Stop Buying Fake Fame

This is a stupid use of your money.

Hi David,

I represent [REDACTED], a PR Agency specializing in featuring industry leaders in top-tier publications, boosting credibility and brand recognition. We’re crafting an article for MSN titled “Top 10 Dynamic Podcasters you can't Miss'' and believe you’d be a great fit.

The article includes 200 - 250 word paragraph, a photo of your choice and links to your social media/website. It will be presented as non-sponsored and you’ll be granted creative input as we write your article. You’ll be featured alongside 9 noteable [sic] Podcasters, reaching MSN's millions of monthly visitors as an authority leader in your industry.

This feature can be showcased on your website, social media, email list, and other marketing materials. You can also use "Top 10 Podcasters on MSN" on your social media and link to the article. Here is an article we did previously:

[REDACTED]

The investment to get featured is $700, which covers the writing fee and related expenses. The article is scheduled to go live in November, 2025. After the payment, we'll send you an onboarding email, including a PR questionnaire which you'll fill and our writing team will draft your part. We'll send it back for your approval, and you can make any edits.

Let me know if you want to move forward and our team can share the contract with you to sign and review the terms and deliverables along with the invoice to make the payment and lock in your spot!

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Paid placement articles on MSN (or elsewhere) behave like ads, not earned media. Readers aren’t idiots and gloss over them.

Even if you do get clicks, the traffic tends to be low-intent and bounces fast, so you’re paying for vanity impressions rather than meaningful engagement or conversions. For most people, the cost per qualified visit ends up being far higher than other options. Beyond this, the halo effect you’d get from true editorial coverage just isn’t there.

Paid placements don’t build authority in search, don’t deepen community with your audience, and rarely get shared organically. You get a spike for a day or two, then nothing.

Contrast this with owned content, newsletters, or partner podcasts, which build relationships and a repeat audience.

If you’re going to spend, there are better places for sustained growth.

TL;DR

Why paid placements (on MSN or elsewhere) aren’t worthwhile:

• Audiences tune them; low trust and low engagement.

• High CPC/CPM relative to the quality of traffic; weak conversion rates.

• Minimal SEO benefit; links are usually nofollow and don’t pass authority.

• Poor targeting controls compared to paid social/search; lots of wasted impressions.

• Limited creative flexibility; your message gets squeezed into a generic template.

• No community impact; zero conversation or repeat touchpoints.

• Short-lived results; traffic spike fades with no compounding effect.

• Limited reporting visibility; hard to attribute or optimize beyond surface metrics.

• Saturation of similar content; your brand blends in with other paid content.

• Opportunity cost; same budget performs better in email, creator partnerships, podcasts, or high-intent search.