"Can you do better on the price?" is not usually about price. It is about risk. A sponsor who has never advertised with you does not know whether $300 will produce anything, and asking for a discount is how uncertainty gets expressed.

Answer the uncertainty and the discount request usually dissolves.

Four answers that hold the number

1. Shorten the commitment instead.

I can't move on $300, but let's do two weeks at $150 so you can see the numbers before committing to a month.

You keep your rate. They lower their risk. Most people take this.

2. Add something that costs you nothing.

Price stays at $300, but I'll include a mention in the newsletter that month.

Unsold inventory is free to give. A discount is not.

3. Trade the discount for duration.

$300 a month, or $810 for three months paid upfront — that's 10% off.

You get predictable revenue and stop re-selling the same slot. They get a real concession.

4. Ask what number works.

What were you thinking?

Half the time the gap is small and you can decide quickly. The other half you learn they were expecting $50, which tells you they are not a fit and saves you three emails.

The one time to just say yes

Your first sponsor. You are not selling a month of inventory, you are buying a case study. Take a low number, deliver well, and use the results to price the next five properly.

After that, hold your rate.

When to walk away

If someone wants a 60% discount, they have valued your audience at a level you should not accept. Taking it does three things, all bad: it sets a reference price for renewal, it makes the slot unavailable to someone who would have paid properly, and it teaches you your inventory is worth less than it is.

Decline politely and keep the slot open.

That's below what I can do, but I'll let you know if that changes. In the meantime the rate card is at [link] if things shift.

Never discount before they ask

Leading with "normally $400 but I could do $300" tells a sponsor your prices are fiction. Quote your number and wait.

What to do when they say the traffic is too small

Sometimes the objection is not price at all.

For 20,000 impressions I'd expect to pay less.

That is a CPM argument, and the answer is relevance. Their alternative is buying the same impressions on a network where the audience is not pre-qualified. You are selling people who are already reading about the exact thing they sell — and there is no other way to buy that.

If they still want network pricing, they want a network. Let them go.

Raise your prices when nobody objects

If every sponsor accepts your rate immediately and nobody ever pushes back, your prices are too low. A little resistance means you have found the edge of what your inventory is worth.