Getting the Word Out

Getting the word out on the magazine is at times frustrating. Even though we've had small pieces about it printed in the Washington Post, Northwest Current, and Washington Examiner as well as numbers of local garden club newsletter, list serves, and online -- we've been on radio, TV and live events -- it still feels like we are not breaking through and reaching our prospective readers.

Trying to think outside the box I decided to scrap the holiday postcard mailing offer I'd scheduled to send out this week, instead we are placing a small ad in the Washington Post's Home Section on 12/8 and 12/15 and then a slightly different version on 1/5/06. (There will be no Home section on 12/22 and I figured 12/29 was not a big readership time.)

Calculating the direct costs, we will need to get 134 new subscriptions in from this to break even on the ad purchase. Since this is our first attempt at placing an ad in a major daily newspaper, it is hard to gage if this is an easy goal to achieve. I'm actually hoping to get in more like 500 new subscribers and anything over that will be fantastic.

Our best promotions so far have been mailing a complimentary copy of the magazine to the subscriber list of a now defunct magazine: People, Plants & Places. They discontinued their MidAtlantic version over a year ago to focus on their NorthEast region publication as well as on their new HGTV show. Their previous subscribers obviously overlapped with our targeted audience -- only wish their list had been bigger - about 3,000 in DC, MD & VA and surrounding counties in PA, DE, & WV.

We'll see if this newspaper promotion makes sense. I figure local garden readers are looking at this -- and they are our primary prospects.