Building YMYL Trust: A Sponsored Article & Email Strategy
Client: A B2C personal finance app (e.g., budgeting, investing).
Challenges We Faced
The client’s app was in a high-friction “YMYL” (Your Money Your Life) niche, and they were struggling to build trust:
Low Brand Trust
They were asking users to link their bank accounts, but had no media mentions or “as seen on” logos.
No Authority
Their on-site blog had no traffic or authority, and Google didn’t trust their financial advice.
High CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)
Their paid social and search ads were extremely expensive due to the high competition.
No “Built-in” Audience
A Competitor Placement Research showed rivals were being featured in major finance newsletters.
Build Instant Brand Trust
“Struggling to build trust in a tough niche? Our Sponsored Articles service places you in the trusted publications your audience already reads.”
Our Approach – How We Solved These Challenges
Audience Audit & Publisher Research
We identified the top 10 “personal finance” blogs and newsletters (e.g., NerdWallet, The Penny Hoarder, GOBankingRates) that their target audience reads.
Sponsored Articles & Editorial Content
We negotiated and placed 5 high-quality “native” sponsored articles on top-tier finance blogs.
Sponsored Email Marketing
We secured 3 “sponsored newsletter” slots (using Paved) in popular finance newsletters, placing our client’s message in an inbox their audience already trusts.
High-Quality Content Creation
We wrote the articles and email copy to be 90% educational (e.g., “5 Data-Backed Ways to Save $1000 This Year”), seamlessly integrating the app as a tool.
Results
| Metric | Before | After | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualified “App Signups” (from campaign) | 150/mo | 1,800/mo | +1100% |
| Referral Traffic (from placements) | ~200/mo | 45,000/mo | +22,400% |
| Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) (from authority links) | 15 | 38 | +153% |
Free Audience & Media Analysis
“Not sure where your audience spends their time? Request a Free Audience Audit and let our agency build your placement strategy!”
Advice for Marketers & Brand Owners
- Leverage other brands’ trust. A Sponsored Email Marketing campaign puts you in an inbox your audience already trusts.
- Sponsored Articles should be 90% value, 10% promotion. They must feel “native” to the publication’s audience.
- In YMYL (like finance), high-authority placements build user trust and SEO authority at the same time.
- Track every placement with UTMs to see which publisher drove the most signups.
Extra Factors That Made It Work
- Our Relationship-Based Outreach with editors at finance publications.
- Using Competitor Placement Research (via Ahrefs) to find which newsletters were working for rivals.
- The High-Quality Content Creation that matched the tone of the host sites.
