List Revenue Central to New B-to-B Magazine
The inaugural issue of IT Solution Journal rolled off the presses during the second week of February at a cost of $25,000, including production and shipping. If the publication’s four pages of advertising don’t cover its costs, Byron Crowell won’t fret: Its revenue-producing life goes beyond the ads within its 20 pages.
Crowell, chief executive officer of Los Angeles-based parent company Solution Publishing, refers to the free, controlled circulation publication as a “content vehicle” that will feed data into NuOS, a compiled information company founded in 1995. NuOS concentrates on the value-added retailer and IT communities.
“We are list people. We wanted to design a content vehicle that builds a good list,” Crowell said.
Each issue of IT Solution Journal is coded with a reader identification number unique to each subscriber. URLs at the end of most articles invite readers to log on to the company’s Web site for additional, in-depth information. Readers enter their identification number on the publication’s Web site (www. Itsj.com) to access the additional information.
This is the linchpin of the magazine. The ID number allows Crowell to track reader interests, as demonstrated by the articles on which they seek additional information.
These click-throughs are tracked through their identification numbers and added to their reader profiles, and can be used as list selects. NuOS has not established prices for the new lists and selects the magazine will generate.
NuOS also has a strategic partnership with Dun & Bradstreet, and uses some of the business compiler’s information to augment and confirm its own listings.
Initially recipients will come from NuOS’s database, which is built through telephone surveys that target information professionals and top executives at companies that generate between $40-$400 million in annual revenue. The company uses the surveys to research purchase authority and technical system needs.
Just over 23,000 individuals were chosen to receive the first few issues without any solicitation. They include information technology professionals with purchase power, including chief intelligence and technology officers and technical support staff.
Another 1,500 came in through a targeted e-mail campaign from the NuOS file of online names. The total cost of the electronic campaign did not exceed $4,000, Crowell said.
The magazine is hoping to attract a highly involved reader. In order to continue to qualify to receive the magazine, readers must click through several articles as they receive each issue. If they don’t they are dropped from the subscriber lists.
Those that want to get even more involved can sign up for a $199 per year service that allows them to post questions and comments to online expert forums.
While the magazine debuted as a bimonthly, plans call for it to switch to monthly frequency in July. By November Crowell anticipates sending out 100,000 copies of each issue, at a total cost of $50,000 per edition.
Throughout 2002 IT Solutions Journal will purchase a few outside e-mail lists and send out solicitations. While the lists have not yet been chosen, Crowell does not anticipate spending more than $30,000 for them.
