Dear Nicole:
Congratulations on starting up your magazine Nickole-excellent questions!
Re advertising- Whether you're advertising to attract subscribers or to sell
space to advertisers, you'll need to develop a keen marketing strategy to
define how you are known in the marketplace. The stronger your statement, the
more attractive you'll be to the right clients and subscribers.
David Ogilvy (a well known expert in advertising) said that the single most
important marketing decision is how you "position" your product or
service. Positioning means what your product or service will stand for in the
minds of your prospects and customers. Marketing strategies ( of which
advertising is one) are guided by positioning. To help you determine your
positioning, ask yourself these questions:
What is the business I'm in? What benefits do I offer? What image would I
like to project? Who are my ideal readers? -What are their needs? What am I
offering to my readers that other publications aren't? Who are my ideal
advertisers? -Why? How do their products relate to my ideal readers? What are
my company's strengths and weaknesses? What are my competitions' strengths and
weaknesses? What are the trends in today's economy?
In answering these questions, you will start to understand how you want to
"position" yourself in the marketplace, and identify what types of
marketing strategies will be most effective for you.
Some suggestions for managing your money and making ends meet for the first
couple of years:
First, figure out how much it will cost to run your business: This will
involve making assumptions and projections based upon the knowledge you have
about your industry and the research you do.
Make a list of all of the things you'll need to spend money on for the
first year or two. Project how much you'll need to spend on each of these
items, and when the expenses will occur. Put all of this on a spreadsheet with
weekly and cumulative totals on the bottom of each weeks column. This way
you'll be able to see what your weekly and total expenses will be.
Re what to charge:
Take a look at your competition again: What do they charge for their
magazines? What do they charge for their advertising? What is their
circulation, their format? Is what you are offering advertisers better than
what they're offering? If so, does this difference justify charging more/less
for advertising & subscriptions than your competition? Through this
research, you'll get a sense of what advertisers and subscribers will pay.
Next, take a look at your production costs. Factor these into the equation.
Look at how much available space will there be for ads- and how much can you
charge for them? How much of this available space can you plan on actually
selling each week?
Then, again based upon your research, assumptions and projections; fill in
how much money you hope to bring in, from what sources (selling advertising
space, subscriptions, etc.) per week/month and estimate how long it will take
to build up your sales to the point of breaking even.
Keep checking in with your initial projections - you'll become business
savvy more quickly by keeping accurate records of sales and expenses, and
stopping to compare projections with actual figures on a regular basis.
Evaluate if you have the funds and other resources available to launch your
business. If not, how might you come up with them? Look for ways to save on
overhead expenses especially in the first few years, so that you don't need
quite as much money to get started. Many new business owners work other jobs
(full or part time) while in the beginning stages to keep money flowing in to
cover their expenses until the business is able to pay them a salary.
Hope this was helpful for you!
Warm regards,
Susan Martin
From PowerHomeBiz.com Editors: Also, please see our advice to
another subscriber regarding starting a magazine business. http://www.powerhomebiz.com/guide/cases/marilyn.htm
About the PowerHomeBiz.com Guide:
Susan Martin is a Strategy Coach who works with business owners and
professionals who want to make more money, have more fun and more time! A life
long entrepreneur, Susan learned sales & marketing, management, finance,
pricing, negotiation and a host of other business skills through running her
own successful businesses for 30 years. She is an adjunct professor at the
Pratt Institute in NYC, where she teaches a business course called "Going
Pro". Susan is a Registered Corporate Coach, and a member of the
International Coach Federation, The National Association of Business Coaches,
and Coachville. Visit Susan at: