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Magazine Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Magazine Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their magazine companies. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through a magazine business plan step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What is a Magazine Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your business plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan for a Magazine Business

If you’re looking to start a new magazine business, or grow your existing magazine publishing company, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the revenue growth of your business in order to improve your chances of success. Your business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Magazine Companies

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a magazine business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to confirm that your financial projections are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business.

Personal savings is the other most common form of funding for a new magazine business. Venture capitalists will usually not fund a magazine business, but they might consider funding a one with a national presence, but never an individual location. This is because most venture capitalists are looking for millions of dollars in return when they make an investment, and an individual location could never achieve such results.  With that said, using a savings account and bank loans are the most common funding paths for magazine businesses.

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How to write an effective business plan for a magazine business.

If you want to start a magazine business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. Each of the key components of a magazine publishing business plan are detailed below:

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of business you are operating and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a digital magazine business that you would like to grow, or are you starting an online magazine business?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the magazine industry. Discuss the type of business you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target audience. Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.  

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of business you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types of magazine businesses:

• Entertainment magazine : this type of magazine business focuses on topics such as arts, culture, fashion and leisure
• Academic and professional magazine: this type of magazine business focuses on subjects like finance, health, or science
• Home and living magazine: this type of magazine is devoted to cooking, home decorating, etc.
• Business magazine: this type of magazine typically focuses on business people, companies, emerging business or technology trends, etc.
• Digital magazine: this type of magazine is accessible via an electronic device, whether it be a smartphone, tablet, or computer. An internet connection is required to access or download the content, but once downloaded, it is available for viewing offline.
• Online magazine: this type of electronic magazine is similar to a digital magazine, but typically comes with fewer features. An internet connection is required to access the content.

In addition to explaining the type of magazine startup you will operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to question such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of customers served, number of positive reviews, number of annual subscriptions, etc.
• Your legal business structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the magazine industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the magazine industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy, particularly if your research identifies market trends.

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section:

• How big is the magazine industry (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your magazine business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: advertisers, consumers of varying ages and with varying interests, and authors.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of magazine business you operate. Clearly, business people would respond to different marketing promotions than teens, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most magazine businesses primarily serve customers living in their same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other magazine businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t direct competitors. This includes social media platforms, other reading material, or alternative leisure activities. You need to mention such competition as well.

With regards to direct competition, you want to describe the other magazine businesses with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be house flippers located very close to your location.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

• What interest or niche do they specialize in?
• What formats are their publications available in?
• How often is the magazine published?
• What is their pricing strategy (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you provide better articles, features, and/or photos?
• Will you provide more opportunities for guest authors?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.  

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a magazine business plan, your marketing strategy should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of magazine company that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products you will be offering. For example, in addition to printed magazines, will you offer a digital version?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the location of your magazine company. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, is your magazine business located near a distribution center, or in an area known as a “hub” for the content you specialize in, etc. Discuss how your location might be ideal for attracting and retaining customers.

Promotions : The final part of your magazine marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Advertising in local papers and magazines
• Reaching out to local websites
• Social media marketing
• Local radio advertising

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your magazine business, including selling ad space, creating quality content, finding contributors, designing each issue, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to land your 10 th major magazine advertising account, or when you expect to have 5,000 subscribers, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your magazine distribution to a new city.  

Management Team

To demonstrate your magazine business’ ability to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing magazine businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in publication or marketing or successfully running small businesses.  

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements.

Income Statement : an income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you publish one issue per month or four? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets : Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your magazine business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement : Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a magazine business:

• Location build-out including design fees, construction, etc.
• Cost of equipment and supplies
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Taxes and permits
• Legal expenses

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your office location lease or the wireframe for your digital publication.  

Putting together a business plan for your magazine business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the magazine industry, your competition, and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful magazine business.  

Magazine Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my magazine business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete your Magazine Business Plan.

What is the Goal of a Business Plan's Executive Summary?

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of magazine business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a magazine business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of magazine businesses?

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Magazine Business Plan

Running a magazine business enables you to share your thoughts with a larger audience that shares your interests in a particular topic. Also, it keeps you in the company of creative people.

Do you want everything perfect for your magazine business, then why not write a business plan first?

Need help writing a business plan for your magazine business? You’re at the right place. Our magazine business plan template will help you get started.

Free Business Plan Template

Download our free business plan template now and pave the way to success. Let’s turn your vision into an actionable strategy!

• Fill in the blanks – Outline
• Financial Tables

How to Write A Magazine Business Plan?

Writing a magazine business plan is a crucial step toward the success of your business. Here are the key steps to consider when writing a business plan:

1. Executive Summary

An executive summary is the first section planned to offer an overview of the entire business plan. However, it is written after the entire business plan is ready and summarizes each section of your plan.

Here are a few key components to include in your executive summary:

Introduce your Business:

Start your executive summary by briefly introducing your business to your readers.

Market Opportunity:

Products and services:.

Highlight the magazine services you offer your clients. The USPs and differentiators you offer are always a plus.

Marketing & Sales Strategies:

Financial highlights:, call to action:.

Ensure your executive summary is clear, concise, easy to understand, and jargon-free.

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2. Business Overview

The business overview section of your business plan offers detailed information about your company. The details you add will depend on how important they are to your business. Yet, business name, location, business history, and future goals are some of the foundational elements you must consider adding to this section:

Business Description:

Describe your business in this section by providing all the basic information. Describe what kind of magazine business you run and the name of it. You may specialize in one of the following magazine businesses:

• Online magazine business
• Print magazine business
• Lifestyle magazine business
• Fashion magazine business
• Business and Finance magazine
• Travel magazine business
• Sports magazine business
• Health and wellness magazine business
• Technology magazine business
• Describe the legal structure of your magazine business, whether it is a sole proprietorship, LLC, partnership, or others.Explain where your business is located and why you selected the place.

Mission Statement:

Business history:.

If you’re an established magazine service provider, briefly describe your business history, like—when it was founded, how it evolved over time, etc.

