Know-How Exchange : Strategy

I'm assuming you want fresh positioning because you're losing subscribers.

First, have you surveyed your existing subscribers to find out their needs? Do you know their market segmentation to better serve them? Have you been tracking their online searches or looked through the letters/emails you've received to better understand their complaints and wishes? You already have website analytics - what are people looking at?

Add an online subscription form (for free) where you send out an article (or two) regularly. The articles would be in addition to your magazine's content, and would allow you flexibility in targeting prospects with material.

Here is a list of marketing magazines (in the US):
https://www.world-newspapers.com/marketing-magazines.html

Greetings Grzegorz!

Fact: you're one of four publications in your field.

Fact: you're seeking to reposition your magazine.

Fact: you posted 'Ugent -- Need Help Fast'

Inference: your market share is being eroded by competitors and, if it was something you could correct, you wouldn't be posting here. Fair?

I am making a testable assumption that you'd explain the current situation as this . . . "Our competition is growing and our share of the market isn't what we want. Maybe not enough to sustain us over time. As a result, we need to be seen (positioned) as more attractive and valuable than our competitor's publications."

Grzegorz, to 'stand out' or differentiate your publication is must be two things: 1) unique and 2) beneficial.

Unique. This is not difficult. Unless any competitor copies your publication exactly, you'll always be unique relative to your competition. So this is not where you need to focus to better position yourself.

Beneficial. This is trickier. This deals with the ability of your publication to provide what your market wants . . . BETTER . . . or, MORE ATTRACTIVELY to your desired market than your competing publications.

How do you know what makes you better? ASK! Ask the kind of reader you wish to be attractive to . . . your 'target reader' . . . these simple questions:

1. Which publication (list all including yours) do you read?

2. Of those you do read, which do you prefer the most?

3. Why?

From this starting point, seek to understand how that publication stands out ABOVE the others in 1 - 3 ways.

First, what does it do that the reader values or appreciates?

Second, what does it NOT do that the reader doesn't like?

Third, what does it do, that the reader values, but BETTER than the competitors' publications?

Using what you'll learn from this very simple (but therefore powerful and insightful survey format) you'll have the information you need to assess how well your publication is currently able to satisfy the expectations of the market of potential readers.

Next, you want to evaluate your options to make changes in your existing publication to make it MORE attractive to your marketplace than your competitors.

In some cases, you'll find that, for any number of reasons, time, talent or financial resources . . . you lack the ability to make a specific change -- even though, if you did you would become more attractive to your market. You'll have to live with that for the moment.

In the case of other indicated changes -- to do something you're not doing at the moment (but could!) or, to stop doing something you are doing now (and could stop!) or, to do something simply 'better' than you are now . . . you'll see opportunities you CAN take to make meaningful changes and, as a result, improve your ability to attract the market you want.

I urge you to avoid making changes that are not driven by the feedback of your desired marketplace. Whenever I've worked with a company that was 'busy but not productive' it invariably reflected the fact that their choices of what to change came more from within their ranks than from their target market members. That is not wise. Certainly not profitable!!

So 'unique AND beneficial' is the key to becoming increasingly attractive to your desired market of readers. You are already 'unique' . . . now get out and talk with your target market to learn how to create an 'experience' of your publication that will cause your readers to perceive you as (more) beneficial than your alleged competitors!

You can do this Grzegorz. My money's on you!

Best,

Bill

The fact you've joined the community here shows you're on the good track to where you are headed.Spend some time browsing this very website as well as a couple of others like www.marketingguru.co.uk and you will find what problems and questions seem most important these days for marketing people.
Most probably you do not have any detailed web analytics as yet as you start with your webiste now.Pretty late, but easier as you have many sites to learn best practices from.
Ok, what precisely is your problem and is it only your worry or it also affects your competition?What's you market share now as compared to one or two years ago?How do you know you need a different positioning? Maybe you need better content?Who is your target group?Do they still read professional magazines on regular basis or not anymore?
I would say that perhaps you do not have to be so unique, but definitely better and more attuned to what your audience needs.By the way what do you know abt people who read your magazine?Age,profession,gender,location,etc?
Who are the subscribers that you are losing now? What's the ad/sales revenues you got now and how it was , say a year or two years ago?How do you sell you magazine:mostly subscription or newsagents'?
What's your business model?
Last and not least pls take care with closely following in the footsteps of what's the most popular magazine format in the U.S. or Great Britain.The timing is not the same.

Adam

Hi,

I am sure you must be doing good that's why you are able to think in the right way.

I have seen all the links given here for magazine portals but at the end of the day all of them are common. You are using "Edito CMS" and same is other so how are you different from others ?

Help them with some attractive designs, interactive media and things where they get involved into it and YOUR site is more like an addiction for the users.

www.mensxpert.com talks about Mens life style and have some really good information though some other articles too but still gained popularity in just 6 months and they are using their own editor.

Try to do sOmeTHing different and believe me in the beginning it may look odd but the moment it will look odd it will gain popularity.

cheers and best of luck
Gaurav
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