A Small – But Mighty – Nonprofit’s Publication Hits the Big Time with a New Subscription Plan

May 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment


BibArc

With Mequoda’s digital publishing know-how, this small nonprofit found new revenue in its publications.

One of several Mequoda Group nonprofit clients, The Biblical Archaeology Society was founded in 1974 as a nondenominational, educational organization dedicated to the study of archaeology in the Bible lands. In the 21st century, Mequoda has guided it to a brilliant strategy for monetizing its content online and generating entirely new revenues.

How? The Biblical Archaeological Society now offers not one, but two digital subscriptions. One is for its legacy print publication, Biblical Archaeology Review. And they manage to sell a healthy number of online magazine subscriptions at $19.95 for six issues per year.

The other subscription is for their massive library, including more than 6,600 articles from 35 years of Biblical Archaeology Review. The library even includes articles from two magazines they no longer even publish: 20 years’ worth of Bible Review and eight years of Archaeology Odyssey. That makes for a truly valuable product that appeals to researchers, scholars, archaeologists and Bible history aficionados. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Online Revenue, Publishing Management Tagged With: , , , ,

Master Your Magazine’s Financials! Our 7-Part Cost Management Series Summed Up

May 1, 2013 By Leave a Comment


Is carefully examining and monitoring a magazine’s financial operation the FUN part of publishing? Probably not—at least for most of us.

financial-success

Jim’s 7 part-financial series will help you keep your biz profitable and on track.

But really knowing your numbers and understanding how they interplay will help you survive and thrive in today’s ever-changing publishing landscape.

By now you have most likely read our financial guru’s previous posts in our 7-part financial series. Jim Zielinski has shown you how to evaluate where your magazine is now and what important steps you can take to reduce costs and improve the bottom line for your business. We’d love to hear from publishers what other tactics they have used to reduce costs and make more efficient and profitable magazines. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Publishing Management Tagged With: , ,

3 Things Your Magazine is Not Doing with Social Media (That You Actually Already Do!)

April 29, 2013 By Leave a Comment


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3 easy ways to share with your readers
–that you actually are already doing!

You are the editor of a small-to-medium-sized publication with a limited staff.

You are already stretched thin filling the magazine.

Then came your website.

Then came Facebook. Twitter. Pinterest. And more. Using these social media outlets takes time, attention, and content.

“Where am I going to find the content?” you ask. “Where am I going to find the time to post it?”

Surprise! You’re already doing it! Here’s three easy ways to integrate what you already do with your magazine’s social media: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Audience Development, Featured, Publishing Management, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

How Niche Magazine Publishers can Evaluate and Manage Organizational Costs

April 24, 2013 By 1 Comment


The thing about niche magazine publishers is that they usually don’t know many other niche magazine publishers. That makes managinID-10093044g organizational expenses and setting budget goals challenging – there isn’t someone else to compare yourself with. How much should you be spending on editorial or overhead? Are there easy ways to bring down other major expenses? Does it all make your head throb?

Never fear! Here’s 5 ideas from Jim Zielinski to get your started measuring and managing organizational expenses:

1.  Editorial: It’s about more than ad/editorial ratios! You also have to look at your editorial costs on their own. A good guideline is at least 100 editorial pages per editor per year with a cost of about $1000 per page.  That is the cost for a real life B2B magazine and also has editors committing about 20% of their time to on-line activities. If you are below this benchmark, take a hard look at your editorial process. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Publishing Management Tagged With: , ,

Top New Marketing Channels Niche Publishers Need to Try

April 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment


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Niche media companies need to be on the lookout for new channels!

What’s coming up next in the niche magazine world? Of course, we all want to know what to look for in the ever-changing brandscape of magazine marketing. The more we can anticipate change the better prepared we’ll be to meet the challenges and also capitalize on opportunities. In this third part of our interview with Jeff Rohrs, Marketing and Social Media guru and popular Niche Magazine Conference speaker, Jeff lays out the new marketing channels that niche magazine publishers need to check out.

Niche Media:  What channels should niche magazine publishers be investigating?

JR:   If you have the budget to explore some new emerging channels, you should experiment with them and measure the results. It will give you the ability to niche your niche even further. Here are some new channels to try: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Audience Development, Featured, Online Revenue, Publishing Management, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,

Let Your Audience Tell Your Media Company What to Do

April 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment


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Know the right new media for your magazine by asking your audience.

How do you determine which new media your magazine should jump into? Very often media companies venture into the vast unknown of the media frontier because they feel they have to or they will be seen as an Old Dog. (Shudder.) Or as a company that is not keeping up with the times.  (Wince.)

