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A Magazine Startup Checklist

Posted on Monday, December 13, 2010 at 4:20 PM

An analysis of key factors to consider for achieving success, print or online.

By William Dunkerley

What considerations go into starting a new magazine? Often, the most important element is left off of everyone's list.

Someone recently asked a group of experienced editors and publishers about start-up considerations. Answers included a lot of good nuts-and-bolts issues -- things like digital delivery, printing, mailing, who will be the readers, who will be the advertisers, and on and on.

One item that did not come up: Will this new magazine be able to succeed? And if you think about it, isn't that the first question that should be asked?

Who wants to start a magazine that isn't going to succeed?

History shows us that a lot of the magazines that are started don't succeed. In that respect, a new magazine has a lot in common with a new local restaurant. A lot of them don't even last three years. Someone had come up with what seemed like a good idea. But it just didn't pan out.

What Goes Wrong?

Often, the failure of a new magazine is chalked up to contemporary economic conditions. Other culprits could include too much competition, inadequate capitalization, or poor management.

Are these the real reasons? Or are they just rationales for failure? Frankly, there isn't one item on the list that couldn't have been analyzed, tested, and anticipated -- before all the money was spent and lost. Maybe we should add "poor planning" to the list.

While the economy et al may have played a role in a magazine's failure, I've found that there is a single, more fundamental issue that underlies most magazine startup failures. It is that there was no real need for the magazine. That too is something that can be analyzed and tested in advance. But rarely is it done in any thoroughgoing way.

Needed by Whom?

A startup magazine that seeks advertiser support actually has two key constituencies: the readers and the advertisers.

A preliminary understanding of reader needs can be achieved by exploratory testing of your startup idea with focus groups. Once you've translated the resultant insights into a sample table of contents, illustrative articles, and graphic identity, you can put that all to a test with subsequent focus groups. And finally, an actual market test can help quantify what kind of reception your new magazine will get from potential readers.

On the advertising side, you've got to look at what the advertisers are currently doing. Where are they advertising now? How much money are they spending in each venue? Are they getting satisfactory results? What consumers are they trying to reach? Interview key advertisers and ask them what their marketing objectives are, and where they want to go in the future. Identify how your magazine can either fill a void or be more effective for the advertisers than existing options.

Is That All There Is?

You may think that if you have identified sufficient need on the part of readers and advertisers that you're good to go. But not yet. There is something else. There has got to be a symbiosis between the readers and the advertisers. That means the readers have got to have an interest in the advertisers, and the advertisers have got to have an interest in the readers. There has to be a mutual need!

From an advertiser point of view, the purpose of your magazine is to attract good, prospective customers. If it doesn't do that, you have failed your advertisers. And if you fail them, they will abandon you.

You have two tools for getting the advertisers what they want. They are (a) marketing and (b) content. Your marketing must be successful at attracting readers who will become good buyers for your advertisers. Your content must be something that can be effectively marketed to those readers. What's more, it's got to be effective in motivating readers to look through the publication so that they will see the advertisements. Content also should inspire reader trust and loyalty. Advertising will be most effective in that kind of environment.

The Checklist

Most magazine startup checklists deal with how to start a new magazine. This one is different. This is a checklist for whether to start a new magazine. Here it is:

1. Is there a need for the magazine?

2. What's your proof?

3. Will you create a symbiosis between readers and advertisers?

4. What's your plan for doing that?

Follow this checklist, and you'll be off to a good start on your quest to launch a new magazine, print or online.

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William Dunkerley is principal of William Dunkerley Publishing Consultants, www.publishinghelp.com.

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