👋 Today, we’re looking at how to sell larger sponsorship packages.

Deal size increasing topics aside, let’s dive in! 🚀

Seven Ways to Close Bigger Deals

Deal size matters more than deal volume. Here's how to increase it.

Most new media businesses obsess over closing more deals. Fewer focus on making each deal worth more. Double your average deal siz,e and you've doubled revenue without adding anymore ‘work’.

We're focusing purely on sales tactics here, not audience growth, engagement optimization.

Just the things you can do tomorrow to increase what advertisers pay you.

❤️ Build Trust

Advertisers need to trust three things before writing bigger checks: your brand, you personally, and the campaign's potential performance.

Brand credibility starts with the basics. Clean design, good content, scale, recognizable advertisers, etc. Plus, being professional in your sales approach.

Personal trust comes from demonstrating competence. Get on video calls (good camera, solid wifi, professional setup). Position yourself as an expert in your niche and in creating campaigns that perform. Add value with every email. Better yet, meet in person.

Case studies from recognizable brands in your vertical carry weight. Include specific performance metrics and testimonials if you have them.

Focus on brands already spending heavily in newsletters. They've proven the channel works and already trust the channel somewhat.

🧳 Target Enterprise Budgets

Bigger companies have bigger budgets. Not revolutionary, but often overlooked.

The challenge is access. For example, cold email works less reliably as company size increases, security systems are designed to filter you out.

Build an audience that commands attention, either through scale or extreme niche focus. Attend conferences where target brands sponsor or exhibit. Leverage your existing network for warm introductions. Use your subscriber list or social following to connect with employees at target companies.

Enterprise deals require working through agencies and navigating significantly more complex approval processes. But the budget difference makes it worthwhile.

Much easier said that done!

👋 Ask Before You Pitch

The first half of every sales conversation should be questions, not talking.

Uncover their ideal customer profile, marketing focus, KPIs, budget approach. Don't assume they want to "start small"—you might be leaving money on the table.

Example: I once asked an advertiser, "How would you like to approach this in terms of touchpoints and timeline?" They responded, "A 6-month campaign makes sense given your audience and pricing." Had I led with a one-month test package, they likely would have accepted it, trusting I knew best. Had I presumptively pitched six months without asking, it could have backfired.

Questions first, always.

🤿 Offer Deep Dives

As creator/influencer/newsletter partnerships become more common place, to stand out you’ll need to offer unique formats (for convincing marketers AND for performance).

From their perspective, deep dives offer higher engagement, evergreen value, better quality leads, and often reusable assets they can repurpose.

Charge at least 2x your standard rate for deep dives.

Variables to consider: Will it be a dedicated send? Who writes the content (you should at minimum edit for tone)? Gated or open? Part of a larger package? Which brands would genuinely interest your readers?

Always take a value add in the content, you don’t wanna piss off your audience.

⚓️ Use Anchoring

Anchoring is a cognitive bias where people rely heavily on the first piece of information they receive.

Most sellers anchor badly. Saying "1x sponsorship costs $1,000, which decreases with scale" plants two unhelpful ideas: the $1,000 price point and single-placement thinking.

Better framing: "A package of 4 placements is $3,600 and 8 is $6,400. We recommend at least 4 touchpoints to iterate messaging and properly introduce your brand. If you'd prefer a standalone send, we can do $1,000."

You've anchored on larger packages and higher total spend, while still offering the single placement option.

💰 Pricing

Current industry data shows newsletter CPMs ranging from $10-$75, with B2B newsletters in specialized industries commanding $50-$100+ and broader consumer newsletters sitting around $15-$35.

Always aim for flat fees based on unique opens. Some people base the CPM of the total list, but they smell. Calculate that fee using a CPM appropriate to your niche and engagement. When you're under $1,000 per placement, buyers scrutinize less, meaning higher CPMs are more digestible.

Only raise prices when you're nearly sold out and closing deals feels easy.

💪 Push for Multi-Placement Campaigns

Single-touch campaigns rarely deliver for either party. The advertiser sees weaker results, you see less $$$.

Recent data shows deals now require an average of 266 touchpoints to close, up nearly 20% year-over-year. Not saying that you need to sell packages that big, but you do need to sell multiple touchpoints.

Tactics to move past single placements:

• Offer volume discounts (frame as "to get this off the ground," not standard pricing).

• Build trust that instills confidence to exceed their testing budget.

• Focus on why: copy iteration, trust building, product complexity.

Offer make-goods on top-funnel metrics you're confident about hitting (be careful, don't create an endless obligation loop).

P.S. Need help selling more sponsorships? My agency Ad Sales as a Service helps media companies do just that.