The Nut · The Creek · Dub C
Put your business in front of Walnut Creek.
Walnut Creek Spotlight is the local newsletter for people who live here. Openings, events, city news, and where to eat this week, in one email every Wednesday morning.
Joey and Danielle at the Locust Street Festival, August 5
WHO READS IT
7,600
subscribers in and around Walnut Creek. The first 5,000 came in under six months.
~29,000
Instagram followers, in a city of 70,012 people.
56–64%
of the list opened the email, across 142 public issues. Most local media averages around 40.
Walnut Creek runs 70,012 residents, a median household income of $130,432, and 33,072 households. About 70% hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and 64% own their home. It is one of the strongest dining and retail downtowns in the East Bay.
Population, income, education, and ownership figures come from U.S. Census QuickFacts. Subscriber and open-rate figures are our own beehiiv reporting, and we will screen-share the live dashboard on any call.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WALNUT CREEK PAYS ATTENTION
We ran our first merch booth at the Locust Street Festival on August 5. It sat off the main drag. We sold out anyway.
When this brand points at an event, a business, a product, locals show up.
HOW ADS WORK HERE
We write your ad. You tell us what you want people to know, we write it in the voice readers already trust, and you approve it before it runs. Readers do not skip past it the way they skip a banner, because it reads like the rest of the issue.
Every placement is tracked with its own link, and reported back to you with real numbers.
Placements run monthly, and renew until you say stop. Four to five issues per month, one advertiser relationship, real data by week four. Lock a quarter and the rate drops. We do not sell one-off ads.
Presenting Sponsor
Top of the issue, one per week. Your image, a headline, about 70 words we write together, and one button. The only sponsor in that position, every Wednesday. No rotation, no sharing.
$1,200 per month · $3,300 per quarter
In-Feed Feature
A block between sections, in the flow of the issue. About 50 words and a link. Two per issue at most.
$700 per month · $1,900 per quarter
Community Board
A short listing in our bulletin-board block, 30 words and a link. Three listings per issue. The simplest way to get in front of the list.
$250 per month · $675 per quarter
Event Listing
A guaranteed line for your event in the This Week section, with your link. Ten-packs are built for venues and event series.
$40 per event · $350 for 10
Category Exclusivity
Add 30% to your rate and your category runs alone. Three-month minimum. One realtor. One dentist. One med spa. No competitor appears in any issue while you hold it.
Instagram Add-On
Pair any placement with the @walnutcreekspotlight account.
Story +$250 · Feed post or reel +$500
THE FOUNDING SIX
Each issue holds exactly six placements. One Presenting Sponsor, two In-Feed Features, three Community Board listings. The first six businesses to sign take the whole issue at 30% off, locked for three months. After that, rate card.
Founding rates come to $840, $490, and $175 per month by placement. First to sign picks first. In return, let us use your name and your results when we talk to the next advertiser.
Six spots. When they are gone, this comes down.
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
Across 142 issues, 56 to 64 percent of this list opened the email. Most local media averages around 40. We will screen-share the live dashboard on any call, no polished deck in between.
Your placement gets its own tracked link. After every issue you get the real numbers, how many opened, how many clicked your unit, and what each click cost you. Within a month you will know what this list is worth to your business, and so will we.
Run your own math. One closed listing at 2.5% on a million dollar home is roughly $25,000 in commission. One kitchen remodel invoices $80,000. A financial advisor who lands one household keeps it for decades. A private school fills one seat and holds the family through graduation. One new dental patient stays for years, a med spa client books every quarter, and a studio membership runs thousands a year. A restaurant that turns one reader into a Friday regular banks that table every single week. Weigh a month of weekly attention against what one new customer pays you.
WHO THIS WORKS BEST FOR
Real estate agents and brokerages. Restaurants and bars. Med spas, dental, and dermatology. Fitness studios. Home services, from landscape to remodel. Financial advisors, mortgage, insurance, and legal. Private schools and camps.
REQUEST A PLACEMENT
Tell us who you are, what you sell, and which placement you want. We reply within two business days with a yes, a no, or a better fit for your budget.
REQUEST A PLACEMENTFive questions, one minute. Prefer to just talk? Reply to any issue or DM @walnutcreekspotlight.
GET WALNUT CREEK IN YOUR INBOX
Walnut Creek Spotlight is written and published in Walnut Creek by Joey and Danielle. Joey grew up here, went to Bancroft, Foothill, and Northgate, and his grandparents opened La Fogata downtown in 1980. Keep repping The Creek.