW.md" agent_guide_url: "https://typefully.com/ai-agents.md" post_delimiter: "***" robots: noindex source: typefully_shared_draft share_id: "0JcyxIW" --- The Milk Road grew to 250,000 subscribers and sold in <11 months. Here's the secrets behind their growth. 👇 (From someone who's been working with them since Jan). ![milk road 2.png](https://d3e0luujhwn38u.cloudfront.net/original/img/original/67217/60346437-24ba-40f3-a2f5-f3585bd79415.png) *** First off, to grow this fast and retain subscribers you need great content. Shaan and Ben did an amazing job with that. Having awesome content also makes it easier to get referrals (more on that later)... *** Secondly, I'll only be covering subscriber growth in this thread - which is my role and expertise. Now on to how we did it: *** 1/ Facebook ads This was the biggest overall acquisition source for us. FB ads have driven 150k+ subscribers at a ridiculously low CPA. What type of creative worked best? *** Memes Simple memes that show a benefit of the newsletter. The memes weren't always funny, but they grab attention and show a reason why people should subscribe. ![Screen Shot 2022-12-15 at 7.51.45 PM.png](https://d3e0luujhwn38u.cloudfront.net/original/img/original/67217/283f90e4-055a-4ecc-9cc9-ea1ec195e64f.png) *** UGC / TikTok style videos I wrote scripts and bought videos from small influencers and fiverr. Keys to a great video ad: Clear CTA at the end Keep it under 25 seconds Show benefits and social proof Strong hook in the first 5 seconds Make it look native and authentic ![Screen Shot 2022-12-15 at 8.35.09 PM.png](https://d3e0luujhwn38u.cloudfront.net/original/img/original/67217/c508519b-98f8-43ac-969b-926afb86ff16.png) *** Notes ads Write great copy in iPhone notes. Screenshot it and use it as an image or video ad. It's super simple, yet these are still our top ads! ![Screen Shot 2022-12-15 at 7.53.46 PM.png](https://d3e0luujhwn38u.cloudfront.net/original/img/original/67217/a52e2ef2-3fd1-4c4d-b435-d2bedc4b04be.png) *** 2 / TikTok ads We used the same video ads on TikTok. Subscribers from TikTok were more engaged but had a higher CPA. Ads fatigue faster here and the targeting options aren't as good. ![Screen Shot 2022-12-15 at 8.37.26 PM.png](https://d3e0luujhwn38u.cloudfront.net/original/img/original/67217/fad675a6-587b-40a0-8808-4c91b15fa9b4.png) *** 3/ Referrals The referrals program was dead simple: Refer 1 person and get a PDF. Yet referrals were one of the largest sources of growth! Why? The reward was great and the content was amazing so readers were happy to share with friends. ![Screen Shot 2022-12-15 at 8.38.20 PM.png](https://d3e0luujhwn38u.cloudfront.net/original/img/original/67217/4f009200-7653-49cd-b69b-4b156bb72a9e.png) *** 4/ Affiliate marketing I can't share much about this but it's been a huge growth source. We found websites that send us subscribers at a fixed CPA. The subscribers are lower quality but lower cost and have a consistent CPA (unlike FB ads which can go up & down). *** That's it. Those 4 sources drove the vast majority of subscribers for The Milk Road. Growing a newsletter is simple but not easy. If you want more tips on how to grow, follow me @JMatthewMcGarry And DM me if you want to work with my agency.