a single source, nothing corroborates it

Sell sponsorship so growth pays for itself

Booking sponsors for a year in one go puts the cash up front and stops selling from eating the time you meant to spend writing. A recurring interactive slot gives a sponsor something specific to buy, and a low-priced product inside the welcome sequence can cover acquisition so the budget refills itself.

The method

1. 01

   Sell a newsletter's sponsor slots for twelve months in one go, so you get the cash up front and stop spending creative energy on selling.

2. 02

   Newsletter sponsorship revenue can cover the cost of growing the list, so sell sponsor slots as the list scales instead of treating growth purely as an expense.

3. 03

   Add one recurring interactive element, a puzzle, riddle, poll or quiz, and then find a brand to sponsor that section specifically.

4. 04

   Sell a low-priced digital product inside that same welcome sequence so subscriber acquisition pays for itself and the ad budget can be topped back up out of sales.

What it returned

• 2022

  Five sponsors were booked in advance for all of 2022: Ahrefs, Agorapulse, Supermetrics, The Juice and 42 Agency.

• $22,000

  Sahil Bloom took $22,000 from newsletter sponsors in February 2023 alone, while on pace to reach 1,000,000 subscribers inside three years.

• $2M

  Bourgoin's stated plan for Why We Buy: buy subscribers through paid channels, segment them, promote products such as Wallet-Opening Words or the Clarity Call Cheatsheets in the sequence, and either break even or get paid to grow. She is aiming for $2M a year.

• Morning Brew added crosswords and Roca News runs a set of twenty questions every Friday.

Sources

• 2022 Year In Review | Corey HainesCorey Haines · corey.co · What went well · 2023-01-01
• Growth Flywheels | Customer CampKatelyn Bourgoin · customercamp.co · undated
• Friday Feature: Why We BuyLouis Nicholls · sparkloop.app · ✏️ Steal this for your newsletter · undated