How To Buy and Use Newsletter Ads To Grow Your Subscribers (Quickly)
- Updated on
- By Maliha
If you’re interested in growing your subscribers using newsletter ads, keep reading!
When I started my newsletter back in 2018, I grew my subscribers by sheer effort.
I wrote weekly blog posts, made a crap ton of lead magnets, and used daily pinning (where you share your stuff on Pinterest, strategically, every single day) to drive traffic to said blog posts and lead magnets.
It worked.
I grew my subscribers from 200 to over 1,400 in just four months between November 2018 and February 2019. And much more over time.
But when I teach email list-building to my members (inside my creator growth companion membership — the Vault), some of them will inevitably complain about losing momentum during the slow grind. Working on SEO, Pinterest, or some other social media to eventually build a strong email list is great, but it requires patience and a lot of work without a significant return in the beginning. And that… forks with your motivation.
I get it.
Most people need a minimum level of success to stay in the game, after all.
Which is where ads come in.
Using ads, especially newsletter ads, to grow your email list gives you fast results! If you do it right, you can place one ad in a reputable newsletter and get tens, and sometimes even hundreds(!) of brand-new subscribers pretty much overnight.
That said, there are some good and not-so-good practices for maximum conversion via newsletter ads.
I’ve learned these practices not only by running ads in other newsletters, but also by selling newsletter ads to other creators.
That’s why I’m writing this post, so you’ll know what to do (or not do) if you want to use newsletter ads as a way to grow your subscribers quickly.
In this post:
What are Newsletter Ads?
Newsletter ads are sponsored content inside email newsletters. Using newsletter ads, advertisers can gain visibility for their products or services in front of their target audience.
These can be small classified-type, text-based content, or more elaborate, including images, multiple paragraphs, and sometimes even taking up the entire email.
The bigger and more ritzy ads with images are typically used to promote brands/companies. As creators (which is what I’ll focus on) you don’t want all the bells and whistles. Small, text-based is fine, and in fact, better in my experience as far as conversion goes.
We’ll talk more about the type of newsletter ads that get higher conversion in a minute. But before that, let’s talk about why run ads in the first place, and why newsletter ads may be better for you than social media ads (another popular type of ads for growing subscribers).
Why run ads for newsletter growth?
I already mentioned one of the points above: it is a way to get subscribers quickly. That’s basically what you’re paying for: speed. All the free ways to build your email list take time. But with ads, one ad can get you tens of subscribers in a day!
I recommend ads for brand-new creators because it’s hard to motivate yourself to put in the work day after day without an audience. A few ads can give you the audience you need to stay accountable and show up.
Veteran creators can also benefit from running ads to accelerate growth.
That said, ads are not cheap even when they’re cheap. So, make sure you have other methods in place for acquiring new subscribers. I use SEO and Pinterest to drive traffic to my blog posts and lead magnets, which then turn some of those visitors into subscribers. While it is a slower method, it is, after all, free!
The best of both worlds is, of course, the ideal strategy for growth: free flywheels that automatically drive new subscribers with SEO, Pinterest, social media, etc. + ads.
Benefits of newsletter ads over social media ads
The benefits are… subjective, to a degree.
Some newsletter operators swear by social media ads. Done right, the cost per subscriber is often lower with social media ads (around $1-$3 per subscriber acquisition).
Newsletter ads, on the other hand, are unpredictable. You’re not paying based on clicks. Though some newsletter ads work that way, in most cases, newsletter owners will charge a base rate per ad placement. Typically, these rates will go from $2- $10 per subscriber and sometimes even higher.
Despite the [often] higher cost per subscriber, I still recommend newsletter ads over social media ads for creators based on these:
Technical know-hows
- Social media ads are a lot of work. It takes technical know-how, targeting know-how, and keeping up with constantly changing rules and good practices. If that’s not in your wheelhouse, you’ll end up wasting money and time, and it’s not going to be the most sustainable form of growth.
- Newsletter ads, on the other hand, are not about technical know-how. You do not need to be concerned with algorithms. All you have to do is find the right newsletters, but the ads, and then promote your stuff.
