These days, it’s becoming more and more common to see affiliate networks and partners featuring Substack as a way for brands to connect with new and engaged audiences – and from our work to get brands and products placed with Substack editors, we understand why.

Part blog, part newsletter, part owned media, part social channel, Substack is proving to be an effective platform for its editor/creators and the brands working with them to get their products featured. In this post, I’ll give a little primer on Substack: how it works and how brands can take advantage of the platform’s growth to build awareness and revenue.

How does Substack work?

Substack’s own meta description from a Google search (“what is Substack”) says “Substack is a media platform for video, writing, podcasts, and creator-centered communities, all powered by subscriptions.” That’s a start, but it’s important to know Substack editors and creators can give audiences the option of subscribing for free.

Editors and creators (which are essentially interchangeable terms referring to whoever owns the content) on Substack create content (written, videos, podcasts, etc.) that can engage users directly on the platform or through an email newsletter. Platform-based users can discover new editors and creators through interests, categories, publication-based searches, and by following their friends. Substack combines the levers of email outreach with social media networking, which influencers have leveraged by building subscription bases and working with brands and agencies to offer affiliate placements.

Many Substack editors started with more traditional media and blogs as old-guard influencers testing and publicly reviewing products long before the rise of Instagram and TikTok. While blogs have fallen out of fashion for content consumption, Substack gives a blog-like space to editorialize, provide tons of information and context on brands and products, and connect with subscribers on a personal level, all with a built-in architecture of discovery and networking that mimics social media.

How are brands driving growth through Substack?

The most common types of content curated to feature brands and products are tentpole events (e.g. Father’s Day gifts) and themes (e.g. products to help neurodivergent kids focus during school).

Brands (or their agency partners) can pitch Substack editors in a few ways: 1) proactively, by sharing data and information with relevant editors like surges in Google searches, sales velocity stats, or viral social moments; 2) reactively, by following editors and responding to calls for product pitches (example below from Substack creator Lauren Anderson); 3) by building relationships with those editors to become a trusted partner for brand and product recommendations (this is DMi’s ultimate goal for the partnership; it’s a win for our brands and for the editors, who don’t have to scour the internet for products to fit their content).

One of the aspects about Substack that we love is that Substack editors (in addition to performance PR placements in bigger publications like USA Today, Wirecutter, etc.) have more niche, targeted subscriber bases that tend to be very highly engaged with the content they choose to subscribe to (particularly if they have a paid subscription).

Our recommendation for brands interested in testing the waters with Substack is to find a partner who can help you get fast traction through strategic editor identification and outreach. The Substack community of both users and editors/influencers is growing quickly, as is Substack’s archive of content – which has a much longer lifecycle than TikTok or Instagram. In other words, getting started now can help you learn the platform’s ins and outs before your competitors and land you in content that will be discoverable for longer than, say, a TikTok that might or might not go viral. If you’re interested in learning more about how we work with Substack editors, reach out at info@dmipartners.com.