Future Goals:

This section should provide a thorough understanding of your business, its history, and its future plans. Keep this section engaging, precise, and to the point.

3. Market Analysis

The market analysis section of your business plan should offer a thorough understanding of the industry with the target market, competitors, and growth opportunities. You should include the following components in this section.

Target market:

Start this section by describing your target market. Define your ideal customer and explain what types of services they prefer. Creating a buyer persona will help you easily define your target market to your readers.

For instance, individuals with hobbies or interests or professionals would be an ideal target audience for a magazine business.

Market size and growth potential

Competitive analysis:, market trends:.

Analyze emerging trends in the industry, such as changes in customer behavior or preferences, etc. Explain how your business will cope with all the trends.

Regulatory Environment:

Here are a few tips for writing the market analysis section of your magazine business plan:

• Conduct market research, industry reports, and surveys to gather data.
• Provide specific and detailed information whenever possible.
• Illustrate your points with charts and graphs.
• Write your business plan keeping your target audience in mind.

4. Products And Services

The product and services section should describe the specific services and products that will be offered to customers. To write this section should include the following:

Describe your content:

Mention the magazine content your business will offer. This list may include content like,

• Opinion pieces
• Other formats of content

Any interactive features:

Frequency & distribution:, additional services:.

In short, this section of your magazine plan must be informative, precise, and client-focused. By providing a clear and compelling description of your offerings, you can help potential investors and readers understand the value of your business.

5. Sales And Marketing Strategies

Writing the sales and marketing strategies section means a list of strategies you will use to attract and retain your clients. Here are some key elements to include in your sales & marketing plan:

Unique Selling Proposition (USP):

Define your business’s USPs depending on the market you serve, the equipment you use, and the unique services you provide. Identifying USPs will help you plan your marketing strategies.

For example, exclusive content, high-quality visuals, or customization could be some of the great USPs for a professional magazine business.

Pricing Strategy

Marketing strategies:, sales strategies:, customer retention:.

Overall, this section of your magazine publisher business plan should focus on customer acquisition and retention.

Have a specific, realistic, and data-driven approach while planning sales and marketing strategies for your magazine business, and be prepared to adapt or make strategic changes in your strategies based on feedback and results.

6. Operations Plan

The operations plan section of your business plan should outline the processes and procedures involved in your business operations, such as staffing requirements and operational processes. Here are a few components to add to your operations plan:

Staffing & Training:

Operational process:, equipment & software:.

Include the list of equipment and software required for the magazine business, such as computers, print production equipment, videography equipment & software, online publishing & digital equipment, etc.

Adding these components to your operations plan will help you lay out your business operations, which will eventually help you manage your business effectively..

7. Management Team

The management team section provides an overview of your magazine business’s management team. This section should provide a detailed description of each manager’s experience and qualifications, as well as their responsibilities and roles.

Founders/CEO:

Key managers:.

Introduce your management and key members of your team, and explain their roles and responsibilities.

Organizational structure:

Compensation plan:, advisors/consultants:.

Mentioning advisors or consultants in your business plans adds credibility to your business idea.

This section should describe the key personnel for your magazine business, highlighting how you have the perfect team to succeed.

8. Financial Plan

Your financial plan section should provide a summary of your business’s financial projections for the first few years. Here are some key elements to include in your financial plan:

Profit & loss statement:

Cash flow statement:, balance sheet:, break-even point:.

Determine and mention your business’s break-even point—the point at which your business costs and revenue will be equal.

Financing Needs:

Be realistic with your financial projections, and make sure you offer relevant information and evidence to support your estimates.

9. Appendix

The appendix section of your plan should include any additional information supporting your business plan’s main content, such as market research, legal documentation, financial statements, and other relevant information.

• Add a table of contents for the appendix section to help readers easily find specific information or sections.
• In addition to your financial statements, provide additional financial documents like tax returns, a list of assets within the business, credit history, and more. These statements must be the latest and offer financial projections for at least the first three or five years of business operations
• Provide data derived from market research, including stats about the industry, user demographics, and industry trends.
• Include any legal documents such as permits, licenses, and contracts.
• Include any additional documentation related to your business plan, such as product brochures, marketing materials, operational procedures, etc.

Use clear headings and labels for each section of the appendix so that readers can easily find the necessary information.

Remember, the appendix section of your magazine business plan should only include relevant and important information supporting your plan’s main content.

The Quickest Way to turn a Business Idea into a Business Plan

Fill-in-the-blanks and automatic financials make it easy.

This sample magazine business plan will provide an idea for writing a successful magazine plan, including all the essential components of your business.

After this, if you still need clarification about writing an investment-ready business plan to impress your audience, download our magazine business plan pdf .

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Frequently asked questions, why do you need a magazine business plan.

A business plan is an essential tool for anyone looking to start or run a successful magazine business. It helps to get clarity in your business, secures funding, and identifies potential challenges while starting and growing your business.

Overall, a well-written plan can help you make informed decisions, which can contribute to the long-term success of your magazine business.

How to get funding for your magazine business?

There are several ways to get funding for your magazine business, but self-funding is one of the most efficient and speedy funding options. Other options for funding are:

Small Business Administration (SBA) loan

Crowdfunding, angel investors.

Apart from all these options, there are small business grants available, check for the same in your location and you can apply for it.

Where to find business plan writers for your magazine business?

There are many business plan writers available, but no one knows your business and ideas better than you, so we recommend you write your magazine business plan and outline your vision as you have in your mind.

What is the easiest way to write your magazine business plan?

A lot of research is necessary for writing a business plan, but you can write your plan most efficiently with the help of any magazine business plan example and edit it as per your need. You can also quickly finish your plan in just a few hours or less with the help of our business plan software .

About the Author

Upmetrics Team

Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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Magazine Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Magazine Business Plan

You’ve come to the right place to create your Magazine business plan.

We have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their Magazine businesses.

Below is a template to help you create each section of your Magazine business plan.

Executive Summary

Business overview.

