Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

I would focus on better stories, catching magazine covers with brilliant layouts. Sometimes you have to be a bit controversial with your cover stories to stick out.

After that I would focus on migrating the magazine to a digital format - so that you can leverage more advertising dollars or give your current advertisers more bang for their buck.

Sell nothing but advetorials for the first few issues. This will help get you street credit and remove a lot of the doubt in people's heads. After their ad runs give them a framed copy of it. Let it hang on the wall in front of them for approximatly 5 days and then go in and ask for a contract. Other things you can do are find other local companies that are about to launch their product or service and get it out that way.

Approximately two years ago I took a very similar contract job with a start-up publication and over the course of 6 months we were able to product some major results. Circulation went up 300% and our ad sales went up nearly 450%. We did this by teaching our sales staff how to get around everyone of their objections. So, my first tip is don't try to sell them, try to understand thier business FIRST. Then leave without asking them for an advertising package and come back a few days later with an custom tailored package. Get your art department involved in this process. Emotion sells and the more emotion you can build into the sale the easier it is and the fewer objections you will encounter. Also, it's a little late now, but the best time of the year to launch a new publication is in December. You run a great Christmas edition that get's people to pick it up and then start selling Jannuary one before most companies have set their advertising budget.

Next: Who should you be targeting?
If this is a family focused magazine the following are all great options.

Theatres
Churches
Activity Centers (Skating Rinks, bowling alleys, indoor and outdoor amusement parks)

Other ideas: Create FAMILY things to do section.

There are publications in every city that tell you where the best place to party that night is, but rarely a publication that tells you what options to have to take a family out.

Also, don't focus on circulation too many people overprint and that has really become a non-issue.

I hope I've given you some ideas. If you email me I can send over a sales training manual that I developed for this print company I mentioned above.

You can email through my profile.

Thank you,
Joshua D. Crumbaugh
-Marketing Guru-

Jennifer-- these objections are just stalls. they are not the real reason the client isn't buying. I bet you a dollar that they don't get referrals from every place they advertise.

Take this on as a relationship sell. I helped a client launch a magazine and we took similar examples in different cities to prove it is credible. We sold the demographics. Its a little longer sales cycle with an unknown-- but can be overcome. The real reason they are afraid of an unknown is that they've been sold advertising before with a magazine that never published-- but took their dollars.

Carol
Sell Well and Prosper tm

Do you have an online version of the magazine? Online advertisers tend to be a slightly easier sell for new media than print publications in terms of investment (of both time and money). Maybe push to get adverts on the online mag site first to let these potential advertisers test the waters of the market. Once they're comfortable with your reader base and market reach, they may be more inclined to spend money on the print side as well.

Would you be willing to accept trade as payment for the first issue? That's not the preferable form of payment I'm sure, but it'll be a much easier sell the first go.

Comarket your first magazine. As part of your initial distribution, include it with a related, known publication as a freebie. Since you'll now have identical distribution to the comarketed magazine, you can quote their distribution and ad rates, and show what a better deal you'll be giving.

Some great ideas Jennifer. Piggybacking on Jay's idea, maybe you co-market with a grocery chain, or furniture store.

For sure contact WMMA and avail yourself of their expertise!

Good luck!
CVN

Sorry if this is redundant since I haven't read the other postings!

If you're going to print and you want to sell space you should have a sample issue printed up. This would contain the covers and only the pages that would actually have ad space on them. It isn't necessary to have content. This will give potential advertisers a layout of what they will be purchasing. It will also show the quality of paper etc...

This can also double as your rate card in certain circumstances. Obviously this would be very expensive to use as a rate card for mass distribution.

Do you have a website? You can have a lot of this posted to your website in downloadable pdf form. It's also a much more cost-effective way to get your name out there.

To really entice buyers you'll have to cut a huge deal for the first time. Or even "sell" them free ad space and hope that they get a solid ROI. OR you can do both! You want to make sure that you and the company have metrics available to see how successful the ad is.

By giving away ad space for your first issue it enables YOU to pick and choose who you'll think do best in your magazine and thusly wanting to renew with you. Who's going to turn down free advertising?

For starters I would find local businesses within the circulation route that pertain to your magazine and try and sell space to them. Doctor's offices, rec centers, etc...

My desire is to one day move to print but I started a webzine first. Just to see if there was enough popularity to move to print before I invested in the costly undertaking of print.