Subscriber quality
- If you choose to tackle social media ads on your own and you do not understand targeting, then even if you manage to get subscribers, they’ll likely not be the right subscribers.
- With newsletter ads, you’ll have better luck with quality subscribers because you’re simply showing up in front of a crowd that’s already interested in what you’re selling (provided you pick the right newsletters in your field/niche).
On that last point, one big-time creator with tens of thousands of subscribers, whose identity I shall not reveal, once said to me: “I’m a lot gunshy after spending $50k on ads and not getting an ROI on it at all.”
Damn! 50k!!! And yes, most of that was spent on social media ads.
So, again, unless you understand how social media ads work, it can get complicated, and you may end up losing money and not getting the kind of return on your investment (ROI) that you’d like.
The two different types of newsletter ads
When you hear “ads,” the first thing that comes to mind is likely an ad you pay for.
But did you know? You can actually exchange ads with other creators, too! It’s called a cross-promotion.
Cross-promotions are great because you get all the benefits of the paid newsletter ads but without the price tag!
The caveat?
You need to have some subscribers before you start cross-promotions. Because the idea is that whoever you’re promoting will help you get new subscribers, and you’ll help them get subscribers in return.
So, unless you have an audience, you can’t really run cross-promotions.
But don’t worry; you don’t need a huge audience to start doing these cross-promos. Say you have 300 subscribers, and you reach out to another creator with a similar number of subscribers who’s also trying to grow. I’m sure they’ll be happy to partner up with you for a cross-promotion or two.
That said, if you have the budget, paid ads are great for reaching larger newsletters that can drive more traffic and subscribers your way. It is also quicker because outreach for quality cross-promotions can be time-consuming… you have to get to know these people, build relationships, coordinate, etc., that can become a bit of a time hog.
As always, a combination is a great approach: free flywheels (like SEO, Pinterest, social media, etc.) + free cross-promotional ads + paid ads. That’s the perfect trio for newsletter subscriber growth.
For this post, however, I’m going to focus on paid ads and not on cross-promotions, since the latter requires a different set of strategies, which perhaps calls for a different post for a different time.
Benefits of paid newsletter ads
- Paid ads allow you to tap into much bigger audiences on someone else’s newsletter. You can be a complete beginner with zero subscribers and buy ads in much bigger newsletters. Doing cross-promos requires at least some subscribers, likely a few hundred, to start, and you may also be limited to partnering with newsletters of similar sizes, so the growth will be slower.
- Cross-promotions require trust between both parties. True story: I once reached out to a creator I thought was reputable (kept seeing their name in podcasts and newsletter circles), decided on a day to promote one another, kept my end of the bargain, only to have the other party ghost me. Yikes.
- Building trust is time-consuming. Meaning, you have to get to know the other person first and build up a relationship before pitching a cross-promo (or risk being ghosted as I was).
So, now, let’s look at how to run paid newsletter ads that will lower your cost per subscriber and also offset the ad costs.
How to Buy and Run Newsletter Ads (A Step-by-Step Guide)
These are the steps at a glance:
- Find newsletters to sponsor/run ads in
- Decide what to promote in your ad
- Write the ad copy
- Create the onboarding experience to potentially offset the ad cost
Step 1: Find newsletters to sponsor/run ads in (with AI, social media, and existing connections)
Three key methods have helped me find relevant newsletters to sponsor, or sponsors finding my newsletter to advertise.
Do keep in mind the relevance. If you just randomly pick newsletters to sponsor, you will likely end up with either very few subscribers or many wrong subscribers.
Neither is desirable.
(When I first started selling ads, someone bought an ad in my newsletter for their Christmas crafts Etsy shop like whyyeeeee 😭)
So yeah. Pick the right newsletters!
I have three different methods for finding highly relevant newsletters. Let’s look at all of them:
Finding newsletters to sponsor with social media:
First, make a list of potential newsletters to sponsor/run ads in.
