Introducing Referrals: Give Me Your Friends, Family, & Colleagues, I'll Give You Free Paid 'Storm' Access
Your first free month starts with just 3 subscriber referrals.
When I introduced The Storm’s paid tier last February, it was anchored in this essential promise: the newsletter would be consistent, it would be good, and it would be relevant. I would deliver at least 100 posts per year (I hit 140 in 2022). I would exhaustively fact-check and edit the work, which would (usually) be fun to read. And I would give you news you could not find elsewhere, in the form of breaking reports, in-depth analysis, research and resources, or longform podcast interviews with industry leaders.
The response was terrific. The Storm’s conversion rate from free to paid is well above average for a Substack newsletter. More important to me: the retention rate – those who renewed their subscriptions at the one-year mark – is 92 percent. That’s phenomenal. The notion that individuals would make the deliberate decision to commit a portion of their discretionary income to this project is humbling, invigorating, and motivating as hell. Thanks to my paid subscribers, this is a sustainable small business.
This newsletter has value, is what I’m saying here. And money is one means of obtaining the complete experience. But there are other things of value in this world. And while I bring value in the form of access to the majority of America’s ski area operators, each of you has something of extreme value to me: direct access to your network of fellow skiers.
So I’m willing to make a deal: I’ll trade access to your network for access to The Storm’s paid content. The more people you refer, the more access you’ll receive:
Get a 1-month comp for 3 referrals
Get a 3-month comp for 10 referrals
Get a 6-month comp for 25 referrals
If you’re already a paid subscriber, the reward will be tacked onto the end of your current subscription period. To make sure you get credit for your referrals, just copy and share the link at click-through:
You can share this link one-to-one via text or email with your super-skier friends, but you can also simply drop it onto a social media post and say “Hey, here’s this rad skiing newsletter I read. You should too if you’re into being cool and stuff.” If you’re a resort leader, you could send the link via email to your entire staff and urge them to sign up so they know what’s happening in the broader industry. Whatever you can do to help grow The Storm, I will be grateful.
The Storm will turn 4 next month. The newsletter has evolved in ways I could not have imagined in 2019. But I still think we’re in the first (or maybe the second) inning here. I am constantly thinking of ways to make this thing better, stronger, more comprehensive and relevant. The larger the audience, the more impact each story and podcast will have. The more impact the stories have, the more stories I will be able to secure. With more impactful stories comes more subscribers, and so on.
People often write to me to say they enjoy the newsletter, and wonder what they can do to help support the enterprise. A paid subscription is the most straightforward and obvious answer, but helping your fellow skiers understand that The Storm exists, and that they ought to be reading it, is also an incredible contribution. While the newsletter’s audience grows larger every day, it is still miniscule in relation to the number of skiers in North America. Help me change that. Please and thank you.
This referral program has actually been live in Substack for some time. A bunch of you already figured it out. There’s a leaderboard here. To learn more, check out Substack’s FAQ.