How To Monetize A Newsletter

Summary

In this video, Tim Stoddard offers a detailed breakdown of his latest newsletter, 'The Census,' aimed at professionals in the behavioral health industry. He shares the newsletter's purpose, inspired by bhs.com, and outlines five monetization strategies: sponsoring his own content, hosting events, securing sponsorships, selling a digital marketing course, and leveraging the platform to build valuable business relationships. Tim emphasizes the long-term value of a newsletter beyond direct revenue, highlighting its power as a relationship-building tool and an asset for indirect revenue generation.

Takeaways

• 📰 Tim Stoddard introduces his latest newsletter called 'The Census', aimed at professionals in the Behavioral Health field.
• 🚀 The inspiration for 'The Census' came from BHS.com, a media company that proved there's a market for specialized content in this industry.
• 💼 Tim's initial monetization strategy is self-sponsorship, using the newsletter to generate clients for his own digital marketing business.
• 🔗 He has already generated solid leads through the newsletter by directing traffic to his website and utilizing various call-to-action (CTA) strategies.
• 🎟️ Tim plans to monetize through events, both in-person and online, similar to the successful models of BH business and Dreamscape.
• 💰 He intends to sell sponsorships once the newsletter reaches a substantial subscriber base, capitalizing on the high CPM in the industry.
• 📚 A digital marketing course for the addiction treatment and behavioral healthcare industry exists, which Tim plans to promote and sell.
• 🤝 The most important monetization strategy is leveraging the newsletter to build valuable B2B relationships and network within the industry.
• 💼 Tim emphasizes the indirect revenue potential of a newsletter, such as gaining equity in companies and creating a referral network.
• 🌟 He believes that even without direct monetization, a newsletter can be an invaluable asset for relationship building and business opportunities.
• 🚀 Tim encourages viewing newsletters as long-term investments with multiple revenue streams, rather than just direct sponsorship sales.

Q & A

What is the name of Tim Stoddard's latest newsletter?

The name of Tim Stoddard's latest newsletter is 'The Census'.

What was the initial hesitation Tim had about creating a media company for Behavioral Health professionals?

Tim initially hesitated to create a media company for Behavioral Health professionals because he didn't believe there would be a demand for the kind of content he wanted to produce, which was business-oriented and focused on topics like insurance and treatment modalities rather than inspirational content.

What company inspired Tim to create 'The Census'?

The company that inspired Tim to create 'The Census' is bhs.com, which showed him that there is an audience for the type of content he wanted to produce.

How does Tim plan to monetize 'The Census' initially?

Tim plans to initially monetize 'The Census' by sponsoring his own newsletter, using it to generate clients for his own business, Stazy Internet Marketing.

What is the second stage of Tim's monetization plan for 'The Census'?

The second stage of Tim's monetization plan involves creating and selling events, both in-person and online, similar to the model used by bhs.com and stateofaddictiontreatment.com.

How does Tim view the potential of sponsorships for 'The Census'?

Tim views sponsorships as a potential monetization method for 'The Census' once the newsletter has a larger subscriber base. He notes that the industry's high CPM (cost per mille) makes sponsorships particularly lucrative.

What is the course Tim created related to digital marketing?

Tim created an online course on digital marketing specifically for the addiction treatment and behavioral healthcare industry.

How does Tim currently use the course he created for digital marketing?

Currently, Tim uses the course as email bait, giving it away for free to those who sign up for the 'The Census' email list, and collecting leads through a call to action.

What is the fifth and most important way Tim plans to monetize 'The Census'?

The fifth and most important way Tim plans to monetize 'The Census' is by leveraging the newsletter to build business relationships and create a network of businesses that can refer clients to him.

What philosophy does Tim emphasize as crucial for monetizing a newsletter?

Tim emphasizes the importance of building relationships and doing favors for people within the industry as a way to generate long-term value and indirect revenue through a newsletter.

What is Tim's advice on looking at newsletters beyond direct monetization?

Tim advises to look at newsletters with a broader scope, focusing on the potential for indirect revenue and the power that an email list can provide for creating opportunities in various ways.

Outlines

00:00

📰 Introducing the 'Census' Newsletter and Monetization Strategy

Tim Stoddard introduces his latest newsletter called 'The Census', aimed at professionals in the behavioral health industry. He shares his initial hesitation about creating content for this niche due to its business-oriented and less inspirational nature compared to his work on Sober Nation. However, inspired by bhs.com, he decided to proceed. Tim outlines his five-stage monetization plan for the newsletter, starting with sponsoring his own newsletter to generate clients for his business, Stazy Internet Marketing. He subtly promotes his services within the newsletter, which has generated solid leads but no closed deals yet. The strategy involves using the newsletter to create awareness and attention for his business, with the long-term goal of closing deals that will outweigh the costs of generating leads.

