The Fastest Way to Build an Email List in 2025

Simple strategies to add 1,000 subs to your list in the next 60 days

Okay, so you want to build your email list and want to do it fast.

Perhaps you’re just getting started. Or perhaps you already have a small list that you want to grow.

I’ve been building email lists for the past 10 years, so let me show you proven ways to grow fast.

Organic content works, but…

It’s a slow burner.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Sure, it’s evergreen. Blog articles don’t die like social media posts. They drive traffic with SEO. They become a library of content that people can binge when they first discover you.

Some of my blog articles have made me money years after I wrote them. And they still bring in email subscribers.

But the first 6–12 months are the hardest. The growth is slow. You’ll feel invisible. You’ll feel like a loser.

I do this with SEO on my blog. I have plenty of specific articles about the note-taking app Obsidian, like:

• “How to Organize Notes in Obsidian”

• or “What’s the Best Calendar Plugin for Obsidian?”

The same applies to YouTube. My 8-minute video on “how to write a newsletter with ChatGPT” pulled in 417 subscribers alone.

But getting my YouTube channel off the ground took like… forever.

It’s the same if you start your blog on SEO, or if you start a Substack or if you start writing on Medium. There is just this initial inertia.

If you want fast results, organic content alone won’t cut it. You need to combine it with some of these methods:

Get traffic on day 1

Building an email list will either cost you time or money. And sometimes even both.

But hey, you’re building a business here.

If you’re willing to invest a little bit of money, then the fastest way to build your list is through ads.

You could advertise on Meta or Google. Those platforms want your money. They’ll take it with both hands.

I tried this back in 2020. I blew $7,000+ on Meta ads, then got banned for no reason. But the worst is that 99% of the subscribers I attracted didn’t buy anything.

Nobody likes to blow money on ads. So that’s why you need a good backend offer so that the ads pay for themselves.

See, people think that ads are some kind of magic bullet, but here’s what they’re not telling you:

You NEED to be good at not only capturing attention but also converting, and there’s also a LOT of tech involved. Setting up pixels, tracking conversions, creating audiences, split-testing landing pages…

There are so many different strategies to run ads that it’s overwhelming.

Oh, and don’t get me started on ad costs. That stuff keeps going up. What costs $1 today will cost $2 tomorrow.

Another path you could choose is actually hiring an agency, but their fees usually start at 3 grand a month + ad spend.

Ads work, but they come at a cost.

Sponsorships

Like ads, but better.

It’s a method that I’ve used personally and helped me add 2,122 email subscribers to my list.

Remember when I said getting new subscribers from ads is expensive and complicated? Well, sponsorships flip that whole game around.

Sponsorships mean paying another creator to promote your newsletter on theirs in exchange for a fee. You’ll show up in front of people who already open, read, and click on emails.

It’s one of the best-kept secrets in the email marketing world right now.

Here’s how I do it:

First, I find newsletters that target the audience I’d like to reach. The best way to start is probably on social media. I start by following a few people in my niche and let the algorithm suggest new creators.

Then, I jump on their email list.

If they already run sponsorships, you’ll find a link at the bottom of the newsletter that says something like: “Sponsor this newsletter” and then take it from there.

To give you an idea of cost, you’ll pay around $0.03 per subscriber in the content creation space. So if the email list you want to sponsor has 5,000 subscribers, that’s $150.

But if the creator isn’t open to sponsorships? Then, the approach requires more legwork.

Simply reply to the welcome email. I try to be useful, like finding a bug or a broken link, and then later ask about sponsorship opportunities. Building that relationship first usually gets better results.

The math is simple: a sponsorship that lands you 100 subscribers at $150 means you’re paying $1.50 per subscriber. That’s WAY cheaper than most ad platforms these days.

Plus, you’ll get way more qualified email subs.

If you want more information about how to use sponsorships to grow your list, I have a free course on this link.

Enter a secret society

I hate to tell you this, but some of the most profitable list-building comes from relationships.

Joint Ventures (JVs) are like sponsorships on steroids. Except they’re free (or kinda).

What’s a JV? It’s when another creator recommends your content to their audience. Either for a fee (as an affiliate) or in exchange for you promoting each other. It’s a you-scratch-my-back-I ’ll-scratch-yours deal.

But this implies you already have some relationship with other creators, or are known in the industry, or know someone who can introduce you.

In December 2023, I discovered Derek Hughes on Medium. I dug his content. I reached out and asked if he’d be interested in a swap.

He agreed.

So I recommended Derek’s newsletter to my 4,000 subscribers, and he recommended mine. He had a small newsletter back in the day, so we simply agreed to make up for the difference by him promoting my list twice.

Huge win for both of us.

You are not necessarily going for the numbers here. Because a subscriber from a recommendation is 10 times more qualified than a subscriber coming from social media.

The bad news? If you’re starting from zero, with no connections, this can feel impossible. That’s when you need to get creative.

You could:

• Find smaller creators who are at the same level as you

• Offer them something valuable first (like a testimonial)

• Start with micro-swaps before going for the big fish

Viral social media gets all the glory. But the real money’s made through relationships (that most people are too lazy to build.)

Slow is actually fast (if you can sustain it)

Sometimes the fastest way to build your list is to actually do what seems like the slowest approach.

I know, it sounds stupid.

But here’s the thing — I’ve seen so many people jump from strategy to strategy, looking for that “quick fix.”

They try paid ads for a month. Then sponsorships for another. Then they pivot to some weird Pinterest strategy they saw in a YouTube ad.

A year later? They’re back at square one.

All the strategies I shared work and can kickstart your list. But real growth comes from picking ONE method you can stick with long-term.

Something that matches your personality and skills.

If you hate being on camera, don’t force yourself to do Instagram reels. If you love writing, lean into that instead of podcasting. If you enjoy talking to people and you’re an extrovert, partnerships might be the best way for you.

Often, people want to look for the fastest method simply because they don’t enjoy the process. They want to “get the list-building over with” so they can focus on the “fun stuff.”

But that mentality is a recipe for disaster.

Pick something sustainable, then put your head down and do the damn work.