👀 Considering newsletter sponsorships? Read this first
For many growth marketers, newsletter sponsorships seem like a goldmine.
With rising ad fatigue and costs on paid search and social channels, the promise of a highly engaged, targeted audience is undeniably appealing.
But if you’ve ever tried running newsletter sponsorships, you know it’s not always straightforward.
Figuring out if they’re truly moving the needle for your brand can feel frustrating—leaving some to conclude that newsletter sponsorships just don’t work.
The truth is, it’s not that sponsorships don’t work—it’s that they can be tricky to measure.
Let’s explore the key insights that will help brands and newsletter publishers overcome these challenges and unlock meaningful ROI 👇
Not all newsletters are created equal.
Finding newsletters that match your brand’s ideal customer profile, produce high-quality content, and have an engaged audience can be time-consuming and expensive.
There’s no universal directory of high-performing newsletters, and large subscriber bases mean nothing if they’re not highly engaged and don’t resemble your best customers.
Even once you’ve found a promising partner…
Testing takes time and money.
Running tests across multiple newsletters adds up, and a single exposure to an audience may not provide sufficient insights to gauge performance…
Especially if you’re selling complex or high-ticket products—think financial services, B2B software, or high-end retail—that require multiple touchpoints.
Without patience, budget, and a strategy for iterative testing, it’s easy to draw premature conclusions.
Additionally…
It’s crucial to understand (and define) what success really looks like.
High open rates and clicks don’t automatically translate to leads, customers, or revenue.
Instead of fixating on vanity metrics, growth marketers should focus on the numbers that matter:
Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
Lifetime value (LTV)
And incremental revenue
Attribution remains a major hurdle.
If you rely on last-click attribution models, you may be undervaluing the role newsletters play in your customers’ journeys.
Someone might discover your brand in a newsletter but convert elsewhere, leading you to underestimate the newsletter’s impact.
Without robust, cross-channel attribution tools, it’s difficult to give newsletters their due credit.
This lack of clarity can lead you to abandon what could have been a strong growth channel, simply because the results weren’t immediately obvious.
Scaling is also challenging.
You’ll find that most newsletters have finite audiences, which can lead to a decline in performance over time.
And as you attempt to replicate success across multiple partners, you’re faced with a new wave of complexity:
Negotiating deals
Managing relationships
Frequent creative refreshes
What worked well on a small scale may not easily translate into broader success, and the trial-and-error process starts over.
With all that said…
Newsletter sponsorships can be a massive growth channel when approached strategically.
Here are 5 ways to maximize your odds of success:
Focus on the metrics that matter—like upper-funnel lead quality, CAC, conversion rates, and LTV—rather than vanity metrics like clicks and opens.
Partner with experts who can streamline the process of searching for and working with high-quality newsletters.
(At Wellput, we specialize in newsletter sponsorships to streamline the process of finding and testing newsletters.)
Commit to iterative testing and refining your targeting approach over time.
Invest in attribution tools to understand your customers’ full journey, and give you a more accurate picture of how newsletters contribute to overall growth.
Be patient and give newsletters enough time to show their true value.
When executed strategically, newsletter sponsorships can become a powerful growth driver.
Ready to Make Newsletter Sponsorships Work for You?
At Wellput, we understand that measuring the real impact of newsletter sponsorships can be tricky—and making them work for your brand requires more than just great content.
That’s why we specialize in helping both brands and publishers navigate these challenges, offering an effective CPC pricing model and tools that help you focus on metrics that matter.
We’ll streamline your search, testing, and scaling efforts, so you can focus on what matters: driving growth and revenue.
But don’t just take our word for it…
“When we first started exploring the newsletter sponsorship channel, I was skeptical that it could work for The Motley Fool. Historically, our campaigns in this space had fallen short of expectations. However, working with Wellput completely changed my perspective. Their approach to testing numerous newsletters with minimal risk has been a game-changer. Much of what we’ve tested through Wellput has consistently hit our performance goals, making the newsletter sponsorship channel not only viable but also highly scalable. Best of all, Wellput has made the entire process effortless on our end. It’s been amazing to see these results with such little involvement required from our team.” – Adam Jones, The Motley Fool
Ready to take the guesswork out of newsletter sponsorships?
👉 Try Wellput risk-free and get the clarity and results you’ve been looking for.
