Newsletter Sponsorship

Advertise to an audience of key decision-makers looking to stay current on market trends.

Promote your brand to an audience that is passionate about understanding the trends, players, and investors who are shaping the cybersecurity market.

Newsletter Stats

Security, Funded has an active and growing audience.

Here are a few newsletter delivery stats (updated periodically):

• Active Subscribers: ~3,000+
• Email Open/Link Clickthrough Rate (CTR): ~48-52% / ~15-20%
• Sponsored Link Clicks: ~20-60+ unique clicks via email (not including social media engagement or blog post clicks)
• Social Media Engagement: ~1K-4K views from LinkedIn and Twitter
• Top Subscriber Locations: USA, Israel, Canada, United Kingdom, India, Italy, Poland, Singapore, and more!
• Audience Occupation: Cybersecurity and technology practitioners at Fortune 500 companies, C-level executives, entrepreneurs, cybersecurity product companies, PE/VC investment professionals, consulting and staffing firms
• Newsletter Frequency: Weekly on Monday at 10:00 AM ET (unless it's a US holiday, then it will go out the following day)
• Sponsorship Slots: One primary and one secondary sponsor per issue

Pricing and Availability

Ready to work together? That's awesome!

Package options and the onboarding process can be made available by emailing sponsorships@returnonsecurity.com.

Sponsorship Details

Security, Funded has a primary and secondary sponsor slot for each issue.

The primary sponsor’s blurb is included at the top of the issue, can be in a longer format, and includes a social media shout-out on Twitter and LinkedIn.

The secondary sponsor’s blurb is included towards the bottom of the issue, is in a shorter format, and does not include a social media shout-out on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Primary Sponsorship

• Format: text-only
• Location: Top of the newsletter, after the intro
• Main Title: 80 characters or fewer
• Byline (optional): 5-10 words that summarize your product or value prop
• Body: 400 to 600 characters
• CTA: Inline link with the hook you want to use
• Social copy: Provide a co-branded tweet-length blurb that will be shared on Twitter and LinkedIn

Each primary sponsor will get their messaging amplified in four (4) different ways per issue:

• The top sponsorship spot in the newsletter
• The top sponsorship spot on the blog post
• A social media shout-out on my personal LinkedIn account
• A social media shout-out on my personal Twitter account

Here's an example of a primary sponsorship spot from Issue #67 on the blog:

An example of a primary sponsor tweet thread that looks like this:

An example of a primary sponsor post on LinkedIn that looks like this:

Secondary Sponsorship

• Format: text-only
• Location: Towards the bottom of the newsletter
• Title: 80 characters or fewer
• Copy body: 400 to 600 characters
• CTA: Inline link with the hook you want to use
• Social copy: Not included

Each secondary sponsor will get their messaging amplified in two (2) different ways per issue:

• The secondary sponsorship spot in the newsletter
• The secondary sponsorship spot on the blog post

Here's an example of a secondary sponsorship spot from Issue #73

Sponsors see the most benefit when sponsoring more than one issue at a time spread out over the course of a few months.

Long-standing research in advertising tells us that it takes three to seven impressions before a message registers, so most sponsors book within this range or greater.

What Content Does The Best?

We live in a noisy world and there is nothing more important than creating a direct relationship with someone.

For those of us who are close to cybersecurity, this is even more apparent.

This is a highly engaged audience. The sponsors that get the best traction are those who can offer something above and beyond their standard branding messaging.

The best performers have content that looks like this:

• Webinars (live or pre-recorded)
• Workshops
• Fireside Chats
• Whitepapers or eBooks
• Emerging research or technical posts breaking down a complex topic
• Salary insights (everyone wants to get paid)
• Industry or "State of the [X]" style reports

The number of clicks through to your ad is influenced by: Your offer, the quality of your ad copy, the wording in your CTA, and more.

Types of Sponsors

Who would be a good fit to sponsor this newsletter?

Return on Security is about providing unique content that advances readers from where they are. Any person, project, or resource that offers advancement could be a good fit.

Examples can include:

• Cybersecurity or privacy product companies of any stage
• Organizations focused on a safer and more private Internet
• Digital products (i.e., eBooks, courses, etc.)
• Productized services
• Boutique consulting services or investment groups
• Industry research groups
• Services that create a "better pickaxe" for people in the trenches mining for information
• Non-US companies looking to get exposure to the US market

The domain does not have to be in cybersecurity, but it does have to be useful and move people forward.

Why Sponsor this Newsletter?

Here are a few reasons to consider:

• Email has some of the best returns of any marketing channel.
• It's more targeted than running ads on other mediums.
• It's a great way to get visibility for your brand or project to an active audience.
• You can have a hand in supporting independent publishing.
• You can help support me to continue writing and improving content.

Sponsorship Issue Metrics

I provide the following metrics for you to help understand the return on [security] investment for each sponsored issue:

• The number of subscribers the email was sent to
• The number of unique users who opened the email
• The newsletter clickthrough rate (CTR)
• The number of unique users who clicked the sponsored link
• The number of impressions and engagements on the associated tweet and LinkedIn posts (if you are the primary sponsor only)

Metrics will be provided approximately one week after the sponsored issue to allow people time to open emails and engage with the social media content.

What's Not Included

Sponsoring this newsletter is a value exchange.

I bring the audience, you bring your products and services.

Sponsoring the newsletter does not:

• Get your company access to the companies I work for or partner with
• Guarantee I'll take a product demo or talk to your sales team

Privacy is also very important, so I will not share:

• Any names or email addresses of subscribers
• Any names or email addresses of subscribers who interacted with sponsored content
• Any information about users who engaged with the sponsored tweet thread or LinkedIn post

Companies get a canvas to shoot their best shots to a group of highly engaged decision-makers, buyers, and investors in this industry.

Make it count.