The editorial entrepreneur
George Gendron of
Inc. leverages strong editorial to help sell ads.
by Lee McDonald
ASBPE New York Chapter President
For George Gendron, editing a magazine devoted to small business
and entrepreneurs means learning to think like an entrepreneur.
That means figuring out who your customer is, building a bond
with readers and then using that bond to build long-term, mutually
beneficial relationships with advertisers.
Gendron is editor-in-chief of Inc. magazine, based
in Boston. He spoke recently at a meeting of the New York chapter
of the American Society of Business Press Editors, held at New
York City's Newseum, an interactive museum of journalism.
The magazine Gendron edits holds an enviable share of a desirable
market, with 670,000 subscribers and readers, many of whom own
and operate businesses that generate more than $1 million in
annual sales.
But Gendron is competing in a crowded marketplace. From above,
national business publications such as Forbes and Fortune
are calling on many of the same clients. From below, specialty
publications and the trade press are fighting for the same advertisers
and readers.
Inc., which is privately owned, is divided into three
operations: editorial and Web development; sales and marketing;
and Inc. Business Resources, which includes all other efforts
such as conferences, books and special products. Although Inc.
has a three-wing approach, the staff has learned each unit will
find its own customers. "Most (magazine) readers will not
be conference attendees; purchasers of videos will probably
not be magazine readers," Gendron said. "The overlap
from one business medium to another is almost negligible."
More Service Journalism
Inc. has been through several evolutions. It started
by chronicling the entrepreneurial dream through long-form articles,
and has gradually moved to tighter stories and more service-type
journalism serving small-business owners and entrepreneurs.
Ancillary products, particularly seminars, are an important
component of the current operation. "We view ourselves
as an educational company," Gendron said.
Gendron, who has been with the magazine since 1980, said he
has taken an increasingly larger role in developing his magazine
as a business product — but maintains he has managed to
maintain editorial integrity in the process.
"We have a strict policy at our magazine: When editors
go on the road, they don’t sell."
Inc. Ideas
Gendron ran through several of the initiatives he was involved
in, not all of which led to happy endings, including:
-
Be dumb and make a fortune. At one
point, Inc. was a finalist in a "shootout"
to become a primary advertising vehicle for the launch of
a new automobile. Since Inc. magazine readers were
the auto maker’s target demographic group, Gendron’s
proposal was to invite winners of a published ranking to
test-drive the car for a weekend. "We not only can
help clients with their image campaigns, we can help them
sell their stuff," he said. Unfortunately, the promotion
never materialized.
-
But will you still love me tomorrow?
Inc. and a copier company helped launch a series
of national seminars in which experts spoke on various business
topics, with little overt promotional material from the
sponsor. The payoff: During a retrenching, the company pulled
its entire magazine national advertising campaign —
except from Inc. magazine.
-
The flat earth test. Formerly, an investment
company did no advertising and never responded to the pitch
from Inc. salespeople. However, Inc. management
had identified the investment company as a good fit with
its readers. By phone, Gendron and the magazine’s marketing
executive proposed a package of advertising and sponsored
seminars to a high-level company official, who accepted
immediately.
"That shows the power of management-to-management selling,"
Gendron said, adding that this device is also a double-edged
sword. "Unfortunately, when the marketing manager left,
they killed the deal on the spot."
Editorial vs. Advertising
Gendron believes his role is to present the mission of editorial
to the advertising community, but also to maintain the firewall
between the two. He does acknowledge, though, that a large part
of his job is to develop strong, long-term relationships with
advertisers. "If someone is spending four million bucks
with us, they want to know me."
The new
economic publishing model
All magazines will seek to develop ever-closer relationships
with marketing clients as part of a new economic model
for the publishing industry. So says George Gendron, editor-in-chief
at Inc. magazine. This model includes:
- Less emphasis on over-the-transom advertising;
- Pre-screening advertising clients to determine who
is appropriate for the publication and who stands to
benefit most from the relationship; and
- More business done with fewer clients. "The ad
pages that we run in our magazine are the tip of the
iceberg," Gendron said. "Eighty-five percent
of our relationship with companies is below the water."
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