October 3, 2005
The waiting game | The founders of Bangor Metro hope distribution in waiting rooms will propel their new magazine to success
By Heather And Josh Denkmire
Mark Wellman sits in his Maryland hotel room at the Marketing Communications Agency Network conference with his laptop, finishing edits on the mp4 that will become the first television ad for his new regional magazine, Bangor Metro. The first issue hit the stands in June, but Wellman says he wanted to wait until the subscription capabilities on the magazine's website were top notch before beginning any advertising. Bangor Metro ˆ an ambitious publication that covers business, lifestyle and opinion in 10 issues per year ˆ currently has just over 400 subscribers.
Wellman's goal is to reach 15,000 subscribers, but he's undaunted by the initially small numbers. That's because Bangor Metro doesn't rely on simply mailing issues to subscribers and selling individual copies on newsstands. In addition to those channels, the magazine is distributed in more than 3,000 waiting rooms in Washington, Knox, Hancock, Piscataquis, Waldo and Penobscot counties. Wellman believes that he's found what local advertisers are looking for demographically ˆ a diverse audience ˆ through the distribution strategy. "If you go to one of our region's 17 hospitals, you'll find Bangor Metro in each waiting room," says Wellman, who adds that the same is true for hair salons, auto repair shops and other businesses where customers kill time thumbing through whatever publications happen to be available. "I can guarantee readership for our advertisers through [those] placements."
Wellman, a longtime advertising executive, initially intended to print 5,000 black-and-white magazines. "Through the planning, research including focus groups, and advertising contacts, we witnessed a great deal of enthusiasm," he says in an e-mail. "Enough so we went from thinking 5,000, to 6,000, and finally to 10,000 as a result of the channels of distribution we discovered, but primarily because of the enthusiasm we sensed in the six-county region."
While Wellman is excited by what he says is the quick growth of Bangor Metro, Cheryl Woodard, co-founder of PC Magazine, PC World and Macworld, and author of Starting and Running a Successful Newsletter or Magazine (NOLO, 2004), cautions via e-mail, "The number one mistake [new publications] make is assuming ad money will come quickly, and spending down their cash too fast. For example, they print the most expensive magazine they can imagine, but can't get the ads to sustain it. A less expensive version of the same content (lesser paper, less color and so forth) might have survived, but the glamorous one doesn't."
Wellman feels confident the planning and research he did before launching the publication is sufficient to avoid the mistake of overspending. Still, the history of recent regional magazine launches in Maine is not encouraging. Most prominently, Maine Times, the glossy magazine launched from the ashes of the longtime weekly newspaper of the same name, folded in early 2004 after less than a year. Earlier, the publishers of River City Life, a monthly Bangor-based magazine launched in 1989, ceased operations after just two issues. Whether Bangor Metro escapes the same fate depends on its ability to attract readers who advertisers consider to be desirable ˆ a tricky feat considering that waiting room readership is difficult to quantify.
Wellman spent time pondering those magazines' failure ˆ "When you see a publication as nice as Maine Times not making it, you have to ask yourself why," he says. But he remains convinced that Bangor Metro is different, in part because it focuses its coverage on a broad geographic area at the center of the state, from Camden-Rockland to Millinocket to Eastport. "Part of our mission," he says, "is to put these six counties on a pedestal."
The Gotham example
Wellman comes to the new venture with 25 years of experience in advertising. In 1987, he founded Marketing Media LLC, a Bangor-based marketing communications and brand consulting firm. The company provided Wellman with both a pool of resources ˆ ranging from staff to computers and other equipment ˆ and a group of business contacts that aided in the launch of Bangor Metro. "Mark had been working in advertising for a long time," says Tori Britton, editor in chief of Bangor Metro. "From his ad man's perspective, there was a real need in this marketplace for a magazine."
Before starting Bangor Metro, Wellman sought the advice of business leaders throughout the area. He looked for people "who were influential and wise ˆ some retired, some involved with economic development, but all of them were generally business savvy," he says. "I let them challenge me. I went to them and said, 'Talk me out of it.'" Britton likes to say that Wellman "asked people to shoot holes" in the idea. When no one did, the two ˆ who are engaged to be married ˆ forged ahead with their plans.
In determining the magazine's geographical reach, Wellman says he looked for all those places in Maine that "see Bangor as their service area for medical and professional services, and for shopping." Britton adds that Wellman saw a large group of people for whom "Bangor is their city. The area tends to be ignored," she says.
In addition, Wellman sees his background in advertising as an advantage ˆ when he reaches out to potential advertisers, he knows what they'll be seeking. "The toughest person to sell is going to be me," he says.