I recommend these steps:
- Pick a platform at a time (X, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
- Start following some creators in your niche that you like, who have a similar audience you’re after
- Hunt down their newsletters (they’re likely to link to it in their bio)
- Subscribe
- Read a few issues and see if you like them
- See if they’re running ads in their newsletter or recommending others (it may not be obvious, but if someone is recommending others, then chances are that they’re either ads or they’re willing to run ads).
Now, life becomes easier if these creators have a website with a dedicated page for newsletter sponsorships. Or if they link to a sponsorship/buy-ad page inside their newsletter.
In which case, you can go ahead and add them to your list.
But not everyone makes this easy. So, if you find a newsletter that recommends other creators in your space, but doesn’t explicitly say whether they’re running ads or not, add them to a second list. Call this something like “newsletters to pitch,” maybe. Basically, you can reach out to the newsletter creator and ask if they’d be interested in running ads from you.
Using AI to find potential newsletters to sponsor:
Perplexity is great at doing deep research… better, in my opinion, than its competitors.
Recently, I asked it to come up with 50 newsletters I could potentially run ads in, and the list it made was quite thorough!
I’ve tried this same tactic for newsletters in other niches, such as food, nutrition, and personal finance, and got great results every time.
Note that not all the details are always correct: I checked the ad pricing of some of the newsletters in this list by going straight to the sources and found discrepancies, including my own ad prices. But the list in and of itself is pretty useful, and while the prices aren’t all spot on, they are still pretty close.
Some of the newsletters in these lists made by Perplexity have a dedicated sponsorship page, while others may be newsletters you can pitch. Once you get your list, you should still check them out individually and make two separate lists, just like before: one list of newsletters that have a dedicated sponsorship or newsletter ad page, and a second list that you have to pitch.
Here’s the prompt I used on Perplexity to get the lists. Feel free to use it, but make sure to fill inside the brackets “[]” with your desired parameters. You do not need to use the bracket characters “[” and “]” in your prompt.
Pro tip: click the deep research icon under the prompt box.
Make a list of 50 newsletters where I can advertise my own newsletter to gain new subscribers. Ideal target audience: [online entrepreneurs, bloggers, content creators, newsletter operators, and coaches]. Ideal newsletter size: [2000-10000 subscribers]. Ideal newsletter ad price: [$50-$350]. Do not include newsletter marketplaces. Instead, give me names and links to newsletters run by individuals. Output this list in a table. Include newsletter name, link, and if known, the newsletter ad price and newsletter size. I write about: [audience growth, income tips, marketing and sales tactics, email marketing tips, blog traffic, for online creators].
Perplexity may ask you follow-up questions during its research, so keep an eye out for those.
Finding quality newsletters via existing connections
Last year, I joined two invite-only, closed communities: the first one is from Lex Roman, and the other from John Bejakovic.
Being a part of these groups has directly impacted my business in many positive ways, one of which has been selling my newsletter ads.
Several folks in those communities have found my newsletter and subsequently bought ad slots in it.
I, too, have found newsletter owners to partner with for either paid ads or cross-promotions.
If you can join such tight-knit communities, do so. They can open up business opportunities beyond ads or cross-promos, in my experience. Heck, you may even end up making real friends! And that is… well, priceless.
Step 2: Decide what to promote in your ad
Never, EVER, promote a mid- to high-ticket paid product unless you’re a famous person and you will attract buyers just on the virtue of being you.
This may be different if you’re selling some type of novelty, but if you’re a creator in a remotely saturated niche? Don’t bother.
A low-ticket product may work, but it’s tricky. Unless you have already validated this product and know for sure it sells without having to sell (in other words, products that are so unique and/or in-demand that you don’t have to convince anyone to buy), my suggestion? Do not promote it in a paid ad.
Most creators, especially the ones I serve (creator-educators, a.k.a., online content creators who educate their audience on specific skills or expertise), will benefit from promoting their newsletter using a lead magnet, as opposed to sharing the plain newsletter by itself, without a lead magnet as an incentive.