05:01

🎟️ Leveraging Events and Sponsorships for Revenue Generation

Tim discusses the second stage of his monetization plan, which involves using the newsletter to create and sell events. He admires bhs.com's successful event business model and plans to replicate it, though not to the same depth. He aims to host both online and in-person events, similar to 'stateofaddictiontreatment.com', leveraging his media creation and email list building skills. The third monetization method is through sponsorships. Currently, Tim collects leads through a single link on the ACT website and has sold one sponsorship. He plans to take this route seriously once the subscriber base grows to 15,000-20,000. The high CPM in the industry makes sponsorships a lucrative option. The fourth method involves selling an online course on digital marketing for the addiction treatment and behavioral healthcare industry, which Tim has created but not yet promoted.

10:03

💼 Building Relationships and Monetizing Through Course Sales

The fourth monetization strategy revolves around selling an online course that Tim has developed, which compiles a decade of his expertise in digital marketing. He currently offers the course for free as an email bait but plans to create an autoresponder to sell it at a higher price, estimating significant revenue even with modest daily sales. The final and most crucial monetization method is leveraging the newsletter to build business relationships. Tim emphasizes the importance of networking and how it has been instrumental in generating clients for his company, Stazy. He plans to use the newsletter as a tool to extend goodwill and foster B2B relationships, which can lead to referrals and business opportunities.

15:04

🚀 Reflecting on the Power of Newsletters and Future Opportunities

In the concluding paragraph, Tim reflects on his experience with newsletters, stating that they have always been a long-term investment, gaining power and influence over time. He encourages viewers to consider newsletters as a means to generate opportunities beyond direct sales and sponsorships. Tim invites questions in the comments and thanks viewers for watching, expressing hope that his insights on growing 'The Census' have inspired them to apply similar strategies to their own newsletters.

Keywords

💡Newsletter

A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication that Tim Stoddard uses to communicate with his audience. In the video, Tim discusses his newsletter called 'The Census,' which is aimed at professionals in the behavioral health field. The newsletter serves as a platform for sharing industry insights and business strategies, and it plays a central role in Tim's monetization plan.

💡Monetization

Monetization refers to the process of generating revenue from a product or service. In the context of the video, Tim outlines five potential ways to monetize his newsletter, including self-sponsorship, events, sponsorships, courses, and building business relationships. This concept is integral to understanding the video's theme of turning a newsletter into a 'cash generating machine.'

💡Behavioral Health

Behavioral Health is a field that focuses on the prevention and treatment of mental health disorders and substance use disorders. Tim's newsletter is created for professionals working in this industry. The term is used to describe the target audience and the content focus of 'The Census,' highlighting the specialized nature of the information being shared.

💡Self-Sponsorship

Self-sponsorship is a strategy where Tim uses his newsletter to promote his own business, Stazy Internet Marketing. This approach allows him to generate leads and clients directly from the newsletter without seeking external sponsors. It is one of the initial monetization strategies Tim discusses in the video.

💡Events

In the video, Tim mentions using the newsletter to create and sell events related to the behavioral health industry. Events are a way to generate revenue through ticket sales and sponsorships. He cites examples of companies that have successfully used this model, indicating the potential for significant income from such endeavors.

💡Sponsorship

Sponsorships are a form of monetization where companies pay to be associated with a product, service, or event. Tim plans to sell sponsorships once his newsletter has a substantial subscriber base. The higher CPM (cost per thousand impressions) in the behavioral health industry makes this a lucrative option for monetization.

💡Course

A course, in this context, refers to an online educational program that Tim has created on digital marketing for the addiction treatment and behavioral healthcare industry. He discusses the potential to monetize this course by selling it to his newsletter subscribers, leveraging the valuable content he has developed.

💡Lead Generation

Lead generation is the process of attracting and capturing interest from potential customers. Tim uses his newsletter to generate leads for his digital marketing company. The strategy involves providing valuable content that encourages readers to engage with his business, such as through a chat widget or 'Hire Us' button.

💡B2B Relationships

B2B stands for 'business-to-business' and refers to relationships between companies rather than between businesses and consumers. Tim emphasizes the importance of building B2B relationships through his newsletter to create a network of businesses that can refer clients and collaborate on projects.