The 68-page October issue included roughly 23 pages, or 33%, of ads. Wellman's goal is to reach 40% ads. Advertisers in the October issue include a diverse group of Maine-based organizations, ranging from Bangor Plastic & Hand Surgery to Dysart's truck stop to the Criterion Theater in Bar Harbor.
Those advertisers likely are drawn by the promise in Bangor Metro's media kit that it reaches "the region's core consumers with the most discretionary income." That's a common strategy for regional magazines across the country, several of which Wellman says were useful as he developed the concept. "We'll never be as big as Texas Monthly," he says, "but we looked at them, at Portland Magazine, at San Diego, and mostly we looked at New York's Gotham Magazine as our models."
Indeed, Bangor Metro's look and Internet presence evoke comparisons to Gotham Magazine, a high-end publication focusing on food, fashion and celebrities. The publisher of Gotham is launching two new magazines this fall that fill similar niches in Boston and Washington, D.C. Both Bangor Metro's website and the website announcing Gotham's new siblings make reference to advertisers' potential access to the communities' "movers and shakers."
Wellman's goal is to achieve revenue of roughly $700,000 in the first fiscal year. That breaks down to $70,000 in sales per issue, a number that will be difficult to reach unless Wellman either is able to reach his goal of 40% ad pages or gain a sizeable number of paying subscribers. Even then, if Bangor Metro continues to publish 68-page issues, it will have to sell each ad page for more than $2,500 to reach the revenue goal; according to the magazine's rate card, a full page ad costs $1,850-$2,150 depending on frequency. (Sales of smaller ads, which are proportionately more expensive, may be where Bangor Metro makes up the difference; for example, a one-sixth page ad costs $690-$800, meaning that a full page's worth of those ads will bring in $4,140-$4,800.)
According to Wellman, Bangor Metro "has been breaking even since the first issue. That's unheard of in this industry," he says.
Building a base
Woodard responds to the idea of breaking even with a note of caution. While she concedes that "breaking even on manufacturing costs is a major accomplishment," she adds that "when publishers say this, they mean that their revenue is covering printing and distribution costs ˆ not usually that they are paying themselves or their close associates. It's very common for new publications to rely on volunteers or for the founders to keep their day jobs for the first year or so."
Indeed, with the exception of two unpaid interns, Wellman says Bangor Metro relied entirely on the staff and resources already in place at Marketing Media to get started. "We have all the talent and the resources to do the magazine already," he says. "We are writers and photographers and marketers, we have cameras and lights, and we can do all of this for a lot less money than someone who doesn't already have [these resources]."
Conventional wisdom in publishing says that one in 10 new magazines survive. However, it may not be as simple as this commonly cited statistic, according to Woodard. "The problem with this kind of statistic is that the averages mask a whole bunch of differences," she says. "A well-researched, adequately funded and competently executed new magazine has about a 60% chance of succeeding, providing it can win support from advertisers and readers, and so long as the publisher manages cash very well."
Laurie Hyndman, founder of Port City Life magazine in Portland, understands the need to win that advertising support. "Probably the bottom line in publishing a magazine is advertising sales," she says. "That's what pays the bills." Like Bangor Metro, Port City Life targets affluent readers who "have the disposable income to travel, dine out, purchase fine jewelry, luxury cars, distinctive home furnishings and much, much more," according to the magazine's website.
But Hyndman, who is both editor and publisher of the magazine, says her job is more complicated than simply delivering good content to those readers. "Finding a good balance and finding good salespeople is probably the greatest challenge," she says. "I love telling stories and producing the content of a magazine, and yet advertising is where most of the time is spent."
That's par for the course in the industry, particularly when it comes to regional magazines. "The only downside to regionals is that they depend almost entirely on the local economy (because they rarely attract any national advertisers)," says Woodard. "When the local economy tanksˆ the publisher suffers along with all their advertisers. There's no backup revenue stream."
But there's an upside as well, she adds: "You can establish a loyal group of advertisers who keep on buying ads from you, year in and out. You can help small retailers grow into big ones. You can contribute to your community."
Indeed, the management of Bangor Metro feels the magazine has created a new marketing opportunity for local businesses. "Many of the ads we've created ˆ these folks didn't have magazine ads before," says Britton.
In the long run, Wellman would like to see Bangor Metro pulling in $2 million of what he says is Bangor's $55 million media advertising market. In an e-mail, he adds, "I think we can realistically provide enough service to our area to warrant a four percent share."
