Sponsored Content

Establish your voice as an industry leader and reach highly engaged future customers through customized editorial content. Window + Door offers opportunities to leverage its audience with a sponsored story that resonates with readers — and draws more eyes on the magazine’s social media channels.

Great Glazing: Full, one-page feature on one of your recent projects.
Product Solution: Full, one-page spotlight highlights your product or service.
Q&A Interviews: Full, two-page spread positions your company as an industry authority (your expert is interviewed by the magazine’s editorial team).
Meet the Expert: Full, one-page feature on one of your company’s subject matter experts.

Contributor Deliverables

In order to create the useful, valuable, sponsored content your core audience wants to consume, the following editorial elements and supporting images are needed for Window + Door’s Great Glazing, Product Solution, Q&A Interview and Meet the Expert features.

Great Glazing

Great Glazing is a regular full-page editorial and case study feature, highlighting a single, notable project. Instead of focusing purely on standalone product specs, the feature breaks down real-world applications of windows and doors by detailing the collaborative effort required to bring a striking design to life.

This feature:

Overviews the project. A narrative explains the project’s background, unique design requirements or structural challenges (such as high thermal performance, oversized or custom openings, or demanding weather and code requirements).
Specifies materials. A breakdown of the exact window and door products, glazing, hardware and components used.
Highlights key players. A structured list credits everyone involved in the supply chain to show the teamwork behind the project.

Required information and materials:

Official name of project.
Location of the project.
Name of the window, door or component supplier.
Name of the artist or architect.
A 250-350 word write-up about the project. The write-up should provide a clear description of the basics of the project, its design, the architect team or supplier, and details on the window and door products. The write-up can also include quotes from company officials about the products, or details on why the innovation is needed in the industry.
Photos of the project. Editors recommend submitting up to three (3) photos, though only one or two will be featured in print. All photos must be print-ready and high resolution (JPG or PNG, at least 1MB in size, 300 dpi at 4x5 inches).
Company logo; print-ready, high-resolution EPS or PNG files preferred.
Company website and phone number (public, for publication).

Note: Please keep to the word count so we don’t have to cut copy during the design/layout stage. Submitted responses will be used as-is or lightly edited for publication. We’ll send a PDF file of the page layout for review when ready, with two business days to submit any revisions.

Product Solution

Product Solution is a full-page sponsored editorial feature functioning as a targeted product spotlight that helps showcase the latest industry innovations directly to decision-makers. Instead of a generic advertisement, the feature is structured like an editorial case study, emphasizing how a specific product or service solves a common operational, aesthetic or safety challenge faced by industry professionals.

This feature:

Addresses a core problem. An opening breakdown of a persistent industry problem.
Highlights key features. A structured bulleted breakdown of the technical specifications, performance ratings and warranty information.
Applies use cases. A deep dive into where the product works best, ranging from commercial applications to residential spaces.
Details support and procurement. Information on customer service pipelines, training resources or online procurement stores.

Required information and materials:

Official name of product.
A 250-350 word write-up about the product. The write-up should provide a clear description of the product, its characteristics, and its use and applications. The write-up can also include quotes from company officials about the product, or details on why the innovation is needed in the industry.
A list of 2-4 “key features” of the product. These key features should be brief (5-10 words).
Photos of the product. Editors recommend submitting up to three (3) photos, though only one or two will be featured in print. All photos must be print-ready and high resolution (JPG or PNG, at least 1MB in size, 300 dpi at 4x5 inches).
Company logo; print-ready, high-resolution EPS or PNG files preferred.
Company website and phone number (public, for publication).

Q&A Interview

The Q&A Interview feature is a specialized, two-page sponsored content format. The structure of a Q&A Interview feature bridges the gap between pure product marketing and educational journalism. Instead of traditional, text-heavy advertisements, the feature uses a conversational interview layout to position a company’s leadership as technical problem-solvers.

The overall goal of the Q&A Interview feature is educational, promoting a company’s overall work, mission or brand, and including useful, actionable information by tapping into the insights, experience and opinions of company executives and innovators. A two-page spread in the middle of the magazine (directly following the features), the Q&A Interview starts by framing your company, who you are and what you do. We then funnel the information down into three distinct parts.

The first part educates the reader on the company, its heritage and what your overall mission is. The second portion focuses on larger industry trends or issues that you’re seeing right now, and your insights. The third section laser-focuses on how your company, processes and/or products have addressed these trends/issues, and you give a little advice or insight on how the audience can implement your solutions into their own situations.

