By David Tingley, editor
At a recent business networking event held at co-working space – Freshmill – in Haywards Heath, I was asked why our magazines were so different to that of our competition. The questioner was specifically asking about content, and was it a strategic decision to include the quality and quantity of editorial which our community magazines carry.
The answer is YES – it has been a conscious decision from the very early days of Lindfield Life (which started back in 2009) that we knew we couldn’t simply fill our pages with only adverts and the occasional ‘filler’ article.
Let me take a side-bar moment here. In our world, we do rank editorial content – regardless of whether we have written it internally or whether its been supplied to us. The best, and highest rated, is an article which specifically relates in a tangible way to that area. Down at nearer the other end sit editorial which relates generally to that geographic area (eg, a story about Sussex Police, or local hospice). Proper filler content would be something which could fit in any magazine title. I guess an article talking about seasonal nature, or a topical memorial day, would fit into this category, as could a puzzle or brainteaser (although, that doesn’t mean there aren’t lots of people who do greatly value some of these ‘lower -ranked’ content types).
For our magazines, we believe one of the many reasons why our readers love to read what we publish every month, is that we prioritise content which relates to the area where they live and/or work. Our editorial team work very hard to ensure that there is plenty of content which matters to the reader. Whether that’s the story of a person they recognise, or a new shop opening on the high street.
Not every free magazine does this! But we think its imperative to our success. Making magazines which are very readable is how we make sure that your advertisement is going to be seen by those readers. Without all this fabulous content, we don’t have people flicking through each month and coming across your business or service at the same time.
On a similar vein, we pride ourselves on getting the balance right. It’s not enough to have one or two brilliant articles of worth; there must be enough to keep our readership going all the way through to the back of the magazine. Which is why our target ratio between advertising and content is 55:45. We put content over profit, to retain a product which people love to read, every single month. Whether they live in Haywards Heath, Lindfield, Hurstpierpoint, Hassocks or Cuckfield.
Talk to us about advertising your business every month in Lindfield Life, Cuckfield Life, Hurst Life, Hassocks Life or Haywards Heath Life – we would love to help your business get seen by residents of these areas of Mid Sussex.
