Circulation is key for buyers and sellers of magazine advertising.
Beginning in the late 1980s, the magazine industry began facing stiff competition from the Internet. This has made buying and selling print ads a process that requires much more thought and planning than before. If you're selling advertising, you need to go beyond discounts and gimmicks. If you're buying ads, you need to make sure you stand out among the many pages of graphics, text and other ads in a magazine.
Circulation
One of the key components of magazine advertising strategy is circulation. If you're buying advertising, you'll want to place your ads in magazines that your customers and potential customers read. Ask magazines in which you are considering advertising for media kits, circulation statements and audits. An audit is a report by an independent service, such as Business Publishers International, that confirms how many copies of a magazine a publisher prints, mails, distributes free, sells or sends by request. If you're selling advertising, you'll want to develop circulation lists that contain the most attractive readers for your potential customers. You can do this by buying lists, selling subscriptions, selling your magazine on newsstands, or giving away copies to the memberships of organizations with the type of readers you want.
Sales Types
You can sell advertising with a product-oriented or sales-oriented approach. A product-oriented approach focuses on improving the quality of your publication. You start by developing an attractive circulation, then service your readers with high-quality editorial. This pulls advertisers in because they want to get to your readers. Many magazines use a sales-oriented approach, driving revenue with discounts, buy-two-get-one-free programs, free website banners when an advertiser buys an ad, free color with a full-page ad, and other promotions or gimmicks. A product-oriented approach takes longer to develop revenue, but eventually provides more stable, long-term revenue. The "smile and dial" product-oriented approach can bring in revenue quicker, but you usually have to sell issue to issue, since long-term contracts are more difficult to secure this way.
Copywriting and Design
Your ad will compete with many pages of copy, pictures, illustration and ads. You may have a matter of seconds to hook a potential customer's attention as she flips through the pages of a magazine. A good headline or piece of art can stop a reader. To get him to read, you'll need to make your copy brief. Start by promising a benefit or offering to solve a problem he has. Use the ad to tease or lure potential customers to your website, or to call you, to get more information on how you can help them save money, increase their sales, lose weight or whatever benefit your product or service offers.
Setting Rates
When you set the rates for your magazine, you'll need to look at your competition. This may include other magazines, websites, radio and TV stations or direct mail. One of the measurements advertisers look at when buying magazine advertising is CPM, or cost per thousand. This is the cost is takes the advertiser to reach 1,000 of your readers. This cost is calculated by taking the cost of a one-time ad and dividing it by your number of readers. For example, if you charge $5,000 for a full-page, black-and-white ad and you have 30,000 readers, your CPM is approximately $167. You may need to set your rates based on your CPM, rather than ad prices, depending on your competition. For example, if your competitor charges $6,000 for a full-age, black-and-white ad, but their CPM is $95, you may need to lower your rates, or show your advertisers how your circulation is different from your competitors.
Tags: magazine advertising, potential customers, product-oriented approach, your readers, advertising want