Personal branding has gone from nice to have to genuinely important for consultants, founders, business owners and professional service providers. The people who win work on trust are increasingly the people who are visible, recognisable and known for something.
The problem is that building that visibility usually means feeding several platforms at once. LinkedIn, Instagram, maybe TikTok or YouTube. So when Substack comes up in conversation, the fair question is not "what is it?" but "is Substack worth it, or is it just another platform to manage?"
Substack combines long form publishing, an email newsletter and social discovery features in one place. This article looks at what it actually offers, where it genuinely helps a personal brand, where it does not, and how to test it without betting your whole content strategy on it.
What is Substack?
Substack is a publishing platform that lets you write long form articles and send them directly to readers as an email newsletter. Every post lives on your own publication page and lands in your subscribers' inboxes at the same time.
The core features, per Substack's own feature list:
- Long form publishing with a clean, readable editor
- Email newsletter delivery built in, with free and paid subscription tiers
- Substack Notes, a short form feed for ideas, links and conversation
- Recommendations, where other writers point their readers at your publication
- Audio and video publishing, including podcasts
The important part is the combination. It is a blog, an email list and a discovery network in one, and your email list is exportable, which means the audience you build there is genuinely yours.
Why Substack could be valuable for your personal brand
1. A direct relationship with your readers
An email subscriber is a different kind of relationship to a social media follower. Your post arrives in their inbox whether or not an algorithm decides to show it. That does not guarantee anyone reads it, but it removes the middleman between you and the people who asked to hear from you.
2. A place to demonstrate real expertise
Social posts are short by nature. Substack gives you room to explain how you think, not just what you think. For anyone whose work is built on judgement and expertise, that depth is where trust gets built.
3. A searchable library of your ideas
Every article you publish stays on your publication page, building into a body of work a potential client can read back through. Compare that to a LinkedIn post, which is effectively gone within 48 hours.
4. Raw material for every other channel
One well argued article can be cut into a week of LinkedIn posts, an Instagram carousel and a talking head video. Writing long form first gives your shorter content more substance.
5. Compounding professional authority
Being the person who writes clearly and consistently about your field is a positioning asset. Over time, the archive itself becomes the proof.
What does the research say?
It is worth being precise here, because the evidence is often overstated.
Research from the Pew Research Center has examined email newsletters as a source of news, showing that a meaningful share of people now get news and analysis directly from newsletter writers rather than traditional outlets. Separately, the Reuters Institute's journalism and media trends report tracks the continued shift towards individual creators and independent publishers, and away from institutional brands.
What neither of these studies does is prove that starting a Substack will generate leads, win clients or improve your Google rankings. They tell us the behaviour, reading individuals directly, is real and growing. Whether that behaviour converts into business for you depends entirely on what you publish and who reads it.
Can Substack help you win clients?
Indirectly, yes. Useful, original writing demonstrates expertise in a way a sales page never can. It lets a potential client understand how you see problems before they ever speak to you.
Some illustrative examples of how this can play out:
- A marketing consultant writes a monthly breakdown of a real campaign decision. A reader facing the same decision gets in touch.
- A founder writes honestly about scaling mistakes. Investors and partners read it and start conversations.
- A coach publishes the frameworks they use with clients. Readers self-select into discovery calls already half convinced.
- An accountant explains tax changes in plain English. Business owners forward it to each other.
These are illustrations, not guarantees. But the pattern is real: for most professionals, the commercial value of a newsletter comes from new relationships and business enquiries, not from paid subscriptions.
