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EVENTS
Niche Digital Conference
Chicago
September 20-21
100% focused on the digital revenue side of your media business.
Register Now!
Online Revenue Workshop
Dallas - October 18
Atlanta - October 20
100% digital one-day sales training workshop
Register Now!
Camp Niche
Los Angeles
November 8-9
100% specifically about MAGAZINE AD SALES TRAINING for print and online sales!
Register Now!
Niche Magazine Conference
February 14-15, 2011
Austin, TX
Only event in the world just for publishers of "target audience"
magazines. 100% new revenue generating sessions!
SUCCESS STORY OF
THE MONTH
Our BerkshireGreen™ Gets Greener with The Magazine Manager®
Going green is nothing new to Our BerkshireGreen™ the quarterly holistic/green magazine and resource guide for Berkshire
County, Massachusetts. The magazine uses vegetable-based ink on Forest
Stewardship Council certified paper. It truly is the voice of its
community, with editorial content coming directly from members of the
community. In addition, www.OurBerkshire
Calendar.com is free community
resource for local organizations, governments and individuals to post their events.
Patty Strauch, Sales Representative and Event
Coordinator, says The Magazine Manager software has helped them "Walk the Walk" about going green.
They've eliminated paper from printing and mailing by invoicing and accepting payments electronically, shaving off 90% of the time it used to take. Uploading and storing documents in The Magazine Manager has also reduced paper. Salespeople with no prior database experience adapted quickly to the web-based system and found it made their jobs more efficient, enabling them to track, contact and follow up on more clients.
Publisher Kathy Regan can now spend her time pursuing her passions of creating new community projects, expanding the business and working on creative layout for the print magazine and website, being green all along the way.
To view a demo of The Magazine Manager, call Cyndy Ryan at
(877) 256-0362 or visit www.MagazineManager.com.
NICHED OUT MAGAZINE OF
THE MONTH
RollerCoaster
Are you into roller coasters? Do you reeaallly love them?
Then American Coaster Enthusiasts is your group! This non-profit organization's quarterly magazine RollerCoaster! features in-depth articles
on roller coasters and amusement parks, from the early years over a
century ago to the very latest scream machines opening today.
RollerCoaster! includes a membership into this recognized group of coaster fanatics. In addition to page after page of all the wild goings on in the world of roller coasters, ACE creates great events all over the U.S. each year where coaster lovers convene to promote and enjoy roller coasters together. Coaster field trips even go international! The organization also promotes the preservation of old historic parks and roller coasters. Sound cool? Step right up for your next ride!
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Ad Sales Mania!
IT'S SELLING SEASON!
It is almost September -- in the ad sales business that
means it's selling season. Very soon your customers will be
preparing their advertising budgets for next year. If you want
a good chance of getting their business, you need to have a
proposal on their desk during the budgeting process.
The goal of doing proposals for your customers and prospects
is that you will get signed contracts for the year for 60% - 70% of
your sales goal before the year starts. When you have that much
business already signed, it leaves plenty of time during next
year to prospect and to sell individual issues.
Here's 5 Tips for a Happy Ad Sales Season:
- Customer Gifts: I know that the holiday season is the normal time to send a customer a gift. But we send gifts right after Labor Day. You need to get your clients in the right mood to sign that big contract. It doesn't have to be expensive. Send them a logo-ed coffee mug filled with Jelly Bellies -- people love it! You can always consult with Grand Poobah Carl about sending cats!
- Rate Protection Program: Guarantee special rates and complete programs with extras providing they commit by a deadline. We don't wheel-and-deal on the price, but we can offer a terrific program to everyone provided they commit NOW.
- Ad Sales Promotions: Build a promotional campaign around the Rate Protection program. Send out weekly promotions via email and in the mail with a countdown to the incentive program deadline. Make it fun and they will read it all.
