For What It’s Worth

2004 CASE Editors’ Forum

Page 1

For What It’s Worth: Proving the Value of Your Magazine

by Tom Griffin, Editor, Columns Magazine, University of Washington

Mary Ruth Yoe, Editor, University ofChicago Magazine, University of Chicago

CASE Editor’s Forum

March 30, 2004

Boston

Presentation Highlights

Alumni magazines are widely read by their audiences and regarded as credible:

• A 1995 MRI* study at eight public and private research universities found that average time spent with alumni magazines was 39 minutes. In 2001 Chicago’s average was 44 minutes. In 2003 Columns’ average was 30 minutes.

• Magazine industry looks at reader “loyalty” by measuring if three out of last four issues have been read. They think their 43% rating for the industry is excellent. But alumni magazine readers are off the charts in their loyalty. For example, our magazines have loyalty indexes of 70% (Columns) and 72% (Chicago).

• Pass-through rate shows that not only do our readers read their magazines, but they also keep them and share with their friends. This rate measures the total number of readers per copy of the magazine. The 1995 MRI survey found an average 1.6 pass-through rate.

• Chicago is the number one source of news about the University of Chicago for its alumni. In its 2001 survey, 79 percent of U of C alumni said it was their primary source.

• At the University of Washington, Columns readers strongly agreed with the statement “I am impressed with its fair, balanced coverage of issues, even topics which are controversial at the UW” (96% agreed or are neutral, 4% disagreed).

• Anecdotal evidence; If you add up all the class notes submissions, death notices, letters to the editor and address changes, you get more than 100 communications a month coming from alumni to their magazine. We have the most alumni feedback from any advancement effort on campus.

(*Mediamark Research Inc. study done in 1995 for Carnegie Mellon, Case Western Reserve, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Rutgers, Pitt, Washington.)

Magazines may have an impact on giving:

• We found that 19 of top 20 fund-raising institutions in 2000-01 had some kind of alumni/university magazine, and the only one that didn't (NYU) launched its magazine in the fall of 2003.

• UW research on its million-dollar donors found the big gift came 21 to 28 years after graduation. The only consistent contact over that time was the alumni magazine.

• Plenty of anecdotal evidence that magazines can help, such as $1 million bequest at UW, Duke researcher invited by foundation to apply for a major grant, Swarthmore’s $100,000 scholarship, McGill’s new building.

• It is important that not every communication from your college or university is a request for funds.

The Internet is not a substitute for a print magazine:

• E-mail might arrive in your mailbox, but you don’t have to open it. A recent Jakob Nielsen survey found only 11% of subscribers read their e-newsletters. The rest just scan for content or delete.

• E-mail delivery problems: only 15-20% valid addresses at UW; 43% valid at Chicago.

• Spam filters could put it into junk mail folder, especially if “sex” “lesbian” or “Nigeria” are in the subject line!

• Accounts could be old--never accessed by the owner--even if the e-mail never bounces.

Magazines are more cost-effective than most other outreach activities:

• How much does it cost to get an hour of one alumnus’s time, and how much of a reach do you get with your advancement effort?

• Look at costs for reunions, lecture series, football rallies. Calculate how much it cost for one hour of one alumnus’s time.

• At a recent University of Washington pre-game football rally, it cost $3.60 for one hour of an alumnus’s time, with a reach of about 1,200 alumni and fans. Even if everyone at the event was a UW graduate, that’s 0.5% of the total alumni population.

• For Columns, the cost is 86 cents for one hour of alumnus’s time and the reach is 100% of alumni households.

• For Chicago the cost is $1.13 for one hour of an alumnus’s time and the reach is 100% of all alumni.

• With computer-to-plate technology, digital photography, pfd workflow, your production costs are going down.

Chicago’s pre-press went from $90,000 in 1999 to $39,000 in 2003.

In one year, Columns saved more than $3,500 by moving to pdf workflow.

• Editors can offset costs with a voluntary subscription program. University of Chicago Magazine brought in $150,000 in donations in 2002-03.

• Editors can consider advertising to also offset costs. Columns Magazine brought in $180,000 in net ad revenue in 2002-03.

How to Speak Administratorese

When an administrator tells you that your publication should

  • Be a place to tell their story the way they want to tell it.

He or she may be thinking, “Why should we report the bad news when our readers can learn about it elsewhere—or maybe if we’re lucky they won’t hear about it at all?”

But that can be translated to what your readers expect

  • Be an advocate for the institution.

Which means telling the bad news as well as the good, but making sure the institution’s side is given—and making sure to explain what’s being done about the problem.

When an administrator tells you that your publication should

  • Be a place to get the institution’s message across.
  • Get readers to support the institution—by sending money, volunteering, sending their children to the institution, or writing their legislators in support of the institution.

The administrator may mean, “Emphasize our three key marketing messages—after all it’s working in our ads.”

But that can be translated to what your readers expect

  • Underscore the institutional messages by telling STORIES that illustrate the institution’s key messages—but not all at the same time, and from different angles.

Tactical Steps

  • Other institutions do it this way.

Share award-winning magazines from your institution’s peer or wannabe peer schools. Or find articles on issues facing your institution in other alumni publications and send them, “FYI only,” to your administrators.

  • Q & A. Ask your administrators some questions.

When was the last time they read a story in their alumni publication about homecoming or the new assistant director of admissions? Ask them to describe the stories they remember best from those same publications or stories that caught their eye? Odds are these are people stories, real news and fun.

  • Create story lists.

Include a short explanation of how each item in, or planned for the publication fits into the stated magazine mission statement and institutional marketing strategy.

  • Be proactive.

Let your boss know before he/she comes to you on how you are planning to cover the launch of the new campaign, the presidential inauguration, the opening of the new library, etc. This lets you do it in a way that will interest your readers, and the administrators know that you are taking their goals seriously.

  • Use analogies they can understand.

Use a “development model” of reading a magazine. Your magazine has a circulation of 100,000, therefore it has 100,000 potential “donors.” You are not asking for money, but your ARE asking for time—sometimes that is more precious to them than their money. Just as a development officer needs to cultivate potential donors, editors need to cultivate their readers. You don’t want to alienate them. You pay attention to their likes and dislikes and what they feel about their alma mater. You try to answer their questions about their college or university.

Summary

What the editor needs to do is explain that a publication is best when it

  • Creates support for the institution.

How that is done—by following the basics of communications.

  • Show, don’t tell.
  • Specifics help make generalities more memorable.
  • Credibility builds respect.
  • Credibility builds respect. (It’s worth repeating.)
  • Listen to your audience.