Services

Strategy

Strategic analysis and planning: corporate or area specific...editorial, advertising, marketing, circulation, repositioning, launches and ancillary product lines

Process

Comprehensive or area specific operational audits with resulting recommendations for improving editorial, advertising, circulation and production tools, procedures, and performance

Research

Editorial and advertising focus groups, market and reader surveys and proprietary advertiser telephone interviews

People

Executive recruiting for middle and senior level publishing professionals, compensation analysis, customized training seminars and programs for senior management, editorial, advertising, and circulation staff

Technology

Fulfillment, advertising and circulation systems and applications audits and searches for in-house, turn-key and out-of-house solutions

Design

Magazines, newspapers, logos, web sites, annual reports, and collateral materials

Advertising Sales

In a world where there are no longer any must buys, it is critical to have a razor sharp view of the industry as a whole and keen insight into those markets in which an individual title might best capitalize. Thoughtful, strategic planning and solutions that lead to effective execution are key to successful sales efforts. We help you achieve your goals by critiquing/training sales staff; developing media sales materials; documenting and analyzing publications’ current advertising situation and future potential; transforming lackluster sales plans into efficient profitable prospecting tools; developing strategic and tactical recommendations in response to specifically stated goals; preparing comprehensive independent analysis to grow ad sales and drive profits.

Advertising Research

SC will survey your advertisers to help you determine what your strengths (and weaknesses) are from your advertisers‘ perspective and what value-added enhancements might interest them most. We’ll identify why advertisers buy your competition, so that you can make informed decisions about what direction you should pursue with your advertisers in the future.

Branding/Integrated Marketing

In today's increasingly crowded marketplace, the only way for a publication/website to stand out is to be a well-defined brand. A brand that expresses what makes it different and better than the competition, and then convinces readers and advertisers why they need it. A brand is not what you are; it is who you are.

Once established, brand messaging must reach targets at countless touch points in their busy lives. In whatever medium the brand speaks – on its website, in a media kit, a sales video, direct marketing, advertising or any other form of marketing communications – the brand must speak in one integrated voice. Deliverables include competitive branding reviews, positioning research, creative briefs, integrated marketing communications, advertising, direct marketing, media kits, collateral materials, sales videos, interactive, promotion, public relations and on-going marketing management.

Business Strategy (Operational)

How does your magazine compare to its peers in staffing, capitalization, revenue, and expenditures? Should you out-source certain functions, or keep them in-house? SC will provide you with the experience and data you need to make critical operational decisions. If necessary, we can help negotiate contracts and select the best vendor for your needs.

Circulation Marketing Plan

SC offers a complete range of circulation marketing services. We offer strategic planning and modeling, budgeting, direct mail campaigns, and more for consumer, B2B and association publishers. We will examine all source programs (email, catalogs, websites, radio, credit card programs, etc.) to determine if they offer a more cost-effective method to grow your subscription base. We also offer creative services for direct mail, insert cards, etc.

Circulation Single Copy Sales Evaluation and Plan

Are you considering testing a single copy sales program? Are you on the stands or in bookstores and having problems with placement? Do you need to upgrade your newsstand retail merchandising strategies? Are there alternative retail distribution outlets that might better reach your audience? SC offers an integrated approach to single copy sales, designed to improve your visibility and increase newsstand sales.

Circulation Fulfillment and/or RFP with Vendor Selection

Maintaining your database is a critical function for most publishers. Whether fulfillment is done in-house or by an outside agency, SC can review your methodology and make recommendations which save you time and money. We examine your cost per name to process and maintain circulation changes, and the efficiency of your fulfillment process, from receipt of subscription or renewal to invoices, mailing, etc. Selecting another vendor (in-house or out-of-house solution) may be something you don’t know how to tackle or choose not to. We can help by managing the review and selection process.

Circulation Audit (BPA / ABC / Verified)

SC is familiar with all facets of the consumer and the B2B audit process and will guide you through an initial audit or help you prepare for a review.

Circulation Management

SC provides circulation management services on a select basis. Contact us for more information to discuss your needs and if we can’t meet your criteria, we can find a vendor or solution that to manage your file.

Content Development

Content Licensing

Today there are myriad opportunities to boost revenues by licensing content for distribution through multiple channels. At the same time content owners need to ensure they retain ownership and control of where and how their content appears. Our extensive experience allows us to develop and negotiate innovative content licensing arrangements that benefit both content providers and distribution channels. Careful attention to detail minimizes the risk of pirating of content, without closing off future opportunities for new forms and channels of distribution. Thoughtful creation of targeted packages delivers the right content to the right users.

The content licensing services we provide include: contract review and negotiation, pricing and revenue-sharing options, copyright and intellectual property protection mechanisms, Identifying and exploiting new markets, expanding markets through categorization and tagging of content, including metadata.

Editorial (content) Research

SC will conduct research to help you develop content, measure the impact of content, identify l strengths and weaknesses with content, and re-position if necessary.

Due Diligence

For buyers of properties SC will provide full service business and operational due diligence review. We will work with your management and alongside your audit and legal professionals to conduct a full investigation of the target property and report our findings to you.

