OPTIMUM Magazine provided MediaBids with some insights into its readers, content and more: 

 

OPTIMUM Magazine is a monthly men's lifestyle magazine targeting men of all
ethnicities and cultures. We offer our readers insightful and sometimes
humorous discussions on music, movies, fashion, politics, sports, health and
fitness, business, money, community affairs and sex and sexuality.
OPTIMUM is always an in-depth and provocative editorial which emphasizes the
importance of a man's well being in his daily life, in his relationships and
with society at large.

More than just the provocative pictorials, OPTIMUM Magazine separates itself
from its competitive set by targeting and incorporating a broad male base,
ages 21-49, that extends far beyond single cultural society. These efforts,
combined with other strategic cross-cultural initiatives, will serve to make
Optimum Magazine the most authoritative voice reflecting the diversity of
the modern male populace globally.

OPTIMUM Magazine is not only diverse but also read by a smarter and more
informed person, giving more value and having a bigger impact on their
return on investment more immediately. OPTIMUM Magazine has a solid
foundation of readers built up from a circulation of 50,000 printed
magazines per month and growing.

View advertising opportunities in Optimum Magazine on MediaBids

 

 

A little bit about Echelon Magazine, in their own words…

 

"Echelon Magazine was established in 2004 to serve the LGBT business community.
Our mission is to promote the economic contributions of the Gay community by profiling successful
career professionals, promote the LGBT buying power and inform our community about issues
concerning money, employment, diversity and marketing. Echelon Magazine has also created other
LGBT business sites including GayFranchise.com and GoGayBiz.

The majority of our readers are between the ages of 35 and 55. The demographics are split pretty
evenly between small business owners and career professionals. Among the career professionals are
many diversity marketing executives interested in following the progress of this niche market.

We are very excited to announce our first event; The Echelon Pride in Business Expo occurring
on June 23-24, 2012 in Los Angeles. It includes 3 dynamic Pavilions: Career, Franchises and Small Businesses
and is presented by Hyundai Motor America. We have room for 2000 attendees and it is free to register.Interested parties can visit http://www.prideinbusinessexpo.com

We currently have approximately 4,000 opt in subscribers to our free weekly newsletter and our bi-monthly magazine is read by over 10,000 unique visitors."

To view more information and advertising opportunities, view Echelon Magazine’s profile on MediaBids

 

Tantalum Magazine is a recent addition to
the MediaBids website. We wanted to introduce you to their
magazine and help them share insights about their readers with
you.

(MB)
Please give us a brief overview of your
publication.
(TM)
Tantalum Magazine was started by Steve Elias last year
as a vehicle that celebrates the collaboration between
photographers, stylists, hair and makeup artist, and models to
bring you beautiful imagery and insightful interviews each
month. We originally were supposed to be a quarterly
publication but the response was so great and overwhelming
from the beginning that we now have enough content to do an
issue every month.
 

(MB) Who are your readers?
(TM) Our readers range in age from 16-50+, come from all over
the world and across genders as art and beauty being our common
thread. 

(MB)
What are some exciting things coming up for
your publication?
(TM) We actually will be doing our very first triple cover
issue in our May 2012 edition; the covers and content for May
will be pretty epic! In Sept 2012 on our one year anniversary we
will be releasing a coffee table edition with the best
editorials of the first year, so look out for that!

For more information about Tantalum Magazine or to
request rate information, please view their MediaBids profile Here
  

The Talkeetna Times is
a semi-monthly newspaper that serves the Talkeetna, Alaska area. Scott Anderson from the paper answered Mediabids’ questions. 

(MB): Five years from now what role will publications like yours serve? For example, some people predict a complete migration to the web for many types of publications, do you? 
(TT): We are a community newspaper
based near Talkeetna, Alaska. In addition to serving the
communities of Talkeetna and nearby Trapper Creek, our distribution area
includes the communities of Willow, Houston and Big
Lake and Caswell, as well
as the rural areas between, primarily along the Parks Highway corridor. We also have a
sizable secondary distribution in Wasilla, which has been the fastest-growing
area of Alaska for several consecutive years
due to its proximity to Anchorage and the lower
cost of living (mainly housing) compared to Anchorage.
From the
Talkeetna area, we are approximately a two to two and a half hour drive from Anchorage, depending on
traffic and road conditions. Our area also is growing, though not quite as fast
as Wasilla. Many people from Anchorage
have cabins in this area — we’re just about at the limit of the distance many
people want to drive for short weekend getaways, etc. Our area’s first
full-service grocery just opened in December. Prior to that, we had to drive to
Wasilla — usually about an hour and a half each way — to get many of the
grocery items we needed. There are still many other goods and services that
are not available here that require a trip to Wasilla, and sometimes to Anchorage. This includes
medical appointments that require seeing a specialist, dentists, eye care, etc.
We can get prescriptions delivered here, but it often costs less to drive to
Wasilla to pick them up — we try to plan such trips so we’re doing other
necessary things as well.

