Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Dear abbaspepsico,

Will this be an online magazine (a subscription-based website with premium content?). Or will it be a print magazine?

You also need to clarify your statement "I am in to publishing [the] business and publish [publishing?] [some kind of] business directory".

Is this a vague interest? Or do you have solid experience in publishing, or some kind of a professional background in business publishing and have decided that now is the time to go out on your own?

These might sound like trivial points but your success or failure could well depend on one or all of them. I have an interest in the RAC Lombard Rally. But that does not qualify me to get behind the wheel of some souped up death trap and drive along winding, twisting rough forrest roads at 85 miles per hour.

Print magazines are currently feeling the pinch from declining ad sales. Condé Nast has recently lost over 8,000 ad pages (and the revenue that goes with them) from its collection of magazines.

How will you sell advertising space, and to whom? Who will respond to those ads? Who will your readership be? Where? In what sector of which business?

With magazines there was a time when they were springing up
like weeds. In many cases, this may no longer be true. Before you invest it's CRUCIAL to investigate the profitability of your niche.

The days of putting something out there and thinking "If you build it, they will come" are, in many areas, over. The more specific you can be regarding your audience the better.

You must pick a niche that interests you or that you know about
and are passionate about and you must go narrow and deep. Your passion will then come through in the content.

No passion = no compelling content.

No compelling content = no interest from readers.

No interest from readers = no audience for advertisers.

No advertisers = no revenue.

Address each of these things, pick a niche, and carry out small tests to check on the viability of something bigger. If you get interest from readers, you just might be onto a winner. If you don't, you may want to change your direction.

You must pick a market that's interested in buying the thing you are selling. You must NOT sell to a market that you hope will buy. The former has within it the seeds of success—if you work at it.

The latter is a recipe for disaster.

I hope this helps. Good luck to you.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

Who will advertise?
Companies who provide resources to marketing professionals...
Companies like - ConstantContact, GoToMeeting, DimDim, advertising agencies, and a whole lot more.

:) Some good answers above.

One question eveyone forgot to ask is - What territory will this magazine be aimed at?

US Market?
Indian market?
Philippines market?

Each one is different, doifferent demographics and different potential advertisers.

Before askinh who will advertise, you need to know WHO will read it??

IN my experience, magazines such as 'Architectural digest' are not read by architects but by avid amateurs wishing for a big home.

Popular Science is not read by scientists... you get my point.

Will marketers read your magazine?? probably not. Maybe marketing students and collegfe professors will read it.

Who else? I'm not sure.

Figure out first who your target market for the content is and the rest will follow.

Niche magazines can work in a big market like the US but not in the Philippines.

For instance, in the Philippines you may have 1 magazine called sport fishing (very small distribution) whereas in the US you can support specialised magazines on every kind of fishing - Salmon fishing, deep sea fishing, trout angling, fly fishing etc. etc. amazing.

I hope these thoughts are helpful.

Good luck,

Matthew