Reston company to handle ads for Washington Times email list

The Washington Times announced Thursday it has hired Reston-based TMA Direct to sell advertisements for its fast-growing email list, which recently reached more than 1 million subscribers.

The Times’ national email file has grown from 100,000 subscribers at the beginning of the year to more than 1 million followers outside of the Beltway and another 500,000 in the District and nearby Virginia and Maryland, according to company executives, which The Times hopes to market to political, advocacy and retail organizations looking to advertise with the newspaper.

“Email has become one of our fastest growing engagement platforms, with more than 1 million new subscribers to our newsletters in the first half of this year alone,” Larry Beasley, president and CEO of The Washington Times, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to be partnered with TMA Direct, the global standard for email file management.”

TMA Direct specializes in direct marketing campaigns, such as email marketing. With direct marketing, companies can communicate directly with consumers through email, text messaging and social media platforms, as opposed to traditional print, television, radio and even Internet advertising. TMA Direct already manages the print subscriber files for The Times, and will be expanding its partnership with the newspaper to also include email marketing.

“We are very excited to be expanding our relationship with The Washington Times,” TMA Direct CEO and President Mike Murray said in a statement. “The executive team at The Times has an ambitious new digital-first strategy and TMA Direct is thrilled to be an integral partner in helping achieve their marketing goals.”

TMA handles direct marketing for a number of high-profile clients, including Verizon, Volkswagen, the American Humane Association, Panasonic, the National Rifle Association, Sallie Mae, and National Review.

This comes on the heels of a shake-up in the management of The Times. On Monday, the newspaper announced it hired former Times editor and investigative journalist John Solomon to come back and replace the outgoing David S. Jackson as executive editor. Mr. Solomon will also lead the newspaper’s business operations. The Times also announced it is extending the contract of Mr. Beasley through the end of 2015.