'Quote Us and We'll Buy an Ad'

"Let me know if we're quoted and we may buy an ad."

That's a conversation cropping up more and more between magazine industry advertisers and FOLIO:. As budgets shrink, they're understandably looking for more bang for their buck. But requests for edit coverage, previously never voiced, are now becoming upfront demands.

It's something most publishers deal with on a daily basis. But to come from advertisers who serve the magazine industry and support what it's about, is especially disturbing.

I give our sales team a lot of credit. They're hitting budget, breaking new accounts and serving our longtime advertisers at a time when marketers feel the pinch in their own businesses, and are looking for measurement-oriented marketing solutions. The overall pool of magazine marketers has been consolidating for years. However, FOLIO: still has 80-plus percent of all advertisers serving the magazine market.

And the sales team is doing it without asking the edit team for favors (think a blog calling out advertisers would ever appear on one of our competitors' sites?). We blew a recent advertorial by including a cover line that said, "Brought to You by the Editors of FOLIO:" even though FOLIO: editors had little to do with it. But it was still clearly marked as advertorial and nobody got any extra love in the main magazine.   

Those requests are out there and they're getting bolder. But when it comes to crossing the ad/edit line at FOLIO:, they will continue to fall on deaf ears.  

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By Matt Kinsman --

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