Once Bangor Metro has proven itself in the market, Wellman and Britton plan to duplicate their model in other regions. "We'll walk in, help set up the whole operation, hire the staff, say, 'Here are all the tools you'll need, here's our performer,' and leave after two or so years," he says. "Our growth plans are aggressive, but we have to first birth the baby."
Wellman's goal is to reach 15,000 subscribers, but he's undaunted by the initially small numbers. That's because Bangor Metro doesn't rely on simply mailing issues to subscribers and selling individual copies on newsstands. In addition to those channels, the magazine is distributed in more than 3,000 waiting rooms in Washington, Knox, Hancock, Piscataquis, Waldo and Penobscot counties. Wellman believes that he's found what local advertisers are looking for demographically ˆ a diverse audience ˆ through the distribution strategy. "If you go to one of our region's 17 hospitals, you'll find Bangor Metro in each waiting room," says Wellman, who adds that the same is true for hair salons, auto repair shops and other businesses where customers kill time thumbing through whatever publications happen to be available. "I can guarantee readership for our advertisers through [those] placements."
Wellman, a longtime advertising executive, initially intended to print 5,000 black-and-white magazines. "Through the planning, research including focus groups, and advertising contacts, we witnessed a great deal of enthusiasm," he says in an e-mail. "Enough so we went from thinking 5,000, to 6,000, and finally to 10,000 as a result of the channels of distribution we discovered, but primarily because of the enthusiasm we sensed in the six-county region."
While Wellman is excited by what he says is the quick growth of Bangor Metro, Cheryl Woodard, co-founder of PC Magazine, PC World and Macworld, and author of Starting and Running a Successful Newsletter or Magazine (NOLO, 2004), cautions via e-mail, "The number one mistake [new publications] make is assuming ad money will come quickly, and spending down their cash too fast. For example, they print the most expensive magazine they can imagine, but can't get the ads to sustain it. A less expensive version of the same content (lesser paper, less color and so forth) might have survived, but the glamorous one doesn't."
Wellman feels confident the planning and research he did before launching the publication is sufficient to avoid the mistake of overspending. Still, the history of recent regional magazine launches in Maine is not encouraging. Most prominently, Maine Times, the glossy magazine launched from the ashes of the longtime weekly newspaper of the same name, folded in early 2004 after less than a year. Earlier, the publishers of River City Life, a monthly Bangor-based magazine launched in 1989, ceased operations after just two issues. Whether Bangor Metro escapes the same fate depends on its ability to attract readers who advertisers consider to be desirable ˆ a tricky feat considering that waiting room readership is difficult to quantify.
Wellman spent time pondering those magazines' failure ˆ "When you see a publication as nice as Maine Times not making it, you have to ask yourself why," he says. But he remains convinced that Bangor Metro is different, in part because it focuses its coverage on a broad geographic area at the center of the state, from Camden-Rockland to Millinocket to Eastport. "Part of our mission," he says, "is to put these six counties on a pedestal."
The Gotham example
Wellman comes to the new venture with 25 years of experience in advertising. In 1987, he founded Marketing Media LLC, a Bangor-based marketing communications and brand consulting firm. The company provided Wellman with both a pool of resources ˆ ranging from staff to computers and other equipment ˆ and a group of business contacts that aided in the launch of Bangor Metro. "Mark had been working in advertising for a long time," says Tori Britton, editor in chief of Bangor Metro. "From his ad man's perspective, there was a real need in this marketplace for a magazine."
Before starting Bangor Metro, Wellman sought the advice of business leaders throughout the area. He looked for people "who were influential and wise ˆ some retired, some involved with economic development, but all of them were generally business savvy," he says. "I let them challenge me. I went to them and said, 'Talk me out of it.'" Britton likes to say that Wellman "asked people to shoot holes" in the idea. When no one did, the two ˆ who are engaged to be married ˆ forged ahead with their plans.
In determining the magazine's geographical reach, Wellman says he looked for all those places in Maine that "see Bangor as their service area for medical and professional services, and for shopping." Britton adds that Wellman saw a large group of people for whom "Bangor is their city. The area tends to be ignored," she says.
In addition, Wellman sees his background in advertising as an advantage ˆ when he reaches out to potential advertisers, he knows what they'll be seeking. "The toughest person to sell is going to be me," he says.
The 68-page October issue included roughly 23 pages, or 33%, of ads. Wellman's goal is to reach 40% ads. Advertisers in the October issue include a diverse group of Maine-based organizations, ranging from Bangor Plastic & Hand Surgery to Dysart's truck stop to the Criterion Theater in Bar Harbor.
