Be honest, when was the last time you felt a publication performed so well you'd put it in writing? Maybe NEVER? And just what does performing well mean? If you think CHEAP is the only way to choose where and how to advertise, we beg you to read on.
Under testimonials you will find only a scant few of the literally dozens of letters we get EVERY month, every year, since 2002. These are just letters from businesses who trusted us enough to spend their increasingly hard to come by advertising dollars with us. We have more. Lots more, from moms groups, animal organizations, charitable and civic groups who we donate space to every issue. Whether business or charitable endeavor, fact is, we get letters because we also get results. And the reason we do is so simple, you don't have to be smarter than a 5th grader to figure it out: people actually READ our magazines!
Advertising isn't about going cheap, it's about buying right, buying smart and partnering with a company you feel has the knowledge, commitment, integrity and experience, yes experience to grow your business while growing their own.
Would you go to a brain surgeon who just got their first scalpel? Not likely. Most likely, (God forbid) you'd get the most qualified recommendations you could; then you'd gather the most pertinent facts to make the most educated decision ever. Don't you owe it to yourself, your family and your business to be as diligent when it comes to your livelihood? Think about it. When business is bad, when money is tight, life is more difficult to live. Your kids annoy you more, the significant other seems unhappy, even the dog can get on your nerves. Drop that paper on the floor twice and you can go off like a rocket. Not because you dropped the paper, just because life feels more difficult when money is tight.
When people say advertising isn't brain surgery, we disagree. To us, it is. If you "partner" with a good quality publication with the experience to grow your business, and they honestly perform, life somehow gets brighter. While some publications may have been around longer, tenure is absolutely no substitute for experience. Many local publishers bought an on-going publication and have little understanding of or practical experience in the industry. If a doctor buys another doctor's practice, there is no guarantee the second doctor would be as good, or as concerned or as experienced. With the demise of several local coupon-clipper style publications recently, nothing could ram home the importance of looking for quality in a publication -- of seeking out editorial integrity and a genuine understanding of the marketing craft better.
Just like not every person with a pencil is a writer, not every publication with a cover is a magazine. And certainly not every publisher with that title has earned it. If we do nothing more here than make you understand, it is what is between the covers that count. (And for those whose minds just slipped into Californication mode, snap out of it). We mean between the magazine's covers. Our biggest selling tool is using competitor publications and begging prospective advertisers to read them both and compare them. We win almost every time, even competing against ads half our price -- why? Because if they think the editorial is ill-crafted and irrelevant, don't you think readers will? Our area is smart, savvy and very educated. Advertorial just doesn't captivate them. While it may be an ego stroke for a business for a moment, few intelligent people can't figure out it's advertorial! And if that is the cornerstone of a publication's editorial content, with Tom and Katie sightings at a local hot spot, publishing pictures of yourself dressed up at galas, and egocentric babble, is it really a wonder why READERS DON'T CONNECT?
It is -- and always has been the relationship that a publication has cultivated with their audience that is KING. Not the act of getting it into the mailbox, the price of a postage stamp does that. Parkland/Coral Springs Life, Coconut Creek Life and BocaDelray Life are about local life, your life, our life and the READER'S LIFE. We'd rather run pictures of children who donate their hair to Locks of Love than a Britney sighting. We stop the presses to squeeze yet another homeless animal in rather than putting a billionaire on our cover. You can get that stuff at the supermarket check-out. Parkland/Coral Springs Life, Coconut Creek Life and BocaDelray Life is where people, real people go to read about their life, not dream about someone else's.
We all are assaulted daily with direct-mail junk that causes us to sift thru this paper-mountain over the trash can. Even newspapers are considered clutter by most after just 24 hours. Would you savor a "publication" filled with just advertisements? Not likely. And trust us, your customer won't either.
Sure, some may sift through a "shopper-type" publication and tear out a pizza coupon, but most people who live in the Life Magazines target market are NOT by nature coupon clippers. Sure everyone, no matter what income bracket they're in loves a bargain, but that bargain better be delivered with elegance to make it relevant. And if you are simply looking to market your business to those smart, savvy, very real people who live here and make their home here, there just is no better place than Parkland/Coral Springs Life, Coconut Creek Life and BocaDelray Life
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