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Customer Story
How Morning Brew Tapped into “FinFluencers” To Grow Gen Z Audiences
Morning Brew expanded their readership by tapping into the surging popularity of personal finance influencers and social media platforms.
Increase in revenue
66%
TikTok users who convert to quality subscribers
28%
Connecting to New Audiences
Since its inception in 2015, Morning Brew has grown into one of the most successful media outlets for business news. Featuring email newsletters, podcasts, an events business and a business education training program, the publisher reaches over four million readers and listeners, and has more than doubled its revenue from 2020 to 2021.
But even with substantial growth across its newsletter and podcast businesses, Morning Brew needed to attract new audiences. By 2021 it was impossible to ignore the rise of social media and the influencers who were reaching millions of followers with every post.
Morning Brew started to test the concept of working with Gen Z finance influencers for their acquisition campaigns.
Insights You Can Use
The results were immediate and impactful. Paid campaigns featuring influencers on TikTok, Facebook and Youtube significantly outperformed “designed” campaigns that were created in-house.
Within the first two weeks of Morning Brew’s campaign with TikTok and @TheLegacyInvestingshow, engagement skyrocketed to 24%. They reached their target CPA (cost per acquisition) by more than 60%. Murphy confirms that 28% of subscribers coming from TikTok convert into quality, engaged subscribers.
"Our strongest acquisition channels are now all on social media."
McKay Murphy Morning Brew’s Director of B2C Growth
Social Media For Audience Growth
One of Morning Brew’s first collaborations with a personal finance influencer has evolved into a true partnership. Money with Katie, founded by Katie Gatti Tassin, originally started as a newsletter that Morning Brew promoted within its own daily newsletter.
“We really liked how Katie was discussing personal finance, says Murphy. Readers felt the same way. Money with Katie’s presence expanded from basic newsletter promotions to a full-on eponymous podcast that’s a consistent top performer in Morning Brew’s podcast network and has hit over 1M downloads to date this year.
"Finfluencers bring us the awareness and the reach we need to grow. Sailthru helps us keep these new readers engaged."
McKay Murphy Morning Brew’s Director of B2C Growth
The Results
Subscribers acquired through paid influencer campaigns on average have 1.29% higher click through rates than subscribers acquired through paid social, proving that the campaign identified quality users who have remained engaged with the Morning Brew brand.
“Email newsletters will always be the backbone of the Morning Brew brand,” said Murphy. “Our advertising partners love how responsive our readers are, and how we are constantly able to offer new events, podcasts and new audiences.”
Morning Brew recently launched its eleventh publication, CFO Brew, and is on track to grow revenue 66% year over year after hitting $36M in H1 revenue for 2022.
