How to turn year-end awards into a growth machine 🎮
Steal the award playbook from Really Good Emails.
I wasn’t looking for this. But once I saw it, I couldn’t look away.
Really Good Emails is hosting its 2025 awards show live on December 17th.
I’m not telling you to attend. I’m telling you to study how they’re selling it.
Buried inside their landing page and announcement emails is a blueprint for how solopreneurs and freelancers should grow in 2026.
Let me show you what they’re doing and what you can steal.
🔒 They’re building an asset AI can’t touch
Here’s how they’re pitching the awards:
“Connect with marketers who geek out over open rates, debate font choices, and celebrate clever CTAs. This is your community.”
They’re selling access to a community of people who care about the same weird details you do.
RGE built an audience of email nerds. Now they’re letting those nerds find each other.
The awards are just the excuse.
👉 Your move: Stop trying to build your audience from scratch. Find where your ideal clients already gather (newsletters, podcasts, communities) and become the person who connects them.
🧪 Their landing page is a lesson in conversions
Look at what they’re doing on the registration page:
Two different CTAs. Two different goals and zero confusion about which one you should click.
They’re not asking you to “learn more” or “explore categories.” They’re giving you two paths: watch or participate.
Then scroll down, and you hit this:
Eleven award categories presented as retro game cartridges. Each one has:
A creative name (not “Email Newsletter Category #4”)
A one-line description and memorable tagline
“Cart Abandonment. One last mission: complete the cart.”
“Win-Back Campaigns. Rise from the ashes of inactivity.”They could’ve just listed categories. Instead, they made each one feel like something you’d want to be part of.
👉 The lesson: Stop hiding your value behind generic labels. Name things in ways that make people feel something.
🎁 They’re using exclusivity without being exclusive
Check out this section from one of their announcement emails:
Sticker packs cost almost nothing to produce. But watch what they accomplish:
Creates urgency (first 250 only)
Makes early action feel rewarded
Gives attendees something physical to remember the event
Turns attendees into walking billboards when they use the stickers
The stickers aren’t valuable because they’re expensive. They’re valuable because they’re limited and they signal “I was there.”
👉 Your version: Find the lowest-cost thing you can make exclusive. First 50 people get a template. First 20 clients get lifetime access. First 10 to reply get a free audit.
The number matters more than what you’re giving away.
🏆 They made submitting feel like winning
Look at how Really Good Emails frame the submission process:
They’re not just asking you to “enter a competition.” They want you to claim recognition for work you’re already proud of.
This is psychological judo.
Instead of creating a barrier (”am I good enough to enter?”), they’ve created permission (”you already know this was good, just make it official”).
👉 The takeaway: Stop asking people to “sign up” or “register” or “apply.” Ask them to claim something, join something, or get access to something. The action is the same. The feeling is completely different.
💡 Your Friday takeaway
You don’t need to run an awards show. But you can steal Quick Growth Ideas from this playbook.
Build borrowed audiences. Stop creating content in isolation. Connect your people with others who get it.
Name things like they matter. “Monthly Newsletter” → “The thing 500+ freelancers check first on Thursday mornings.”
Create low-cost exclusivity. First 25 people get [literally anything]. Scarcity creates value.
Send the same message from multiple angles. One announcement won’t cut it. Announce it via email, on X, and places your audience talk.
Frame participation as claiming, not asking. Don’t make people feel like they’re begging to be chosen.
Solopreneurs, freelancers, and biz owners who understand community, exclusivity, and human psychology will win everything.
RGE gets it. That’s why their awards show makes people take notice.
See you next week 🚀
Sam
—If you enjoyed issue #19, please tap the Like button below 💙 Thank you!
I love this Sam. I think I’ll be trying this, maybe leaning into the ‘Place where geeks hang out and discuss sexy topics like cosine relevance‘ type of thing.
The jokes write themselves. :)