Newsletter advertising: what to expect

Hi, this is Matt Masinga, account manager at the Bay Area Times.

Newsletter advertising is how you reach exactly who you want to talk to, it gives you immediate access to decision-makers, champions, and influencers in different departments. A good thing about it is that readers are conditioned to take action on ads that pique their interest. 

Here are a couple of things that’ll help you win: 

• Tried and tested copy 

• Strong WIIFM and CTA

• Sufficient Ad duration 

Let’s break these down one by one:

Tried and tested copy

It usually takes time to find copy that works, hooks a reader at first glance, and compels them to click on your ad and go to your landing page. Great copy is usually a combination of a good image and two to five punchy lines that describe the pain points or challenges that your buyer persona or ideal customer profile is facing and how you’re currently solving them.

It’s written out in simple ninth-grader English.  

It’s not feature-focused but rather problem-solution-oriented, the entire purpose and goal is to give the reader enough reason to click on your ad and go to your landing page. And this is where a strong WIIFM and CTA come in. 

Strong WIIFM and CTA

Newsletter advertising is very similar to selling by chat in the sense that you’re using visual and written communication to chat or reach readers and compel them to take action. So it’s always important to remember that we’re selling, advertising, and marketing to people. And more importantly, we’re not the only ones doing this, we’re not the only ones competing for their time, attention, and budget. 

When readers look at copy that comes natively included as one of the top stories in their favorite newsletter, the two most important questions they subconsciously ask themselves are: 

• What’s this?

• And what’s in it for me? 

How many times have you read copy or visited a website and it took you too long to figure out what they do and how they can help you?
Great copy is concise and straight to the point, as soon as readers see it when they are scrolling and reading through their favorite top stories, they should know exactly who you are, what you’re selling or advertising, and what they stand to gain. This is where Sufficient Ad duration comes into play.

Sufficient Ad Duration

So you’ve decided to test out a newsletter to see if it’s worth advertising on it long term? How long should a test campaign be? It’s important to bear in mind that short two to three-week test campaigns are indicator campaigns, not meant for conversion. They are meant to test minor metrics like clicks and views. Not conversion. 

It’s highly unlikely that you’ll convert and see great ROI on a two to three-week campaign. These campaigns serve to make your brand top of mind and tip of tongue to readers and give you an indication of the level of clicks or page views that you could reach once you build enough rapport with the readers or potential customers. 

A great test campaign meant for conversion should at least be two to three months long, this is how long outbound takes to produce solid results. Newsletter advertising is a form of outbound prospecting. 

How should you negotiate the duration and terms of your campaign to make sure you create enough brand awareness, stay top of mind, tip of tongue, build rapport, maximize the number of clicks, page views, and conversions?

Let’s talk about this in the next newsletter send, be on the lookout.

Schedule a call with Matt here, to discuss your marketing plans.