Happy Trails Magazine is a startup magazine company located in New York City, New York. The company is founded by Lawrence MacGuire, who has experience in traveling and offering podcasts from around the world. Now, with the expertise of knowledge and business acumen, he has determined he can confidently start and effectively grow a successful magazine company. He believes his experience of strategic planning, marketing skills, financial capabilities, and wide and deep knowledge of traveling practices will provide everything needed for long-term growth and profitability.

Happy Trails Magazine will provide a comprehensive array of articles of interest for a wide variety of travel-loving customers. The Happy Trails Magazine will be the premiere travel magazine, providing services and products to each customer, while supporting the strategic goals of the company. Happy Trails Magazine will be the ultimate choice in tourist travel for customers to ensure that every need and desire of all travelers is fully and completely met.

Product Offering

The following are the services and products that Happy Trails Magazine will provide:

• Unique and exclusive content creation
• Experienced writers who provide superior journalism and reporting
• Photography from around the world
• Art and illustrations that support the travel articles
• Special offers of travel and related products for publication subscribers
• Online magazine offered in addition to hard copy publication
• Fun quiz and explorer’s facts for readers
• On-time delivery every month

Customer Focus

Adults within the New York City region. Customers who love to travel. Global customers who want to read about travel and enjoy excellent magazine articles. Advertisers who will purchase space and positions in the monthly magazine release. Collaborators who partner with Happy Trails Magazine to effectively market products and services.

Management Team

Happy Trails Magazine is owned and operated by Lawrence MacGuire. He recruited managers from his former place of employment at a nationally-known magazine company, including Derek Flanagan, as his Operations Manager, and Sherry Culver, as the Senior Administrative Manager.

Lawrence MacGuire is a graduate of Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, where he earned a degree in the Art of Hospitality and Travel. He has been employed by a global resort chain with over 500 hotels for the past ten years.

Tracey Newthorn is a graduate of University of Ohio, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in business in the hospitality industry. She has spent the past two summer sessions in international travel and is an accomplished photographer. She will be the Artistic & Photographic Manager of Happy Trails Magazine.

Alex Hawkins, an experienced magazine editor, will be the Executive Manager & Senior Editor of the Happy Trails Magazine. His former position was as the Senior Manager of Horizons Over Hawaii Magazine for over 20 years. His experience with travel and journalism leads to the new position of executive management.

Success Factors

Happy Trails Magazine will be able to achieve success by offering the following competitive advantages:

• Friendly, knowledgeable, and highly-qualified team of Happy Trails Magazine
• Comprehensive menu of accurate and complete travel-related stories, as well as multiple photographic demonstrations of places to visit and things to see.
• Additional value added with each subscription via a number of special offers found in Happy Trails Magazine labeled, “For Subscribers Only!”
• Outstanding photography and illustrations that highlight the beauty of world travel
• Happy Trails Magazine offers the best pricing in town. Their pricing structure is the most cost effective compared to the competition.

Financial Highlights

Happy Trails Magazine is seeking $200,000 in debt financing to launch its magazine. The funding will be dedicated toward securing the office space and purchasing office equipment and supplies. Funding will also be dedicated toward three months of overhead costs to include payroll of the staff, rent, and marketing costs for the print ads and marketing costs. The breakout of the funding is below:

• Office space build-out: $20,000
• Office equipment, supplies, and materials: $10,000
• Three months of overhead expenses (payroll, rent, utilities): $150,000
• Marketing costs: $10,000
• Working capital: $10,000

The following graph outlines the financial projections for Happy Trails Magazine.

Company Overview

Who is happy trails magazine.

Happy Trails Magazine is a newly established, full-service consumer magazine published in New York City, New York. Happy Trails Magazine will be the most beautiful, consumer-relatable, and cost-effective choice for a global reading and subscribing community. Happy Trails Magazine will provide a comprehensive menu of editorial articles, In-Style pictorials, Go-To suggestions for hotel/travel bargains and special discounts for any reader to enjoy. Their full-service approach includes a comprehensive website with multiple gateways to information and related services.

  Happy Trails Magazine will be the premier travel magazine in the publications industry. Led by the team of experienced professionals, the magazine will entice travelers to explore the world, while advertisers and interested parties will enjoy purchasing ads, placing click through ads and offering specials throughout the hard copy and digital magazine. Happy Trails Magazine removes all headaches and issues of traveling globally and ensures all travel negatives are addressed and diminished, while delivering the best customer service.

Happy Trails Magazine History

Lawrence MacGuire is a graduate of Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, where he earned a degree in the Art of Hospitality and Travel. He has been employed by a global resort chain with over 500 hotels for the past ten years. During his prior employment, he recognized that many of the world’s finest destinations have been passed over in favor of traditional, favored locations. After much research and industry information-gathering, he started the Happy Trails Magazine to appeal to youthful travelers and old alike as they traveled the world.

Since incorporation, Happy Trails Magazine has achieved the following milestones:

• Registered magazine, Happy Trails Magazine, LLC to transact business in the state of New York.
• Has a contract in place for a 10,000 square foot office at one of the midtown buildings
• Reached out to numerous contacts to include Happy Trails as a source for advertising.
• Began recruiting a staff of 3 and 2 office personnel to work at Happy Trails Magazine.

Happy Trails Magazine Services

The following will be the services and products the Happy Trails Magazine will provide:

Industry Analysis

The travel magazine industry is expected to grow over the next five years to over $24684 billion. The growth will be driven by an exponential interest in travel exhibited during the recent pandemic years, as most consumers were sequestered with no ability to travel. The industry is also expected to grow now as people begin to explore once again, looking for places off the beaten path. While travel costs remain high due to shipping and supply line issues and the economy, consumers find delight in exploring travel magazines and the pleasure of escape they offer.

Costs will likely be reduced as the process of production and print continue to fall due to technology advancements. The software that drives the consumer-provider relationships will also change, as most redundant or fairly simple administrative tasks will be given software solutions rather than handed over to a live publication agent.

Customer Analysis

Demographic profile of target market, customer segmentation.

