10 Ways To Keep Readers In Touch

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Feb, 2001

Last month in FOLIo: Plus, Danita Allen, editor of Missouri Life, offered five ways for editors to stay in touch with readers. Following the same theme, she offers 10 suggestions for getting readers to stay in touch with you. This type of interaction is critical because it allows editors to fine-tune their magazine's focus and helps them build relationships that enhance renewals and merchandise sales.

(1) Have your readers vote on something. This type of involvement makes readers feel that it's their magazine. When Allen was at Country America, for example, the title received 50,000 responses when it asked readers to vote on the top-l00 country songs of all-time. The response was so great that the magazine received an unexpected bonus: coverage by television and radio. (2) Hold a charity auction by mail. But Allen advises to be sure to announce how you will notify the winner. To avoid fraud, send a certified letter to the person who makes the winning bid. (3) Use guest editors or run reader-contributed column s. Reader contributions can take myriad forms: joke submissions, recipes, funny anecdotes, "horror" stories, or CD reviews (the reviewer keeps the CD), to name a few. One trucking magazine has truckers do rig reviews. Other b-to-b titles might reward readers by helping to solve a problem--and then derive a feature story from the process. For example, a landscaping title asked readers to send in their landscaping problems; one was selected, and the magazine went out and resolved it. (4) Set up a network that allows readers to reach others with common interests. (7) Use a postcard for reader response. When you bind a card into the magazine, more people will respond. (8) Create an awards program that makes sense for your title. For example, Rhode Island Monthly has gardening awards for both amateurs and professionals. One agriculture magazine ran a contest to identify 10 agricultural pests. (9) Offer to send something extra, for free. Midwest Living has offered a free bumper sticker. That's good publicity! (10) Offer back issues. This is another way to serve the reader, cement relationships, and even make a buck.