Borrow Other People's Audiences as Strategic Affiliates

Borrow Other People's Audiences as Strategic Affiliates is a partnerships & affiliates tactic for getting your first users: Identify creators, newsletters, or communities that already own your ideal audience and slowly cultivate them into revenue-sharing partners.

It's a strong fit for Newsletters / media teams, and works especially well for zero-budget founders in a niche with established creators. As a partnerships & affiliates play, plan for medium effort and expect results to build gradually over time, all grounded in 1 linked primary source.

Partnerships & affiliatesMedium effortSlow

Why does partnerships & affiliates work for this?

A handful of partners with large existing audiences can deliver far more reach than building your own from zero on no budget.

The exact steps (4)

The full step-by-step this founder ran, what they posted, where, and in what order, plus the watch-outs, is part of the library.

Unlock the steps · $29 oncePlus all 3,000+ tactics and the new ones we add weekly.

Sources

Frequently asked

What kind of products does the "Borrow Other People's Audiences as Strategic Affiliates" tactic work for?
It is a good fit for Newsletters / media — pick it when your product looks like that, since the play is shaped around how those users find new tools.
How is the "Borrow Other People's Audiences as Strategic Affiliates" tactic verified?
It is drawn from 1 primary source — a real founder write-up or interview, not generic advice. It is linked in the Sources section above so you can read the original account yourself.
How much effort is it and how fast are results?
It is medium effort, and results tend to be slow.
Where can I see the exact step-by-step?
The full step-by-step a founder ran, documented via Source — IndieHackers, is in the paid library.

Related tactics

Partnerships & affiliatesHigh effort· Slow

Seed Micro-Creators and Run a UGC Engine

Recruiting a stable of small, niche creators, sometimes paid only in free access, training them, and systematizing their output into a repeatable user-generated-content machine.

Read the steps →
Partnerships & affiliatesMedium effort· Slow

Write Guest Issues to Borrow an Audience

You create a standout guest post or guest newsletter issue for another publisher, exposing yourself to their entire audience while positioning yourself as an authority.

Read the steps →
Partnerships & affiliatesLow effort· Medium

Give Each Influencer a Unique Coupon + Above-the-Fold Link

Attribute sales to specific creators by issuing each a unique coupon code and tracking link, and ask them to place it above the fold.

Read the steps →
Partnerships & affiliatesHigh effort· Fast

Recruit Creators as Promoters or Co-Founders

Treat distribution as the bottleneck and partner with content creators who already own your audience, paying them in commission, cash, or equity depending on how central they are.

Read the steps →
Partnerships & affiliatesMedium effort· Medium

Turn One-Off Shoutouts Into an Evergreen Blogger Network

Replace repetitive shoutout DMs with a guest-blogging network where each contributor cross-promotes their own post to their audience, giving recurring exposure from a single setup.

Read the steps →
Partnerships & affiliatesMedium effort· Slow

Befriend Competing Newsletters Before You Ask for Anything

Grew subscribers by building genuine relationships with other newsletter creators in the same space, who then became advocates and cross-promoters, by leading with value first, including buying their ads and taking their courses.

Read the steps →

Get all 3,000+ tactics in one place

Filter by your product and channel, follow the exact steps, and get the new tactics we add every week. One payment, yours for good.