Unless the newsletter is so unique that the uniqueness becomes its selling point, or you’re famous, not many will subscribe to yet another newsletter when they’re already getting bombarded by tens, and sometimes hundreds, of emails daily. (I read somewhere that an average American receives 100 emails a day… can’t recall my source, but if you’re me, that number checks out.)
That’s why a high-quality, value-packed lead magnet is key: it incentivizes newsletter subscriptions.
It’s like a bribe if you will.
Now, if the word “bribe” creeps you out, I’ve got bad news. Running a business is often about bribes. The good news? A quality lead magnet is an ethical bribe, so offer it with a 100-percent clear conscience.
The other problem some people have with lead magnets is this: They think lead magnets attract “freebie-seekers.”
That’s not all wrong, per se, but hidden among those freebie seekers are often some legit buyers. (I know because I’ve built my audience using a copious number of lead magnets, and the same people who took me up on those freebies have also bought from me, making me a six-figure entrepreneur.)
So yeah, embrace lead magnets, especially if you’re a creator-educator.
Now, as for the lead magnet itself…
- Make it ultra-valuable. Remember, this lead magnet is how your potential buyer comes to know you. First impressions are important.
- Tie the lead magnet directly to one of your paid offers.
Regarding #2… ads cost money! So, unless you’re loaded, I recommend that you sell something to your subscribers ASAP.
I’ll talk more about this lead magnet to paid product transition in a minute. For now, let’s just establish that a free, value-packed lead magnet targeted to your ideal subscribers is the best thing to promote in a newsletter ad.
Some final notes on this: I’ve had folks promote their newsletter as is in their ads (without a lead magnet), and others who promoted very specific lead magnets targeted at my audience. The latter has always outperformed the former.
Step 3: Write the ad copy
This part depends on the newsletter’s ad specs and exactly what it is that you’re promoting. Some may allow multiple paragraphs with images and whatnot, while others will impose some word/character limit.
Now, books have been written about ad copy, so I won’t try to cram a half-ass guide to ad copy here… it’s obviously beyond the scope of this blog post.
That said, if you’re limited by words/characters, the best way to write a small ad seems to be all about the hook.
Write a killer hook that teases something so good that a reader won’t be able to pass up!
John Bejakovic, for example, got 39 subscribers from just one ad in my newsletter with this copy:
Today's sponsor is giving you, my subscribers, a special treat: a report on how he runs 36-hour promos that make $2-$6 per email subscriber. This offer is free for you and available until Tuesday, May 13, midnight (PST). Grab it here before it's gone!
See, he didn’t even mention his name in the copy, but that hook is just fantastic! People love reading case studies, and in this case study, John is going straight to the heart of my subscribers: folks who are trying to make money on the internet with blogs and newsletters. John understood that, and so he crafted the perfect lead magnet and a killer hook to go with that.
Here’s my advice for writing a great ad hook:
- Focus on the result.
In the ad above, John’s result is clear: “$2-$6 per subscriber in 36 hours.”
Here’s another great hook that Josh Spector wrote (for my stuff! Josh does that; he writes hooks himself for all his advertisers). I got over 30 new subscribers with this ad. This hook was just chef’s kiss if I may say so myself… “free training that shows you how to improve the open rate of your emails without deleting ‘cold’ subscribers.”
Today's email is brought to you by a free training that shows you how to improve the open rate of your emails without deleting "cold" subscribers.
- If you must promote your newsletter without a lead magnet, then find the right hook using this formula:
My newsletter helps “X” achieve “Y” with “Z.”
Here’s a hypothetical example: If you help beginners get better at water-coloring, your newsletter [ad] hook may be: “My weekly newsletter helps busy 9-5ers tap into their inner creative souls with a water-coloring technique, every Saturday.”
… You get the picture.
FYI, if you’re trying to grow your subscribers and if your target audience comprises online creators like bloggers, newsletter operators, coaches, or other online, content-based solopreneurs, then I invite you to buy ads in my newsletter.
Step 4: Create the onboarding experience to offset the ad cost
And potentially make a profit!
