# Newsletter sponsorship finder Human Guide

## What This Is For
Find and rank newsletters for sponsorship opportunities targeting a specific ICP. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for email marketing: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Newsletter sponsorship finder agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for newsletter sponsorship finder.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Newsletter sponsorship finder guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- **Target audience description** (required) — e.g., "CTOs and DevOps engineers at startups"
- **Industry keywords** (required) — e.g., "cloud, AWS, DevOps, infrastructure, FinOps"
- **Budget range** (optional) — for filtering newsletters by sponsorship cost
- **Geographic focus** (optional) — e.g., "US", "Europe", "Global"
- **Output path** (optional) — where to save results, defaults to `clients/<client>/leads/newsletter-sponsorships-YYYY-MM-DD.md`
- Target audience description (e.g., "CTOs and DevOps engineers at startups")
- Industry keywords (e.g., "cloud, AWS, DevOps, infrastructure, FinOps")
- Budget range (optional, for filtering)
- `"[industry] weekly newsletter developer"`
- `"best newsletters for [target audience]"`
- `"[industry] newsletter sponsorship"`
- `"advertise in [industry] newsletter"`

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Quick Start, Inputs, Cost, Dependencies, Process, Phase 1: Define Target, Phase 2: Discovery (run searches in parallel), A) Direct newsletter search (WebSearch), B) Newsletter directory search, C) Industry-specific discovery.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- **Target audience description** (required) — e.g., "CTOs and DevOps engineers at startups"
- **Industry keywords** (required) — e.g., "cloud, AWS, DevOps, infrastructure, FinOps"
- Free — all discovery is WebSearch-based. No API keys required.
- Tier 1: Must-Sponsor (Score 8+)

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Newsletter sponsorship finder human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the gooseworks-ai/goose-skills skill entry for `newsletter-sponsorship-finder`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Newsletter Sponsorship Finder

Find and rank newsletters for sponsorship opportunities targeting a specific ICP. Uses web search, newsletter directories, and competitor intelligence to build a prioritized list of sponsorship targets.

## Quick Start

```
Find newsletter sponsorship opportunities for [client]. Target audience: [description]. Industry keywords: [keywords].
```

Or with optional filters:

```
Find newsletter sponsorship opportunities for [client].
Target audience: CTOs and DevOps engineers at startups.
Industry keywords: cloud, AWS, DevOps, infrastructure, FinOps.
Budget: $500-2000/placement.
Geographic focus: US.
```

## Inputs

- **Target audience description** (required) — e.g., "CTOs and DevOps engineers at startups"
- **Industry keywords** (required) — e.g., "cloud, AWS, DevOps, infrastructure, FinOps"
- **Budget range** (optional) — for filtering newsletters by sponsorship cost
- **Geographic focus** (optional) — e.g., "US", "Europe", "Global"
- **Output path** (optional) — where to save results, defaults to `clients/<client>/leads/newsletter-sponsorships-YYYY-MM-DD.md`

## Cost

Free — all discovery is WebSearch-based. No API keys required.

## Dependencies

```
pip3 install requests
```

Optional helper script for Substack directory search:

```bash
python3 skills/newsletter-sponsorship-finder/scripts/search_newsletters.py --keywords "cloud,AWS,DevOps" --output json
```

## Process

### Phase 1: Define Target

Accept from user:
- Target audience description (e.g., "CTOs and DevOps engineers at startups")
- Industry keywords (e.g., "cloud, AWS, DevOps, infrastructure, FinOps")
- Budget range (optional, for filtering)
- Geographic focus (optional)

### Phase 2: Discovery (run searches in parallel)

#### A) Direct newsletter search (WebSearch)

Run these searches:
- `"[industry] newsletter"`
- `"[industry] weekly newsletter developer"`
- `"best newsletters for [target audience]"`
- `"[industry] newsletter sponsorship"`
- `"advertise in [industry] newsletter"`

#### B) Newsletter directory search

Search Swapstack/Paved/SparkLoop for relevant newsletters:
- `"site:swapstack.co [industry]"`
- `"site:paved.com [industry]"`
- WebFetch on directory result pages to find listings in the target niche

#### C) Industry-specific discovery

- Search for `"[industry] blog"` and `"[industry] content creator"` to find people who likely also have newsletters
- Search for `"[industry] newsletter" site:linkedin.com` posts
- Search for Substack newsletters: `"site:substack.com [industry keywords]"`
- Optionally run the helper script: `python3 skills/newsletter-sponsorship-finder/scripts/search_newsletters.py --keywords "[keywords]" --output json`

#### D) Competitor sponsorship research