People here depend on the
newspaper, and our one local public radio station, for their news. With the
grocery just opening, the outlook is bright. It will draw other needed
businesses to the area as the population continues to grow. Many retirees are
choosing to live here year-round due to the lower cost of living compared to
many other parts of the country.
We have made numerous improvements to the paper in the year and a half that we
have been here, and more are in store. We have changed from once a month
publication to every other week (26 issues per year), and are looking at the
possibility of going to some form of weekly publication. We also currently
publish two annual publications — an annual visitors guide each spring, and a
Talkeetna area phone book that includes all communities from Big Lake and
Houston to
Nenana, pretty much along the entire Parks Highway outside of the larger communities.

 We completely revamped our web site in spring 2008 and are continuing to make
improvements to it, as well as to add new features. The Anchorage Daily News
recently made several staff cutbacks and reductions in its print edition, and
the Frontiersman, based in Wasilla and published thrice weekly, recently pulled
all of its news stands from all communities north of Houston. These changes can only help to
strengthen our position as the leading print source for news of our
communities.

(MB): What sort
of measures has your publication put in place to either conserve costs or boost
revenue?
(TT):  In addition to the things outlined in question one, we are looking at adding a
couple of other publications when the timing is right. These are niche market publications
that currently have no comparable publications in our immediate area. As with all publications,
regardless of publication schedule, we have to keep an eye on costs to be sure
they don’t get out of hand. We staff only to the level that budget allows,
which often means doing more of the work ourselves when we would like to hire
someone else to do the work. We’re also constantly on the lookout for
outstanding sales people, a difficult position to fill in our market. But as
long as we keep looking, eventually we will find the right staff and, we hope,
be able to structure the compensation for sales staff in a way that benefits
both them and us.

(MB): Do you have any significant
changes in store this year?
(TT):    I believe most were
outlined in question #1. Of course, we will continue to look at other ways of
doing business; at some point, we plan to start publishing catalogs for others.
First, however, we need to acquire some additional software that allows us to
do so efficiently.

(MB): What was your most successful
advertising initiative in the past 12 months?
(TT) : By
far our most successful advertising "initiative" is our annual phone
book. It’s small, but it is far and away the most popular phone book in our
area (even staff MTA, our local phone cooperative say so). Our second most
successful advertising approach is to convince advertisers in Wasilla and Anchorage of the need to
advertise in our area because they have a product or service that is not
available here.

(MB): Do you have tips for other
publications about the best way to integrate print and web sales?
(TT) : We’re still trying to figure this
out ourselves. We do offer package deals to advertisers who advertise in all of
our print publications, or some combination of them, as well as on the web. The
packages vary, depending on how many publications and how often the ad runs,
but the best deals go to those who advertise in all of them.

(MB): How does your publication hire
and, even more important, retain top sales personnel?
(TT) : A tough job in our market, and
we’re still trying to figure out what works best. Our situation here in rural Alaska is different than
most other areas, where there is usually a larger city, not necessarily
metropolitan, nearby.

 

Mito Magazine is a monthly magazine for the Latino entertainment community  that offers  valuable business advice, health and beauty advice, as well as important
motivating information for personal growth.Co-owner and Marketing Director Gionvanni Higareda  responded to Mediabids’ questions.

(MB) Five years from now what role will publications like yours
serve? For example, some people predict a complete migration to the web for
many types of publications, do you?
(MM)  No,
we will have a strong presence in the web but we want to keep the printing
format.

(MB) What sort of measures has your publication put
in place to either conserve costs or boost revenue?
(MM) Work with vendors to reduce costs by reducing the paper waste and go with 65 percent of post-consumer paper. 