Executive Recruiting

Have you lost an essential member of your executive team? Is someone, “just not working out?” We’re available to recruit and replace key personnel. Working under an exclusive contract, we will canvass the marketplace and screen candidates on a national basis. We discretely network with industry professionals to locate talent, until we find the professional right for you. We do not accept contingency assignments.

Electronic Publishing/Content Management

To remain competitive, publishers must embrace new technologies. SC will review your current systems and identify solutions that best integrate with your workflow and design environment. Learn which combination of in-house and out-sourced production matches your needs for print and online. Control costs and turnaround time. Use technology effectively to get the quality you desire faster and cheaper.

Expert Witness Testimony

Our team includes experts in every area of print and electronic publishing. We can provide the insight and analyses needed to assert claims or to defend against legal adversaries. We will work closely with counsel to develop strategy, provide testimony and produce the written documentation needed to achieve your legal objectives.

Financial Modeling

Start-ups must have a convincing financial plan that will motivate investors or upper management to commit the necessary funds. And ongoing publications need a barometer to judge the long term effectiveness of decisions made every day. A publishing model combines all the factors associated with circulation acquisition and retention, advertising, production and overhead into a format that easily allows you to modify and update information to develop a logical and viable plan for both launches and ongoing magazines. Magazine publishing models explore the interrelationship of assumptions so that the most appropriate publishing strategy can be achieved.

Our experts not only deliver function-specific expertise for development of your magazine, but also supply you with the tools to effectively deliver that information to investors. Financial models deliver: rate base management, budgets, forecasts, cash flow, and lifetime value.

Graphic Design / Redesign

Design captures your audience and tells them something about who you are. A dated or ineffectual design will not capture your readers’ attention. Realistically, the artistic must be tempered by budgetary constraints. The goal: to have a publication and website which begs to be taken off the newsstand or engaged with online. Let us help you rejuvenate your brand through design. SC also provides design services for collateral material.

Information Systems

Rapid innovations in the publishing arena compel the publisher to manage systems integration. We can review every department’s needs (or just one), develop an evaluation grid and then use this information to write the RFP. We identify vendors with capabilities that meet your criteria and budget. If desired, we can negotiate the contract and manage the implementation.

M&A

SC will represent both buyers and sellers. For sellers we will implement an exclusive sale process designed to maximize our client's bargaining power by controlling the information flow, managing potential buyers' behavior and stimulating competition among them. We will work closely with your counsel and other professionals and orchestrate a smoothly flowing and prompt effort to find the buyer offering the best price and terms. We will negotiate any term sheets or letters of intent and the final purchase agreement. For buyers we enact a comprehensive plan to gather leads, identify target properties, approach owners and negotiate a purchase.

International Marketing

A global economy offers new publishing opportunities as well as increased competition. We offer international expertise and professionals who can interact with senior management in whatever country you choose. Let us help you determine if expansion into the global marketplace makes sense for your publication. If you decide to move forward we can also help you identify partners, agents, and suppliers.

Operations Evaluation - Entire Publication and Web Site

This is a comprehensive review of every department pertinent to your operation. We interview key members of your staff and examine work flow and internal processes. We benchmark your publication against the industry as a whole and then against your direct competition. We take a highly disciplined approach to the evaluation of you operation and offer pragmatic solutions for your problems and challenges.

Manufacturing (Paper & Printing)

Manufacturing alternatives have never been more numerous. SC can research your options in paper stock and printers. We can identify a printer who will act as an extension of your staff and work with you no matter what your magazine size or requirements. We can also prepare your RFP, review bids, and make recommendations.

Publication Launches

Few businesses are as risky as magazine publishing. But with extensive industry knowledge and smart planning these risks can be minimized. We can work with you to determine your distinctive niche and help you refine your concept. We can conduct focus groups to determine reader interest in your publication and undertake interviews to determine prospective advertiser appeal. We can also crunch the numbers to produce a compelling business plan, critique a plan already in existence, or work on a specific area related to your launch.

Training Seminars

SC will deliver tailored, on-site training that allows you to develop existing staff and improve retention. We can offer an overview of industry standards and best practices or share our knowledge about specific core disciplines (editorial/content, circulation, marketing and advertising, websites, ancillary products, etc.). Let us build on what your staff already knows and prepare them for the changes ahead.

Subscriber / Member / Audience Research

Want to know what your readers/site visitors really think? We can conduct research which will give you the information you need to direct your content, advertising and marketing activities.

Web Strategy

You can’t build or improve a site without a strategy. What’s the business model for the site launch or should it be changed for a site improvement/reposition? SC will help you understand how to create a site strategy and then how to translate that through a business model, design/redesign and programming/content management.

Valuations

Owners and managers are often faced with the problem of stating a value for a property either for equity sales, partnership, tax, estate, matrimonial or some other purpose. SC performs expert valuations using any of the accepted appraisal methodologies. We will work with you to understand why a valuation is necessary and to select the methodology that will most accurately reflect the value of your business and satisfy the demands of any and all parties.