💡Equity

Equity in this context refers to ownership stakes in a company. Tim discusses how he has given away sponsorships for free in exchange for equity in businesses or to build strong relationships. This strategy has allowed him to gain value and potentially profit from the success of these companies.

Highlights

Tim Stoddard introduces his latest newsletter called 'The Census' aimed at professionals in the behavioral health field.

The Census was inspired by the success of bhs.com, a media company that proved there is a demand for professional content in the industry.

Tim discusses his five-stage monetization plan for the newsletter, starting with sponsoring his own newsletter to generate clients for his business.

He shares his experience with using a newsletter to generate leads through website interactions and CTAs within blog posts.

Tim's second monetization strategy involves creating and selling events, inspired by the success of bhs.com's event model.

He plans to host both online and in-person events, leveraging his media and email list building skills.

Tim's third monetization approach is selling sponsorships, which he aims to do once his subscriber base reaches 15,000 to 20,000.

He highlights the high CPM in the industry as a reason for the potential profitability of sponsorships.

The fourth monetization method is through a digital marketing course for the addiction treatment and behavioral healthcare industry.

Tim has created a comprehensive course and plans to sell it at a high price point, leveraging the growing subscriber base of The Census.

The fifth and most important monetization strategy is building relationships through the newsletter, which Tim considers invaluable.

Tim emphasizes the importance of indirect revenue and the power of a well-established newsletter for creating opportunities.

He shares his philosophy of giving away sponsorships for free to build business relationships and gain equity in companies.

Tim provides examples of how he has used newsletters in the past to generate revenue and build valuable assets.

He encourages viewers to think of newsletters as more than just a direct revenue source, but as a tool for building a powerful network.

Tim concludes by sharing his insights on growing The Census and inspiring viewers to apply similar strategies to their own newsletters.

Transcripts

hey everyone my name is Tim Stoddard and

in this week's video I am going to give

you a behind the scenes breakdown of my

latest newsletter Biz I'm going to show

you the newsletter itself I'm going to

explain to you the industry and most

importantly I'm going to break down the

five potential ways I'm going to try to

monetize this newsletter and turn it

into a real cash generating machine so

let's get

[Music]