Substack vs LinkedIn
The two platforms do different jobs, and the honest answer is that they complement each other rather than compete:
| Aspect | Substack | |
|---|---|---|
| Audience discovery | Slower. Grows through recommendations, Notes and word of mouth. | Faster. The feed and network effects surface you to new people daily. |
| Long form content | Built for it. Essays and newsletters are the whole point. | Supported via articles and newsletters, but the feed favours short posts. |
| Email distribution | Every post lands in subscribers' inboxes automatically. | Newsletter feature exists, but most consumption happens in the feed. |
| Professional networking | Limited. It is a publishing platform, not a network. | Its core strength. Connections, messages, comments, referrals. |
| Audience relationship | Direct. You own the email list and can take it with you. | Rented. Reach depends on the algorithm and the platform's rules. |
| Monetisation | Paid subscriptions, with Substack taking a cut of revenue. | No direct monetisation for most. Value comes through opportunities. |
| Best use case | Deep thinking, loyal readership, a searchable body of work. | Visibility, networking and staying front of mind professionally. |
Neither is universally better. LinkedIn is where people discover you. Substack is where they get to know how you think. Used together, LinkedIn becomes the shop window and Substack the conversation inside.
The downsides of Substack
It would be dishonest to only cover the upside. The drawbacks are real:
- Building an audience takes time. Growth on Substack is slow and steady, not viral.
- It is another platform demanding ongoing effort. A neglected publication looks worse than no publication.
- Subscribers do not guarantee readership. People sign up and stop opening emails all the time.
- Paid subscriptions are not guaranteed income. Most publications earn little or nothing from them.
- You are still dependent on a third party platform, its rules and its future.
The businesses that get value from Substack are the ones with a sustainable publishing schedule and a clear content strategy behind it. Without those, it becomes one more abandoned tab.
How to use Substack to build a personal brand
- 01
Define your positioning
Decide what you want to be known for before you write a word. One clear territory beats five vague ones.
- 02
Set your content pillars
Pick three or four themes you can write about indefinitely. Every article should sit inside one of them.
- 03
Create a recognisable identity
Name your publication, write a sharp one line description and keep a consistent tone. It should feel like you, not a corporate blog.
- 04
Publish consistently
Once a fortnight done reliably beats twice a week for a month then silence. Choose a rhythm you can actually sustain.
- 05
Promote through existing channels
Use LinkedIn, Instagram and your email signature to point people at each new piece. Substack's discovery alone will not grow you quickly.
- 06
Measure what matters
Track opens, replies, enquiries and conversations started, not just subscriber count. A small list of the right people is worth more than a big list of strangers.
A realistic 90 day Substack plan
Treat the first 90 days as an experiment, not a growth strategy. Here is a sensible structure:
Days 1–30
Establish your positioning, set up the publication properly and publish your first two articles. Share both on LinkedIn.
Days 31–60
Publish two more articles. Promote each through LinkedIn, and spend time genuinely engaging with other writers in your space through Notes and recommendations.
Days 61–90
Publish two further articles, then step back and assess honestly: readership, open rates, replies, whether the right people are reading, and whether any conversations or enquiries have come from it.
After 90 days you will have six articles, real data and a honest answer to whether this deserves a permanent place in your marketing.
Should you monetise your Substack?
There are three broad approaches, and they suit different situations:
Free publishing to support your brand
Everything free, always. The newsletter's job is to build trust and feed enquiries to your actual business. For most consultants and business owners, this is the right starting point.
Paid content once a readership exists
Introduce a paid tier only after you have an engaged free readership asking for more. Substack currently takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, plus payment processing fees, per its official pricing documentation. Check that page for current terms before deciding.
A publication as a standalone business
A small number of writers build publications that are the business. That is a full time commitment with a very different risk profile, and not what most personal brands need.
So, is Substack worth it for your personal brand?
Substack is a tool, not a strategy. It amplifies clear thinking; it cannot create it.
If your personal brand depends on expertise, original ideas and long term relationships, Substack is genuinely worth testing. The direct email relationship, the permanent archive and the room to think in public are real advantages that social platforms do not offer.
If you dislike writing, have no spare capacity, or have not yet worked out what you want to be known for, it will become one more neglected platform. Sort the strategy first.
Our honest take: run the 90 day experiment. Six articles, promoted properly, measured honestly. That is enough to know whether it earns its place.
About the author
We Are JJM
We Are JJM is a marketing agency based in Sale, Cheshire, helping brands grow through social media, content, paid ads and strategy that is actually joined up. More about us