Happy Trails Magazine will primarily target those young adults and adults who live within the New York City region. They will also target customers who love to travel, including global customers who want to read about travel and enjoy excellent magazine articles. Advertisers who will purchase space and positions in the monthly magazine release will be welcomed. Collaborators who partner with Happy Trails Magazine to effectively market products and services.

• Young adults through seniors
• Those who love to travel
• Those who want to travel to exotic, almost unknown destinations
• Those who enjoy viewing beautiful photography
• Those who like to read magazine articles about travel
• Advertisers and interested parties who want to sell through or collaborate with Happy Trails Magazine

Competitive Analysis

Direct and indirect competitors.

Happy Trails Magazine will face competition from other companies with similar business profiles. A description of each competitor company is below.

Sunset Magazine

Sunset Magazine, started in 1953 by a married couple, Ernest and Columbine Trentom, who were experienced global travelers. They began the magazine in a home office and quickly built their subscriber base to over fifteen million at the height of popularity. In recent years, the popularity of Sunset Magazine has waned, due to the loss of advertisers and poor construction of the magazine during production. The subscriber base has moved to new, more trendy, travel accommodations and travel styles.

Sports Illuminated

Sports Illuminated was founded by Cissy Travers, an ardent sportswoman and enthusiast of global sports events. With distribution to over 10 million readers, Ms Travers maintains complete control of the magazine and related ventures, which include sporting goods sales, sports apparel sales and global sports items.

The magazine was founded in 2001, when Cissy Travers took a medium-grade local magazine in upstate New York, and began to manage the content within. During the following five years, she single handedly engaged sports writers of the highest caliber and photographers who traveled the world on behalf of the magazine to shoot pivotal sporting events. Since that time, the magazine has continued to grow as new sporting events are added globally every year.

Taft & Hanson

Taft & Hanson Magazine was established in 2003 by Rogert Taft and Renee Hanson, a couple who traveled throughout the United States in their luxury recreational vehicle. The magazine is dedicated to the ultra-expensive and luxurious recreational vehicles manufactured and on the roads of America, with each monthly edition highlighting both the features of the vehicles and the features of traveler’s retreats around the nation.

The magazine is published once each quarter and is available by subscription only. Each edition is priced at $125 per copy. Designed to entice readers to purchase new recreational vehicles as they are released from manufacturing, the magazine makes it’s return on investment by selling to manufacturers and consumers alike.

Rogert Taft and Renee Hanson travel extensively throughout the nation, each reporting and writing about various aspects of living the “luxurious recreational vehicle life,” and the accommodations in which they choose to stay, which is used by the magazine publishers as another form of revenue in advertising. The magazine has earned a five-star rating by the Travelers Trailers International and has a following of over 100,000 subscribers.

Competitive Advantage

Happy Trails Magazine will be able to offer the following advantages over their competition:

Marketing Plan

Brand & value proposition.

Happy Trails Magazine will offer the unique value proposition to its clientele:

• Highly-qualified team of skilled employees who are able to provide a comprehensive travel experience via the magazine and website.
• Additional value added with each subscription via a number of special offers found in Happy Trails Magazine labeled, “For Subscribers Only!”
• Unbeatable pricing for customers; subscribers are offered the lowest pricing of any travel magazine on the market.

Promotions Strategy

The promotions strategy for magazine is as follows:

Word of Mouth/Referrals

Happy Trails Magazine has built up an extensive list of contacts over the years by providing exceptional service and expertise to hospitality and lodging clients. The contacts and clients will follow them to this new company and help spread the word of Happy Trails Magazine.

Professional Associations and Networking

Trade Associations for travel and travel accommodations will be joined and actively pursued by the Happy Trails Magazine staff. Professional Networking in the New York City region will also be conducted to increase visibility and engage additional subscribers and advertisers.

Print Advertising

Limited print advertising will be offered within travel magazines and news periodicals. The bulk of the advertising will be found on the internet within various social network channels.

Website/SEO Marketing

Happy Trails Magazine will fully utilize their website. The website will be well organized, informative, and list all the services and products that the magazine provides. The website will also list their contact information and list their top-rated travel spots and special discounts for subscribers. The website will engage in SEO marketing tactics so that anytime someone types in the Google or Bing search engine “travel magazine” or “travel reading near me,” magazine will be listed at the top of the search results.

The pricing of the magazine will be moderate and on par with competitors so customers feel they receive excellent value when purchasing their services.

Operations Plan

The following will be the operations plan for the Happy Trails Magazine. Operation Functions:

• Happy Trails Magazine is owned and operated by Lawrence MacGuire. He recruited managers from his former place of employment at a nationally-known magazine company.
• Lawrence MacGuire is a graduate of Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, where he earned a degree in the Art of Hospitality and Travel. He has been employed by a global resort travel magazine affiliated with over 500 hotels for the past ten years.
• Derek Flanagan will take on the position of Operations Manager, with a professional background of several years in management within the travel magazine world.
• Tracey Newthorn is the Artistic & Photographic Manager of Happy Trails Magazine. She is a graduate of University of Ohio, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in business in the hospitality industry. She has spent the past two summer sessions in international travel and is an accomplished photographer.

Milestones:

Happy Trails Magazine will have the following milestones completed in the next six months.

• 5/1/202X – Finalize contract to lease office space
• 5/15/202X – Finalize personnel and staff employment contracts for the magazine
• 6/1/202X – Finalize contracts for magazine advertisers
• 6/15/202X – Begin networking at industry events
• 6/22/202X – Begin moving into magazine office
• 7/1/202X – magazine opens its doors for business

Financial Plan

Key revenue & costs.

The revenue drivers for Happy Trails Magazine are the fees they will charge to subscribers for their services, in addition to charges they solicit from advertisers who place ads in their publications. .

The cost drivers will be the overhead costs required in order to staff the magazine. The expenses will be the payroll cost, rent, utilities, office supplies, and marketing materials.

