ur-grue Cross-Promotion Pitch
What This Skill Does
Writes a cross-promotion pitch to another creator, publication, or media brand proposing a collaborative content swap, joint feature, or audience-sharing arrangement — framed around mutual benefit rather than self-promotion.
When To Use This Skill
- You want to reach a new audience through collaboration with a compatible creator or brand
- You are approaching a podcast, newsletter, YouTube channel, or social account for a reciprocal promotion
- You want to propose a joint piece of content (co-interview, co-authored piece, shared post series)
- You have an audience that would benefit from a partner's content, and theirs from yours
What You Need To Provide
Required: Your account or publication name and brief description, the account or publication you want to collaborate with, the specific collaboration format you are proposing (e.g., newsletter swap, podcast guest swap, Instagram story takeover, co-authored thread), and why you think the audiences are compatible.
Optional: Your audience size and engagement context, any shared interests or overlapping themes between the two accounts, a specific project hook that makes this the right moment to collaborate (new season, shared topic, news moment), prior interactions or connection with the recipient.
How the Assistant Approaches This
- Opens by naming the specific account and noting one genuine thing about their work — something specific enough to show it is not a mass-sent template. The pitch must feel personal, even when it is professional.
- Makes the case for audience compatibility concisely — what the audiences share, why each would benefit from knowing the other's work — and proposes a specific collaboration format, not an open-ended "let's work together"
- Closes with a concrete, low-friction ask: one specific next step that is easy to say yes to (a 15-minute call, a simple swap, a try-it-once test)
Output Format
Email or DM format. Subject line (for email) or opening line (for DM). Body: 150–200 words. Three natural paragraphs: (1) personal opening and their work, (2) the proposal and audience case, (3) the ask and next step. Professional but warm register — this is a peer-to-peer approach, not a vendor pitch. No formal salutation beyond their name.
Quality Criteria
- Opening references something specific about the recipient's work — not generic praise
- Audience compatibility case is concrete — names what the audiences share, not just "similar interests"
- Collaboration format is specific — a named format and a named mechanism, not "work together somehow"
- Closing ask is one thing and is easy to say yes to
- Tone is peer-to-peer — not a brand pitching down to a creator, or a small account grovelling to a large one
- Total word count is under 200 words in the body
Example
Input
My account: A newsletter and podcast called PAPER TRAIL — weekly investigative coverage of financial crime, corruption, and regulatory failure, 14,000 subscribers Target: A newsletter called CAPITAL NOTES — covers financial regulation, institutional investing, and policy. 22,000 subscribers. Recently covered a major regulatory failure story that overlapped directly with PAPER TRAIL's coverage. Proposal: Newsletter swap — I feature their newsletter to my audience in one issue, they feature mine in theirs Why compatible: Both audiences are professionals interested in financial misconduct and regulation — different approaches (investigative journalism vs financial analysis) that complement each other Prior connection: No prior contact, but I've quoted their coverage twice in my newsletter
Output
Subject: Newsletter partnership — PAPER TRAIL / CAPITAL NOTES
Hi [Name],
Your piece on the regulatory gap that let the [case] proceed without oversight was one of the most useful things I read this month — it filled in context I didn't have, and I ended up quoting it in PAPER TRAIL's coverage of the same story.
Both our audiences are interested in how financial systems fail — we tend to come at it from the investigative journalism side and your readers from a policy and markets angle. I think that's a useful gap to bridge: my readers would benefit from your analysis, and yours might find value in the source-level reporting we do.
I'd like to propose a simple newsletter swap: I feature CAPITAL NOTES to my 14,000 subscribers in an upcoming issue, and you feature PAPER TRAIL to yours. Single-issue, no ongoing commitment — a test to see if the audiences respond.
Would a 15-minute call to discuss this work for you? Happy to share our readership data ahead of time if that's useful.
[Name] PAPER TRAIL
Known Limitations
- The effectiveness of this pitch depends entirely on the quality of the fit between audiences. A technically well-written pitch to the wrong partner will not produce meaningful results.
- The skill cannot verify that the specific account you are approaching is open to collaborations, or that their audience engagement is genuine. Research the target's typical collaboration behaviour before sending.
- This pitch format is appropriate for peer-level collaborations between comparable accounts. Pitching a very large account from a very small one requires a different framing — usually offering something of distinct value (a story, access, an audience characteristic) rather than a simple swap.