If you’re waiting until you have tens of thousands of newsletter subscribers to think about sponsorships, you’re leaving money on the table. 

I have great news: you can and should monetize much earlier than you think. Even with a “small” list of hundreds or thousands of readers, you can deliver value for the right brand.

Most creators I see don’t realize this until a sponsor shows interest, and by then, they’re scrambling to figure out pricing, build a media kit, or even write the first email.

As someone who writes about the business of newsletters for a living, I’m here to help you avoid that. (And get paid!) I’ll walk you through ad formats, pricing frameworks, media kit essentials, and how to craft a sponsor pitch that makes sense.

You’ll also see examples from newsletters like Catskill Crew, Freelance Opportunities, and Marketer Gems, plus tips from operators like Brett Dashevsky and Matt McGarry. You’ll leave confident of your value and ready to close your first deal.

Sponsorships are the most accessible way to start earning from your newsletter without needing to launch a paid product or scale to 10,000+ readers. As Matt McGarry says, the best time to start finding sponsors for your newsletter is ASAP!

There are a ton of upsides to starting early: you’ll sharpen your positioning, learn more about what your audience responds to, and put systems in place that make it easier to scale down the line.

The earlier you start experimenting, the more confident and clear you’ll be when the right brand shows up.

An important distinction to make is between sponsorships (designed for long-term relationships) and traditional ads (one-off placements).

A sponsorship allows you to find brands that match your brand, audience, and values and builds trust for both you and the company you’re working with. 

It allows you to get creative in terms of how you work together — maybe that’s through cobranded webinars, TikTok videos, or a podcast ad alongside your newsletter. It also allows you to think differently about monetization. 

While ads have more traditional rates (CPMs and CPCs – more on that below), sponsorships allow you to charge for value and access to a niche, engaged audience. Thus, the economy changes.

Here’s an example of the difference between an ad and a sponsorship. 

Yes, it takes more effort. But it’s usually more effective for the sponsor — and more useful to your audience. That’s a win all around.

Your value prop isn't just "I have X subscribers." It's the answer to: "What happens when a brand partners with me?"

Maybe your open rate is 55%. Maybe your readers are early-stage founders actively buying tools. Maybe you serve a niche, like GoingVC, that makes targeting super efficient.

Marketer Gems, for example, targets the internet’s most ambitious marketers. 

Ask yourself:

Here’s a simple format to use when describing your value:

“This newsletter reaches [audience description] who are looking to [core goal or desire]. We help them [what your content does], and sponsors get in front of them at exactly the right moment — when they’re actively exploring, learning, and buying.”

This is what makes your newsletter worth sponsoring — not just that you have 2,000+ readers, but that your 2,000 readers are highly engaged, self-identify with your message, and trust you enough to take action.

Need a real example? Scott Stockdale shares his experience of getting his first sponsor with fewer than 2,000 subscribers. 

Once you know your value, make it easy for others to see it too.

Start by naming and structuring your ad formats. Most newsletters include one or more of the following types of sponsorships:

Define what each includes: number of words, links, images, and what it costs. You can offer one-offs, bundles, or longer-term partnerships.

Here’s how Marketer Gems structures their packages. It’s a great reminder that you can get creative here!

Add in examples (past performance, screenshots, testimonials) and turn it into a one-pager or media kit. This becomes the asset you send or link when someone shows interest.

I’ve seen a variety of ways that creators are finding sponsorship deals. Here are a couple of my favorites. 

As Michael Kauffman says, your readers are your best advertisers. 

Kauffman runs Catskill Crew and regularly partners with local businesses that naturally align with the brand. 

Kauffman also makes it incredibly easy for sponsors to reach him through a Partner tab on the home page. A simple Tally form collects information like why you’d like to work together, what you want to accomplish, and if you have a budget. 

You can easily replicate this if you run a newsletter targeted for your local city or region, or niche. 

Too many creators think they have to wait until big brands start approaching them to get a deal, but the reality is that you have to put yourself out there first — especially if you have a smaller list. 

This allows you to be selective about who you work with. What brands feel aligned to you? Who would be a dream to work with? Write it all down! Then you can build a plan to start reaching out. 

If you want to learn more about the pitch, jump ahead. 

