The Project
A local magazine focusing on the local pet lifestyle.
Inspiration
Back in October of 2016, I saw a newsletter that had nothing but pet services and generic black and white ads on regular paper. It featured vets and groomers and pet related ads and some random pet trivia.
Working in the publishing industry, I thought it would be a fun little magazine and wondered if I could turn it into a real, full color glossy magazine. (This is the 5th publication I worked on, the 2nd I launched and the 1st one I did on my own.)
Market Research
The pet newsletter I saw only featured about 10 or so pet ads. I needed to see if there were enough businesses and companies to be able to support a pet magazine.
I found there were close to 120 pet related services in the area, and about 100 pet friendly businesses we could target that were not directly pet related but we could target them anyway (for example a pet friendly restaurant or a landscaper).
I did the math and felt I could launch a quarterly pet lifestyle magazine.
How I Started
First, I came up with the name. I bought the website, designed the media kit (a price guide for our advertisers), and started a facebook page.
I also put out a request for freelance writers to work on the articles and set a budget for that and for graphic design.
I set out on what kind of content I was going to feature and made a mock up magazine.
I paid for a fun summer photoshoot for our cover and made a media kit that looked like the magazine would look like at the end. (a 5.5 x 8.5 size magazine, full color glossy)
By making the media kit as a sample of what the magazine would look like, it was easier to help advertisers visualize the end product.
The media kit was designed reader friendly, easy for the advertiser to understand.
Selling Ads
I only sold 10 ads into my magazine, and even after paying for articles and printing, I broke even on my first issue. I had 10,000 total printed.
The majority of people that didn't advertise actually had nothing to do with budget.
They were just concerned that it was a new magazine and they wanted to see the end product first and now that we have it, it has been easier to actually close advertising deals.
Out of the total 10 ads:
3 were sold without a sales person contact. They were sold from media kits we dropped off and the business owner said "yes" and emailed us. We never actually "met" with them.
4 were sold over facebook.
2 were sold face to face, from visiting the business place.
1 was sold online, after emailing the business.
However, we actually contacted close to 100 businesses, either in person or on the phone. I recently mailed out 50+ media kits with our magazine to the ones that were on the fence about advertising in our first issue, and have another 50 to mail out today.
The Final Product
I created a Pet Summer Guide with safety tips and a Pet Friendly Dining Guide, and even a 4th of July safety guide.
You can see our first issue here: https://joom.ag/msBW
What Went Wrong
I was low on funds and had no money to actually send this to print. I had clients, but they were being billed because it was a first issue.
I wasn't going to get a business loan in time and had maxed out my funds on 3 graphic designers who bailed on me. Had these designers not bailed out on me, and charged me for work that I didn't ask for (one graphic designer charged me for looking up printing places, even though I specifically said I already had a printing company), I would have had funds to send this to print.
When a client called and wanted to advertise the day before the deadline, I made them a great deal if they paid all 4 issues in advance. They accepted! This helped me cover printing and it was a big relief.
I have now billed the rest of our clients and everyone so far, has been happy with the end results and our readers love our dining section.
We will be passing this out all summer and are working on our next issue, which looks like it will be very profitable.
Paws, a Pet Summer Guide (the online version)
Not mentioned here is the personal toll this took to get it to print, mostly personal and family life. My husband was very supportive and honestly, I don't know if our marriage could have survived it he hadn't stepped up to the plate.
[link] [comments]
from Entrepreneur http://ift.tt/2s6Zwef
via IFTTT
add adsense to blogger
how much money do bloggers make? can blogs make money? make money off ads how to get money from blogging? best websites to make money blog adsense income earn from blogging website ideas to make money how websites make money?
No hay comentarios.:
Publicar un comentario