How to make money from your newsletter with ads and sponsorships

If you have many people who like getting your emails and want to make some money from your regular newsletters, you might have thought about getting sponsors.

In this article, I’ll explain all you need to know about newsletter sponsorships, including how to make a sponsor page that will make companies really want to work with your brand!

The idea here is to team up with brands that share your interests and are willing to pay to advertise in your newsletter.

This can be good for both you and the brand. You get to charge for putting their ads in your emails, and they get to show their stuff to your readers.

What is a Newsletter Sponsor?

A newsletter sponsor is a company that pays to include an article or ad in one of your email newsletters.

This type of advertising is usually more focused than regular banner ads because the sponsor’s content is integrated into the newsletter so it fits naturally.

The most effective newsletter ads have a strong relationship with the newsletter’s brand and the sponsor’s brand.

It’s important for the ad to work and for the email marketing to be successful so that the audience feels engaged and not pushed into buying something.

How much does it cost to advertise in a newsletter?

The price you can ask a brand to pay for sponsoring your newsletter depends on how big the chance is.

If you have many subscribers and would give the company a great chance (like a big group of interested people), you can ask for more money for sponsorship

If you have fewer subscribers, you might have to ask for less money or consider reaching out to brands that are specific to your audience

There’s no fixed rule, but lots of companies often ask for a percentage of your subscriber count.

For instance, if you charge a 5% fee, and you have 50,000 subscribers, you’d ask a sponsor for $2,500 to include their content in your newsletter and show it to your subscribers.

How Do You Ask For Sponsorship for a Newsletter?

Sponsorship chances in newsletters typically come about in one of two ways:

  • Direct contact: Getting in touch directly can work well, especially with smaller companies, when asking for sponsorship. By reaching out personally, you can express your interest in collaborating with brands that share your values and appeal to your subscribers. You can also highlight the size of your audience and the advantages the sponsor would get from partnering with you.
  • Agencies: If the company you want to sponsor your newsletter is big, you might have to reach out to their marketing agency to discuss sponsorship. Find their marketing team’s contact info and present a strong argument for why they should be excited about featuring in your newsletter.

Whichever path you choose, having a special page that explains why brands should want to sponsor you is crucial for success.

On this page, you can showcase some of your top stats, like:

  1. How many people open your emails (open rate).
  2. How many people take the desired action (conversion rate).
  3. The total number of subscribers you have.

These numbers can persuade brands to consider your sponsorship proposal.

You can also send a special newsletter to the brands you want to partner with, promoting this page. This works better than a simple text email.

Make sure your sponsorship page looks impressive, professional, and well-structured to show that you’re experienced in sending out newsletters.

It’s essential that your potential sponsors feel confident and enthusiastic about being featured in your newsletter.

Give them a glimpse of the kind of content they could be part of by making your landing page visually appealing and engaging.

Beehiiv newsletter.

Tech

The tech you’re going to use is Beehiiv. It is a software platform to create content, monetize, and scale your audience via newsletter.

The Beehiiv ad network makes it easy for creators to make money from their newsletter without doing any of the hard work.

The top newsletters like Morning Brew monetize their through sponsorships and ads.

Newsletters are a great way for business owners to communicate with their customers, grow their email lists, and boost sales.

Morning Brew, a newsletter, was sold for $75 million, showing it’s a successful business idea on its own.

You can achieve the same thing without having a special sales team. Just focus on creating a good newsletter.

This is how you monetize your newsletter easily

Beehiiv has a special team that helps high-quality brands get started and partner with the best newsletters on Beehiiv.

Once Beehiiv thinks your newsletter is a good match for their promotion, they’ll send you a message about the advertising chance.

In your Beehiiv dashboard, you can also go to the ads dashboard by clicking on ‘Monetization’ and then ‘Ads’.

Ads dashboard.

On this page, you can check a calendar that shows all your upcoming ad spots.

You can also review ads waiting for approval and see past ad placements along with upcoming and accepted ones.

This example shows when you have a pending opportunity.

You can view the advertiser’s name, their business description, and a link to their website for more details.

You can also check the campaign duration and pick any date within that timeframe to send your post.

There’s something called CPC, which means you get $2.50 for every click the ad gets. You can also see an estimated payment based on how your newsletter has performed in the past.

When you’re ready to agree to the offer, click ‘View details & respond’.

Pending ad opportunity.

Then you can select the date you’ll be sending out your post between the campaign timeframe.

Choose the ad slot version you want, then just click ‘Review and accept,’ and you’re all set.

When your ad spot is approved, it will show up on the calendar as a green dot.

When your ad spot is approved.

You can also say no to any offer anytime, and there’s no contract, so you’re not obligated to accept.

Add an ad to your post

Write your newsletter post like you normally do. When you’re finished, press the ‘/’ key to open the editor menu and then click on ‘advertisement’.

Find your desired ad placement which you just accepted and click on it.

Take a look at your post preview to see the ad smoothly included in your post.

You’ll also notice the sponsor’s logo automatically added to the email header.

Sponsor’s example on your email header.

That’s it! You’ll receive payment to your chosen bank account within 30 days after the ad is shown to your audience.


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