Should I be getting on calls to sell newsletter sponsorships?

Welcome to an eggcellent Easter Revenews.

☎️ Today, we’re looking at whether you should get on calls to sell newsletter ads, a question I get asked a lot.

1,000 words on an ostensibly yes-or-no question aside, let’s dive in! 🚀

1. Newsletter News - newsletters taking over the US government

2. Main story - Do I need to do calls to sell?

3. Poll Results - Inbound ad revenue

4. A pun I am ashamed of

^{Should I jump on calls to sell sponsorships?}

Yeah, but no.

It’s a classic ‘it depends’ answer. Here’s my exact position on this:

“Always aim for a call, especially with bigger or complex media buys. Calls are always beneficial, but not essential, even for large deal sizes.”

Unlike in SaaS sales, where calls (or demos) are essential, mainly due to the complex or unique nature of the product and its implementation. Newsletter ads are generally a more simple sell, based on concepts all marketers are very familiar with.

Let’s unpack the nuances and on what it does depend.

🥇 How to get people on calls

First, you shouldn’t be asking for a call in your first email. The best-performing call-to-actions are relevant questions. But you already know that, because you read my guide on cold emailing. Plus, including links in a cold email reduces deliverability.

You may see some success with sneaking that calendly link into email 1, but from my experience, it can come across as presumptive, and the increased replies you’ll get from not including it outweigh those slightly easier bookings.

In my opinion, the most effective way to get prospects on a call is to suggest one in your first reply (to their reply). For example, let’s say you’re The Daily Dan, and Tesla just replied asking for more info, you could say something like this:

This does two main things:

• It gives Elon a reason to get on the call, sparks curiosity, doesn’t give away too much, and then tells him we'll put together a bespoke plan if he gets on a call.

• It gives multiple time slots, reducing the likelihood of him saying ‘I can’t make that time’, which would add steps to the conversation, and risk. Make it easy for them to say yes.

If Elon then doesn’t reply, or replies but ignores the call offer, you should continue to follow up/progress the conversation. Some people just prefer to stick to email, especially in today’s digital age. You can still close a chunky deal over email. Plus, you can always try to get on Elon’s calendar in another 2 or 3 emails time.

🔒 Why are calls beneficial

The default position should almost always be aiming towards getting on the ‘phone’. For a few reasons…

❤️ Build rapport. Connecting adds the often missing human element, it builds trust. People are much more likely to buy from someone they know and like. Decisions are generally made with emotion and justified with numbers.

This will 10x your likelihood of building those long-term advertising relationships.

🥅 Understand goals. Approach the pitch correctly, lead with questions, and seek to understand the person and business across from you.

Once you know their goals, you can then make a much more relevant proposal, increasing conversion rates, and potentially deal size. Plus, crafting a campaign that suits their KPIs will perform better. Hello renewals.

🤔 Uncover opportunities. In a 20-30 minute call the marketer is likely to tell you about something foundational to the WHY they should advertise with you. This could be an upcoming webinar series or a new product launch, you can then tell them all about the wonderful similar campaigns you’ve done in line with this.

Sticking to email plummets the likelihood of uncovering these nuggets of information. Nuggets on which you can plan a strategic campaign, with a higher conversion rate, bigger deal size and higher likelihood of success.

Aim for calls.

🫣 Calls and deal sizes?

From my experience, closing media deals under ~$2/3k is substantially easier. For example, most newsletters tell me that the amount of inbound deals that don’t require a call massively decreases once prices rise above $3k. I’ve also noticed that the difficulty to close increases again around the $10k mark.

The higher the marketing spend, the higher the internal buy-side scrutiny.

For these reasons, jumping on a call will be more beneficial as your pricing gets loftier. BUT, here’s the caveat, they’re still not essential. I’ve personally closed $40k deals just over email, from cold outreach.

So I’ll finish by reiterating my position on a call for ad sales:

“Always aim for a call, especially with bigger or complex media buys. Calls are always beneficial, but not essential, even for large deal sizes.”