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Tucson Love Letter at a glance
Tucson Love Letter helps community members and small businesses thrive with free-to-read stories about Tucson life, told through the lens of journalism. We take a community-first approach to tell stories that reflect Tucson’s diversity, including a concerted effort to reach Gen Z and younger millennials.
We help Tucsonans fall in love with Tucson, but aren’t a conventional news outlet. We go beyond traditional journalism to offer creative hands-on projects in collaboration with small businesses to help the community at large.
After business expenses and overhead costs, proceeds will go back into the community to support small businesses, local organizations and events. Supporting Tucson Love Letter helps Tucson thrive!
The need
Before launching, we received feedback from 81 Tucsonans.
- 64% want more positive stories in the news about local businesses, events, culture and people helping people.
- 53% feel news outlets are not representing themselves or people in disadvantaged communities positively.
- Financial barriers stand in the way of 30% of Tucsonans who want to support local. Financial barriers are the No. 1 barrier.
- 18% say a barrier to supporting local events and businesses is that they don’t hear of them.
Work with us
We currently have three revenue streams:
Advertising — Because we are newly launched and don’t yet have analytics to provide, pricing is flexible. Send an email our way and we can discuss the best options. When analytics are available, we’ll include them here!
- Website ads — ad placements in several areas of our website, including two on the homepage; ads stay active for 1 week minimum
- Website section sponsors — ad placement in the top of a section landing page on our website; ads stay active for 1 month
- Sponsored event listings — high position in our event calendar; ads stay active for 1 week minimum
- Email newsletter — your ad featured in one of our weekly newsletters
- Sponsored stories — story written by us to attract an audience you hope to reach (stories are not about the sponsor); your ad is also placed in the story
- Sponsored Instagram Reel — Reel produced by us to attract an audience you hope to reach (Reels are not about the sponsor); 2 sentences of branding language in the caption + your name on screen
Collaborative projects — Tucson Love Letter takes a hands-on approach with small businesses to facilitate collaborative projects ranging from events to creative promotions. If you’re a small-business owner who has been dreaming of a project but are stretched too thin to make it happen on your own, let’s chat! We offer our collaboration services on a donation basis.
Donations — Tucson Love Letter accepts financial contributions of any size. Donors can be placed on an email list to receive perks such as discounts at local shops and access to giveaways. Those who contribute $2,500 or more also receive their logo on Tucson Love Letter’s “About” page.
Who is behind this?
Tucson Love Letter founder Gloria Knott was born and raised in Tucson and has a deep love for her hometown. She graduated from the University of Arizona and spent seven years as a journalist at the Arizona Daily Star, including four years as editor of #ThisIsTucson where she led efforts in reporting, newsletters, social media and event planning.
When corporate cuts slashed the newsroom, often leaving staff with too much on their plates and a hole in coverage, Gloria found herself overwhelmed and wanting to do more for the community.
Get in touch
If you’re interested in any of the above options, get in touch! If you have any other ideas, we’re all ears: gloria@tucsonloveletter.com