started

hey first and foremost let's take a look

at the newsletter the newsletter is

called the census you can check it out

on the

census. I've mentioned it a couple times

in my videos and in uh my weekly blog

post but I've never done a real

breakdown on it and explain to you what

what the purpose of it is so the entire

reason why I created the sensus is a

little bit of a backstory here when I

first started sober Nation I had the

idea to also create a media company for

the other side of Behavioral Health not

necessarily the people that needed the

help but the professionals that work in

the field and for really like eight

years I talked myself out of it because

I didn't personally believe that there

would be a demand for this kind of

content this isn't the same

inspirational kind of content that I

write on sober Nation this is like dry

this is business oriented this is

talking about insurance and like

treatment modalities and so I didn't

think there would be a market for for it

and last year I discovered this company

right here bhs.com and this company just

completely rocked my world they showed

me they reminded me a lesson that I

already knew which is if you make good

there's going to be people that

appreciate it and want to follow along

and so I'll be referencing this website

a few times bhs.com this is uh really

the

inspiration and I'm I'm stealing a a lot

of their model um I'm not going to go

quite Into the Depths that they go to

with their particular business model but

you'll see there's definitely a lot of

places where um I'm I'm outright

stealing it okay so then how exactly am

I going to monetize this business well

I'm going to do so in five different

stages the first stage is what I do with

every newsletter that I start I I

sponsor my own newsletter this is really

something that I I talk about a lot

especially over at copy blogger Academy

where I have a newsletter and I'm

building an audience so instead of

trying to sell sponsorships why don't I

just use the attention to generate

clients for my own business and that's

what I'm doing in the newsletter itself

you'll see brought to you by stazy

internet marketing I put the logo of my

company in the very front and then I

give a little bit of an introduction and

then once again I I put in a sponsored

link and after that I go with the

newsletter so it's subtle the newsletter

itself is isn't completely riddled with

ads I'm not necessarily out here

generating clicks and trying to sell

click-through rates to sponsors I'm just

making the best newsletter that I

possibly can and in the process I'm

generating attention and awareness to my

own services so we've been at this for

like three months so far I haven't

closed any deals from it yet but I've

generated four really solid leads um

because you know as you click over

brings you to my website and so I get

leads through the chat widget I get

leads through this hire us button um as

people you know browse around and maybe

check out some of the blog posts every

one of these blog posts has ctas in the

top and in the sidebar and and ctas

within the text where a a a popup form

and a lead form comes through so I've

generated some really good leads I

haven't closed any yet but it's it's

going to be worth it like even if I

close two deals a year from this the

amount of money that pay in order to

generate the leads is still pretty

minimal in compared to the amount of

money that I make from the actual

clients and not to mention let's say I

let's say worst case scenario I break

even on it well cool now I've broken

even on the costs of generating another

asset which has like a significant email

subscriber base and and all of these

email subscribers it's got a high open

rate as well so the worst case scenario

is I basically get this online asset for

free now don't get me wrong I want to

close deals um it's happening this is

just something that I've done a bunch of

times and actually I have another

example of

it so here's another example this email

was sent out four years ago this was in

the beginning stages of of when I bought

copy blogger and I didn't have any

sponsors for the newsletter and so I did

the same exact thing every time I would

send a newsletter I would pitch my own

services so in the case of copy blogger

we would pitch our SEO agency that's

aligned with copy blogger which is

digital Commerce partners um and so I've

every time I start a newsletter I always

start with this particular um strategy I

don't want to waste time trying to get

sponsors I don't want to waste time like

trying to sell products or anything like

that I can generate Revenue the fastest

by using my newsletter by sponsoring my

own newsletter and promoting my own

services on my newsletter the second

stage is going to be events I want to

use this newsletter to create events and

sell events and I'll give you some

examples of what I'm looking at so I

already mentioned bhs.com well this

entire Media company is really an events

company um they do six seven they do a

lot of events every year I'm not exactly

sure how many um so the next event that

they have is in Chicago it's the autism

and addiction treatment form event um

they sell out these events every single

time it's a really important industry

that they work in and and there's a lot

of like excitement around the new

treatment modalities that are happening

in this particular modality and um yeah

they they do events around autism they

do events around addiction treatment

they do events around um like the

different funding mechanisms that are

happening like there's a lot of private

Equity coming in and so these events are

crucial but not only do they make a ton

of money by selling tickets to the

events they make a ton of money by

selling sponsorships in the events

themselves and this was really the thing

that that blew my mind when I learned

about it I just recently sponsored an

event I bought the lowest tier

sponsorship it was

$5,000 that was the lowest tier

sponsorship and there's like five or 600

attendees to this event um my guess is

they probably do like $4 to 500,000 in

Revenue every single time they have an

event and they only have well not only

it's a lot but they have about 500

attendees per every event in addition I

want to do online events so this is

another company that's kind of come up

stateof addiction treatment.com and

these guys are doing online events um I

I think this is really reasonable and

great and there's no reason why I can't

do this same thing these events are run

by a company called Dreamscape uh

Dreamscape is a great company however I

just I know that my ability to create

media and to build an email list is like

significantly beyond what Dreamscape can

do and so I'm excited about this I'm

going to wait it's going to take me some

time to to get there there but there's

no doubt I'm going to take the same

exact model that BH business is using

and the same exact model that Dreamscape

is using with state of addiction

treatment and I'm going to start hosting

online events and then hopefully maybe

one day I'll be able to do in-person

events and so that's something I'm

really excited about as well okay the

third way I plan on monetizing this

newsletter is of course through

sponsorships so I don't have an outbound

sales team for sponsorships as of right