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

Happy Trails Magazine is seeking $200,000 in debt financing to launch its travel magazine. The funding will be dedicated toward securing the office space and purchasing office equipment and supplies. Funding will also be dedicated toward three months of overhead costs to include payroll of the staff, rent, and marketing costs for the print ads and association memberships. The breakout of the funding is below:

Key Assumptions

The following outlines the key assumptions required in order to achieve the revenue and cost numbers in the financials and in order to pay off the startup business loan.

• Number of Subscribers Per Month: 750
• Number of Advertising Accounts Per Month: 50
• Average Revenue per Month: $550,000
• Office Lease per Year: $100,000

Financial Projections

Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, magazine business plan faqs, what is a magazine business plan.

A magazine business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your magazine business. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections. You can easily complete your Magazine business plan using our Magazine Business Plan Template here .

What are the Main Types of Magazine Businesses?

There are a number of different kinds of magazine businesses, some examples include: Entertainment magazine, Home and living magazine, Business magazine, Digital magazine, and Online magazine.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Magazine Business Plan?

Magazine businesses are often funded through small business loans. Personal savings, credit card financing and angel investors are also popular forms of funding.

What are the Steps To Start a Magazine Business?

Starting a magazine business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to start a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster. 1. Develop A Magazine Business Plan - The first step in starting a business is to create a detailed magazine business plan that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include potential market size and target customers, the services or products you will offer, pricing strategies and a detailed financial forecast. 2. Choose Your Legal Structure - It's important to select an appropriate legal entity for your magazine business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your magazine business is in compliance with local laws. 3. Register Your Magazine Business - Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your magazine business with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws. 4. Identify Financing Options - It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to start your magazine business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms. 5. Choose a Location - Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations. 6. Hire Employees - There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events. 7. Acquire Necessary Magazine Equipment & Supplies - In order to start your magazine business, you'll need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation. 8. Market & Promote Your Business - Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your magazine business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising.

Learn more about how to start a successful magazine business:

• How to Start a Magazine Company

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Back to All Business Ideas

How to Start a Magazine

Written by: Carolyn Young

Carolyn Young is a business writer who focuses on entrepreneurial concepts and the business formation. She has over 25 years of experience in business roles, and has authored several entrepreneurship textbooks.

Edited by: David Lepeska

David has been writing and learning about business, finance and globalization for a quarter-century, starting with a small New York consulting firm in the 1990s.

Published on June 4, 2022 Updated on May 5, 2024

Investment range

$2,850 - $6,300

Revenue potential

$54,000 - $180,000 p.a.

Time to build

0 – 3 months

Profit potential

$49,000 - $108,000 p.a.

Industry trend

Print magazines do still exist, but they’re quickly being taken over by digital magazines, the market for which is expected to expand 40% by 2025. People look to magazines for news, entertainment, and advice. If you can create an innovative concept and have a talent for the written word, you could start your own digital magazine from home and make a good living.

But before you start writing, you’ll need to learn the business launch process. Luckily, this step-by-step guide will fill you in on all the information you need to start a successful magazine. 

Looking to register your business? A limited liability company (LLC) is the best legal structure for new businesses because it is fast and simple.

Form your business immediately using ZenBusiness LLC formation service or hire one of the Best LLC Services .

Step 1: Decide if the Business Is Right for You

Pros and cons.

Starting a magazine has pros and cons to consider before deciding if it’s right for you.

• Creative Outlet – Choose your own concept and articles
• Provide Value – Use your magazine to educate
• Flexibility – Run your magazine from home
• Crowded Market – Compete with a host of other digital magazines
• Delayed Revenue – Must build a following before you make money

Magazine industry trends

Industry size and growth.

• Industry size and past growth – The global digital magazine industry was worth $628.72 million in 2020 after growing steadily in recent years.(( https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/03/25/2199572/0/en/Digital-Magazine-Publishing-Platform-Market-Research-Report-by-Type-by-Application-Global-Forecast-to-2025-Cumulative-Impact-of-COVID-19.html ))
• Growth forecast – The global digital magazine industry is projected to expand 41% by 2025 to reach $892.67 million.

Trends and challenges

Trends in the magazine industry include:

• Video content is becoming a larger part of digital magazine content.
• Interactive features, such as puzzles, are a way digital publications engage today’s readers.

Challenges in the magazine industry include:

• Most people are not willing to pay for digital subscriptions to magazines, so digital magazines have to rely on ad revenue.
• The growing number of channels where publishers can distribute content is creating more competition for digital magazines. 

How much does it cost to start a magazine business?

Startup costs for a magazine range from $2,800 to $6,300. Costs include a computer and design software for your magazine graphics.

How much can you earn from a magazine business?

You can make money from your magazine by using Google AdSense, which will pay you 68% of what Google makes on each ad. Google offers tips to maximize your ad revenue. The average per ad click you’ll make is $3. Your profit margin will be high if you’re writing all the articles and doing the graphics yourself and should be around 90%. 

In your first year or two, you might have 1,500 ad clicks per month, bringing in $54,000 in annual revenue. This would mean $49,000 in profit, assuming that 90% margin. As your magazine gains traction, you might get 5,000 ad clicks per month. At this stage, you might outsource some of the writing, reducing your profit margin to around 60%. With annual revenue of $180,000, you’d make a handsome profit of $108,000.

What barriers to entry are there?

There are a few barriers to entry for a magazine. Your biggest challenges will be:

• The writing skills needed to create informative and engaging content
• Drawing eyeballs from existing online magazines

Related Business Ideas

How to Start a Publishing Business

How to Start a Journal Business

How to Start a Freelance Writing Business

Step 2: hone your idea.

Now that you know what’s involved in starting a magazine, it’s a good idea to hone your concept in preparation to enter a competitive market. 

Market research will give you the upper hand, even if you’re already positive that you have a perfect product or service. Conducting market research is important, because it can help you understand your customers better, who your competitors are, and your business landscape.

Why? Identify an opportunity

Research magazines online to examine their content and customer reviews. You’re looking for a market gap to fill. For instance, maybe the market is missing a digital publishing company that features personal essays or an educational digital publication on entrepreneurship that has interactive features. 

