Carl Landau: Perspectives on Professional Advertising Sales
Carl
Landau, President of Niche Media,
Davis, California, presented a general session titled “Advertising Sales
for Niche Media” at the AHP Golden Opportunity 2001 Seminar in San
Mateo, California, in June. He is one of the leading niche magazine publishers in the country. He
started Computer Language magazine in the mid-eighties with just
$50,000. After that successful launch, he added AI Expert
magazine and the Software Development Conference & Tradeshow.
Three years later, he sold the three properties to Miller Freeman
Publications for $5 million.
Most recently, he started and sold Brew Your Own, WineMaker, and BrewPub magazines, and the National Brewpub Conference & Tradeshow.
Today, he is president of Niche Media and teaches a two-day Magazine Advertising Sales Seminar for publishers across the country. Carl has granted AHP permission to post several of his articles on their website. Click on the title to download in PDF format:
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Using Creative Promotions. Most advertising sales promotion pieces look like they were intended for the Internal Revenue Service. Often, promotions are just an afterthought, and the writer goes through the motions as though filling out a 1040 EZ form. The potential advertiser receives this piece of drivel in the mail and tosses it within seconds. The key to good promotion is to get the advertiser's ATTENTION...
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Sell Schedules, Not One Timers. Joe Sales Rep is in a celebrating type of mood. After 6 long months of hard work, Joe has convinced a new client to advertise in his magazine. Joe dances into the publisher's office to tell him the good news: he's booked a full page, four-color ad to a brand new advertiser. The publisher asks, "What kind of frequency?" Joe says, "Well, one time ? they want to try out the magazine." The publisher frowns. The problem? Joe only did half of his job he didn't sell them a schedule...
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The Keys To The Castle. Most every magazine advertising salesman who's achieved a moderate amount of success has visions of becoming the next William Randolf Hearst. There's nothing wrong with those high aspirations, but first a salesman needs to sit down and evaluate his or herstrengths and weaknesses. I've developed a checklist of key ingredients for becoming a top magazine advertising salesman...
To learn more, visit Carl’s website at http://nichemania.com/.