- Proposals. Put together a written proposal for every account based on their goals for the year. If you don't know their goals, don't guess. CALL AND ASK. Amazingly, most advertisers will tell you their marketing goals and will even share their budgeted numbers if you're doing a good job in communicating with them.
- Get Aggressive: Push hard now. If you're doing your job right you will sell 60% - 70% now with year-long contracts. This is hard work, but will payoff BIG TIME for the rest of the year!
Make selling fun and easy for your clients! This is a great time of the year where we ad sales people shine the brightest!!! |
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The Digital Oz
Growing Revenue With Social Media
When it comes to social media, most magazine publishers
struggle with one simple fact: how do I make any money
with social media? With a little work you can whip your
social media into shape, make money, and integrate your
social media with your other products and revenue streams.
For your Facebook page (you have one, right?), use Facebook
ads to increase your number of fans fast. The bigger your
Facebook audience, the more of your target market you
can reach.
Create new tabs on Facebook to highlight advertisers' product debuts or specials. If you do not know how to do this, do a quick Google search. Use those tabs to create robust HTML pages that are strong for your advertiser.
When doing a product debut, be sure to offer a giveaway to drive the fans into the tab. The offer should only last a maximum of about 7 days. Collect emails from all giveaways and do not announce the winner via email. Make the user come back.
For your Twitter account, use tweets as a part of an ad package to add value. Tell advertisers that if they buy from you, you can tweet a link to your web site or to your ad. Make sure you charge for these things. You have a CAPTIVE audience. Give nothing away for free!
To keep your audience, keep your content relevant. Your fans will be as loyal to you as you are to them. Do not make your fans mad by pushing material that isn't appropriate for your target audience. Give them new, fresh material that is 100% relevant.
Social media MUST be a part of your new ad packages or you will miss out. Do not become guilty of paralysis by analysis -- DO IT! If you think about things too long you will always find a reason to not do it.
Email tip of the month:
Email Newsletter Etiquette
Email newsletters have become common practice for publishers, but
not all of them practice good newsletter etiquette. Here are a
couple of the email newsletter violations we see most frequently:
Leading with a logo, not a headline
The top 1-2 inches of your email newsletter is your most precious
real estate. So don't waste it with a massive header image.
Entice subscribers to read further with your lead story or latest
video.
No navigation
It's expected that most newsletters will be content heavy. But
make it an easier read for your subscribers. Provide jump links
to article categories or a TOC at the top of your newsletter.
And be sure to include "back to top" jump links at the
end of each article or category.
Would you like a free email newsletter audit? Send your
html newsletter to the Design Squad.
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NICHE NOTES
Hey Niche Heads,
My colleague and good friend Nancy O wrote an article about getting
ready for selling season. It reminds me of old times when I was a
publisher / ad director / garbage man (I'm sure many of you can
relate). Since all my magazines were national magazines, our
advertisers were located everywhere. During selling season I used
to come in at 6:00 AM PST and make all my East Coast calls. The
advertisers would always say, "what time is it there now?" and
I'd cheerfully say 6:15 AM or whatever and totally guilt them
into advertising. It worked. My goal was to sell 3 ad programs
before the rest of the staff came in at 9:00 AM.
I can't believe it, but I've been teaching Camp Niche for 10 years! I've made many great friends at my many "camps"
over the years. We're retuning to Los Angeles this November.
And since I love new events, we've got a new one this Fall. Ryan
Dohrn keeps on talking about this Internet thing. (Heard of it?)
So, we're putting together new 1-day Workshops just about selling online products related to your magazine.
It should be a blast!
Speaking of new, don't forget to enter the first-ever Digital Nichee Awards.
Enjoy the rest of your summer!
Carl
Grand Poobah
carl@nichemediahq.com
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Join top audience development professionals at CircDayLA on October 7th in Los Angeles. Come for informative sessions from experts; lunch, cocktails, and a powerful networking opportunity! Learn new strategies for online marketing, social media, digital magazines, audit changes, and much more. Register before 9/15/10!
Find out more about CircDayLA |
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