You might consider targeting a niche market by specializing in a certain aspect of your industry, such as DIY articles or video content.

This could jumpstart your word-of-mouth marketing and attract clients right away. 

What? Determine your products or services

Your products will be the digital content that you create. You’ll just need to decide on a theme for your magazine, and what features you want to add, like interactive features or video content. 

You could also offer your magazine as a subscription so that you’re not completely reliant on ad revenue. 

How much should you charge for your magazine?

Your ad revenue will be based on Google AdSense rules and how much traffic your magazine gets. If you decided to offer your magazine as a subscription, you might be able to charge $2 to $4 monthly. Your profit margin when you’re working by yourself should be about 90%. 

Once you know your costs, you can use this Step By Step profit margin calculator to determine your mark-up and final price points. Remember, the prices you use at launch should be subject to change if warranted by the market.

Who? Identify your target market

Your potential subscribers and readers will depend on the type of content you provide. If your content targets younger people, you should focus your marketing on TikTok and Instagram. 

Where? Choose your business premises

In the early stages, you may want to run your business from home to keep costs low. But as your business grows, you’ll likely need to hire workers for various roles and may need to rent out an office. You can find commercial space to rent in your area on sites such as Craigslist , Crexi , and Instant Offices .

When choosing a commercial space, you may want to follow these rules of thumb:

• Central location accessible via public transport
• Ventilated and spacious, with good natural light
• Flexible lease that can be extended as your business grows
• Ready-to-use space with no major renovations or repairs needed

Step 3: Brainstorm a Magazine Name

Here are some ideas for brainstorming your business name:

• Short, unique, and catchy names tend to stand out
• Names that are easy to say and spell tend to do better 
• Name should be relevant to your product or service offerings
• Ask around — family, friends, colleagues, social media — for suggestions
• Including keywords, such as “magazine” or “digital magazine”, boosts SEO
• Name should allow for expansion, for ex: “Insight Magazine” over “Tech Trends”
• A location-based name can help establish a strong connection with your local community and help with the SEO but might hinder future expansion

Once you’ve got a list of potential names, visit the website of the US Patent and Trademark Office to make sure they are available for registration and check the availability of related domain names using our Domain Name Search tool. Using “.com” or “.org” sharply increases credibility, so it’s best to focus on these. 

Find a Domain

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Finally, make your choice among the names that pass this screening and go ahead with domain registration and social media account creation. Your business name is one of the key differentiators that sets your business apart. Once you pick your company name, and start with the branding, it is hard to change the business name. Therefore, it’s important to carefully consider your choice before you start a business entity.

Step 4: Create a Magazine Business Plan

Here are the key components of a business plan:

• Executive Summary : A brief summary of your business plan, highlighting its key points and objectives.
• Business Overview : An introduction to your business, its purpose, and the industry it operates in.
• Product and Services : Details about what your business offers and how it meets customer needs.
• Market Analysis : An assessment of your target market, including its size, trends, and opportunities.
• Competitive Analysis : Examination of your competitors and their strengths and weaknesses.
• Sales and Marketing : Strategies for promoting and selling your products or services.
• Management Team : Information about the key individuals running the business and their qualifications.
• Operations Plan : How your business will function day-to-day and the necessary resources and processes.
• Financial Plan : Projections and analysis of your business’s financial performance, including revenue, expenses, and profitability.
• Appendix : Supplementary information, such as supporting documents or detailed research, to provide additional context to the business plan.

If you’ve never created a business plan, it can be an intimidating task. You might consider hiring a business plan specialist to create a top-notch business plan for you.

Step 5: Register Your Business

Registering your business is an absolutely crucial step — it’s the prerequisite to paying taxes, raising capital, opening a bank account, and other guideposts on the road to getting a business up and running.

Plus, registration is exciting because it makes the entire process official. Once it’s complete, you’ll have your own business! 

Choose where to register your company

Your business location is important because it can affect taxes, legal requirements, and revenue. Most people will register their business in the state where they live, but if you’re planning to expand, you might consider looking elsewhere, as some states could offer real advantages when it comes to magazines. 

If you’re willing to move, you could really maximize your business! Keep in mind, it’s relatively easy to transfer your business to another state. 

Choose your business structure

Business entities come in several varieties, each with its pros and cons. The legal structure you choose for your magazine will shape your taxes, personal liability, and business registration requirements, so choose wisely. 

Here are the main options:

• Sole Proprietorship – The most common structure for small businesses makes no legal distinction between company and owner. All income goes to the owner, who’s also liable for any debts, losses, or liabilities incurred by the business. The owner pays taxes on business income on his or her personal tax return.
• General Partnership – Similar to a sole proprietorship, but for two or more people. Again, owners keep the profits and are liable for losses. The partners pay taxes on their share of business income on their personal tax returns.
• Limited Liability Company (LLC) – Combines the characteristics of corporations with those of sole proprietorships or partnerships. Again, the owners are not personally liable for debts.
• C Corp – Under this structure, the business is a distinct legal entity and the owner or owners are not personally liable for its debts. Owners take profits through shareholder dividends, rather than directly. The corporation pays taxes, and owners pay taxes on their dividends, which is sometimes referred to as double taxation.
• S Corp – An S-Corporation refers to the tax classification of the business but is not a business entity. An S-Corp can be either a corporation or an LLC , which just need to elect to be an S-Corp for tax status. In an S-Corp, income is passed through directly to shareholders, who pay taxes on their share of business income on their personal tax returns.

We recommend that new business owners choose LLC as it offers liability protection and pass-through taxation while being simpler to form than a corporation. You can form an LLC in as little as five minutes using an online LLC formation service. They will check that your business name is available before filing, submit your articles of organization , and answer any questions you might have.

Form Your LLC

Choose Your State

We recommend ZenBusiness as the Best LLC Service for 2024

Step 6: Register for Taxes

The final step before you’re able to pay taxes is getting an Employer Identification Number , or EIN. You can file for your EIN online or by mail or fax: visit the IRS website to learn more. Keep in mind, if you’ve chosen to be a sole proprietorship you can simply use your social security number as your EIN. 

