It's almost hard to remember all the snow. The trees are blooming, birds are singing, children are outside playing and you can smell the grills going in every neighborhood. I am so glad for spring, so thankful just to be living, to see once again the tulips sprouting in the gardens and to see the sunshine add smiles to the faces of everyone I meet.
We are in the process of getting the Spring 2010 Edition of Putnam County Magazine out into the community. The Spring Edition is printed, along with the extra bonus insert. It is on a semi truck bound for our location, and due to arrive by Wednesday. I'm really excited, I can't wait to see the final printed copies, and introduce the Spring Edition to our readers. We have included more drawings, more coupons, grill recipes, a new Putnam Puzzler, and information on some fun activities for the entire family.
As I wait for the arrival of the Spring Edition, it gives me time to take a breath, reflect on how we're doing and work on areas we could improve upon. I'd like to take this time now to talk about something that has been on my mind for the past couple of months. Have you ever considered how much work must go into publishing any printed piece? Publishing a full color, quality magazine is somewhat harder than publishing on newsprint or printing black and white. Newsprint is not expected to "WOW" you with fancy colors, quality photographs and "pop off" the page graphics, it is printed at a lower resolution and therefore is more forgiving of quality, but we all expect the "WOW FACTOR" in a magazine. The technical aspects that have to be met in order to achieve a professional look, are just one of the many extra jobs of producing a quality, full color publication. You could never earn enough to cover all the time involved, driving expenses, proof changes, story gathering, distribution costs, photography efforts and much more that goes into each issue. It is time intensive, labor intensive, graphic intensive and it requires mounds of stamina, ideas, technical knowledge and creativity. Putnam County Magazine offers some of the lowest advertising rates of a full color publication. We haven't even begun to estimate or charge for most production costs incurred. We concentrate basically on the cost of printing. When we engage in advertising sales, it is only to cover paper, printing and shipping. Our system is extremely lucky for our advertisers, we keep outsourcing to a minimum, and our overhead low, and pass the savings back in low advertising rates. All my life, I have always heard, "do what you love, and the money will follow". Well, I'm doing what I love and maybe the money will follow, maybe not. If it never does, I'll have made a difference in my community. I have used my many years of industry knowledge, and I have helped small business owners get quality advertising for less money. We have provided a quality publication, and community website to area residents with local stories, inspirational quotes and more.
Before I tell you about what has been on my mind lately, I'd like to give you a background on our publication. It is a family lifestyle publication promoting dining, recreation, entertainment, tourism and local interest information presented free to everyone. It requires the support of the advertisers to continue to produce a printed version. Thousands of copies are distributed free, in hundreds of locations throughout the area. In the few short months since we began this publication, it has produced a following online and off. We get calls and emails with questions about the upcoming edition, calls offering praise and encouragement, and those with helpful suggestions and story ideas. We have been very fortunate to have received help from our local and state tourism bureaus. Putnam County Tourism recently helped us distribute the Winter Edition at the State Capitol Hospitality Convention in February, and helped by placing them in the visitor center on I-64. AEP and our Putnam County Commissioner have helped us tremendously by allowing distribution through Chamber functions and at the John Amos Plant Visitor Center. I feel our distribution efforts and assistance in distribution are to be highly commended. We're a small business competing against the big guys, and we have to work even harder to make sure everyone hears about what we are doing. Advertising efforts are also to be commended. We operate with unpaid volunteers, who contribute by helping build respect and loyalty from our advertisers in creating a community magazine we can be proud of.
Now, for the thing that has been on my mind. Having said all the above and allowing you an insight into the operation and efforts of creating Putnam County Magazine, I'd like to tell you about something that really bugs me. I don't often encounter this problem when we are conducting ad sales, but when I do, it is usually so degrading it seems as if it happens everyday. I deal with many supportive businesses, and I am happy to say that many have become repeat advertisers, due in part to our efforts to not only create it, and print it, but to promote it. They will tell you, what sets us apart from other advertising mediums is the promotion we include in our offers. We care about the return on investment for our advertisers. My biggest defeat in the course of doing business, happens when I encounter a possible client who is rude, hateful, full of insults and doesn't even have the slightest idea what we do. They insist it is a waste of their time, too expensive, not good enough and more. They offer up other forms of advertisement opportunities, like the guys who print more copies of something. I realize they are just trying to talk themselves into not placing and ad with us. What they don't mention are the numbers, how many of those many, many printed copies are really being read of that "other publication"? How many are going straight to the garbage pail? How many are offering free prizes? How many are giving away copies and goodies at festivals and events? How many are paying for other forms of advertisements to promote advertisers? As we work to reach our goal of covering our expenses, we offer many "FREE" advertising advantages. We don't just create it, print it, and forget it - WE PROMOTE IT! We make sure all our advertisers receive extra free advertising when they place an ad with us. We believe in what we are doing. Small business is the backbone of this nation and we believe in promoting as many small business owners as we can, because we are one. So the next time you get ready to "let me have it, because I stopped to tell you about a great way to get the word out about your business", just stop and think a moment. If you don't know who we are, if you haven't seen our publication, if you haven't called some of our advertisers to ask what they think, then just hold your tongue. Take our card, check us out, or don't, and just nicely say..."I'll look it over and get back to you, or I'm not interested". I will shake you hand, thank you for your time and wait for you to call.
So there you have it, what was bugging me. I try really hard not to complain, to overlook things and just move on, but sometimes I just have to "vent" a little. Thanks for listening. I really hope you enjoy the Spring 2010 Edition. Don't forget to register for prizes and to support the advertisers. They are the ones who keep Putnam County Magazine absolutely free.
