31 Comments
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Kate Citron's avatar

I’ve seen a lot of criticism of Substack for not making the platform more friendly for brands. On the surface, I’ve agreed with the feedback, but if I more thoughtfully consider Substack’s POV, my position changes. They’re pretty clear on who they’re for (writers) and what they want here (high quality editorial content). If they try to be everything to everyone, and actively recruit more brands to the platform, they’ll quickly dilute the quality of the product. I’m interested to see what happens but ultimately, I’m supportive of their current priorities.

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Rachel Karten's avatar

Yep, completely agree here.

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Dina Fierro's avatar

Longtime fashion/beauty brand marketer here. Substack presents an interesting 'white space' opportunity in the eyes of brands as it's a growing nexus of influence, and reaches high-value audiences with high purchase intent. But the unfortunate reality is that precious few are resourced in a way that would allow them to nurture meaningful community on platform. (It will be interesting to see who tries!)

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Rachel Karten's avatar

Agree!

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Phil Leif's avatar

Or? Editorial (written) has always been comparably cheaper (and cooler) than commercial social content, and if you factor in the higher audience quality plus not paying an influencer clout tax (it’s the brand’s persona and voice) or dealing with a pay-for-play platform like IG, it’s potentially a great reallocation of existing resources for brands wanting more of a parasocial play.

Marketing directors who 1/ read and 2/ have good taste are the limiting factor here imo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Dina Fierro's avatar

Good to see you here, Phil - it’s been a while. While I agree marketers with vision see value in branded editorial, in my experience, it doesn’t serve the same objectives as social or influencer. It’s valuable for deepening engagement with existing customers, increasingly conversion and AOV. But perhaps Substack, with all of its social features (it’s ultimately just another platform after all), can subvert that?

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Phil Leif's avatar

My guess is that the longform text posting here becomes a vestigial feature, unfortunately, in favor of live/shortform media and clickbait juiced by algo feeds. I’m jaded though, so ¯\_(-_-)_/¯

My pet project is radicalizing marketers against paid social and programmatic (do the math on RTB! They’re all conspiring against us!!). You could do some major damage over here for a rounding error of the money any given brand is burning over at Meta.

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amanda k gordon's avatar

great reporting Rachel as always. I came from an editorial background (shoutout to my hometown newspaper and my Devil Wears Prada internship moment in college at Modern Luxury) and I think content and editorial are a WAY underutilized tool for brands, but they definitely require taste and writing expertise. Smart brands will snap up good writers and editors and put them on staff. I have been having Substack convos with clients too, and I could not agree more with your points on resourcing and brand safety. Also, this. “Substack 👏 is not 👏 an email marketing tool, 👏it’s a community tool.”

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Rachel Karten's avatar

yessss

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Hannah R Cole's avatar

OKAY this is so interesting. Keen to watch this space as I'm sensing more of a desire for longer-form, less-frequent newsletter sends from clients – a similar vein.

Obviously Tibi has been mastering this for a while, too, but as a very face-forward brand, it always made sense to me. (Cue even more Substack subscriptions, but perhaps an emptier inbox?).

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Katrina Lainsbury's avatar

Love this piece!

Just wanted to add in Vacation Inc - they launched Poolsuite in 2022 and absolutely crushed it! Hoping they bring it back! https://palmreport.substack.com/

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Rachel Karten's avatar

Oh wow! Good call out. Thanks for sharing!

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Katrina Lainsbury's avatar

I am so excited to see how other roll it out there strategy, such an exciting time for community managers.

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Erika Veurink's avatar

thanks for saving me half our introductory calls—I can just send this letter lol this turned out great!!

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Rachel Karten's avatar

lol thanks for chatting with me for it!

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Maria Hyde's avatar

A very interesting read! I had no idea Substack had “Content guidelines” that highlight how it’s not meant to be like traditional email marketing. I was wary of brands joining, but for the most part, I’ve been enjoying the content I’ve seen so far of the brands you pointed out here. It feels a lot more creative and editorial, and seems like a smart tactic for engagement and building brand loyalty. Still Here’s newsletter is another brand one I’ve been enjoying. A lot of BTS stories and insight into their creative and design processes. Very cool.

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Stephanie Holland's avatar

Observing the current discourse in Notes, I don't think brand newsletters will sit well with the existing Substack user base and culture. But it will probably attract new users to the platform, hopefully boosting discoverability & revenue of existing creators as they're exposed to new audience via the clever recommendations ecosystem. If Substack stay true to their creator-driven ethos, they can protect the editorial integrity of the platform as the commercial frontier threatens to expand. And perhaps the creator:brand dichotomy will create an intriguing and productive tension that ups everyone's content game. If this creates a wave of more edgy content, that would be cool.

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nessa teran's avatar

i always love your content, but this is particularly great. thanks rachel!!

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Rachel Karten's avatar

thank you!!

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Emily Sundberg's avatar

Rachel on the beat!

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Alisha Ramos's avatar

Great overview, Rachel. At this stage, a brand's best bet is to partner creatively with the writers already on Substack who are reaching their target customer. Unless, as you mention, they are ready to invest the editorial *and* community resources needed to run a Substack/newsletter/content arm. It is so much work. :)

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Roya Shariat's avatar

Love this having just come out of marketing + comms at a big beauty brand, I think brands that don't have an editorial presence in some sort (blog, strong consistent email newsletters with content franchises etc.) will try for the toe-dip and ultimately flounder because it's a muscle they don't already have, and they're looking at Substack as more of a 'new' social channel vs. an editorial platform.

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Michelle Gasparovic's avatar

I have been gritting my teeth for this moment. I'm looking for one space in my entire life that a brand is not selling me something. Anywhere? Writer's, artists, musicians have few spaces left to build an audience and try to earn some money. And as a Link in Bio, Feed Me, After School fan, I obviously love to hear about the brands, but let me live!

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Harrison Chapin's avatar

Definitely not a fan of the brand invasion...

I’m Harrison, an ex fine dining industry line cook. My stack "The Secret Ingredient" adapts hit restaurant recipes (mostly NYC and L.A.) for easy home cooking.

check us out:

https://thesecretingredient.substack.com

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Salvador Lorca 📚 ⭕️'s avatar

Good insight 😌 Can i translate part of this article into Spanish with links to you and a description of your newsletter?

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Rachel Karten's avatar

Go ahead!

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Jean Joaillerie's avatar

Hello everyone! I’m the founder | designer of Jean Joaillerie ( jewelry or if you prefer jewellery ) and my ezine is in the process of launching here. I’m also a published journalist,editor and author so I’m quite excited about combining my professional experience with “Vacuuming In Diamonds”

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