Once you have your EIN, you’ll need to choose your tax year. Financially speaking, your business will operate in a calendar year (January–December) or a fiscal year, a 12-month period that can start in any month. This will determine your tax cycle, while your business structure will determine which taxes you’ll pay.

The IRS website also offers a tax-payers checklist , and taxes can be filed online.

It is important to consult an accountant or other professional to help you with your taxes to ensure you’re completing them correctly.

Step 7: Fund your Business

Securing financing is your next step and there are plenty of ways to raise capital:

• Bank loans: This is the most common method but getting approved requires a rock-solid business plan and strong credit history.
• SBA-guaranteed loans: The Small Business Administration can act as guarantor, helping gain that elusive bank approval via an SBA-guaranteed loan .
• Government grants: A handful of financial assistance programs help fund entrepreneurs. Visit Grants.gov to learn which might work for you.
• Friends and Family: Reach out to friends and family to provide a business loan or investment in your concept. It’s a good idea to have legal advice when doing so because SEC regulations apply.
• Crowdfunding: Websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo offer an increasingly popular low-risk option, in which donors fund your vision. Entrepreneurial crowdfunding sites like Fundable and WeFunder enable multiple investors to fund your business.
• Personal: Self-fund your business via your savings or the sale of property or other assets.

Bank and SBA loans are probably the best option, other than friends and family, for funding a magazine business. You might also try crowdfunding if you have an innovative concept. 

Step 8: Apply for Publishing Licenses and Permits

Starting a magazine business requires obtaining a number of licenses and permits from local, state, and federal governments.

Federal regulations, licenses, and permits associated with starting your business include doing business as (DBA), health licenses and permits from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ( OSHA ), trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other intellectual properties, as well as industry-specific licenses and permits. 

You may also need state-level and local county or city-based licenses and permits. The license requirements and how to obtain them vary, so check the websites of your state, city, and county governments or contact the appropriate person to learn more. 

You could also check this SBA guide for your state’s requirements, but we recommend using MyCorporation’s Business License Compliance Package . They will research the exact forms you need for your business and state and provide them to ensure you’re fully compliant.

This is not a step to be taken lightly, as failing to comply with legal requirements can result in hefty penalties.

If you feel overwhelmed by this step or don’t know how to begin, it might be a good idea to hire a professional to help you check all the legal boxes.

Step 9: Open a Business Bank Account

Before you start making money, you’ll need a place to keep it, and that requires opening a bank account .

Keeping your business finances separate from your personal account makes it easy to file taxes and track your company’s income, so it’s worth doing even if you’re running your magazine business as a sole proprietorship. Opening a business bank account is quite simple, and similar to opening a personal one. Most major banks offer accounts tailored for businesses — just inquire at your preferred bank to learn about their rates and features.

Banks vary in terms of offerings, so it’s a good idea to examine your options and select the best plan for you. Once you choose your bank, bring in your EIN (or Social Security Number if you decide on a sole proprietorship), articles of incorporation, and other legal documents and open your new account. 

Step 10: Get Business Insurance

Business insurance is an area that often gets overlooked yet it can be vital to your success as an entrepreneur. Insurance protects you from unexpected events that can have a devastating impact on your business.

Here are some types of insurance to consider:

• General liability: The most comprehensive type of insurance, acting as a catch-all for many business elements that require coverage. If you get just one kind of insurance, this is it. It even protects against bodily injury and property damage.
• Business Property: Provides coverage for your equipment and supplies.
• Equipment Breakdown Insurance: Covers the cost of replacing or repairing equipment that has broken due to mechanical issues.
• Worker’s compensation: Provides compensation to employees injured on the job.
• Property: Covers your physical space, whether it is a cart, storefront, or office.
• Commercial auto: Protection for your company-owned vehicle.
• Professional liability: Protects against claims from a client who says they suffered a loss due to an error or omission in your work.
• Business owner’s policy (BOP): This is an insurance plan that acts as an all-in-one insurance policy, a combination of the above insurance types.

Step 11: Prepare to Launch

As opening day nears, prepare for launch by reviewing and improving some key elements of your business. 

Essential software and tools

Being an entrepreneur often means wearing many hats, from marketing to sales to accounting, which can be overwhelming. Fortunately, many websites and digital tools are available to help simplify many business tasks. 

You may want to use industry-specific software, such as The Magazine Manager , Chargebee , or Ad Sales Genius , to manage your projects, sales, and billing. 

• Popular web-based accounting programs for smaller businesses include Quickbooks , Freshbooks , and Xero . 
• If you’re unfamiliar with basic accounting, you may want to hire a professional, especially as you begin. The consequences for filing incorrect tax documents can be harsh, so accuracy is crucial.

Develop your website

Website development is crucial because your site is your online presence and needs to convince prospective clients of your expertise and professionalism.

You can create your own website using website builders . This route is very affordable, but figuring out how to build a website can be time-consuming. If you lack tech-savvy, you can hire a web designer or developer to create a custom website for your business.

They are unlikely to find your website, however, unless you follow Search Engine Optimization ( SEO ) practices. These are steps that help pages rank higher in the results of top search engines like Google. 

For your magazine, the marketing strategy should focus on showcasing the unique content, quality of journalism, and the specific niche or audience you cater to. Highlight the magazine’s themes, such as lifestyle, fashion, business, culture, or a specific hobby, and emphasize the value it brings to readers. Here are some powerful marketing strategies for your future business:

Kickstart Marketing

• Professional Branding : Your branding should reflect the style and tone of your magazine. This includes an eye-catching logo, a well-designed magazine layout, and a visually appealing website.
• Direct Outreach : Connect with potential readers at events, through online communities, and via collaborations with influencers or figures relevant to your magazine’s niche.

Digital Presence and Online Marketing

• Professional Website and SEO : Develop a website that showcases sample articles, features, and subscription options. Use SEO best practices to rank for searches related to your magazine’s themes and key topics.
• Social Media Engagement : Utilize platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to share content, engage with readers, and promote magazine issues, digital content, and events.

