Printed mag or e-mag

[jen]

First of all just like to say Happy 2006 to everyone at UKBF. I hope you drunk all the beer, ate all the mince pies and had a fab xmas and new year celebration. :lol: Well I ate all the mince pies anyway, lots of dd cream hmmm yummy!


Ok back to work. Some advice or ideas on how to approach and implement a printed mag or an e-mag idea we've been working on. We know printed mags cost a lot and competitive market too but the magazine we're planning is specifically aimed at particular readers and not just a general mass number of public readers. We want to start low and grow it organically so to speak not a nationwide glossy mag but more of a localised community information type of magazine.

We're thinking if we could get a back up or sponsorship to help with us the cost maybe from a local firm, organisation etc. then it would help us a great deal but how is this possible or how is this done?

On the other hand how about if we go for an online type magazine - we thought this way it's kind of a test marketing, build up the readers number and hopefully local businesses will start to advertise with us when they see that we have subscribers, readers. The thing is that local businesses are so used to just advertising on their local newspaper that if you approach them with a new publication you sound alien to them - oh yes only if its free then they would advertise - amazing!

We did print pilot issues just to see how it goes- we had great response from places who would distribute them but sadly not good enough response from paying advertisers. Could be that we didn't have the expert sales people to follow up the sales ad.

Any advice, tips would be greatly appreciated. If someone here's who's maybe also printed a local community mag and wouldn't mind sharing some do's and don'ts would be grateful to hear from you.

Thank you so much

[clairemackaness]

Have a chat with Freecyber mag, he seems to have nailed it.

Why not offer advertising free for the first month to prove to businesses it works. You will obviously need to make sure that they keep a running total of enquiries though.

[Real World Hypnotherapy]

Jen

I would do it online and not have it printed if I were you. What I would do is have mini flyers printed instead to promote the e-zine, that way they never do out of dates as they just promote the website.

It is much faster, easier and cheaper to do an e-zine than a magazine. I have worked with a lot of music e-zine editors, they always say it is much easier to have a professional e-zine rather than magazine. I have sold a lot of mini flyers to these people and bands and that really puts their subscribers up.

Drop me a line and I will help you sort it.

Matt

[RedArc]

Hi Jen,

We tested out a local magazine last year but received a poor response on advertising and didn't go ahead. Most of the businesses said that even though our rates were good, they'd no budget or that they only advertised in the Yellow Pages etc. We did get some interest but not enough to pay for the print-run. That said, there are people who are doing well with community magazines and I think if we'd had a bit more money to get us through the first few issues and a good advertising sales person on the team, then it would have worked.

I think it helps if you are known in the local business community so that you can get that initial support. Once the magazine is established, then advertising revenue should be fairly stable as businesses will realize the effectiveness of local magazine advertising.

Alternatively, it may be more cost effective to start off with an e-magazine but it depends upon your target audience. If it's a local magazine then how many local people are online? Would these people look online to find out about local services, businesses etc? It may be worth doing some market research with your target readership and get an idea whether they would prefer a print or online magazine.

Although we didn't pursue it further, publishing a local printed magazine definitely has loads of potential for readers and advertisers alike. It is obviously more expensive though with printing and delivery to sort out!

Wish you all the best with the project and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Carol

[jen]

Happy New Year Claire,

Thanks for the advice. Yes that's what we're thinking offer free ad at first.

Hi Carol, thank you for great info and advice. I know what you mean people always tend to shy away from new publication ow we don't have the budget etc. but if its free we'll take it up., although they're being charge rocket high with their usual medium I think it's only because people are just used to what they've been doing whether it's bringing them real benefit or not they'll stick at it as they feel it's a hassle to switch to another or that ow they're new etc..etc..

We're warming up to the idea of online resource site still have a lot of ideas to think through.

The only thing I feel is that isn't it harder to get advertisers for online mag/resource esp if your website is new as they would need to see number of visitors at first before paying for any type of ads but at least with mag they could see the finish product for themselves.

How do online directories get their first advertisers on board if they don't have any visitors yet as they've only just started?

I saw some info about these million dollar pages, I know it's been all over the net but why was it such an impact to consumers - sorry if I'm missing something here - :? I'm just trying to understand the concept - I've seen so many online directories which to me have more information on actual products and services listed on their site than the just a pixel on tiny pages, how and why did they have this million visitors and ads on their site? If I've missed something apology in advance - must have been the mince pies over xmas. :lol:

Matt - thank you so much for top advice - Matt is so helpful and have come up with great ideas.

Thank you

[Real World Hypnotherapy]

Welcome

Remember when you need business cards and/or mini flyers, come to us.

Matt, MK Printing

[RedArc]

Hi Jen,

It's difficult isn't it but if you can get past the first few issues, then it can start working out.

I think the problem with the online resource is that you'd need to start building traffic before advertisers will come on board. I'm not sure how profitable local magazine websites are so it's worth doing further research.

Personally, I would prefer to receive a printed magazine (as a reader) and would sooner advertise in a printed magazine (as a business) ... but that's just my opinion.

As for the million dollar pages ... like you, I'm also curious as to how they get their advertisers ... not only to the site but to actually buy the space. I think the guy who has nearly made his million gained a great deal of publicity in mainstream publications and television, which always helps.

Best of luck with your venture!

Carol