The best way to generate leads using email newsletter advertising

What is email newsletter advertising?

Email newsletter advertising is the practice of running a paid placement in an email newsletter in order to reach the publication’s subscriber base. Also known as a newsletter sponsorship, an email newsletter ad allows more direct and personalized marketing compared to other channels.

5 things to know about email newsletter advertising

1. Newsletter advertising works best for lead generation

No matter how engaging your ad looks, it’s difficult to convince a visitor to make a purchase right away. Fortunately, you can use email newsletters advertising to make the most out of the first touch.

All visitors navigating to your landing page have this in common: they all read emails, click links in them, and have some kind of interest in your product. Therefore, one of the best ways to engage them is to collect their email addresses and add them to your newsletter or drip email flow. From there, it’s highly likely that they will continue to open and click on your links.

2. Newsletter ads reach readers directly

With all of the messages vying for their attention, it doesn’t take much for consumers to get overwhelmed by the volume of ads they see in a day. In fact, it’s no surprise that an estimated 42.7% of internet users use some kind of ad blocker.

Fortunately, a well-constructed newsletter ad can cut through the clutter. For starters, because the placement is part of the content, it’s not in danger of getting blocked. Additionally, email newsletters tend to yield high engagement and contain limited ads, so you don’t need to shout for readers’ attention like you might on other channels.

Many advertisers even work with the publisher to integrate their messaging into the organic newsletter content. Like any kind of native advertising, this helps them achieve higher engagement and enhanced user experience.

3. Niche audiences are more valuable

Especially if you’re new to email advertising, it can be tempting to start by partnering with a large newsletter to maximize your reach. However, that’s usually not the best idea. Perhaps counterintuitively, mainstream publications tend to deliver a lower ROI due to their generalist audiences.

For instance, a daily business newsletter like Morning Brew serves a wide range of audiences, from college students to sales executives. On the other hand, a smaller, more niche newsletter like ExecThread will specifically target C-suite executives. Therefore, if you’re trying to sell an enterprise-level SaaS product, you’ll probably have better luck with the latter.

4. Email advertising rates are measured in CPM

Most newsletter sponsorships are priced in terms of CPM, or cost per thousand subscribers. Note that unlike for other advertising channels, this figure doesn’t translate to the number of people who see your placement– only those who receive it in their inbox.

When it comes to email newsletter advertising, your impressions are measured by opens, which aren’t guaranteed. That’s why it’s important to look at a newsletter’s performance metrics, such as opens and click rates.

From there, you can predict an estimated CPC for your campaign:

• Sponsorship cost: $5000
• Average clicks per sponsorship: 1000
• CPC: $5000/1000 = $5

*Disclaimer: Programmatic email advertising is an exception to this rule. This alternative works more similarly to social media and search ads– you set a bid type, bid amount, and daily budget. From there, your ads will run automatically across several newsletters to reach your specified audience.

5. Joining a marketplace can streamline the advertising process

Jumping into newsletter advertising can feel daunting at first, but you don’t have to go into it alone. By signing up with a marketplace, you can set yourself up for a smooth transition and ensure that your first campaign goes off without a hitch.

When you join a platform like Paved, you can get access to the tools you need along every step of the way– from finding the right partner to tracking your performance.

Ready to get started with email newsletter advertising? Sign up as an advertiser with Paved today.