4 tips for adding Substack to your media plans

Layoffs are a sign of a fractured media landscape and the pandemic made matters worse—with 30,000 media jobs lost in 2020, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Another sign is the recent surge in paid Substack newsletters launched by laid off journalists or freelancers looking to bolster business when assignments are increasingly scarce.

Here’s what you need to know to tap into the recent boom in independent paywall journalism, both as a part of your media relations outreach and your own brand journalism efforts:

1. Recognize that trust is driving the surge.

“Trust in the media has declined partly because it’s harder to define what online stories are genuine and which have large advertising dollars behind them,” says James Barrett, who started his newsletter Jimmy Rox this fall.

 “Journalists are storytellers,” he adds, “and in an age where SEO, trends and clickbait rule the internet, our stories at times can become diluted on larger media platforms.”

Consumers seek genuine information now more than ever, Barrett continues.