Happy Friday! Have you ever wondered how to launch a local newsletter or a media brand?
In 2020, Ryan Sneddon had 800 subscribers and an unfocused outdoor newsletter. Today, he reaches 21,000 readers (half of Annapolis's population!) with a 65% open rate - numbers that would make most media companies jealous.
But here's what's fascinating: when tragedy struck a local family, Ryan's audience rallied to raise $250K to save their home. That's the power of putting community first.
In today's newsletter:
The exact playbook behind Naptown Scoop's growth from hobby to $320K/year local media empire
How Eric Simon built the "Barstool Sports of Real Estate" with an unconventional content strategy
Top-performing YouTube title formulas for 2025
Rapid fire insights on scaling content, AI tools, and hiring strategies
Fun fact: Ryan hasn't spent a dollar on marketing in years, yet his subscriber count grows every week. Sometimes the best growth strategy is simply showing up.
Let's dive in.
— Andrew
Playbook
In August 2020, Ryan Sneddon was a mechanical engineer with an unfocused outdoor newsletter reaching 800 subscribers. Today, he's built Naptown Scoop into a $320K/year local media empire with:
21,000 newsletter subscribers (half of Annapolis's population)
65% email open rate
8.9% click-through rate
Built lean team
The plot twist? When a local family lost their father in a tragic shooting, Ryan turned his audience into a force for good, raising $250K to save their home.
He focused on community first and monetization second.
THE BREAKTHROUGH
After reading "A Whole New Mind" in college and discovering 6AM City's local newsletter, Ryan noticed something: While Annapolis had traditional media, no one was covering local development, events, and community stories in an engaging way.
THE CONTENT PLAYBOOK
Ryan built his following through six core content pillars.
Ryan's team checks 50-55 websites twice daily, focusing on a strict 10-mile radius with three rules:
No politics
Limited crime coverage
Write at a 6th-grade level
His most engaging content:
Restaurant openings (consistent performers)
Live music listings (surprisingly viral)
Development updates (high CTR)
Weather alerts (engagement spikes)
Community profiles (relationship builders)
His content philosophy:
"Write at a sixth-grade level and make it personal," Ryan says.
"I go to every event I can. Concerts, festivals, boat shows - if it's happening, I'm there. The stories come from showing up."
THE GROWTH FRAMEWORK
Ryan's growth came in three distinct phases:
Initial Paid Push - from burning $1,500/month in his first six months, Ryan invested $21K of his $25K budget into Facebook ads, targeting women over 40 within a 10-mile radius.
Community Presence - the surprise? Live events outperformed paid acquisition. "On big weekends, we get hundreds of new subscribers just from being around town - concerts, fundraisers, boat shows. The value of meeting cool people beats any Facebook ad."
Social Scale - now, with 28K Instagram followers and hitting nearly 1M video views monthly, Ryan's shifted to organic growth through viral local content.
The turnaround? From losing money to $400/month profit in just two months. Today, they haven't spent on marketing in years, yet grow every week.
THE MONETIZATION MODEL
Ryan targets advertisers with high customer lifetime value, showing them simple ROI math:
"A $15K annual package is just 4-5 new tenants for an apartment complex charging $3K monthly rent."
His ideal advertiser profile:
High-margin businesses ($2M+ transactions)
Annual marketing budgets
Values local brand building
Needs ongoing community presence
THE TEAM FRAMEWORK
Ryan built lean with strategic contracts:
Offshore assistant (full-time)
Writers ($250-280/edition)
Social media ($100/month)
Commission-only sales
Young video creator
His hiring philosophy?
"Pay freelancers above market rate for priority treatment. Pay quickly. Hire hungry."
THE LESSON
"Local newsletters work best with local owners," Ryan says.
"People connect with people, not brands. I'm not just building a newsletter - I'm building community."
Want Ryan's full playbook? Watch our complete conversation with Ryan here.
Meet Eric Simon (@thebrokeagent), the founder of Now BAM—one of real estate's largest media companies that's transforming the industry.
BAM is Business And Media for agents of change.
From a struggling Realtor to building a media empire that reaches tens of thousands of real estate professionals daily, Eric's journey is anything but ordinary.
Why email beats 500k Instagram followers (and the exact numbers that prove it)
How they create 30+ pieces of content daily without burning out
The $7,500 animation disaster that taught him everything about content
Why he calls content creation “a nightmare” (but still loves it)
The truth about building a 9-person media team from scratch
BAM’s revenue streams
His surprising advice: “Just be a real estate agent instead” and so much more...
And much more!
This quote hit… "Every time we send an email, we lose 20-30 subscribers. Some days we post content for 8 hours and get zero sales. But you can't walk off the course when you hit a few bad holes."
Watch the full episode now on YouTube (or save for later) — or search 'Breaking and Building Leaders BAM'
Packaging (Topic + Title + Thumbnails) of the Week
2.2X - The Truth About The {CITY} Housing Market 📉
8.3X - Inside an {MAIN HOOK} Home in One Of {CITY}'s Top Neighborhoods
6.1X - Why People Are Still Moving to {CITY STATE} in {YEAR}
11X - {#} {AREA} {Cities/Towns/Suburbs/Neighborhoods} Even Haters Will Love in {YEAR}
89X - BIG Changes Coming to {CITY} in {YEAR}
23X - The MASSIVE {CITY} Exodus: Why People Are FLEEING to The {AREA}
26X - Why Everyone is Moving to {CITY STATE} in {YEAR}?
2.4X - New {HOME TYPE} Home Design Is My #1 ALL-TIME Favorite in {CITY}
19X - {NEWSWORTHY STORY}? {GOVERNOR}' Bold Plan Explained!
100X - {AREA}: A Complete Guide to Orlando’s Hidden Gem
I hope these help inspire your next video!
Rapid Fire For Your Consumption:
258 brands found repurposing 2.5x’ed their monthly views from Neil Patel - Twitter
What types of post over-perform on different social media platforms right now from VaynerMedia - Instagram
Mr. Beast shares it all behind his billion-dollar business & life - (YouTube after action reports, discomfort is a competitive advantage and or never accept "impossible" as an answer) - YouTube
Behind $250M/yr selling air filters (Find competitive advantages with vertical intergration, build systems before scaling & more on leadership) - YouTube
5 hiring strategies to scale faster from Leila Hormozi - YouTube
The most important skill for a founder is recruiting from Alex Hormozi - YouTube
Having more productive meetings from Jeff Bezos (agendas plus this) - Twitter
Free and Paid $20/mth Perplexity is better than $200/mth Deep Research? - YouTube
Prompt engineering (aka understand prompts) is a skill worth mastering for the future - Twitter
Which content did you like BEST?
I hope you enjoyed this one!
I tried to include a range of content to help anyone at any level across numerous things.
So, I’m curious to hear your results after you implement 1 of these into your business!
Time to build for 2025!
Andrew Bayon
P.S. Want your marketing to be profitable & consistently generate clients? You can find out how we help agents get strangers to buy & sell with them.
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