Advertising your newsletter in other newsletters is one of the most effective ways to grow. The people reading them have already shown they like getting newsletters, and a placement in a newsletter they trust carries some of that trust over to you.

The hard part used to be finding the right newsletters and agreeing a price. Marketplaces made that much easier, and newer recommendation features have added another option. Here are the main ways to do it.

Most of these platforms also work the other way round, so you can use them to sell ad space in your own newsletter too.

1. Newsletter ad marketplaces

Marketplaces list newsletters that sell ad placements, usually with their audience size and price, and handle the booking and payment. The one we’d point you to first:

Swapstack

Swapstack's newsletter sponsorship marketplace

Swapstack lets you browse newsletters, check their prices on their profile, and book and pay through the platform. The newsletter platform beehiiv bought Swapstack in 2023 and used it to build out its own ad network, so it’s worth checking how it currently works before you book.

Platforms in this space change quickly, so look at a few before committing, and compare what each charges in fees.

2. Paid recommendations

Several newsletter platforms now let you pay other newsletters to recommend yours, usually on the “thanks for subscribing” page or in a recommendation list. You set a price per new subscriber, and you’re only charged for subscribers who pass the platform’s checks. beehiiv’s version, for example, charges per verified subscriber.

It’s an easy way to buy growth at a known cost. The trade-off is quality: people who tick a box on a recommendation screen are often less committed than people who sought you out. Track these subscribers separately and see how many are still reading a couple of months later.

A third option: go direct

You don’t need a platform at all. Find newsletters your ideal readers already read, check whether they take sponsors, and email them. Many smaller newsletters don’t list on marketplaces, are happy to do a deal directly, and are often cheaper. If your audiences overlap and you’re similar sizes, offer a free newsletter swap instead of paying.

How to get your money’s worth

  • Pick for overlap, not size. A small newsletter read by exactly your audience beats a huge general one.
  • Write the ad like a recommendation. Plain, specific, in a voice that fits the host newsletter. Say what readers get and how often.
  • Send people to a proper landing page, with a tracked link so you can tell which placement worked.
  • Judge it on what happens afterwards. Cost per subscriber is only half of it. Look at how many confirm, click and stick around over the next couple of months.

Compared with social ads, newsletter placements are often surprisingly affordable, and the readers they bring tend to be the kind who actually read newsletters. With the right offer and a good fit, it’s one of the best growth channels there is.

References

  1. [1] Swapstack — swapstack.co
  2. [2] Swapstack — swapstack.co
  3. [3] bought Swapstack in 2023 — axios.com
  4. [4] charges per verified subscriber — beehiiv.com