--- name: sponsored-newsletter-finder description: > Discover newsletters in a target niche relevant to your ICP, evaluate audience fit, estimate reach and CPM, and output a ranked shortlist of sponsorship opportunities. Uses web search to find newsletters, then scores each against ICP alignment criteria. Use when a marketing team wants to reach an existing engaged audience for less than the cost of building their own, or when testing a new channel before committing. tags: [ads] --- # Sponsored Newsletter Finder Find newsletters your ICP reads, evaluate their audience fit, and produce a ranked shortlist ready for outreach. Cheaper and faster than building your own list from scratch — newsletters already have the trust and the audience. **Best for:** Seed/Series A teams with $500-5,000/month to test a paid distribution channel. Not for companies without budget or companies targeting a mass-market ICP. ## When to Use - "Find newsletters I can sponsor to reach [ICP]" - "What newsletters does my target audience read?" - "I want to test newsletter sponsorship — where should I start?" - "Give me a ranked list of newsletters for [industry/role]" ## Phase 0: Intake 1. **ICP definition** — Target title, industry, company stage (e.g., "VP of Sales at Series A-C B2B SaaS companies") 2. **Monthly budget** — Rough range for sponsorships (e.g., "$1,000-3,000/month") 3. **Geography** — US only, global, or specific region? 4. **Campaign goal** — Awareness (brand mention) or direct response (signup/demo)? 5. Any newsletters you're already subscribed to or know about in this space? (Seeds the search) ## Phase 1: Discovery via Web Search Search for newsletters using multiple angles: ### Search Queries to Run ``` "[ICP industry] newsletter" sponsorship "[ICP role] newsletter" site:substack.com OR site:beehiiv.com "best newsletters for [ICP role/industry]" "[ICP industry] newsletter" "advertise" OR "sponsor" "[competitor company] newsletter sponsorship" (find where competitors are already advertising) newsletter directory "[ICP industry]" ``` Also search curated newsletter directories: - `newsletter.directory` for category browsing - `paved.com` for sponsorship marketplace listings - `swapstack.co` for newsletter ad network - `sparkloop.co` for referral partnerships Collect: newsletter name, URL, estimated subscribers, topics covered, sponsorship page URL if found. ## Phase 2: Evaluate Each Newsletter For each discovered newsletter, score across 5 dimensions (1-5 each): ### Scoring Criteria | Dimension | 1 | 3 | 5 | |-----------|---|---|---| | **Audience match** | Unrelated audience | Partial overlap | Direct ICP match | | **Reach** | <1,000 subscribers | 5,000-20,000 | 20,000+ | | **Engagement** | No open rate data | ~30-40% open rate | 40%+ open rate | | **Niche specificity** | Generic business newsletter | Industry newsletter | Role-specific newsletter | | **Sponsor accessibility** | No sponsor info found | Inquiry required | Clear pricing / marketplace listing | **Total score: /25. Shortlist newsletters scoring ≥ 15.** ### Data Points to Find for Each Newsletter Search for: - Subscriber count (often on the "About" or "Advertise" page) - Open rate (sometimes disclosed, often ~40-50% for niche newsletters) - CPM or flat sponsorship rate - Audience demographics (if disclosed) - Past sponsors (who's already buying? = validation) - Send frequency (weekly, daily, etc.) For newsletters with no pricing page, estimate CPM from industry benchmarks: - **Micro** (<5k subs): $50-150 flat rate - **Small** (5k-20k subs): $100-500 flat rate - **Mid** (20k-50k subs): $500-2,000 flat rate - **Large** (50k+ subs): $1,000-10,000 flat rate ## Phase 3: Competitive Intelligence Check if known competitors are sponsoring newsletters in this space: ``` Search: "[competitor name]" "sponsored by" newsletter Search: "[competitor name]" advertisement site:substack.com ``` If a competitor is sponsoring a newsletter, it's validated audience fit — flag it as high priority. ## Phase 4: Output Format ```markdown # Newsletter Sponsorship Shortlist — [DATE] ICP: [description] | Budget: [range] | Goal: [awareness/direct response] --- ## Tier 1 — High Priority (Score 20-25) ### 1. [Newsletter Name] - **URL:** [url] - **Subscribers:** [N] (~[source]) - **Open rate:** [X%] (disclosed/estimated) - **Audience:** [description] - **Send frequency:** [weekly/daily/etc] - **Sponsorship type:** [dedicated / classified / banner mention] - **Estimated cost:** $[X] per send - **Estimated CPM:** $[X] - **Past sponsors:** [list — competitive validation] - **Score:** [X/25] - **Fit rationale:** [1-2 sentences on why this is a strong match] - **Sponsor page:** [url or "inquiry required"] ### 2. [Newsletter Name] ... --- ## Tier 2 — Worth Testing (Score 15-19) ### 1. [Newsletter Name] ... --- ## Tier 3 — Watchlist (Score 10-14) (Monitor these — audience fit is good but reach or accessibility is limited) --- ## Where Competitors Are Already Advertising | Newsletter | Competitor | Notes | |-----------|-----------|-------| | [Name] | [Competitor] | Validated ICP match | ... --- ## Budget Allocation Recommendation Given budget of [X]/month and campaign goal of [goal]: | Newsletter | Send frequency | Cost per send | Sends/month | Monthly cost | |-----------|---------------|--------------|-------------|-------------| | [Name] | Weekly | $[X] | 4 | $[X] | | [Name] | Bi-weekly | $[X] | 2 | $[X] | | **Total** | | | | $[X] | **Recommended test:** Start with [Newsletter 1] for 2 sends to validate conversion rate before expanding. --- ## Outreach Templates ### Cold outreach to newsletter with no sponsor page: Subject: Sponsoring [Newsletter Name] — [Your Company] > Hi [Name], > > I'm [Name] from [Company] — we [one-line pitch]. We're fans of [Newsletter Name] and think our audience overlap is strong: [ICP match rationale]. > > Would you be open to a sponsored mention or dedicated send? Happy to share what we're looking for and see if it's a fit. > > [Name] ### Request for media kit: > Hi [Name] — big fan of [Newsletter Name]. Could you share your media kit and current sponsorship rates? [Your Company] is evaluating newsletter partnerships for Q[X]. ``` Save to `newsletter-sponsors-[YYYY-MM-DD].md` in the current working directory (or user-specified path). ## Cost | Component | Cost | |-----------|------| | Web search (discovery phase) | Free | | All analysis and scoring | Free (LLM reasoning) | | **Total** | **Free** | ## Tools Required - **web_search** — for newsletter discovery and verification - No API keys required ## Trigger Phrases - "Find newsletters I can sponsor to reach [ICP]" - "What newsletters does [title/industry] read?" - "Run newsletter sponsorship research for [client]" - "I want to test paid newsletter distribution — where should I start?"