On the one hand, a sample magazine business
plan is very easy to construct. All you need is a few good writers and
few willing readers.
KEY CONSIDERATION
On the other hand, it is very
difficult. Whether your magazine will be in hard copy on on the
internet, or both, you are facing competition for advertising dollars unlike
any other time in our history. And it is the advertising dollar that
will differentiate your magazine from the rest.
STRONGEST ADVANTAGE
There is hardly an intelligent person on
earth who hasn't dreamed of publishing a book or a magazine. People
relate to this dream. With your writing talent, it will be relatively
easy for you to engage your lender/investor in your dream. This puts
you a long way on the road to success.
STRONGEST DISADVANTAGE
But writing skill just won't cut the
mustard. You need graphics skills too. You also need the skill
to tackle the internet with a vengeance. And, above everything else,
you need sales ability. If you do not possess these skills personally,
you will need to get them on your team as quickly as possible.
OVERCOMING THE DISADVANTAGES
WITH YOUR SAMPLE MAGAZINE BUSINESS PLAN
Demonstrate Your Graphics Skills and
Your Writing Skills
The business plan itself is the perfect
chance for you to physically demo your skills. Few companies can top
you here. The business plan need not be a duplicate of your magazine,
but it does need to project your strength of style and purpose.
Next, put together 2-3 full issues, with
dummy ads included. Nobody is going to fund a magazine without seeing
what it is going to look like.
Demonstrate Your Internet Skills
How would it feel to walk into a banker's
office and announce, "My site is in the top one percent of all sites in
the world"? It is actually more realistic than you think.
You can do this. Honest.
And it's not expensive to start an internet
business, about $300 per year for a web address and website.
Before looking for financing, take the
website as far as you can yourself -- and that's pretty far.
- You can build a site yourself that
generates traffic -- and money -- in your spare time.
- You can create highly optimized,
targeted pages that rank well and pull visitors to your
site.
- You can set up affiliate sales or MLM
sites.
- You can sell ebooks via ClickBank and on
your site.
- You can have AdSense ads on your site.
- You can tap into the dozens and dozens
of monetization models available.
In short, you can get all of this done
before you ever talk with a single person about lending you money, or
investing in your website.
Better yet, all of these advertising
sources that you are using are potential advertisers for a hard copy
publication as well.
Then you can take your sample magazine
business plan into your bank and very confidently announce,
"My site is in the top one percent of all sites in the world. And
I am ready to expand into hard copy publication."
Take a look at these
websites. All were created by individuals, not by
corporations. All are in the top one percent in the world. And
look how many of them could be the basis of a hard copy magazine.
Being In The "Expansion" Mode
Is What Makes It Work
Start ups are hard to fund in any
industry. A magazine business plan as a
startup business is dead on arrival.
But an EXPANSION business. Now
that's another keg of fish. This is a company that has proven
success, and wants more success. That's something that lenders like.
So take your internet magazine just as far as you can, then go for "EXPANSION
FUNDING". You'll be nearly home before you know it.
HOW MUCH FUNDING WILL
YOUR SAMPLE MAGAZINE BUSINESS PLAN NEED?
The primary reason you will have trouble
raising funding is that hard copy publishing and distribution ain't
cheap. It is, in fact, very very expensive.
Very nearly every hard copy periodical
has an online component. Some charge for the online service; some
don't. Some provide back issues for free; some don't. But
nearly all of them use one media as an advertising springboard for the
other. Knowing your niche, and how advertisers approach it, will be
the single biggest plus in your corner.
The other big plus will be how well you
handle the money you raise. For instance, can you get great writers
cheaply? How about distribution?
When compiling your projections, be
generous with the amount of money you will need. Magazines need to
be compiled weeks or months in advance, and you won't see much return for
a long time.
Be sure to check the industry standards
in
BizMiner
.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
FOR YOUR BUSINESS PLAN FOR
YOUR MAGAZINE BUSINESS PLAN
AND YOUR MARKETING PLAN FOR YOUR MAGAZINE BUSINESS
There are two types of statistical
information that you will need for your magazine business marketing plan. One is for the publishing industry itself, and
one is for the type of industry or demographic that you are focusing on. Sometimes
these can be combined, and sometimes they are separate.
For marketing information go to
BizMiner
At the home page, go to "Industry Search".
Keying in "publishing" will bring back a long list of potential
publishing businesses, including:
| Printing, Publishing
and Allied Industries |
Newspapers,
publishing and printing |
| Commercia printing |
Job printing |
| Periodicals,
publishing only |
Comic books:
publishing only |
| Magazines:
publishing only |
Statistical reports
(periodicals) |
| Television
schedules: publishing only |
Trade Journals:
publishing only |
| Periodicals,
Publishing and Printing |
Comic Books:
Publishing and Printing |
| Magazines:
Publishing and Printing |
Book Publishing |
| Book Clubs |
Book Music |
| Miscellaneous
Publishing |
Art copy and poster
publishing |
| Posters: publishing |
Atlas, map, and
guide publishing |
| Globe covers (maps) |
Guides, publishing
and printing |
| Telephone and other
directory publishing |
Music book and sheet
music publishing |
| Newsletter
publishing |
Shopping news |
| Technical manual |
Catalogs: publishing |
| Micropublishing |
Patterns, paper |
| Racing forms and
programs |
Yearbooks |
| Magazines: gravure
printing |
Newspapers: gravure
printing |
| Periodicals: gravure
printing |
Publishing
consultant |
Almost all of these categories have
both Industry Financials and Marketing Research reports available.
Do get both. Your lender will see this information. You
should know what is in these reports. If it is in your favor, use
it. It it is not good, go in forewarned.
You will need to do the same search for
the specific industry you are appealing to. If, for instance, you
are focusing a publication on the apartment construction industry, be
well aware of what is happening in that industry, and what the
significant trends are.
YOUR BEST ALL AROUND SOURCE FOR YOUR
BUSINESS PLAN IN PUBLISHING
|
Your
7-Step Business Plan for a Magazine Publisher. Here's
where you get the real skinny on formatting, language, marketing,
style and presentation of your business plan for your publishing
business. At under $45, it's hard to beat ... anywhere.
Click
on the book cover for more information.
|
YOUR LIKELY
LENDER/INVESTOR
The SBA
is your best bet for smaller businesses.
While few magazine business plans have
sufficient profit to interest venture capital firms, if yours is an established
business looking to expand substantially, a
venture capital firm may be your best choice. Be sure to check out
the newest development in venture capital: venture
lending.
ONE STEP
FURTHER IN YOUR SAMPLE MAGAZINE BUSINESS PLAN
You've got a lot of things
in your favor: your style, your record of success, your
vision. Combine those qualities into a strong business plan, and
your funding will be there.
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Sample Magazine Business Plan