This feature offers:

The conversational interview. A guided discussion consisting of direct questions from the magazine’s editors, answered by a designated company leader or technical expert.
Problem-to-solution framing. Rather than just reciting raw technical specs, the dialogue explicitly emphasizes why an innovation is needed in the industry, such as reducing factory lead times or meeting extreme weather requirements.
Rigorous background processes. The interview is frequently used to break down complex background processes, including in-house quality assurance, impact-cycle testing and certified engineering standards to establish buyer trust.
High-resolution imagery. The layout embeds clear product photography, engineering graphics or real-world installation photos alongside the text to illustrate the solutions discussed.

Required information and materials:

Photos that pair well with the Q&A topic. Editors recommend submitting up to three (3) photos, though only one or two will be featured in print. All photos must be print-ready and high resolution (JPG or PNG, at least 1MB in size, 300 dpi at 4x5 inches).
Captions that detail the content of the images. Include any copyright or photo credit.
Interviewee’s professional headshot; print-ready, high-resolution files preferred (JPG or PNG, 300 dpi or higher).
Company logo; print-ready, high-resolution EPS or PNG files preferred.

Note: We’ll send a PDF file of the page layout for review when ready, with two business days to submit any revisions.

Meet the Expert

Meet the Expert is a promotional and educational program designed to put an organization’s people front and center rather than focusing strictly on their products or logos. Each profile invites experts to share their top areas of expertise, and pull back the curtain on what their companies actually do. It’s part industry education, part thought leadership — and wholly human.

This feature acts as a pre-show event marketing campaign, often tied to major National Glass Association industry gatherings like the Building Envelope Contractors Conference (BEC), NGA Glass Fabricator Conference (GFAB) and GlassBuild America.

This feature:

Humanizes the industry. It highlights individual subject matter experts who solve complex strategic, technical and business leadership problems for window and door manufacturing customers on a daily basis.
Highlights thought leadership & education. Part industry education and part thought leadership, the profiles pull back the curtain on what companies actually do, showcasing the technical depth behind the brand.
Promotes networking. Each profile invites experts to outline their primary areas of expertise, giving readers a tangible reason to seek them out for face-to-face consultations during industry trade shows and conferences.

Required information and materials:

Name, professional title and bio of selected company expert.
Expert’s years in the industry and three (3) areas of expertise.
Ten (10) questions designed to elicit an expert’s industry insights, thought leadership and education behind the company’s brand.
Expert’s professional headshot; print-ready, high-resolution files preferred (JPG or PNG, 300 dpi or higher).
Company logo; print-ready, high-resolution EPS or PNG files preferred.

Note: Submitted responses will be used as-is or lightly edited for publication. We’ll send a PDF file of the page layout for review when ready, with two business days to submit any revisions.

Contributor Guidelines

Readers want to feel they’re getting something of value when they engage with print and digital content and sponsored content offers an established way to offer that value. Like many publications, Window + Door offers sponsored content that taps into the insights, experience and opinions of industry executives, innovators and thought leaders and offers a great way to get your company and brand in front of your target audience. We already have a loyal following with your target audience, which means we have a reputation for providing the useful, valuable content your core audience wants to consume.

When managed well, sponsored content can be beneficial for you (the sponsor), us (the publisher) and the audience. Here are five main things to keep in mind:

Know your goals

Before even starting, consider what you’re trying to achieve. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Build your reputation online? Establish thought leadership? Once you know what you’re trying to achieve, it will be easier for you to start working toward your objectives.

Know your audience

Don’t jump in until you’ve established who your audience will be and what is important to them. If you don’t, you won’t be able to produce content that resonates with them. Besides general demographics, identify the goals, interests and pain points of your ideal target audience. What do they want to learn more about? What problems are they facing? Their interests and needs will shape the type of content you create, and the more it resonates with them, the more effective it will be.

Provide real value

It’s not enough for your sponsored content to just be interesting or entertaining: it needs to provide real value. This means that your sponsored content should include useful, actionable information. Your goal should be learning what your audience needs/wants and then providing that information in a way that’s valuable to them. If you can add value, you are more likely to get people interested in your content. It also can be a way of building trust and authority by being seen as an industry expert. If what you share is valuable enough, some people will go to your website where they can act on what they’ve learned.

Create mutual dialogue

Sponsored content should sound like it comes from a knowledgeable friend, not a salesperson. You want to create a conversation that makes people want to hear more and ask questions. Sponsored content works best when it sounds like your audience is having a discussion with you. They’ll be more likely to engage if they feel like they are really talking to someone who understands them — someone who knows their frustrations or their needs.

Tell a compelling story

Sponsored content isn’t just a different medium for your corporate marketing messaging. It’s a way to show your authenticity, inspire and/or educate readers, and make your brand relatable. This is your chance to position your brand as a helpful resource and authority on a given topic. Use great headlines that evoke emotion (curiosity, humor or fear of missing out). Start with a message you want to share, make it authentic, inspire emotion, and keep it simple (details should be interesting and well-placed).