Ideas! Ideas! Ideas! And More Ideas For Successful Magazine Management

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, July 1, 2002

direct mail

Seal the Deal with Direct Mail Envelopes

It's that time of year again. Everyone's flocking to the beach to cool off, bag a few rays and pore over the season's crop of summer issues. But during the lazy hazy days of summer, capturing consumer attention is all the more difficult. Because direct marketers have to be extra clever in this climate, Alan Rosenspan, a direct marketing consultant, provides five quick tips to help consumer marketers get those envelopes opened: (1) Tease the reader. "If prospects can make their decisions about your magazine without opening the envelope," Rosenspan says, "it's a bad envelope." Tantalize them with some details about the deal on the envelope, but don't go full Monty just yet. (2) Hook 'em and reel 'em in. Prospects are naturally drawn to pieces that involve them somehow. Quizzes or non yes or no questions on envelopes really draw readers in. (Reveal the answers inside.) (3) Address them by name. "Using a prospect's name in large type, in more than one place or in a creative way - like a cartoon - is a guaranteed letter opener," Rosenspan explains. (4) Make it look important. It's harder for readers to throw out an envelope if it looks official, so force them to investigate by using important-sounding words. (5) Show the offer. For those publishers with terrific propositions, tell the reader about it on the outside of the envelope - and show a photo, if possible. Putting a promotion and a photo of a free book on the direct mail envelope of one client, for example, increased response by 40 percent, says Rosenspan.

design

Out-of-the-box Design Tips

With all of the equipment and technology available today to graphic designers and professional photographers, pictorial quality is at an all-time high. "But even the best photo contained inside the shape of a box can be improved," says Ina Saltz, principal of Saltz Design, of the trite treatment most pics get in layouts. To stand out, you have to break out of the habit of compartmentalizing everything, she says. Try something as easy as a silhouette, she suggests. The practice makes simple, flat shapes more dynamic because they inherently command more attention. "And it relieves the boxy boredom of your page," she says.

Try extending part of a picture - like a head or a hand - beyond the boundaries of the box to add an element of movement to an otherwise flat page, suggests Saltz. Or, if the photo and/or accompanying content will not be compromised by cropping out the background, silhouette the entire figure. The shape will jump off the paper that much more when a drop shadow is added. Drop shadowing "southeast" (to the right and downward) as a rule seems to work best. Lastly, Saltz recommends setting text rag right around the silhouette. Ragged copy looks more appealing when it flows around the image - rather than flush to a box, she says. Boxes with text around them, unfortunately, sometimes only emphasize awkward white spaces left on the page.

ad sales

A Survival Guide for Sales Teams

The cliche, when it rains it pours, is a suitable way to describe the ongoing woes of the magazine ad market. Since waiting out the deluge isn't an option, Helen Berman, a sales and management development consultant, offers this advice to get by in these tumultuous times.

First, Berman says, take care of yourself emotionally. A seller who feels panicked or who considers rejections as personal fronts - rather than as business refusals - will only lose sales and fall apart in this brutal climate. So stay in the game mentally. Take advantage of this down time by strengthening relationships with clients. Talk with them regularly about their businesses, their problems, their goals and how your magazine can help them accomplish them. Bonding over the bad times can build invaluable future relationships. Also, Berman says, implement some kind of target account management program within your organization that encourages sales staffers to come up with new ideas for clients - like unique business partnerships or innovative projects. Lastly, impress on customers that it might not be the best course to cut back on product development. "It's actually the time to go forward with some projects," Berman explains. "I don't mean new launches, necessarily, but sponsorships and special ways of reaching customers that aren't directly through the pages of the magazine." Products like e-newsletters, special supplements or Web site offshoots can be cheap and effective ways to reach customers.

management

How to Mesh Long-term Goals with Short-term Strategies

At a time when seeing around the bend is a difficult proposition for many magazine executives, five-year plans can seem like an exercise in futility. But no matter how poor the present state of the industry may seem, there are ways to get through these rough times and simultaneously plan for the future, said David B. Nussbaum, president of Penton Technology Media, at Folio:'s M2 Conference in early June.

Even though cutbacks are the order of the day, publishers should still encourage innovation, Nussbaum said. No matter how small the idea, the influx of creativity in good times and bad will keep an organization fresh and invigorated. Cautiously seek out new and relatively inexpensive ideas like e-newsletters, tradeshows and Web casts. And risktaking should not be discouraged, he said. Innovators should never be punished, especially in a down market. Instead, find ways to reward those who keep pushing the boundaries - even if it means sending them a simple note of thanks or acknowledging their efforts. Communication, he stressed, is key. Whether a project is a boon or a bust, always be honest with your staff and keep them updated on the state of the business. Regular company status e-mails, company newsletters and "town meetings" where executives answer employee questions and ask for suggestions all demonstrate to employees that executives are on their side and want them to have a stake in the company's future success.