Archive for the ‘Magazines’ Category
How to sell magazine subscriptions online — THE WEEK Magazine example
CASE HISTORY
A tornado creates a blizzard…
How to turn a magazine into a subscription-selling machine
CASE HISTORY
What happened when the irresistible force of Felix met the immutable laws of marketing…
Successful 5-year renewal effort
THE WEEK tested and repeated (with contextual changes) this 5-year / $250 renewal. As traditional print magazines become increasingly unattractive to readers in general, it’s natural to seek long-term commitments from current subscribers. And the marketing math makes it enticing:
“Free – The Future of a Radical Price”
Most magazines have three prices. The cover price. The subscription price. And free – the web price. In his new book, Chris Anderson of Long Tail fame argues that free may well be the most profitable price point of the three. He makes an interesting, instinctively counterintuitive, and yet often persuasive case for disruptive, game-changing zero.
A half-great way to sell subscriptions from your home page
This works great up to a point…
Try a RISK-FREE Issue of Inc. Today!
Make your magazine the free gift with a purchase
Would you find subscriber love in an arranged marriage?
An idea for selling subscriptions and raising money in an anxiety economy
A do-it-yourself, pas-de-deux, mash-up marketing strategy that borrows and combines best practices learned from the likes of Smithsonian, National Geographic, and Audubon magazines.
Are you developing an audience? Or more telling: Is your audience developing you?
The secret to circulation management? It’s all in your point of view.
How to sell magazine subscriptions online – the Vanity Fair example
This idea works even better than I first imagined.
Two-minute ad campaign
How to turn soaring gas prices and a sputtering economy into new subscribers.
The launch of Condé Nast Portfolio
Condé Nast, the man, “was noted for his innovative publishing theories and flair for nurturing readers and advertisers…one of the most powerful purveyors of popular culture.” He started a magazine empire later made legendary by brilliant, billionaire publisher S.I. Newhouse. Proving again the rich are different from you and me. Which brings us to the launch of Condé Nast Portfolio…
Why it’s important – Part 1
An ad campaign on behalf of junk mail … ah, circulation marketing … make that “audience development.”
Can you guess the No. 1 magazine in your dentist’s office?
PROOF BOOK
Idea: Suspense in copy is motivating. True? Answer inside…
Google sneezes, magazine world gets the chills
Google: Grim reaper? Or savior of a dying industry? Let the fear, loathing and speculation begin.
Scents and sensibility in subscription direct mail
Sniffing around for a new circulation idea? Smells like the New York Times is on to something …
49-Point Checklist for Beating Your Control
What do you need to know to beat your control? The answers to this list of questions will provide a good start when working with outside creatives. Or—and especially—if you attempt to do it yourself.
What Now? What Next?
Costs are up. Response is down. Circulation is falling. Lists are exhausted. Offers are fatigued. Rules are changing. Subscribers are wary. Has there ever been a better time for new ideas in circulation? Here are some things you can do now to survive the tough times so you can positively thrive when — if ever — the going gets good.
Worst idea for a magazine ever?
I’ve seen some bad ideas. Hell, I’ve been involved in some bad ideas. But if Lapham’s Quarterly lasts six months, it will give new meaning to “vanity publishing.”
Marc Andresseen on the future of the magazine business…
…in a manner of speaking. If you substitute “publishing” for “Hollywood,” and “magazines” for “studios,” you’ll get the idea.
Green Death
Do you like this award-winning cover? It was famous and infamous all at the same time. Raising contentious issues about what works best on newsstands. And who best to create — and control — the covers. I have some strong opinions of my own. But you make the call for yourself.
The future of magazines: It’s Was Everywhere
Initial post: What will the future of magazines look like? Something like Everywhere from the publishers of JPG. Click to see the launch and become part of the magazine — which is the essence of this new publishing model.
Update 1: Everywhere Magazine Suspends Publication. Too bad. But what’s more troubling is the Everywhere website — same as it ever was. Worse, it appears they are still taking orders. I hope it’s just a case of poor coordination and not a magazine trying to have it both ways. I wonder if Magazine Death Pool has heard about this.
Update 2: Ah, that’s better. Everywhere’s blog announces it has reached its final destination where the local time is midnight.
Issue 1
OPEN LETTER
The myth of subscription direct mail is it gets very little response. In fact, it gets 100% response. Readers either love it or hate it. Remember it or forget it. Open it or throw it away. And to a degree far greater than you might imagine, how customers respond to your marketing is controlled by you.
