Is a digital marketing agency a good way to make money alongside a local newsletter?
Short answer
If you just want money, yes. It's the no-brainer. If you can run Meta ads for your own newsletter, you're in the top 1% of what small businesses can hire, and most of them don't understand this stuff. It isn't easy, but your advertisers are a ready-made client list.
If you're just looking for any way to make money, the digital marketing agency is the play. To me it's an absolute no-brainer.
"Anyone running Meta ads for their newsletter is in the top one percent."
Why does a newsletter operator have an edge?
Because you're already doing the hard part. Running Meta ads well enough to grow a local newsletter puts you ahead of almost every option a small business can hire. Small businesses don't understand this stuff, and they know they don't.
Your newsletter also hands you the prospects. An advertiser buys an ad, you ask what else they're doing for marketing, they say they don't really know. You offer to run Meta ads for them and charge monthly.
Is it easy?
No. It works if you're willing, actually want to do it, are capable of it, and understand the trade-offs. An agency is the money answer, not the durable-asset answer.
How does it fit into a local media business?
As the top of a ladder:
- Free: a business gets a free directory listing.
- Low ticket: an upgraded listing at about $50 a month.
- Middle: newsletter ads.
- High ticket: agency work, around $1,000 a month.
Step one, get them in the funnel for free. Step two, upgrade them to paid. Step three, upgrade them to your agency. More in how to monetize a local directory.
Should you start the service business instead?
Usually not. I talked on my podcast about Christmas lights: I think that category will crush on leads, but I'm not going to hang the lights myself. An agency lets you sell leads into the category without running the trucks.
The lighter version is a partnership. Find an existing operator and take a referral fee per lead. It costs them nothing if you fail, so as long as you get in front of them, they'll probably say yes. That's a proposal I've made, not a deal I've signed.
What about an AI agency?
Same logic, bigger market. Every business is going to need help moving into the AI world. If you're the known person in town and your media company makes clear you do this, you're probably going to get a lot of clients. See what a back-end offer is.
Answered by TJ Larkin. From Local Media HQ podcast episodes between July 2025 and February 2026 and client calls in August 2026. Last updated .