Why You Should Sponsor a Newsletter

It's no secret: email marketing is cost effective, retains customers and increases engagement. From the smallest to the biggest companies, it's tried, tested and reliable.

The value of building an email list is simple - own your distribution. Market your brand, direct to consumers. But a collected email means the customer is already aware of your brand. They've navigated to your site. They've entered your funnel. They've signed up to your proposition.

So how can email lists be used to acquire customers or increase your brand exposure?

That's the snug spot that newsletter sponsorship fills. But what are the benefits of sponsorship? Why sponsor a newsletter?

Let's dive right in.

Leverage someone else's email list, to grow your exposure

We're all familiar with freelancing and consulting: leverage other people's time and accumulated skills to resolve our problems or capitalise on our opportunities.

Newsletter sponsorship is no different.

Ask any newsletter creator and they'll tell you - growing an email list is time consuming. It requires focus, patience and creativity to develop growth strategies.

Rather than wait to build your own email list, why not buy that time and effort? The time and effort someone else spent growing their email list? Newsletter sponsorship allows you to do just that.

Newsletters are an underused and cost effective way to increase your brand exposure and acquire new customers. Newsletters have direct distribution, access to your target customers, and most importantly, the trust of their readers.

This makes newsletters sponsorships a great google ads alternative.

Access readers that are active, engaged and ready to share.

Who signs up for a newsletter? Your target audience, that's who. People that want to be informed of the latest news, research or thought leadership around a subject matter they are invested in.

That might be readers keen to learn more about investments keep up with the latest dev frameworks or to hear about the latest news in their local town

Some are engaged, curious minds, looking to discover. Others are keeping abreast of changes in their field of work or interest. Either way, their intention is to read the newsletters and share their latest findings.

And with the right positioning, that could mean discovering your product too.

Connect with your target customers, in their language.

The best sponsorship isn't simply placing an image or text ad on a newsletter and hoping for the best.

Sponsorship means working with newsletter creator that understand their audience.

The best newsletter creators not only know their subject matter, but they have accumulated a nuanced understanding of what their audiences like.

Through communities on facebook or discord, twitter interactions, apps like Sparkloop's feedback tool, Substack's comments or simply requesting email replies in their welcome email - the best newsletter creators interact directly with their mailing list on what works and what doesn't.

Why does this matter? Because writing an ad is simple, but speaking to your target audience is hard.

And who else to steer you, and advise you, than someone that the readers trust?

Create audience specific ads that lead to your sales funnel

Programmatic ads are great in efficiency. You target a couple of key words and hope for the best. But you never really know where they're going to pop up. With newsletter sponsorships, you know the context in which your ad will appear.

Why stop at a text ad? Why not pitch content tailored to that target audience?

Link to a bespoke landing page for your product, specific to that newsletter. Give away a specific deal to those readers. These are all growth loops that you can use to increase awareness, conversion. You get the idea.

Newsletter sponsorship allows you to leverage relationships to create a more compelling connection.

So use it.

Align you brand values with an audience that cares.

Sponsorships are often overlooked as another word for advertisements.

However, at its heart, sponsorship is a vehicle to express your product values by aligning with similar value products.

Done right, this can evoke a stronger emotional response and resonate more deeply with readers.

Have strong company values around diversity?

Be seen to support that through your actions.

Sponsor a newsletter that reflects that.

In Summary

Newsletter sponsorship is a great google ad alternative.

It's a under utilised, high return on investment marketing channel. But more than this, it's a way to get personal with your target audience.

Check out hecto.io for opportunities.