I often think that my clients launch out into new projects based on how they “feel” about it and NOT based on what the reader, viewer or listener is demanding.  For example, one of my B2B publishing clients  in the oil and gas sector launched out into Pinterest.  They were so proud.  They spent a ton of time (which means money) on the project.

They were in love with what they did.  So in love that when readers did not immediately begin pinning and purchasing, they were very hurt.  “What’s wrong with my readers?” the publisher said… “Pinterest is so cool!”  Yes, Pinterest is cool. And it works very well for some B2C, B2B and Association magazines.

But when I asked about the feedback from his most recent reader survey, he responded… “Those are too expensive.”  [Read more...]

Filed Under: Ad Sales, Audience Development, Featured, Online Revenue, Publishing Management, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

Media Company Financials: Managing Employee Benefit Costs

April 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment


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Employee benefits is a key area of your magazine’s financials.

Let’s face it–sometimes the financials of a publishing organization can get kinda tricky.  You have to look at ways to reduce costs where you can and always try to become more efficient. We’ve been sharing Jim Zielinski’s 6-part Financial Series with you over the last several weeks to help you know where to start, where to look, how to save on costs.

You can also reduce costs through carefully evaluating employee benefits. No one wants to reduce employee benefits. This is more about finding ways to reduce the costs so your magazine’s operation becomes more profitable and stable for the long term. These cost-saving measures are not necessarily Jim’s recommendation for your niche magazine. These are just some of the options publishers have.

A successful magazine is what everyone wants! [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Publishing Management Tagged With: , , ,

Take Your City/Regional Magazine to the Next Level with Creative Content Partnerships!

April 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment


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With creative content partnerships, everybody wins!

Here’s a fun idea to get your creative juices flowing for new ways to take your city or regional magazine to the next level – explore your niche for opportunities to form creative content partnerships. It’s a kind of collaborative marketing Andrew Davis calls brandscaping.

Sound intriguing? Check out this story of how a city magazine in Detroit created a calendar and got the whole city (including a college and Ford Motor Company) in on the act!

Now that you’re full of inspiration, what content partnerships can YOUR city or regional magazine dream up?

Have your own great examples of successful brandscaping? Share with us on Facebook or Twitter.

*************

Niche Media has created super niched-out events specifically for magazine publishers for over 12 years. We’ve helped pave the way for the era of boutique events that connect specific audiences and provide great educational, friendly and super-fun environments! Plus, Carl Landau – Niche Media’s Grand Poobah – just launched a blog all about creating and marketing targeted events - blog.NicheEventNation.com  Check it out!

- Twitter: @NicheMediaHQ
- Facebook: NicheMediaHQ
- LinkedIn: Niche Media Network
- YouTube: NicheMediaHQ

Image from freedigitalphotos.net

Filed Under: Featured, Publishing Management Tagged With: , , , , ,

Financials: Benchmarks to Measure (and Improve!) Your B2B Magazine’s Profitability

April 10, 2013 By Leave a Comment


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Know the right benchmarks to measure your B2B magazine’s profitability.

In B2B publishing, accurate and real-world benchmarks are key to measuring the profitability (and success) of your business. Where do you start and what are accurate benchmarks most relevant to B2B niche magazine publishing?

Here are some of financial whizard Jim Zielinski’s sample financial benchmarks using the example of a profitable $1.2 million B2B magazine publisher:

 Revenue                                                                     100%

 Expenses:

Sales                                                           20%
Editorial                                                     20%-22%
Production                                                 10%-15% [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Publishing Management Tagged With: , , ,

Media Buyer Personalities: Dealing with Mr. Love

April 9, 2013 By 1 Comment


Many media buyers cleverly have developed QUIRKY personalities as a smoke screen to get you out of their office or off the phone as fast as possible. Sound familiar? Some of them, of course, are genuinely just weird. In any event, you need to form a strategy to deal with these personality types, build a rapport, and eventually sell them an advertising program. Ready? Your first step in selling an advertising package is to understanding media buyer personality types. Only then can you create a strategy to get your foot in the door.

Some general media buyer personalities I have identified are: Too Busy Bob, Savvy Susan, Numbers Nancy and Mr. Love. Today we’re going to take a look at “Mr. Love.”  Mr. Love is the most frustrating one to me. Mr. Love loooves you, your magazine, your audience, your website, your kid and probably your miniature poodle.

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Client love is great but you need to get the sale, too.

Now as an ad salesperson, this always throws you off.  You are so used to new prospects being mean and hating everything and having no money. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Ad Sales, Featured, Publishing Management Tagged With: , , , , ,
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