I said this already, but doesn’t hurt to repeat:
You want to sell something to these brand-new subscribers you’re getting with your ads. Your subscribers shouldn’t be an expense… they should be your ticket to profits and riches! And the sooner you start, the better.
Think about it. One measly ad isn’t going to create a dent in your list. You want to keep running ads, but as we know, ad expenses add up quickly.
So, your goal should be to monetize your brand-new subscribers as soon as possible, make back the money you spent on your ad, and then reinvest it into buying more newsletter ads so you can get even more subscribers.
Let me give you an example:
A good way to monetize your new subscribers is to create, what I like to call, a sliding experience.
This is what a sliding experience looks like:
You offer a free lead magnet > get new subs > then send them a paid offer related to the freebie.
Basically, you’re “sliding” your new subscribers down a path or a funnel of free to paid offers.
Optionally, you can add even more steps to that slider strategy.
Case in point, here’s how I set up my recent ad in Josh Spector’s newsletter (this was a cross-promotional ad, fyi).
- Step 1: I offered Josh’s subscribers a training I hosted for my members inside the Vault, for free. It was a training on how to increase open newsletter rates without deleting “cold” subscribers all the time.
- Step 2: When some of them subscribed to my newsletter for the training, I sent them a low-ticket paid offer ($20). It was a swipe file of some emails I used during three different promos, plus the strategy explainers. Since these people were interested in a training related to email opens, I figured they all have newsletters, and they likely sell their products to their subscribers, so they may be interested in a promotional email swipe file. And I was correct in my assumptions because several of them did take me up on my offer and bought the $20-swipe file. (Already made money with the low-ticket offer within 48 hours of running the ad!)
- Step 3: And then, I sent them a more expensive offer.
This is how all seasoned creators do their newsletter ads.
When I promoted Josh Spector’s newsletter, for example, he offered to give my subscribers a “skill session” from his Clients from Content membership, for free, in exchange for subscribing to his newsletter. The next stage in Josh’s slider is, no doubt, the Client from Content membership itself.
Similarly, when John Bejakovic promoted his newsletter via a free case study of how he makes ~$2-$6 from his subscribers with 36-hour promos, he quickly followed up with an affiliate offer, right inside the “thank-you” page he showed to his brand-new subscribers.
Now, how do you actually set it up? Isn’t it too difficult/time-consuming to keep track of who’s coming from which ad and then sending them these offers one by one?
Well, the good news is that if you use a decent email marketing platform, you can automate the whole thing.
I use Kit (previously ConvertKit), and Kit is by far THE BEST when it comes to automations.
For my ad in Josh Spector’s newsletter, this is how I set up the automation:
- I set up a new form for this ad.
- Whoever signed up from this ad using this form got tagged with a unique identifier.
- Then, after a 36-hour delay, the automation sent everyone with that tag an email promoting my low-ticket offer
- And if someone bought the product, they got another email (after a 1-hour delay) promoting a trial to my more expensive membership, The Vault.
The beauty of the whole thing is that it only took me a few minutes to set up, but once it was set up, the whole thing ran on autopilot. I didn’t have to lift a finger!
If you use Kit and need some hand-holding with automation setups, here’s a guide to using Kit, if you need it. (It’s restricted to members of the Vault.)
Think about it. If you buy an ad, say, for $150, and if you have a product that sells for $150, then selling just one product to one new subscriber will mean that you’ve earned back your investment. Everything you make on top of that is extra! And then you can invest that money into buying more ads, and following the same strategy, all subsequent ads become, technically, free!
This system does take some preparation. But trust me, it’s worth it!
And that’s it.
That’s the whole system of buying newsletter ads to grow subscribers for your email list.
If you want to know some other methods I’ve used to grow my subscribers, you’re welcome to join the Vault; I have a whole course on the subject of newsletter growth 🙂 I’m also happy to answer your newsletter-related questions and concerns inside the Vault (there’s a community where you can hop in and ask me Qs!)
OK, that’s all for now.
Good luck with your newsletter ad adventures!
