Having a strong sales campaign for your community profile magazine positively impacts the size of the publication, which strengthens it as a marketing tool for your chamber. It also impacts the royalty that the chamber will receive, creating a better bottom line for annual non-dues revenue. The sales staff at CommunityLink is ready to carry the ball and work with chamber members to make your map and publication sales campaigns a success, but there are also some little things that chambers can do to help maximize that effort. (more…)

Advertising sales, Distribution, Sales campaign

“How many copies will be printed, where will they be seen, and how do I know I’ll get a return on my advertising investment?”

These questions, and others like them, are being fielded with increasing frequency by CommunityLink’s dedicated sales team as they visit with chamber members around the country. At the heart of it all is the one real question that every ad buyer needs answered: What’s in it for me? That may sound harsh, but it’s a question that’s rooted in survival rather than selfishness. It isn’t that member businesses are averse to advertising or unwilling to support the chamber, but today’s economy demands that buying space in a community publication be a winning scenario for both the chamber and the advertiser. During a recession, margins are just too tight for any marketing payout that doesn’t have a positive ROI at the end of the day.

With that in mind, it’s easy to see why having a distribution plan is critical to the success of your current non-dues revenue publication, and it’s even more important for ensuring successful projects and good royalty checks in the years to come. Members who have bought in good faith get a warm feeling about the chamber as their marketing partner when they see their ad working for them in the community, but may feel let down if they buy into a publication and then never see it on the street.

It’s only when your maps and books land in the hands of people that they begin to fulfill their fourfold purpose of promoting the chamber, putting the community in the spotlight, drawing attention to members, and creating a perennial revenue stream. As your partner in community marketing, here are some of the ways CommunityLink can help you get your next publication out in the open:

* A copy mailed directly to every member
* Additional copies delivered to advertisers
* Drop shipments of 100 copies to up to 10 local, high-traffic locations
* Additional support from CommunityLink sales staff on repeat projects to help distribute the balance from the previous project – keeping it out in the community’s eye as sales for the new project begin

To find out more about how CommunityLink can become an asset to your distribution plan, contact our business development team at 1-800-455-5600 ext. 1101.

Distribution, Publications