Folio: plus

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Jan, 2002 by Bob Moseley

Is Your Back Office Ready For the World?

"Opening up your internal systems is probably the scariest and most overlooked aspect of going to the Internet," says Guy Russo, chief information officer of Intertec Publishing. "It is really true that your customer is just two clicks away. That means there are things you need to think about as you start using the Web for subscription renewals. You're in a 7/24 environment now--seven days a week, 24 hours a day. People can be looking at their receivable balance at 2 o'clock in the morning or 2 o'clock in the afternoon. That has the greatest impact on us." Publishers need to look at their information systems infrastructure, says Russo. "You have to standardize all the applications servers, the type of hardware you have, and create an enterprise management model so that your IS organization can manage 7/24--whether they're in the building, outside the building, or whatever. What happens now is, if the server with your accounts receivable should crash at 5 o'clock on Friday, nothing gets fixed. Once accounting has gone home, nobody cares. But if you have an external application that allows customers to look at their receivable balance, the application has to be fixed by 5:05." Russo contends that to the extent that IS people need to be service-oriented and service-based, the IS organization has to have an Internet mentality. "It's necessary to change the mindset of your IS operation to be immediately responsive," he says.

Don't Make These Common E-marketing Mistakes

If you are planning on doing e-mail marketing-and what circulator isn't-there are some mistakes you can avoid. John Rizzi, president and CEO, e-Dialog Inc., a two-year-old company whose clients include Lycos, Harvard, the NFL and Dunn & Bradstreet, says the most common mistakes are: (1) E-marketers assume the phone center can handle e-mail responses. "We've found that very few companies are equipped to handle incoming e-mail," Rizzi says. "You say the people in the call center can do the job but, remarkably, they can't type or whatever. We don't know why, but we see it over and over. You sometimes need a specialist." (2) The call to action is almost always to go to the Web site; many e-marketers don't anticipate that people will ignore that directive and just click the reply button. (3) When e-marketers get the replies by e-mail, those replies are lost because e-marketers don't know how to integrate them with other information they have, such as profile data. (4) The Web site is not prepared for the huge amou nt traffic e-marketing can generate. It gets hammered. It crashes and everyone is unhappy. (5) E-marketers send people to the home page where they get a lot of general information about the Web site. But "that doesn't mean anything to the respondent," says Rizzi. "In my mind it's irresponsible because there's no precision. It's not what you tempted the person to come for. If you're doing that, shame on you!"

Replacement Self-Defense for Employee Turnover

Holding on to circulation people nowadays requires some thought and a good deal of understanding of what makes circulators happy. But what if that isn't enough and you have turnover anyway? Sarah Hiner, vice president-corporate development, Boardroom Inc., which is known for its marketing talent, has developed some replacement self-defense tactics. Hiner's suggestions: (1) Plan ahead. "I always have plans in place for howl would handle it if employees leave," she says. "This way, I have a jump on where I need to go in the event that my nightmares come true. (2) Don't burn bridges. "Don't let anyone leave on a bad note," she says. "Lose them gracefully. They then become a resource to help fill future positions." (3) Promote from within. "This helps an individual feel good, and gets the job filled quicker. The faster a position is filled, the more training that can take place." (4) Perpetually interview. (5) Be patient with those going through transition. "Transition is very difficult on all involved," she says . "Allow time for retraining and adjustment. If possible, ease deadlines to allow a smooth transition. Mistakes can be very costly."

Improve Readership Without Changing a Word

According to research done by the Blue Dolphin Group consulting firm, the average subscriber reads only three of every four issues received. Worse, the average monthly magazine entices only one-fourth of its subscribers to read all the stories. The more subscribers read, the more likely they are to renew--and, consequently, the better your circulation. Don Nicholas, CEO of Blue Dolphin, offers these ways to improve readership, renewal rates and circulation--all without changing a word of content. (1) Overhaul your table of contents. The TOC is supposed to be easy to read and organized so readers can find exactly what they want, quickly. If they can't find it, they won't read it. Surprisingly, few publishers adhere to this simple principle, says Nicholas. The TOC should be arranged by topic or subject matter--not by department. For example, go with technology or finance as opposed to "In every issue" or "features." Whether it's an editorial or feature story is much less relevant to readers than the subject mat ter. TOCs also should contain 15-to 20-word summaries of stories to engage readers' interest. The summaries must be clear and accurate, not cute and witty. And the TOC should contain provocative art and/or pull-quotes to engage readers. Nicholas cites Fortune's head shots with quotes and page numbers across the top of its TOC as a good example. (2) Make sure your layout matches the audience's visual abilities. Black type on a white background, 11-point Times as a typeface and a three-column format on an 8.5-inch page have been proven ideal for the human eye to digest, says Nicholas. (3) Create as many points of entry as possible to every article. The more pull-quotes, subheads, photos with captions, graphics and charts or tables you have, the more opportunities you have to draw in the reader. (4) Pick the right cover story. The right cover story is not the one you spent the most money on or the one your editor likes the most. It's the one that's going to be read by the greatest number of readers. In fact, pic king the right cover story not only boosts readership of that article, but all other articles as well.