Kudos to you.
You’ve put in the work. You’ve shown up to the party and danced your heart out. You’ve written thousands of words, opened millions of tabs, and have the subscribers to show for it.
The next step is to actually start making money from your hyper-engaged newsletter audience. And to do that, you’re going to need to find some high-quality advertisers.
Here’s how.
Step 1: Join a Marketplace
Marketplaces and directories are step one in the journey to monetization. You want to show up in as many places as possible and reach as many advertisers as possible.
In an active Marketplace, advertisers will browse thousands of listings to pick your newsletter. Generally, advertisers browse by category, carefully checking if a newsletter’s audience is a good match for their brand.
Paved runs a Marketplace like this, but you can only get listed when your subscriber count breaks past the 50k mark. Sponsorgap also lists opportunities where advertisers are directly sponsoring and looking for newsletters to send them a pitch.
Make sure you include your audience details and metrics. We’ve found that including demographic statistics is particularly powerful.
Step 2: Join free directories to increase your visibility
Directories are similar to marketplaces in that they are a database of newsletters. However, advertising deals rarely happen on directories. They are more about growth and visibility. Here are some you can try to get your newsletter on:
- •InboxReads
- •Newsletters.co
- •Letterlist
- •Rad Letters
- •Find Your Newsletter
- •Newsletter Junkie
- •Thanks for Subscribing
When advertisers search for a newsletter, they generally type something like ‘top 10 technology newsletters” into Google. Listing your newsletter in directories is going to help you show up more often.
Step 3: Join a network of like-minded publishers
Networking is one of the most powerful sales tools out there. I recommend you join every group you can and find out what sticks!
Here are a few to get you started:
- •NewsletterGeeks vis NessLabs on Telegram
- •Newsletter Creators by Josh Spektor on Facebook
- •Newsletter Nerds on Slack
- •Newsletter Operators on LinkedIn
These communities often have sponsorship and growth opportunities. They won’t be obvious at first, but in the long run, you’ll definitely find them.
Tip: a lot of people in the newsletter community hang out on Twitter.
Step 4: Advertise that you accept sponsorships
Make sure advertisers know how to get in touch with you.
Often, readers of popular newsletters will want to place an ad but won’t be able to. Why? Because there’s no place for it on your website.
You'd be surprised how much a small sponsorship link in your footer can boost your earnings.
Either you can send advertisers to your own landing page with more detailed information, or you can send them to a Marketplace profile to proceed and book the sponsorship.
Read: How to Share Your Sponsorship Link
Step 5: Get your free Booker page
If you want repeat bookings, you'll need an excellent booking page that impresses sponsors with your rates, testimonials, and live stats.
With Paved's latest tool, Booker, you can get a free sponsorship storefront. It's like Shopify for newsletter sponsorships. Let advertisers book sponsorships directly from your site or newsletter. Streamline the entire booking process and reduce the back and forth.
Read: Better Sponsorship Management with Booker
You know where to find the newsletter advertisers… now what?!
Now you know how to find the advertisers, you actually need to go out there and bring them in! This means it’s time to take the next steps, sign up for a Marketplace, or go ahead and create your landing page and media kit, get your free Booker page, and more.
