Controlling the Outcome

by Joe Sweeney

A few years ago I was enjoying a business lunch at a downtown restaurant when I overheard a conversation at a nearby table. Although I didn't recognize either party in the conversation, the discussion hit a little to close to home to ignore. As best I could figure, a public relations professional was telling her client that she could guarantee editorial coverage in substantially all area media properties, including Ingram's. As the magazines' publisher, I was a bit taken back. Even my mother can't make that boast with confidence, let alone a perfect stranger. Still, I was flattered that placement in Ingram's mattered enough to this woman that she was willing to boast about her influence, however exaggerated the boast.

Here Lies Our Challenge As this anecdote suggests, we've seen a significant increase in requests for editorial coverage in Ingram's Magazine over the last few years. The challenge we have with fielding these pitches is the fact that as a monthly magazine, we're limited to a finite amount of valuable space. Our editorial programming is not as conducive for this type of coverage as a newspaper or other reactive news-type media. In 2001 Ingram's received far more than twice the number of requests for editorial coverage as we had the prior year. Last year the requests nearly tripled from 2001. And already in 2003 were on pace to receive far more queries than we ever have before. Why? We know the economy is one factor. "Free media" looks all the more appealing when marketing budgets are cut and tightly controlled. Another reason--and forgive the seeming immodesty--is that many PR and business professionals want coverage because of the influential readership the publication has earned. What many people may not realize, however, is that while we use many individuals and organizations as expert sources in columns and features, Ingram's editorial coverage is focused primarily on industry trends, issues within the region, and progress in community and economic development initiatives. Rarely do we feature a certain individual or a specific business.

Creating a Solution We've had numerous discussions with consultants, colleagues around the nation and PR professionals about the growing number of editorial requests we receive and the challenge we have in fulfilling them. We have determined that a good way to address this challenge is to offer a supplemental forum where we can help organizations position themselves in the region with a controlled and well-timed communications piece. And so Ingram's has launched a new service that addresses many mutual concerns while providing additional benefits at a very good value. It is called Corporate Kansas City, and it offers several significant benefits including single and multi-page company profiles to be inserted in Ingram's Magazine. In this way organizations may share their story, and at the same time produce except-ional and affordable communication pieces. A single or multi-page Corporate Kansas City profile offers many advantages: n Well crafted coverage of an organization at the most appropriate time or in the most editorial-relevant issue; n Affordable high quality reprints about the organization produced for a nominal fee--much less than if designed and printed separately or elsewhere; n For a nominal fee, these corporate profiles can be included in a special year-end bound edition of Corporate Kansas City that will provide several years of continued exposure. We encourage marketing professionals and business executives interested in posit-ioning their organizations with Ingram's influential readers to reserve their position with one or several Corporate Kansas City profile/reprints. They will appreciate the ability to control the outcome and the timing of the message as well as the opportunity to produce high quality reprints and to appear in the year-end Corporate Kansas City special edition.