How do I explain newsletter ad pricing to local businesses who don't understand CPM?
Short answer
Don't mention CPM, CTR or open rates. Say how many people will see the ad on a named day and give a flat price: 'About 10,000 people will see this Monday morning, it's $300.' Sell a flat monthly subscription instead of a price that moves with your list. When someone asks what you charge, give a starting number.
Local business owners don't think in CPM. If you lead with it, you lose them.
What should I say instead of CPM?
A guest on my podcast runs a newsletter and gave me a script I immediately wanted on my own pricing page:
"10,000 people will probably see this ad on Monday morning, it's $300, do you want to try that."
His math behind it: 20,000 subscribers at about a 50% open rate is roughly 10,000 people. He never says "open rate" to the advertiser. He says how many people, which day, how much.
After hearing that, I said out loud on the episode that I needed to message my team right then and change our pricing page. It's so obviously the better way to do it.
Why do advertisers get confused by audience-based pricing?
Because they fixate on whether the price moves. Another guest dropped CPM talk after advertisers kept asking whether his price would go up if he gained a thousand subscribers. He switched to a flat subscription, about $500 a month on a list of around 10,000, and the question went away.
Flat monthly price, one plain sentence about reach. That's the whole pitch.
What do I say when a business emails "just tell me what you charge"?
Give them a number. A custom home builder, a genuinely good lead, emailed me exactly that. You can't have fixed pricing if you customize every package, but you can give a starting point. The answer I'd give:
"It starts at 500 a month, with customization above that."
That's better than "let's hop on a discovery call." They asked a simple question. Answer it.
How do I make the first purchase feel safe?
A guest who runs a newsletter in the Catskills uses a de-risking discount. If a month is $2,500, offer $1,750 for the first month to prove it works, and advise four weeks in a row instead of one ad.
What's the bigger education problem?
Business owners think a newsletter is a small toy. Frame it as a digital publication, no different from the newspaper or magazine they already know, just delivered by email. Assume they don't understand the model, because they don't.
Advertisers are really asking you to do marketing for them. You probably know more about digital marketing than the agency they've used for 25 years. Position yourself as the AI-forward local marketing option.
What's the ceiling on small-business pricing?
Lower than your audience size suggests. One guest said even reaching 50,000 people, local advertisers might only have $400 or $500 to spend. The lever with small businesses is more advertisers, not a higher rate. Bigger rates come from bigger organizations. See selling to banks and hospitals.
Answered by TJ Larkin. From Local Media HQ podcast conversations in 2025 and 2026, including advice from guests who run local newsletters. Last updated .