The Email Wars

We are all familiar with the selling of ad space or sponsorship of your email newsletters and publications in the standard CPM model. Sure ads are a simple way to drive some revenue to support your email marketing efforts, but really this model is for publishers and not really used for many of the brand communications that most of you use. Unless there is a creative fit for them OR even a way to bring in one of your supporting partners to give them some visibility to your audience.

Selling space in new ways is something that I like to look for in emails that I get as if there are additional ways to monetize your email campaigns then I am going to add it to my list of ideas. Now I am not in favor of email list rentals nor email “sponsorships” when they are the entire email (I would call this a list rental as well). This past week I saw a new one that I had not thought of before, not for the idea of a powered by but for the idea of what they sponsored. It was not your standard ad placement and really to me was a clever way to drive ad inclusion in one of the hotter places in email right now. The SWYN, Share with Your Network, footer or block is really being played up as the new Share With a Friend/Forward to a Friend.

I noticed that one of the publishers I follow for new ideas sold the sponsorship of this area to a brand. Now it did not get in the way as it was clearly separated by a thin line, but it definitely stood out to me. It was a clever way to give some prominent placement without fighting for the action in the content of the email. With so many of us challenging the banner or tile creating new ways to give value to your advertiser or partner should be explored.

Think bigger than sponsorship or take over of your emails and find ways to build creative partnerships that do not take away the value and relationship that your subscribers signed up for.