Sponsored Content

A hybrid of advertising and news

Sponsored Content is a form of digital advertising that focuses on telling a story rather than simply selling a product. An article that is “sponsored” might be written by the advertiser or by Journal staff with input from the advertiser. It is usually a hybrid of news and advertising:

  1. There is a marketing benefit to the sponsoring organization.
  2. There is a news benefit to people who read the article.
  3. The information presented is accurate and reliable.
  4. The sponsoring organization has the right to review and approve the article before it is published.

The Lansing Journal clearly labels Sponsored Content because we want to be transparent about the hybrid nature of this form of advertising.

Benefits of Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content is published like a news article, so it appears along with other headlines in our Daily News email. Like most of the news we publish, a sponsored article will get the most views within the first few days of publication, unlike a traditional display ad (such as those in the sidebar of this page). Display ads stay in place for up to a month and are seen repeatedly during that time, but then disappear. In contrast:

  • Once published, Sponsored Content stays on our website forever, where it can always be found by readers and search engines.
  • Your Sponsored Content article will be Search Engine Optimized as part of the publication process.
  • Your article will have its own link, so you’ll be able to share it via email or on your own social media channels.
  • After the initial views of your Sponsored Content slow down, you can use a display ad to drive traffic back to it again. Or you can choose to re-release or re-publish the article as needed.

Pricing factors

Sponsored Content is a unique advertising opportunity, and price is determined by:

  • Whether content is written by our staff or provided by the advertiser
  • Word count (a 500-word article is typical)
  • Photography — we typically need at least one image to help with readership as well as SEO; that image can be provided by the advertiser or by us

For advertisers who provide their own content, The Lansing Journal charges:

  • $300 per article, or $700 for a series of three (paid upfront)

For advertisers who choose to have us write the content — with their input — The Lansing Journal charges:

  • $600 per article, or $1,500 for a series of three (paid upfront)
Sponsored Content
Sample results report for a Sponsored Content article

Whether you write the content or we do, your Sponsored Content article includes the following services:

  • Selected date of publication
  • Professional editing and formatting
  • Search Engine Optimization for a chosen keyword
  • Photography that helps with search engine optimization as well as social media sharing
  • Distribution to The Lansing Journal’s full subscriber list
  • Distribution to The Lansing Journal’s social media channels
  • Results reports detailing reads, unique readers, average time on page, links clicked, unique referrers, and reader engagement by geography

More information

To view published samples of Sponsored Content we’ve created for a variety of advertisers, visit our Sponsored category.

To purchase Sponsored Content for your organization, or to talk through other ideas, contact The Lansing Journal’s sales team: [email protected].

Thank you for advertising locally

When you invest your advertising dollars with The Lansing Journal, you get your message and brand in front of thousands of people, and that’s a smart spend. But your advertising dollars do even more. Those dollars also help provide a wide range of news and information to people.

The Lansing Journal uses those advertising dollars to send reporters to business ribbon-cuttings, high school football games, local parks, Cruise Nights, Village Board meetings, Township Board meetings, Honor Flight welcomes, anniversary events, library concerts, church picnics — all the things that make a community a community.

We are grateful to be part of a business community that shops local with its advertising dollars.