DEEP DIVE
If you're only selling individual newsletter ads, you're leaving money on the table and racing toward commoditization.
After working with hundreds of successful publishers and creators, I've seen how the most profitable media businesses have shifted away from being "publishers with ad space" to becoming marketing partners for brands.
The Race to the Bottom
The truth about traditional newsletter advertising is brutal:
CPMs and ad rates continue to decline. When you only offer one "ad product" (newsletter spots, podcast pre-rolls, or display ads), you're competing on price with other publishers and platforms like Facebook and Google ads.
Your ads become commoditized, forcing you to accept lower rates just to fill inventory.
It’s a race to the bottom you can’t win.
Escape from Commoditization
The solution is simple: Position yourself as a partner focused on helping brands reach their goals, not another publisher selling ad spots and traffic.
Use partnership language: Talk about "partnerships" and "sponsorships," not "ads" or "advertising” when you meet with brands.
Lead with audience value: Emphasize your audience's unique characteristics and engagement over what ad spots you have and the traffic they drive.
Think like an agency: Think of yourself as a marketing agency that happens to have direct access to a valuable audience.
Brands are buying your audience and expertise as a marketing partner. Not ads or traffic.
Build Your Value Ladder
Smart publishers create a pathway to move clients up a value ladder, maximizing lifetime value. As your clients spend more and commit to working with you longer, they get more value.
A simple way to do this is to create partnership packages.
1. Test Package (Entry Point)
Minimal investment that still drives results. Examples:
3-5 primary newsletter ads
A mix of 3 newsletter ads + 3 podcast ads
3 newsletter ads + 2 social media promotions
Keep test packages simple and focused on delivering quick wins.
2. Quarterly Partnership (Mid-Tier)
More comprehensive partnership designed to maximize growth over a 3-month period:
4-6 weekly newsletter ads (or 10-12 if daily)
2 dedicated emails to targeted segments of your list
Lead magnet creation and promotion
Custom content like sponsored deep dives or advertorials
Partner webinar (co-create the content, drive registrations, and host it live)
3. Flagship Annual Partnership (Premium)
Your highest-value offering, limited to 4-5 partners per year:
12-25 weekly newsletter placements (or 20-50 if daily)
Multiple webinars or lead generation campaigns
Custom content creation across multiple channels
Dedicated account management and reporting
The math is simple: A client who commits to an annual partnership is typically worth 20-50x more than one who buys a single newsletter ad. Plus, these partnerships are far less vulnerable to pricing pressure.
The most valuable part of any partnership is the custom content you create. Most partnerships should be built around promoting custom content.
Here are the 4 most popular types of custom content:
1) Sponsored newsletters and advertorials
A dedicated newsletter send for the brand that is repurposed into an article published to your website / blog.
2) Sponsored webinars
Co-create a 45-60 minute webinar with the brand. You or your team will be a cohost of the live webinar that introduces the brand presenter and helps with Q&A at the end.
You'll drive webinar registrations with:
Newsletter ads
Dedicated email(s)
Social media posts
And more
Then share every registration (lead) with the partner so they can contact them pre and post webinar.
3) Sponsored lead magnets and reports
Co-create a 3-10 page lead magnet or report with the brand.
You’ll lead the writing, promotion, and set up.
Write a report with CTAs for the brand
Create a landing page, thank you page, and email to deliver it
Promote the lead magnet / report to your audience with newsletter ads, dedicated email(s), social posts, and more
You’ll share all leads generated with the brand so they can follow up with them.
4) Sponsored videos and podcasts
This could be a video entirely about the brand partner — or a podcast interview with the founder or an executive at the brand.
You’ll:
Create, produce, and publish the video or podcast
Promote it to your audience (email, social, etc)
Include CTAs in and around the video / podcast
5) Dedicated marketing email to segment
Based on your email audiences survey responses (1st party) and email engagement you can create a segment of your list that's most likely to become a customer or client of your partner.
This segment may be 10-30% of your email list.
Write and send dedicated marketing email(s) (200-400 words) about your partner to this segment.
Of course, you don't want to overload your audience. This should only be done 1-4x per month or less.
Pricing Custom Content
Custom content can and should be expensive.
You're not just providing ad space — you're leveraging your editorial expertise and audience trust to create content builds a partner’s brand, drives qualified leads, and sales.
When pricing custom content, start with your primary ad rate as a baseline.
A webinar package might command 10x your primary ad rate.
A dedicated marketing email to a segment email list could be priced at 5x your primary ad rate.
Pricing partnerships is more of an art then a science, but here are some rates to consider:
Webinar package - 10X cost of primary ad
Dedicated email to segment - 5X cost of primary ad
Sponsored newsletter to full list - 7X cost of primary ad
Advertorial blog post - 3-4X cost of primary ad
Create and promote lead magnet or report - 5X cost of primary ad
Sponsored YouTube video - 10X cost of pre-roll ad
Sponsored podcast - 7-10X the cost of podcast pre-roll ad
For example, I know a B2B publisher with ~20,000 newsletter subscribers that charges $4000 per newsletter ad and $35,000 for a webinar package (webinar package = 8.8X the cost of 1 newsletter ad)
The Reporting Advantage
After every promotion runs, send a notification to your partner, followed by a detailed report 5-7 days later with results. This alone will make you stand out from 90% of publishers who neglect basic reporting.
After completed partnership campaigns, schedule a recap call to:
Share all performance data
Request feedback on what worked best
Discuss the next partnership opportunity
Keep in mind: Your partners (advertisers) will not always be transparent with you.
Even if advertisers claim results were "average" remember they're incentivized to downplay success to get favorable pricing.
Watch their behavior: Renewals speak louder than words.
The Bottom Line
Stop selling ads. Start building partnerships.
The future belongs to publishers and creators who become marketing partners, not ad inventory sellers.
By developing partnership packages with a value ladder, you'll command premium rates and build long-term relationships with advertisers.
This leads to more consistent revenue and profit growth long term.
Reply