It's In The Mail
Carrie Giddins on how political mags attract subscribers in a presidential election year.
BOTH of the major political parties have their own promotional
strategies for this presidential election year, reflecting the differences between the Republicans and Democrats. Magazines, too are gearing up for the electoral cycle that
comes every four years, hoping to attract new
subscribers while political interest is high.
And just like the political parties, ideologically
opposed publications are preparing for
the race in different ways.
A direct-mail campaign to woo readers takes months of planning. But in a presidential election year, the strategy can get even tougher. Left-leaning magazines have seen a boom in their subscriptions over the past three years, since President Bush came to office, a likely reaction to his administration and policies. Now the hope is to map out direct-mail campaigns to keep dissenters reading.
On the other end of the political spectrum, conservative, right-leaning magazines are preparing for the election in a quieter way. “Our direct-mail campaigns are not based on the election,” said Catherine Titus Lowe, publicity director for The Weekly Standard. “Our direct-mail campaigns have not been new in some years, and it’s usually a four-month process to produce one.”
As a result of the battle between President Bush and the probable Democratic nominee, Senator John Kerry, The American Prospect’s marketing is aimed at certain types of people.
“Because of the election we are stepping up what we are doing this year,” said Jennifer Gilman, marketing manager of the liberal magazine. “People are angry and we are catering to the anger.” Gilman said her magazine has a database of names that it always mails to.
The Weekly Standard has a markedly less strategic plan. Titus Lowe could not think of anything new for this election year, except, possibly, some fine-tuning of the existing campaigns to allude to the uncertain times we are living in. In the past, The Weekly Standard has averaged one or two direct-mail campaigns each year—in the past three years, it has done four campaigns, said Titus Lowe. “We are fishing in a small pool. If we overtreat the pool, people are not going to pay attention to the mailings.”
Another type of publication feeling the pressure of solicitation during this election year is the nonpartisan political magazine. With clientele based mostly in and around Washington, D.C., magazines such as Congressional Quarterly and National Journal face the even more difficult task of staying neutral amid the war of words. One place where these magazines have an advantage over partisan political publications is in their dedicated customer base that is not swayed by political tides.
National elections do not have a tremendous impact on the National Journal. The magazine has a high subscription price, with 65 percent of its customers in the D.C. area. To identify new prospects, Will Wolf, the company’s chief operating officer, uses the strategy of hands-on solicitations—a combination of calling to sell the product and allowing customers to seek out the magazine. “It’s about relationship building,” he said. “I call it ‘reader relations.’”
If all else fails, there is always the opportunity
for a magazine to try gimmicks and
publicity stunts to attract consumers’ attention.
But the unpredictable nature of a presidential
election leaves little room for longterm
planning. As The American Prospect’s
Gilman explained: “We do have an ‘A’ or ‘B’
strategy based on November, but we can’t
plan what happens.” 