Heavypen – freelance public relations, promotions, and publisher in California

A few days ago, I clicked into a conversation between some LinkedIN colleagues that had been kicked off by Vatrice Jones. Ms Jones posted this simple question: name the “3 EFFECTIVE WAYS to introduce a new niche publication.” This question caught my eye because the boundaries of niche publication are still in the process of being rethought, redrawn and reorganized. “Are there three?” was my first thought. Questions like these are long-form twitters – they force you to think rationally in short bursts. Therefore, forced into picking three, I wondered, which of the myriad of “vital” ideas have my colleagues settled on?

The first answer was from Sarah Daniels. She pegged what I believe are indeed the “top three” – the elemental answers that seem to hit all professional publishers. I lifted her comments right off the page and added my own:

1.) Go digital. Publish an online flipbook magazine, web-exclusive content, a blog, a Twitter feed, etc. Deliver different information in different formats; allow your readers to access what they want, where they want. Supplement with a print product 2-4 times per year, as necessary.

I draw emphasis on the flip book magazine – here’s an example of Rest Magazine – a publication that I produced with my partners Michael Wollner and Gary Bedian before the “Great Crunch” late last year. The real kernel in this thought is how digital increases access to the print version and makes advertisers very happy. As an archive, nothing works better than a digital flip book. The only critique on Ms Daniels here is a little mix-up on what “going digital” really means to a publication. I’ll get into that later.

2.) Go remote. Do not have any offices for the magazine. Utilize the talents of remote employees, contractors, and reputable freelancers. Reimburse for phone/internet usage instead of providing hardware.

Magazines started the trend for decentralization – taking non-essential business functions off the G&A and placing cost-controls on everything. This has been a top-level management concern since – gosh, I don’t know when, but it’s been a long time. That’s why many niche magazines have decentralized offices – one small management office, many contributors. Present technologies make it possible to eradicate the management office, as was the case for Rest Magazine, Color and Aroma, and several other publications I have had the pleasure to work with.

3.) Go off. Eschew traditional display ads and find a new form of advertising that will produce clear results for your advertisers. Media dollars are stretched thin; you must be able to show your clients ROI as it related to their specific business.

Again, Ms Daniels makes a very important and salient point; one that I believe is missed by many niche publications. Advertisers have become far more sophisticated in selecting their media. They still care about circulation and reach, but they see right through inflated readership numbers (who believes 5x circulation rates anyhow?). While marketers rise to strong and relevant demographics, experienced media buyers want more from “ROI” than BPI reports, age groupings and buying habits. Advertisers want to engage your audience and feel that they’ve been engaged. It’s not all that hard to drive the middle ground between credibility and “selling-out” for a buck. Successful niches have found ample room for collaborative content – stuff without compromising good, authoritative reporting. Look to advertiser collaborations that deliver dialog and interactivity with the audience (e.g., ad-utainment, ed-utainment); think gadgets, incentives, and widgets – ponder new, interesting and memorable things you can do with audience participation.

The fact is, I’m lousy when it comes to being succinct. Why yes, of course, there’s always more than three reasons for anything. So, here. I’ve added three more ESSENTIAL WAYS for niche magazines that I believe are just as important as the former three:

4.) Be in control. That means structuring your editorial for relevancy and consistency; plan originality on every page-turn. Flip through Rest Magazine and you’ll note the unique visual appeal that’s been designed into the entire production. In this case, we had one master graphic designer (aforementioned Michael Wollner) and one photographer (Eric Stoner, who is an art photographer, not a photojournalist by the way). Even the editorial took a more artistic approach by dispensing with the run-of-the-mill AP Stylebook structure for something looser, personal and more personable.

5.) Go Social. This is my one critique of Ms Daniel’s first item. I believe that this level, “going digital” can mean either “digital publishing” or “digital promotion,” which are very distinct things. By the former, we think of placing most or all of the content online. In the latter, I think of “Guerrilla Marketing” (ala Levinson): bloging, tweeting, mixxing, digging, stumbling, and Facebooking (et al) to drive a vital viral vibe (buzz) to your relevant and original content. Per Levinson, therefore, you must go where your audience goes for recreation and research; tap into their wonder and wit. Talk about what they talk about, and use their comments and observations as a tip-off for where you may drive the conversation deeper. And repost/retweet frequently.

6.) Finally, don’t forget the impact of print. Print is still king as a visual consolidator; a vehicle that has greater locking power for your advertiser. Despite the penetration of online, people like print for its portability and practicality. Sorry trees – but we still need ya.

So there you are – 6 ESSENTIAL WAYS to introduce a niche publication – with apologies to the original poster and contributors. I’m already working on six more.

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