The Ad Sales Signal GOAT

👋 Today, 3 newsletter acquisitions, and a data-backed sales insight for you.

Newsletter-deals-galore aside, let’s dive in! 🚀

The Most Reliable Sales Trigger in Sponsorship Outreach (And 3 Others Worth Watching)

What's the best signal that a brand might close as a sponsor?

We've tested everything. Funding rounds, new hires, launches, social signals, engagement patterns. But one is the undisputed goat.

💸 Fundraising

Fundraising triggers remain popular because the logic seems sound: funded companies have fresh budgets and growth pressure.

This works particularly well for early-stage B2B SaaS companies and consumer startups in launch mode. But there's a timing problem most people miss.

Press release doesn't equal budget activation. The person you're emailing often isn't ready to spend yet.

Don't assume Series A equals immediate media budget. Usually the media spree comes 3 months later.

🚀 Product Launches

Product launches create genuine urgency. Brands need attention fast and often run "test everything" campaigns.

The challenge is catching them at the right moment. Most media properties spot launches too late. Plus, it’s very much an indirect signal. Yes they are likely to spending to promote XYZ, but that doesn’t mean they are definitely spending in similar places already and have partnerships in mind right now.

That said, it’s a useful sale trigger to have in your belt, it creates a nice personalised approach and conversation starter.

👋 We built a custom Clay workflow that finds product launches at scale. Reply if a breakdown of that would be useful!

👩‍💼 New CMOs (or VPs)

New marketing leadership represents strategy shifts and fresh perspectives. Many new CMOs want quick wins or need to justify shaking up existing spend allocation.

This trigger works best when the new CMO comes from a brand you've worked with previously, or they have a track record at media-spend-heavy brands.

Of course: CMOs don’t often buy directly, especially in larger orgs. They set strategy and budget, but execution happens downstream. BUT if you get their nod of approval, the lower-downs will follow suit.

Treat CMO changes as relationship opportunities, not immediate sales triggers. Congratulate them, mention how you've helped similar companies, and position yourself as an early ally.

The payoff comes months later when their strategy translates to actual media spend.

Here’s an interesting article on the first 6 months as a new CMO.

🐐 Advertising in Similar Channels

By far the most reliable signal we've found is when a brand is actively advertising in a similar audience and format.

That means, if you’re selling newsletter, look newsletter. Podcast? Look podcast. And so on.

They're already sold on the medium. Budget is live and allocated. They're either testing for ROI, or they’re repeating and already see it. Most importantly, the format match makes switching from their current placement to yours more frictionless.

Our best-performing outreach campaigns are built on this foundation. A well-qualified "You're advertising in [X], we'd love to show you [Y]". KISS (look up that acronym if you don’t know it).

These deals consistently convert at 5-10x higher rates than cold outreach based on other signals.

Match media property. Match audience. Match timing (don’t be late).

If it ain’t broken…

Nothing we’ve found outperforms a qualified brand spending in a format like yours. Except for your existing network, but that’s just not scalable.

If you want the best ROI on your outreach time: mirror format, confirm audience relevance, and reference known campaigns.

Fundraising, launches, etc. can supplement your approach, but they shouldn't drive it. New executives matter for relationship building, not immediate deals (generally speaking).

The difference between cold guesswork and measurably warmer outreach comes down to matching format and intent. Do that consistently, and your hit rate will follow.

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