Those advertisers likely are drawn by the promise in Bangor Metro's media kit that it reaches "the region's core consumers with the most discretionary income." That's a common strategy for regional magazines across the country, several of which Wellman says were useful as he developed the concept. "We'll never be as big as Texas Monthly," he says, "but we looked at them, at Portland Magazine, at San Diego, and mostly we looked at New York's Gotham Magazine as our models."
Indeed, Bangor Metro's look and Internet presence evoke comparisons to Gotham Magazine, a high-end publication focusing on food, fashion and celebrities. The publisher of Gotham is launching two new magazines this fall that fill similar niches in Boston and Washington, D.C. Both Bangor Metro's website and the website announcing Gotham's new siblings make reference to advertisers' potential access to the communities' "movers and shakers."
Wellman's goal is to achieve revenue of roughly $700,000 in the first fiscal year. That breaks down to $70,000 in sales per issue, a number that will be difficult to reach unless Wellman either is able to reach his goal of 40% ad pages or gain a sizeable number of paying subscribers. Even then, if Bangor Metro continues to publish 68-page issues, it will have to sell each ad page for more than $2,500 to reach the revenue goal; according to the magazine's rate card, a full page ad costs $1,850-$2,150 depending on frequency. (Sales of smaller ads, which are proportionately more expensive, may be where Bangor Metro makes up the difference; for example, a one-sixth page ad costs $690-$800, meaning that a full page's worth of those ads will bring in $4,140-$4,800.)
According to Wellman, Bangor Metro "has been breaking even since the first issue. That's unheard of in this industry," he says.
Building a base
Woodard responds to the idea of breaking even with a note of caution. While she concedes that "breaking even on manufacturing costs is a major accomplishment," she adds that "when publishers say this, they mean that their revenue is covering printing and distribution costs ˆ not usually that they are paying themselves or their close associates. It's very common for new publications to rely on volunteers or for the founders to keep their day jobs for the first year or so."
Indeed, with the exception of two unpaid interns, Wellman says Bangor Metro relied entirely on the staff and resources already in place at Marketing Media to get started. "We have all the talent and the resources to do the magazine already," he says. "We are writers and photographers and marketers, we have cameras and lights, and we can do all of this for a lot less money than someone who doesn't already have [these resources]."
Conventional wisdom in publishing says that one in 10 new magazines survive. However, it may not be as simple as this commonly cited statistic, according to Woodard. "The problem with this kind of statistic is that the averages mask a whole bunch of differences," she says. "A well-researched, adequately funded and competently executed new magazine has about a 60% chance of succeeding, providing it can win support from advertisers and readers, and so long as the publisher manages cash very well."
Laurie Hyndman, founder of Port City Life magazine in Portland, understands the need to win that advertising support. "Probably the bottom line in publishing a magazine is advertising sales," she says. "That's what pays the bills." Like Bangor Metro, Port City Life targets affluent readers who "have the disposable income to travel, dine out, purchase fine jewelry, luxury cars, distinctive home furnishings and much, much more," according to the magazine's website.
But Hyndman, who is both editor and publisher of the magazine, says her job is more complicated than simply delivering good content to those readers. "Finding a good balance and finding good salespeople is probably the greatest challenge," she says. "I love telling stories and producing the content of a magazine, and yet advertising is where most of the time is spent."
That's par for the course in the industry, particularly when it comes to regional magazines. "The only downside to regionals is that they depend almost entirely on the local economy (because they rarely attract any national advertisers)," says Woodard. "When the local economy tanksˆ the publisher suffers along with all their advertisers. There's no backup revenue stream."
But there's an upside as well, she adds: "You can establish a loyal group of advertisers who keep on buying ads from you, year in and out. You can help small retailers grow into big ones. You can contribute to your community."
Indeed, the management of Bangor Metro feels the magazine has created a new marketing opportunity for local businesses. "Many of the ads we've created ˆ these folks didn't have magazine ads before," says Britton.
In the long run, Wellman would like to see Bangor Metro pulling in $2 million of what he says is Bangor's $55 million media advertising market. In an e-mail, he adds, "I think we can realistically provide enough service to our area to warrant a four percent share."
Once Bangor Metro has proven itself in the market, Wellman and Britton plan to duplicate their model in other regions. "We'll walk in, help set up the whole operation, hire the staff, say, 'Here are all the tools you'll need, here's our performer,' and leave after two or so years," he says. "Our growth plans are aggressive, but we have to first birth the baby."
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