What can I sell sponsors once my newsletter ad slots are full?
Short answer
Things that aren't limited by inbox space. Website write-ups give a sponsor a 'featured in' badge and an article that can help them get cited by AI tools. Then there's the whole-issue advertorial, filmed video content they can use themselves, and about one dedicated send a year for annual partners. Paid sends to a single segment work too.
A newsletter only has so many ad slots before readers start to tune out. Ten, twelve, fourteen advertisers at a time, and you're full. The website and other formats don't have that limit.
Why sell space on the website?
Because it's unlimited, and the advertiser gets two things they can't get from one email.
- A credential. They can say "I was featured in" your brand on their own website and social media.
- An AI-friendly write-up. We tell them our article about them is optimized for AI. They've now been written about in more places, so their odds of being cited by an AI tool go up.
"It's like on every SaaS product, right? It says, like, featured in USA Today... And in a local area, you're never getting featured by USA Today, but you would be featured by [your local brand], like, that's going to be huge, right?"
What's an advertorial, and can a newsletter sell one?
An advertorial is a story that's also an ad. Local magazines do it all the time: a family on the cover with a whole article about them, and they paid for it.
A newsletter can make the entire issue an advertorial. In theory, three stories: one about a local family on the edge of something terrible when grandma died, until an estate company came to the rescue. Then one about an employee's good deed in the community. Then one more. It reads like stories, and every story is about how great the advertiser is. Big companies really like this idea.
How does sponsored video work?
For bigger sponsors on something like a six-month, $1,200-a-month plan: we film their business for an hour, make about 12 pieces of content, put three on our site, and give them all 12, plus a two- or three-minute overview video for their landing page. Add a full written article, and maybe two or three a year for bigger companies. An outlet in another city charges $1,500 for one article that isn't placed anywhere visible, and companies pay it.
The margin math I've walked through, as a hypothetical: pay a local videographer $50 to film and about $20 in editing. That's roughly $70 against a $400 charge. You keep the difference, though there's real work in the middle.
How many dedicated sends should I sell?
Fewer than you think while you only publish weekly. Even two a month would probably be too many. For an annual partner I'd include about one a year and let them write it. The top is a paragraph from me: one of our partners is this bank, I use them personally, they're awesome. Then it's their ad. A seller on that call said two a month was the most he'd ever done, because of reader fatigue. As you publish more often, you can do more of these.
Can I sell a send to just one segment?
Yes, and it doesn't have to be a big time suck. If your signup survey tags readers, send one paid email a quarter to a single segment, like venture capitalists in a business newsletter. It's a way to wrap an ad for exactly the people the sponsor wants. For splitting a regular slot by segment, see selling one ad slot twice.
Answered by TJ Larkin. From Local Media HQ podcast conversations, client and partner calls and my own notes, 2024-2026. Last updated .