Subscriber base aging? Take a lesson from THE WEEK.
Want to truly “brand” your title in the minds of young readers? Forget the dubious image campaign and create a program that lets educators bring your magazine into classrooms for weeks at a time and pennies on the dollar. You’ll not only win hearts and minds, you’ll establish yourself with future readers ready to refresh your ranks of paid subscribers as old sources die off. And you’ll instantly add new ABC-recognized circulation by the dozens with each sale.
Here’s an example of how THE WEEK does it using space-available, no-cost remnant house ads. A classic piece of subscription strategy brilliantly executed by Sara O’Connor and Steven Kotok. Imagine your own possibilities. While some fits are obvious — Smithsonian, National Geographic, Scientific American — it’s not hard to imagine others — People, Roll Call, Old House Journal — working well too.
Of course there’s no one answer that’ll magically turn back the circulation marketing clock. But when you study how the smart players face today’s marketing tests, it’s easy to see why they’re at the head of their class.
