Marketing Case Study: Valley Women Magazine
- Lisa Dubino
- Feb 13, 2015
- 3 min read
Every week we feature a marketing case study for an actual small business. The goal is to learn more about how companies can connect and engage with their customers. This is not a thorough analysis, merely a conversation starter. The ideas and suggestions are offered for the taking and are free of charge. If you would like your business featured here, drop me a line on this page or email gosocialdigital. This week we're reviewing Valley Women Magazine, published by Daphne Lemay. Thank you Daphne!
Business description: Local magazine focusing on area women.
Product:
Print ads in high gloss publication with distribution of 10,000.
Online advertising available, online presence minimal. Difficult to find in a search. Good Facebook following, no other social networks. Blog on website.
Sponsorship donations.
Competition - product:
The Conway Daily Sun - local daily free newspaper, 17,100 distribution.
The Mountain Ear Bridal Guide
Various Real Estate Guides
Local map publications
Competition - advertising budget:
Print
Radio
Television
Online ad
Goal: Increase sales
Emphasize direct hit to niche market (women) vs. the competition with no actual demographic data
Increase reach (with hard data) by ramping up online presence and adding links and tiles for advertisers
Partner with advertisers by providing marketing opportunities and sponsorships
Create value by offering marketing workshops to current and potential advertisers
Find state/national advertisers
Action Steps:
Fix site, add more features such as Business Galleria, tiles, links, blog for advertisers
Conduct a demographic survey of print readers
Promote other marketing opportunities and sponsorships
Set date for marketing workshop and get the word out
Continue creating quality content
Continue to increase print distribution
Summary: Print is challenging! Nationwide, newspapers are folding or cutting back and magazines subscriptions are down. Why start a local free high end niche glossy magazine? Why not?? It’s a great read, the paper feels good to the touch, it’s fun to see who you know and who’s who in the area. Locals and visitors alike, male and female, are enjoying it. And while it’s clearly for women, men are picking it up too, if not for that reason alone. So how will it increase sales and survive? Assuming there’s a sales staff hard at work and getting the word out, the next step is to show reach and offer value. Reach is through number of copies printed and website hits. Value is the extra step - not just getting an ad but helping to promote the brand. This is done through content marketing, which is actually quite simple for a magazine. It’s all about the content and there’s plenty in a product that's built on words and images. Content marketing is essentially all the times the advertiser is mentioned online via social networks, websites, links, blogs, and images (that are tagged correctly) sprinkled throughout. The best part is in time there’s data to go back to the advertiser to show engagement. It’s part of driving sales for the advertiser, many of which may not have an online presence or may not be making the most of their website. Valley Women Magazine needs to get the website fixed so it’s indexed correctly on Google and go heavy with creating value for the customer. What are your thoughts? We welcome your comments and suggestions.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
“Marketing Consultant Lisa Dubino offers affordable marketing solutions to local businesses. For the best way to stay in the know, go to http://www.gosocialdigital.com.“
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