The Exclusive Email List That Builds Urgency for Potential Sponsors
Welcome to Day 29 of the 30 Days of Growth.
This is a pop-up newsletter put together by Chenell from Growth In Reverse. I’ve pulled 30 creators together to help give one short, actionable way you can either grow or improve your email list.
You can view all past issues of the 30 Days of Growth here.
The Bay Area Times newsletter did something I think is really clever: they created a separate email list just for potential sponsors.
Every month-ish, they’d send custom content about the growth of the newsletter, any new happenings to their potential sponsor list, essentially giving them FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) along the way to create the urgency to buy a few ads.
How Bay Area Times Did It
As with most newsletters, there is link potential sponsors can click at the bottom of every edition that gives them more information about your audience, stats, etc.
That’s not the special part here.
When someone clicks that Advertise link and enters their email, they get a welcome email from a different sending address than their typical newsletter ([email protected]) all about their newsletter.
That email has their stats, demographics, audience breakdown, and examples of past sponsorships. Basically a media kit, delivered straight to your inbox.
Which is smart by itself (one on a website might get lost, an email is more sticky).
But it gets better.
Bay Area Times sends monthly updates to that sponsor list. Growth milestones, updated open rates, new subscriber numbers, founder spotlights. It reads like an investor report. Every email is basically saying: “hey, we’re still growing, and here’s proof. Here’s what you’re missing.”
I found these going back to September and October 2023, each one with fresh screenshots of their growth and momentum. It’s a drip campaign, but for sponsors instead of subscribers.
Why It Works
Sponsorship decisions don’t happen instantly. Someone might see your newsletter, think “that could be interesting for our brand,” and then get pulled into 14 other things. By the time they circle back, they’ve forgotten about you.
A separate email list solves that. The potential sponsor stays warm without you doing any manual follow-up. And the monthly milestone emails create urgency without being pushy. Each one is saying “we’re growing, spots are filling up” with real numbers to back it.
There’s another angle here too: the person who clicked “Advertise” might not be the decision-maker. Maybe a CEO saw it and thought “we should do this.” They can forward the email to whoever handles sponsorships.
That forwarded email has everything the decision-maker needs: stats, demographics, audience info. It’s a self-contained pitch.
Results
This is one where I don’t have hard numbers on how many sponsors Bay Area Times has closed through this funnel. But the strategy itself is worth studying:
- Every newsletter edition gets interested advertisers onto a separate list
- A welcome email delivers the media kit directly to their inbox (no hoping they’ll come back to the page later)
- Monthly growth updates keep potential sponsors warm for weeks or months without a complicated CRM
- Each email is forwardable (is that a word?), so it can reach the actual decision-maker even if they weren’t the one who clicked
How You Can Implement It
Step 1: Add an “Advertise with us” link to the footer of your newsletter. You likely have this already, so go to step 2.
Step 2: Build a landing page with an email capture. When someone fills it in, they should get an immediate email with your audience stats, demographics, and sponsorship details.
Step 3: Send that first email from a separate address (like [email protected]). This keeps your sponsor communications separate from your regular newsletter sends.
Step 4: Set up a monthly (or quarterly) update email to that list. Share growth milestones, updated stats, and anything that shows momentum. Think of it like an investor update for potential sponsors.
Step 5: Keep each email self-contained so it’s easy to forward. The person who clicked might not be the person who signs the check.
Tools
- Your ESP with a separate list or tag for sponsor leads
- A landing page with email capture for the “Advertise” link
- A simple email template for monthly sponsor updates
You probably already have people visiting your site who’d consider sponsoring your newsletter.
Right now, if they don’t book a call or fill out a form in that moment, they’re gone.
Bay Area Times built a tiny system that catches those people, keeps them warm, and gives them a reason to come back every month.
That’s a sponsorship pipeline you don’t have to manage on an ongoing basis.
See you tomorrow for Day 30!
Chenell
P.S. You can check out Bay Area Times at bayareatimes.com.
P.P.S. This is another one that came straight from the Growth Vault 🙂 See what you’re missing?