now I'm just collecting leads through

this one link on the ACT website I've

sold one sponsorship so far um this in

order to make this really worth it I

have to have a lot of subscribers so

it's not until I get to 15,000 20,000

subscribers that I'm going to start

taking these sponsorships seriously but

the reason why I like it is because the

average CPM in this industry is so much

higher than typical so for for a copy

blogger you know in in this in this

email list I I have well I pruned it a

lot but I I have about 30,000

subscribers and I can make like 10 to 12

Grand a month from that well I can make

probably 20 grand a month once I build

this email list to like 20,000

subscribers just because the the

industry itself has a lot more like high

dollar high value attention attached to

it so I'm not there yet and this is

definitely in the future but I I do plan

on creating an outbound sales team or

are probably working with the convert

kit sponsorship Network as well um and

giving them a list of leads so they can

pitch and I can I can build sponsorships

through the newsletter as well fourth

way I plan on monetizing this newsletter

is through a course so believe it or not

I've created an entire online course on

digital marketing for the addiction

treatment and the behavioral healthcare

industry um I've never promoted this

course I've hardly even told people

about it as of right now I actually give

the course away for free as part of like

an email bait um in stazzi so if if you

go to the actual stazzi website and you

click on the sidebar right so if you

were to sign up for this email list you

get redirected to to this course so

right now I just have it as some email

bait and then when people get here um I

have the CTA for them to learn more and

I collect leads with it I I have closed

a deal through this so there are times

when I think maybe the best thing to do

is to just to leave this for free

however with the rate at which the

census is growing you know if I have 50

to 60 people signing up a day and I

create a really good autoresponder to

sell this course which I know this

course will sell I mean this is really

really valuable information this is 10

years of my life that I put together in

this course it's it's no joke this thing

is really serious if I sell this thing

for 500 bucks a pop I plan on selling it

for like a th000 bucks a pop you know if

I sell one of these a day well that's

great that's a ton of revenue for not a

lot of work I fully intend on turning

this course into a product again I'm

just not there yet my my biggest

priority as of right now is just to

continue building the list and continue

promoting my own Services sponsoring my

own newsletter as I like to call it

however there's no doubt that this

course is going to be a potential

Revenue stream for the newsletter and

the fifth and most important way I'm

going to monetize this newsletter is by

leveraging the ention to build

relationships now this is so freaking

important and so many people don't

appreciate how valuable this is but this

is what I just told you is actually the

entire business model behind my tims.com

website so every single Tuesday I write

an article and I publish the article on

my newsletter and I I do sell

sponsorships sometimes but really I

don't what I do is I give sponsorships

away

for free so so this is the article in

the actual email that I send out is

where you see the sponsorships but I've

I've given away a ton of sponsorships

for free and in exchange I either like

trade the sponsorships for equity and

business or I use it as a way to I don't

want to say do favors because it's not

like there's ever like a quid pro Crow

or however you say that attached to it

but but yeah I mean I help people out I

use it as a way to help other people

promote their products promote their

ideas promote their services and by

being the first one to do favors and the

first one to help people out it's it's

generated so much value in my life I've

got equity in companies um I'm not going

to really go through it because I don't

think that would be fair but there's a

lot of the companies in my portfolio

that you're looking at now that I was

able to gain equity in or just

completely absorb by giving away

promotions and and giving away attention

in my newsletter and so with the census

what we're going to do is we're we use

this to build businesso business

relationships so in the addiction

treatment industry right like I am in

the lead generation side I do digital

marketing but there's a whole ecosystem

around here there's SAS companies in the

addiction treatment industry there's

billing companies There's real estate

people there's private Equity firms um

there's medical equipment firms and

these relationship are really really

valuable because if you can build B2B

relationships those you can create a

network of other businesses that are

adjacent to that refer you business and

a lot of the way I've able been able to

generate so many clients for stdy is by

building great relationships with other

adjacent businesses who refer clients to

me but when you have a newsletter when

you have like an olive branch to extend

to these other businesses wow it is it

is a real game changer and so this is a

philosophy that has probably generated

the most Revenue in all of my companies

in my whole life um it's also not

something that is easily

quantifiable I can't necessarily say

I've generated this much like I don't

have a stripe account that can tell me

exactly how many sales I've made by

doing right by people and by doing

favors for people and just using the

industry um the awareness that I've I've

created

but even if you don't make a dime from

your newsletter which by the way I don't

right like I I do sell some sponsorships

here and there on my newsletter but for

the most part this is all completely

free I do all of this work on timid.com

I don't get paid anything for it it's

all just a way for me to make

relationships even if I don't make a

dime with the newsletter this newsletter

itself is still going to be the most

valuable asset that the company has I

highly recommend you look at newsletters

with a broader scope than just how can I

sell sponsorships once you have the

email list you have infinite ways maybe

not infinite but you have like a

multitude of ways that you can generate

revenue and most of the time it's

indirect Revenue but there's no question

once you have it you you you have all of

the Power you have all of the resources

at your disposal and you can do anything

you want with

it thank you so much for watching this

week's video I hope that my behind the

scenes insights on growing the census

has given you some inspiration for your

own newsletter I hope that you take this

information and that you apply it I've

never started a newsletter and instantly

generated revenue from it it's always

been something that I worked on for

months and years and years until

eventually it turned into something that

just had so much so much power and so

much influence that I could leverage it

to create opportunities for myself in

many different ways if you have any

questions please leave it in the

comments um smash that subscribe button

I appreciate everybody and thank you so

much I will talk to you next week peace

out