In summer 2025, Midcoast Villager — a news publication serving midcoast Maine — worked with BlueLena to test a new growth strategy: a pop-up newsletter built around its Summer Guide.
Instead of treating the guide as a static special section, Midcoast Villager repurposed the content into a limited-run email series designed to capture new readers, build engagement and convert them into paid subscribers.
The pilot delivered fast, measurable results: 578 sign-ups in less than a month, 45 of which started new paid subscriptions. The experiment offers a playbook that Midcoast Villager intends to use again, and which other publishers can replicate.
The Challenge
Founded in 2024, Midcoast Villager is still in the early stages of growing its loyal audience. The publication combines the legacies of four former community newspapers and is working toward ambitious goals to grow paid readership and expand its digital presence. No stranger to creative approaches to audience engagement — the publication opened its own community coffee shop, Villager Cafe, earlier this year — staff were brainstorming this summer for ways to make the most of their latest printed supplemental, the Midcoast Villager Summer Guide.
“In the past I’ve done lead generation campaigns based on a PDF download,” said Jeff Howland, who leads audience development for Midcoast Villager. “However, when talking through that concept with BlueLena, it was suggested we try an email series instead of a one-time download. I immediately loved that idea, as it’s not only a more modern take on the PDF concept, but it also gives you the opportunity to touch base with your new leads several times in a row, with content (and offers) they are hungry for.”
The Strategy
Working collaboratively with BlueLena, the Midcoast Villager team chose a selection of stories from the guide — including articles on the best camping spots, summer beach reads and the best way to eat a lobster — and repackaged them into a five-day, five-email newsletter series readers could sign up for at any time.
“This type of content tends to be more general interest than day-to-day stories, so it has a broad appeal to people who don’t even need to know our brand at first,” Howland said.
Digital promotion of the pop-up newsletter included:
- An on-site popup
- A dedicated landing page with info about the guide
- Paid social media ads advertising the guide and directing readers to the landing page
Readers who signed up for the Summer Guide newsletter were also opted into the publication’s weekly newsletter list (or could uncheck a box to opt out) and entered into the publication’s regular welcome series after finishing the Summer Guide series. Subscription offers are layered throughout the Summer Guide newsletter and the welcome series to encourage paid subscriptions at numerous touchpoints.
By delivering the guide over multiple emails instead of a single download, the campaign gave new readers more chances to connect with the publication and deepen their relationship.
The Results
Within a few weeks of launching the pop-up newsletter, Midcoast Villager had gained hundreds of new email sign-ups, some of which had already become paid subscribers.
Initial results from the first 30 days:
- 578 sign-ups for the Summer Guide newsletter
- 45 new subscriptions from readers on the Summer Guide list, 13 of which were from brand new readers
With nearly 8% of sign-ups becoming paid subscribers in just one month, the pilot outperformed expectations. While some of the sign-ups for the Summer Guide were readers already on other Midcoast Villager email lists, many were brand new readers, and are part of an impressive 16% growth in active contacts for the publication in the last six months since beginning work with BlueLena.
“There’s no silver bullet in this industry, so I would say this proof-of-concept is very successful in showing how you bring in new readers and gradually introduce them to the brand, vs. going out with a hard sell,” Howland said. “I think this could be very valuable with brand new readers, but I’m thinking it may be even more valuable in driving existing readers to become paid subscribers — especially with a more aggressive offer on the back end (which we plan to try next time).”
Thinking of next time, the Midcoast Villager team is expecting to repeat this strategy again soon, with plans to repackage the publication’s next themed print issue as a multi-part email series to drive new sign-ups and subscriptions. This time, they plan to launch the newsletter within a tighter timeframe after publication and to provide a more aggressive pricing offer to new subscribers.
“Jeff and his team at the Midcoast Villager have built a true culture of experimentation, which is crucial for any newsroom seeking to grow and transform,” said BlueLena Publisher Success Manager Mariangela Salmeron. “By embracing new approaches and formats, they’re expanding their reach and strengthening their ability to serve and connect their community with the unique value that only independent local journalism can deliver.”
For other publishers, the takeaway is clear: don’t let your best print sections or online reporting series fade after initial publication. With smart repurposing, this content can power an acquisition funnel — bringing in new readers and converting them to subscribers.
About BlueLena
BlueLena is a strategy consulting and audience management platform founded in 2020 to support the sustainability of independent local media. By combining cutting-edge technology with expert-driven services, BlueLena helps over 250 news organizations across North America develop and manage subscription, membership, and donation models. Its unique shared-resource management approach provides publishers, regardless of size, with access to enterprise-level tools and personalized support, enabling them to focus on high-quality journalism while building loyal, revenue-generating audiences.
BlueLena is majority employee-owned, and backed by investors including Automattic (the parent company of WordPress), the Local Media Association, and Old Town Media.