I’ve not too long ago been utilizing Substack to search out new music to take heed to. That’s in all probability not fairly what its founders had in thoughts, nevertheless it has a ton of newsletters written by individuals who simply actually love music. It’s much less skilled music criticism and extra “hey, this album was nice, give it a pay attention.”
That’s not the one off-label use for Substack. At present’s grasp of selling can be a Substack fan — and he or she took a giant danger with it.
Meet the Grasp
MacKenzie Kassab
Director of Artistic Technique, Uncommon Magnificence
Declare to fame: Launched Uncommon Magnificence’s “semi-authorized” Substack e-newsletter
Lesson 1: Get interested by your individual product.
Novelty wears off quick once you’re within the trenches.
“Working within the workplace, [our product] is one thing” — a brand new blush, say — “that we‘re round on a regular basis. We go to conferences about how merchandise are made each week,” Kassab tells me. “It doesn’t really feel essentially thrilling from the within once you’re in it for a 12 months and a half.”
However your viewers’s first peek at a brand new product? That’s magical.
Once you’re brainstorming new content material, give it some thought out of your shoppers’ perspective. What have you learnt that they don’t? If you happen to’re advertising a brand new services or products, what obtained you enthusiastic about it within the first place?
Despite the fact that Kassab would possibly attend weekly conferences a few new product, she’s not essentially there each step of the best way. So for her newsletters, she takes the chance “to search out out a few of the bloopers, or [other] issues that occurred.”
For one e-newsletter, Kassab sat down with Uncommon Magnificence’s chief product officer to get the news on how the latest blush got here to be. One cause they developed a powder blush? Some clients discovered Uncommon Magnificence’s famed liquid blush too pigmented. Not one thing you’ll hear most magnificence corporations admit.
“To share these and see how excited individuals get [about this information] — that’s actually rewarding and makes it fascinating.”
![to share these [behind-the-scenes stories] and see how excited people get [about this information] — that is really rewarding and makes it interesting.—mackenzie kassab, director of creative strategy, rare beauty](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/hubfs/masters-in-marketing-mackenzie-kassab-2-20250717-8053186.webp)
Lesson 2: Embrace your imperfections.
Like a center schooler with their first palette, the street to the right liquid blush is lined with some extremely pigmented errors.
It’s tempting to brush these underneath the rug, however bear in mind: All people loves a blooper reel. Whether or not it’s out of your fav TV present or it’s a few new lipstick, sharing errors breaks down the artifice between client and producer. Kind of a “Celebrities, they’re identical to us!” on your advertising technique.
Plus, it brings a human ingredient to her newsletters.
“We’re displaying the trials and tribulations of creating a product. So I feel embracing the concept at the same time as a giant model, we’re not good both — we hit bumpy roads and issues prove okay ultimately,” Kassab says. “I hope that form of factor is encouraging.”
Lesson 3: Respect the platform.
Kassab’s thought to launch a Uncommon Magnificence Substack e-newsletter had a easy origin: She was already a Substack fan.
Designed to publish particular person voices, Substack has constructed a neighborhood that jogs my memory a little bit of early social media — again when everyone was having a great time as a substitute of doomscrolling ourselves to sleep each night time. It’s a spot that tends to worth good writing over self-promotion. Introducing a model voice to that ecosystem was all the time going to be a danger.
However in some methods, Kassab isn’t a model voice. That’s underscored by her cheeky Gossip Lady-esque signoffs, the “semi-authorized” nameless byline, and even by how lean her staff is. (“It’s a really scrappy staff,” she says. “It’s me.”) Despite the fact that she’s representing Uncommon Magnificence, she’s nonetheless a solo content material creator.
Don’t fear, the lesson right here isn’t to cut back all of your content material to at least one particular person. (Until you’re a very small enterprise, please don’t do this; I encourage on behalf of writers in all places.)
If you happen to’re going to take a danger like Kassab and Uncommon Magnificence did, take into consideration the worth that customers are getting from the platform — and work with that, not towards it.
Lingering Questions
This Week’s Query
What’s your favourite factor about advertising that may’t be simply measured? —Brenna Loury, CMO, Doist
This Week’s Reply
Kassab: The emotional connection. I like the best way advertising could make individuals really feel one thing. It might be inspiration, motivation, curiosity, nostalgia, or only a second of pleasure. For us it comes all the way down to self-acceptance and belonging. That connection drives every thing we do, irrespective of how unattainable it’s to quantify (though I’m positive AI is attempting).
Serving to even one particular person in our neighborhood really feel seen and comfy of their pores and skin—I like a lot about my work, however that’s actually what provides all of it that means.
Subsequent Week’s Lingering Query
Kassab asks: What’s your least favourite a part of your job, and the way do you inspire your self to get by means of it?