(MB) Looking forward to 2009, do you have any significant changes in store for the
new year?
(MM) Yes, we will expand our distribution area to San Joaquin County and the bay area.

(MB) What was your most successful advertising initiative in the past 12
months?
(MM) We redesigned the concept of the publication, now our main goail is to present the new face of the Latino generation for the general market.

(MB) How does your publication hire
and, even more important, retain top sales personnel?
(MM) By an excellent environment, commission, motivation and empowerment in the main decision-making in  the company.

To view Mito Magazine’s offers, click here.

Birmingham Parent is a monthly magazine that is Birmingham’s best resource for parents. The free publication is distributed at more than 500 locations across Jefferson, Shelby and St. Clair Counties. Publisher  Carol Muse Evans  responded to Mediabids’ inquiries

(MB)Five years from now what role will publications like yours serve? For example, some people predict a complete migration to the web for many types of publications, do you?
(BP) I believe there will always be people who want to read print – it may become digital, sent personally to a handheld device, like a Blackberry, etc.., but i think people will always want print for the  whole story instead of just snippets like they get on television and radio news.

(MB)What sort of measures has your publication put in place to either conserve costs or boost revenue?
(BP) More value-added and newsletter freebies for advertisers – things that really boost advertisers’ presence int he market, but are not expensive to us to provide. We could be charging for a lot of it – but during trying times, to remain competitive, we find offering more keeps business coming our way. 

(MB)What was your most successful advertising initiative in the past 12 months?
(BP) Our education guide in November.

(MB)How does your publication hire and , even more important, retain tops sales personnel?
(BP) They are the best paid people in our company – but they do work on commission, so it’s up to them to decide what they will make each month. We treat them like family – as best we can – and offer as many perks as possible, flex time, work from home, etc…

Positively Entertainment & Dining is a 32-year old regional monthly tabloid serving the Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA metro areas, distributed free to over 300 entertainment-oriented establishments, mostly restaurants, hotels, bars & lounges. We cover all types of music, restaurants, theater, sports, recordings, books, comedy, cabaret & special events. Positively Entertainment appears online also at www.positivelyentertainment.com

(MB) Five years from now what role will publications like yours serve? For example, some people predict a complete migration to the web for many types of publications, do you?

(PE)With the economic climate today, I see more and more publications going to the web.I have cut down from 20 pages to 16 in print already and put additional articles in the online version. I will probably still have a print presence in 5 years, although probably a smaller one.

(MB) What sort of measures has your publication put in place to either conserve costs or boost revenues?
(PE) To conserve costs, besides cutting down to 16 pages, I am shifting more focus to marketing the web site it the new year.

(MB) Looking forward to 2009, do you have any significant changes in store for the new year?
(PE) I am currently expanding circulation to more outlying areas to attract more businesses.

(MB) Do you have any tips for other publications about the best way to integrate print and web sales?
(PE) As far as tips to integrate print and web sales, I would welcome help in that area.

(MB) How does your publication hire and, even more important, retain top sales personnel?
(PE) I have so far no sales personnel besides myself, but have a couple prospective sales people.

To view offers from Positively Entertaining, please click here.
 

The Register Citizen is a daily newspaper serving Northwest Connecticut. The paper also publishes a weekly shopper, The  Foothills Trader, which serves Northwest Connecticut, the Farmington Valley and the Waterbury area. Publisher Matt DeRenzio answered the questions.

(MB) Five years from now what role will publications like yours serve? For example, some people predict a complete migration to the web for many types of publications, do you?

(RC) Five years from now, our publications will serve the same basic role that we do now and that we have for 130 years … being the primary source of local news for our readership and the most effective and targeted vehicle for local advertisers to reach potential customers.What will change – and has already changed/is changing – is that we are using technology and a change in mindset to deliver that news and that advertising in a way that better fits our readers’ needs and lifestyles. Instead of "this is the reach, this is the price," we are offering advertisers the ability to reach specific zip codes, renters vs. homeowners, etc. And if readers are too busy to follow the print edition, they can go to our Web site. If they are too busy to remember to go to our Web site every day, they can receive emails once a day and as news breaks with top local news headlines, allowing them to click on what they’re interested in or hit "delete."

Another thing that is changing already – and will only grow over the next five years – is that publications like ours are using technology to interact with readers as never before. Today on our Web site, readers are visiting all day long and debating each other via story comments and blogs. If they are at the scene of a big fire, they can upload the photos they took with a camera phone to our Web site to share with fellow readers and possibly be published in our print edition.

