You know when you’re listening to a podcast you love and the host pauses the show to say, “And now, a message from our sponsor”…
… And you tune out for the next 30 seconds because they’re reading from a boring, corporate-sounding script?
Yeah. That sort of copy doesn’t work very well.
Which is why we want to talk about how we write sponsor copy for this newsletter, why it keeps sponsors coming back for more, and how you can apply the takeaways to your own copy.
How to write newsletter sponsored copy
Our process is fairly simple:
We have a briefing form. It’s easy for sponsors to fill out, and the information-gathering process is the same for everyone, which means we’re always writing copy based on the same structure of information. This reduces friction.
The person who writes the copy is also a newsletter writer. This is key. In order to keep you interested, our sponsor copy needs to feel like part of the newsletter. Our writer is skilled at writing both content and copy based on our persona and tone, so the sponsored sections feel natural and helpful.
The Crew’s Insight: When you write promotional copy—whether it’s in your blog posts, for a newsletter of your own, or in your ads—you never want it to feel like ad copy.
How to make your sponsored copy feel natural?
Native copy will blend in with the rest of the content and may drive more clicks. Here are two tips to make it work:
- Write in the same style and tone as the source. If it’s a newsletter, adopt the newsletter’s tone. If it’s a podcast, adopt the tone of the host.
- Instead of writing to sell, write to inform… then close with a strong call-to-action (CTA). If it’s helpful, focus on the context your copy will appear in and write for that context, instead of focusing on what your copy needs to accomplish.
Practice this enough, and you’ll describe products and services so well that people can’t help but be interested.
