Custom Fit

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, June 1, 2004 by Liz Borod

Another potential revenue stream is the move to selling ads in custom magazines. "Just about everybody we work with has advertising," says TMG's Creighton. "Some clients find it's a service for their audience or else they have strategic partnerships with other companies. It can, in some cases, add legitimacy as custom publications increasingly have an almost newsstand appeal." TMG has three full-time ad salespeople in-house and eight reps outside the office whose sole responsibility is getting those ads. You may need extra selling power, says Buchholtz because "it's a tougher sell" than regular magazine ads. "There's a credibility factor in paid circulation in that it's something that readers prefer-since they'll go out and buy it," he says. "But it's still a valuable audience, and a lot of people would prefer to get to the targeted audience." Who gets the ad - the publisher or the advertiser - may vary and who reaps the benefit as well. When Pohly & Partners sells an ad in a client's magazine, they split the proceeds with the client, and the exact cut varies from account to account, says Pohly.

Especially now that the economy and the advertising environment is improving, the growth in custom publishing shows no sign of slowing down. While it may not be a gravy train publishers can just tap into, it certainly is a boat that could sail without those who don't figure out how to incorporate it into their range of services.