Magazine marketing and promotion
Getting stories into a national magazine is a great way to raise the profile of your organisation and shine the spotlight on the work that you do within your communities. You don’t necessarily have to be a journalist or PR agent to make this happen – simply follow the steps below and make your approach.
1. Go to the library or specialist magazine store and browse through as many magazines as you can. Look for magazines which publish community spirit stories and start brainstorming ideas on how to make your story fit their particular market. There are literally hundreds of magazines you could approach, so don’t limit yourself to just a few mainstream titles.
2. Once you have a great idea, read through the inside front cover to find out where to send your ‘Editorial Enquiries’. If there is no information, write to the magazine requesting a copy of their ‘Writers Guidelines’.
3. Write a brief query letter to submit to the magazine. The query should outline:
- The basic story idea and angle. If necessary, you could include why you think it is relevant to the magazine.
- How long the story will be eg. 800 words. Make sure the length fits with the stories the magazine normally publishes.
- Who will be writing it and what qualifications and/or experience they have. You don’t need to be a published writer to be considered – experience in the field you are writing about does count.
- If you are able to provide photographs.
- Contact details for more information.
- If you are sending the query via standard post, include a self addressed envelope for reply.
4. If the magazine asks to see the story, ask them how they would like it sent, and when they need it by. Then do exactly as they say! If you miss a deadline, you won’t get a second chance.
Top Tips for Getting Your Story Published
- Magazines plan their issues months in advance, so you need to think ahead. There is no point submitting a story about Christmas in November.
- Magazines won’t publish your story if one has recently been published on a similar topic. Make sure you read through back issues so you don’t double up.
- Just because you think your story idea is fabulous, doesn’t mean the magazine editor will. By all means do some background work, but don’t waste time actually writing the article until they ask to see it. They may even have some ideas as to how they want it done.
- Being a good cause isn’t enough. You must find an angle and make sure you are sending it to the right magazine.
- Once you have a relationship with an editor or freelance writer – keep it! There are always other angles for telling your same story.
This article is an extract from Tonic Magazine, a quarterly publication which provides news, views and information for the community sector. For more information about Tonic Magazine visit http://www.exult.co.nz/index.php?page=productspage#a13