Pro tip: Check out Who Sponsors Stuff to see what brands are actively sponsoring newsletters like yours. 

That being said, you should put your best foot forward to attract sponsors as well. Make it easy for them to say yes (a theme we’ll keep coming back to.)

That includes having a clear value prop on your newsletter. Like Justin Welsh’s The Saturday Solopreneur or Kaitlyn Arford’s Freelance Opportunities. 

Then you’ll want a clear Sponsor Us section to direct people toward. 

There are a ton of platforms out there that help creators connect to advertisers looking to spend, like Paved, Passionfroot, and Swapstack. 

You might get lower rates than if you were to broker the deal yourself, but I find this is the best place to start for small newsletters. 

Here is Arford’s page on Passionfroot. 

If it feels like you’re flying blind, you’re not alone. I had no clue where to start when I first started looking for sponsors for my newsletter, Creator Diaries. 

At the end of the day, advertisers are buying access to attention. Here are some ways that the industry measures this:

Pricing is truly unique to your audience, your brand, and the goal the advertiser wants to achieve. Remember that sponsorships can be priced by value and how you help the brand get to a desired outcome (more leads, products downloaded, calls booked, etc.)

For example: An executive coaching company targeting VPs of marketing who want to move into the C-suite cares more about getting in front of the right 50 people. 

Even if a newsletter only has 3,000 subscribers, if those subscribers include senior marketing leaders at fast-growing companies, a single client from that list could be worth $20,000+ in revenue.

Here’s what you need to make the value of your audience crystal clear. 

Here’s an example from Ben’s Bites media kit. 

And here’s a full swipe file of media kits from Newsletter Operator. 

beehiiv tip: You can create a custom page like McGarry’s for your newsletter sponsorship if you’re not ready to upgrade for the direct sponsorships feature. 

When you reach out to brands you want to work with, lead with fit. Mention a recent product launch, campaign, or positioning that aligns with your audience. For example:

“I saw you're launching a new product for freelancers—my audience is 2,800 independent designers and consultants actively investing in tools like yours.”

From there, shift the focus away from you and toward them. You’re not pitching a newsletter. You’re offering access to the exact audience they’re trying to reach.

“My readers are early-stage founders building their first teams and looking for tools that save them time and money.”

A line like that does more work than any subscriber count alone.

Short and simple: include one stat (open rate or list size), one link (to your media kit or sponsor page), and one clear next step. That’s it!

Here’s a simple template you can tweak:

If you’ve worked with any brands before—paid or unpaid—you can include a one-line mention here. And if you have a reader quote or testimonial that shows engagement or trust, use it. 

I recently interviewed Brett Dashevsky, Founder of Creator Economy NYC, who talked about his early approach to sponsorship. He realized that it started with telling a story to brands. 

"I needed to shape the story around what I'm building - a community helping creators connect and level up. When pitching brands, I crafted a compelling narrative about what we've built and the depth we've cultivated with our group.”

The next important part, he said, is to layer in data. “I paired this story with data: what we do at events, what people are learning, testimonials, and key metrics like 500 RSVPs, newsletter open rates, and audience demographics.”

This is probably the number one thing I learned while reporting this article. You want to set up any deal so it feels like a home run. 

And one of the easiest ways you can prep for this — no matter what newsletter stage you’re in — is carefully crafting your pitch and your value to others.

beehiiv makes it insanely easy to streamline the entire sponsorship process for newsletter creators, whether you want to start on the Ad Network or build out your own Direct Sponsorships page. 

Note: You’ll have to upgrade to the Max plan to get this feature. 

See here for the full guide. 

I hope this showed what’s possible when it comes to building a newsletter business — even in the early days. Granted, you’re probably not quitting your job tomorrow off a $200 ad deal. But if you start thinking strategically about sponsorships, your audience, and how to connect with brands that align with what you’re building, that’s where it gets interesting.

The earlier you start experimenting, the easier it is to learn what works, figure out your value, and make future deals way less intimidating.

And if you're on beehiiv, you already have most of what you need. Setting up a sponsor page takes like five minutes. You can list your ad products, link out to a media kit, and start sending that to brands today. No fancy setup required.

Try it here for free.