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A local email newsletter puts your ad in the inbox of people who live a few miles from your shop and opened the email on purpose. This guide explains how those ads are sold, how to compare prices, and what to ask before you pay. We publish the Provo FOMO newsletter and sell ads in it, so our prices are here, next to the other Utah County newsletters we could confirm take ads today.
In Utah County, a single newsletter ad costs about $99 to $250 per send. Provo FOMO charges $99 for a closing ad and $199 for the top image ad to 3,071 subscribers, and What's Up Provo lists its top ads at $250 and up for a list it says passes 10,000 readers. Compare them by price per thousand opens, ask for a click report, and run one issue before you buy a month.
A newsletter ad is a paid spot inside an email that a publisher sends to its subscribers. In a local newsletter it usually sits between the event listings and restaurant news, and it looks like the rest of the email: a photo, a headline, two or three sentences and a button. The reader is already scrolling through things to do in Provo this weekend, so a taco shop opening in Orem or a Saturday kids' clinic at a Lehi gym fits right in.
Most local newsletters sell three kinds of placement. The top ad sits right under the opening paragraph and gets the most eyes. A mid-issue mention is a short text line with a link, sometimes called a classified. A closing ad runs at the bottom, just before the sign-off. Some publishers also sell a full written feature about one business, which takes up most of an issue.
You buy one send or a package of sends. The publisher usually writes or designs the ad from your photo and offer, sends a proof, runs it after you approve, and reports how many people clicked.
Only a few Utah County newsletters publish their rates. These are the ones we could confirm on the publisher's own page on November 1, 2026. Audience numbers are what each publisher reports about itself.
| Newsletter | Audience it reports | Published price | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Provo FOMO (ours) | 3,071 subscribers, Provo, Orem, Lehi and the rest of Utah County; sent Mon, Wed, Fri | $99 closing ad, $199 top image ad, one issue; $249 to $649 a month for four ads | Restaurants, events, family businesses and home services testing a local offer |
| What's Up Provo | Over 10,000 readers as of August 2025, mostly Provo and Orem; 75% women, most aged 35 to 65; sent 2 to 3 times a week | Top ads $250 and up per appearance; body ads 20% to 70% less | Businesses that sell to women and families in Provo and Orem |
| Lehi Free Press | Lehi and northern Utah County readers; runs an email newsletter alongside its print paper | No published rates; call the account manager | Businesses in Lehi, American Fork and Saratoga Springs |
| Utah Valley Chamber newsletter | A database of over 4,000 local business leaders | Members only; Chamber dues start at $1,500 a year | Businesses that sell to other businesses |
CPM means cost per thousand. A publisher can price per thousand subscribers or per thousand opens, and you should ask which one they mean. The beehiiv newsletter platform says newsletter CPMs typically run $10 to $75 and that small newsletters starting to sell ads charge about $50 to $250 per placement. The Newsletter Newsletter, a guide written for publishers, puts cost per thousand opens at about $20 to over $100.
To check a price yourself, divide the cost of the ad by the opens per send and multiply by 1,000. On our own prices: our top image ad gets about 1,100 opens per send, so the $199 single issue works out to about $181 per thousand opens. That is above the published ranges. The $99 closing ad is about $90 per thousand opens. The monthly plans drop the price: the $249 Neighbor plan buys four mid-issue mentions at about 4,500 opens a month, or about $55 per thousand opens, and the $299 Closer plan comes to about $66.
Run the same math on What's Up Provo. It reports over 10,000 readers and open rates of 45% to 50%, so a $250 top ad is about $50 to $55 per thousand opens if those numbers hold. It has the larger list. We have the lower entry price. The cheaper per open is not always the better buy, though. A small list that reads every issue for things to do in Utah County can send more people to a Springville bakery than a big list spread across the state.
A publisher who wants your money should answer all of these in one email. If they won't, buy somewhere else.
Provo FOMO is a free email about events, openings and things to do in Utah County. On November 2, 2026 it had 3,071 subscribers. It goes out Monday, Wednesday and Friday with no more than three ads in an issue. In our reader survey of 825 subscribers, 26% live in Provo, 16% in Orem, and 7% each in Lehi and American Fork, with the rest spread across Spanish Fork, Saratoga Springs, Pleasant Grove, Springville and other nearby towns. 55% own their home, and 86% picked food and new restaurants as something they want to hear about.
The placements: a closing ad for $99 for one issue, which we write and you approve; a top image ad for $199 for one issue, which we design; and monthly plans of four ads each at $249 for mid-issue mentions, $299 for closing ads and $649 for top image ads. Every ad gets a click report. An event can be pinned to the top of our Events Hub for $99 a week without a plan.
About three thousand readers is small next to an I-15 billboard or a KSL radio spot. It suits a restaurant, a gym, a med spa, a kids' activity, a home service or an event that wants local people to try it this week. It suits a personal injury firm or a statewide brand much less. See every option on our advertising page, or book one issue for $99 and look at the clicks before you decide on more.
What's Up Provo is a free events newsletter for Provo and Orem. Its advertise page says it has over 10,000 readers as of August 2025, sends two to three times a week, and sees open rates of 45% to 50%. It sells top ads with photos and a write-up at $250 and up per appearance, and ads lower in the email for 20% to 70% less. You book through a form on that page.
The Lehi Free Press covers Lehi and American Fork in print and sends an email newsletter. Its advertise page lists an account manager, Sally Francom, at (801) 766-8914, and no prices. Ask her whether the email newsletter carries ads on its own or only with a print buy, and how many people get it.
The Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce lets members put news in its email newsletter, which the Chamber says reaches a database of over 4,000 local business leaders. You have to be a member, and dues start at $1,500 a year. It reaches owners and managers, so it fits an accountant, an IT firm or a commercial cleaner, not a pizza place.
We searched for other Orem, Lehi and Utah County newsletters with a public advertising page and found none we could confirm.
A newsletter ad works best when the reader can act soon: book a table, come to an event, try a class, claim a first-visit deal. It does much less for a business that customers need once every ten years and look up on Google the day they need it, like a roofer after a hailstorm or a divorce attorney. For those, Google Search ads and a strong Google Business Profile usually come first; our guide to where to advertise in Utah County compares those with billboards, mail and radio.
It also fails when the ad is vague. "Family owned since 2004" gets no clicks. "Free kids' cone with any meal at our Orem shop through Sunday" gets clicks you can count. If you want reach without an offer, a Facebook ad aimed at Utah County ZIP codes can run for weeks on a small budget, while a newsletter ad is a single moment in someone's inbox.
If you only need people to find you, a $99 a month listing in our Local Directory puts your name, phone and website on your category page.
Pick one newsletter and one issue. Write one offer with a deadline, and give it a code or a link you only use there. Send it on a day that matches the offer: a weekend event in a Wednesday or Friday issue, a lunch special on a Monday. Then count three things for a week: clicks from the publisher's report, uses of your code, and people who say they saw you in the email.
If a $99 or $199 issue brings in more than it cost, buy a month and change the photo and headline each send. If it brings in nothing, try one more issue with a stronger offer before you write the channel off. If two issues in a row bring nothing, that list does not reach your customers.
