Can a print mailer or magazine make money for a local newsletter?

Marketing your newsletter usually costs money. What if you got paid to do it?

I talked to a guy who sends those giant postcards, and he makes money from them. You pick up a slot, you make a couple thousand dollars sending them out, and the mailer markets your brand at the same time.

"You're turning your cost center into a profit center."

How does a postcard operator make money?

From his reported numbers, as he relayed them to me:

• About 16 ad slots per card
• $250 to $400 per slot
• Mailed to high-income households
• Bundled with a newsletter ad, an article and a social post into a package around $1,200 to $1,500 a month

That's his result, not one I've tested myself.

Why would a newsletter want print?

Reach. A mail magazine is often 12 pages of ads. What if that was your newsletter's brand on the cover? You'd get in front of people who otherwise would never sign up for an email newsletter.

One operator I interviewed on my show built his quarterly mailer idea around a simple question: what would he pay for? That's a good filter for any print product.

How do you package it?

Bundle every channel into tiers. For example:

Premium package (6 months)
- Half-page ad in the print edition
- 4 ads in the newsletter
- 2 Instagram highlights

Advertisers like one decision that covers everything. And the print slots pay for putting your brand in front of those households.

How do you get a nervous advertiser to say yes?

De-risk the first package. An operator I interviewed on my show sells a 30-ad package that works out to about $250 per ad. He'll take a $2,500 month down to $1,750 to get a first-timer in, and he advises running four weeks in a row instead of one-off ads.

His proof point: a 22,000-open email ad generated about 250 high-intent clicks for a restaurant. And real estate is always the top click. Those are his numbers from his market, but the structure carries over to print: a clear package, a lower-risk first purchase, and enough repetition to work.

For pricing digital placements alongside print, see how to price local newsletter ads.