But in five years, as now, and as was the case 130 years ago, no one else – not Google, not Yahoo, not TV news, not bloggers – can offer comprehensive coverage of the school board meeting, the high school football game, the accident that shut down the street near a reader’s house.

(MB)Looking forward to 2009, do you have any significant changes in store for the new year?

(RC) We are expanding the space we devote to local news and expanding the space we devote to reader comments and reader-generated content, much of it submitted via our Web site. We are leveraging our 130 years of newsgathering in Northwest Connecticut by expanding our local history content. As larger metro and mini-metro daily newspapers cut back severely on newshole and pages, we see a perfect opportunity as a small local daily to invest in those areas and grow circulation.

(MB) What was your most successful advertising initiative in the past 12 months? 

(RC) Our most successful advertising initiatives were 1) a program that provided advertisers heavy frequency and flexibility for larger seasonal advertising at discounted rates in exchange for a year-long commitment; 2) a glossy magazine with shelf life focusing on summertime activities; 3) a section celebrating the long history of numerous local, family-owned businesses.

(MB) How does your publication hire and, even more important, retain top sales personnel?

(RC) The toll that the economy has taken on real estate agencies and auto dealers this year has provided us with many good salesperson prospects migrating from those industries. The recruitment and retention pitch is a pay structure that offers unlimited income potential, and a steady stream of creative sales ideas and products that we are always willing to adapt to the needs of the customer. If the organization is focused on serving the customer in that way, the sales job is easier, more rewarding, and more lucrative.

, a bimontly magazine, covers stories that are dedicated to notable professionals and industry which affect well lifestyles

 

with presence in or attachment to the Chicago area. Publisher Joanne Rusch provided Mediabids  with email responses to our questions.Chicago Wellness Magazine

 

(MB) Five years from now what role will publications like yours serve? For example, some people predict a complete migration to the web for many types of publications. Do you?
(CWM) My prediction would be that there will still be print media, not as much, but still in existence for publishers who work hard to provide quality and original content. Recycled news, newswire dumps and lack of creativity will define who survives and who does not, in addition to broadcast and web symmetry.

(MB) Looking forward to 2009, do you have any significant changes in store for the new year?
(CWM) Yes, added value for readership.

(MB) What was your most successful advertising initiative in the past 12 months? 
(CWM) Taking what I call, a Marketorial Approach© – serving my advertisers across multiple platforms, including them in any outside marketing opportunities and events we are involved in and more. Our job should be to serve our readership and our advertisers in the best way possible – always!

 

(MB) Do you have tips for other publications about the best way to integrate print and web sales?
(CWM) Ask yourself, what do my readers really want? And then implement it across as many platforms as possible.
<br /

 

Founded in April
2005, Positive Magazine has become an in-flight publication for US Airways
Shuttle, United and Continental Airlines. Tiffany Love of Positive has answered Mediabids’ questions.

(MB) Five years from now what
role will publications like yours serve? For example, some people predict a
complete migration to the web for many types of publications. Do you?
(PM) There are many advantages to the web, but there are
certain aspects of "web publishing" that don’t come close to
print. For instance, when you go home from work today and check your mailbox,
do you only want to see bills or receive some good news? Do you want to read on
your handheld device or flip through the pages? How long can someone look at a
computer screen without feeling exhausted and tired? There is a sense of
command that we feel with our magazines and it should be welcomed
information.
However, I do think that the number of publications will be
reduced, but I don’t see the industry being completely eliminated. 

(MB) What
sort of measures has your publication put in place to either conserve costs or
boost revenue?
(PM) Positive Magazine is very much focused on the environment
so, we are already in conservation mode. We are now marketing our efforts and
partnering with other media outlets.

(MB) Looking
forward to 2009, do you have any significant changes in store for the new year?
(PM) We will continue to work hard and remain Positive. The
economic situation can bring a lot of good virtues and we want to be prepared
for the good that comes from weathering difficulty. 

(MB) How does
your publication hire and, even more important, retain top sales personnel?
(PM) It’s so difficult to find committed people. I really wish
publications could share talent. At the end of the day, if it is to be then
it’s up to me. I’m really tired. 

To view advertising offers in Positive Magazine, click here.