Content Marketing and Engagement

• Online Articles and Blogs : Share articles or blog posts that reflect the magazine’s content and attract potential subscribers. This content can drive traffic to your website and increase subscriptions.
• Email Newsletters : Regular newsletters can keep subscribers informed about new issues, exclusive online content, and special offers.
• Video Content : Create videos that provide a behind-the-scenes look at the magazine, interviews with contributors, or cover stories.

Experiential and In-Person Engagements

• Launch Events and Reader Meetups : Host events for issue launches, reader meetups, or discussions. These events can strengthen the magazine community and attract new readers.
• Participation in Industry Events : Take part in book fairs, festivals, and industry conferences relevant to your magazine’s niche.

Collaborations and Community

• Collaborations with Influencers and Brands : Collaborate with influencers, writers, and brands that align with your magazine’s content to expand your reach and add credibility.
• Community Engagement : Engage in community events, sponsor local activities, or collaborate with educational institutions, depending on your magazine’s focus.

Customer Relationship and Loyalty Programs

• Subscription Incentives : Offer incentives for new subscribers, such as discounts, gift items, or access to exclusive content.
• Loyalty Rewards for Existing Subscribers : Provide special offers, exclusive content, or discounts on merchandise to loyal subscribers.

Promotions and Advertising

• Targeted Advertising : Use targeted online advertising to reach potential subscribers interested in your magazine’s niche. Platforms like Facebook and Google Ads can be effective for this.
• Partnerships for Distribution : Partner with bookstores, cafes, and other relevant venues to distribute your magazine and reach a broader audience.

Focus on USPs

Unique selling propositions, or USPs, are the characteristics of a product or service that sets it apart from the competition. Customers today are inundated with buying options, so you’ll have a real advantage if they are able to quickly grasp how your magazine meets their needs or wishes. It’s wise to do all you can to ensure your USPs stand out on your website and in your marketing and promotional materials, stimulating buyer desire. 

Global pizza chain Domino’s is renowned for its USP: “Hot pizza in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed.” Signature USPs for your magazine business could be: 

• All you need to know about DIY!
• Get all your entertainment news first here
• The latest tech news — with quizzes to test your knowledge 

You may not like to network or use personal connections for business gain. But your personal and professional networks likely offer considerable untapped business potential. Maybe that Facebook friend you met in college is now running a magazine business, or a LinkedIn contact of yours is connected to dozens of potential clients. Maybe your cousin or neighbor has been working in magazines for years and can offer invaluable insight and industry connections. 

The possibilities are endless, so it’s a good idea to review your personal and professional networks and reach out to those with possible links to or interest in magazines. You’ll probably generate new customers or find companies with which you could establish a partnership. Online businesses might also consider affiliate marketing as a way to build relationships with potential partners and boost business.

Step 12: Build Your Team

If you’re starting out small from a home office, you may not need any employees. But as your business grows, you will likely need workers to fill various roles. Potential positions for a magazine business include:

• Writers – write articles
• Designers – design the graphics of the content
• General Manager – staff management, accounting
• Marketing Lead – SEO strategies, social media

At some point, you may need to hire all of these positions or simply a few, depending on the size and needs of your business. You might also hire multiple workers for a single role or a single worker for multiple roles, again depending on need. 

Free-of-charge methods to recruit employees include posting ads on popular platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, or Jobs.com. You might also consider a premium recruitment option, such as advertising on Indeed , Glassdoor , or ZipRecruiter . Further, if you have the resources, you could consider hiring a recruitment agency to help you find talent. 

Step 13: Run a Magazine – Start Making Money!

Digital magazines are seeing rapid growth, providing readers with valuable information and entertainment that can be accessed even on a mobile device. If you’re a writer and have always dreamed of starting a magazine, there’s no need for the expense of paper – you can create your own digital magazine for very little money and maybe build a national brand!  

You’ve gained valuable insights by reading this guide, so now it’s time to start writing your way to magazine success.

• Magazine Business FAQs

Magazines generally rely on ad revenue, which digital magazines can earn by using Google AdSense. They can also charge for subscriptions.

Generally, digital magazine subscriptions cost $2 to $4 per month. Magazines, however, mainly rely on advertisements to make money.

Starting a magazine can be profitable, but it depends on various factors such as the target audience, advertising revenue, circulation, production costs, and competition in the market. Conducting market research and developing a solid business plan can help evaluate the potential profitability of a magazine.

To ensure the quality and relevance of content offered in a magazine, consider the following strategies: conduct extensive research and interviews to provide accurate and informative content, utilize experienced and knowledgeable writers and editors, develop a consistent and recognizable editorial voice and style, solicit feedback from readers and industry professionals, and regularly assess and adapt to changes in industry trends and audience interests.

To differentiate a magazine from competitors in the market, consider the following strategies: specialize in a specific niche or focus on a unique aspect of a broader topic, offer a visually appealing and well-designed layout, provide original and exclusive content, utilize interactive or multimedia elements, and engage with readers through social media or events.

The writing style used in magazines can vary depending on the target audience and the nature of the content. Generally, magazines utilize a more conversational and accessible writing style compared to academic or technical writing.

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• Decide if the Business Is Right for You
• Hone Your Idea
• Brainstorm a Magazine Name
• Create a Magazine Business Plan
• Register Your Business
• Register for Taxes
• Fund your Business
• Apply for Publishing Licenses and Permits
• Open a Business Bank Account
• Get Business Insurance
• Prepare to Launch
• Build Your Team
• Run a Magazine - Start Making Money!

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Written by Nathan Chan | November 5, 2020

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How do you create a digital magazine from scratch?

At Foundr Magazine, we get countless messages every day asking us how to start a digital magazine. When it comes to creating a digital magazine from scratch, it’s not as simple as people make it seem (and it sure wasn’t easy for us, we promise you that).

That’s why, for the first time ever, we’ve decided to completely unpack our own process for our readers, and share all of the behind-the-scenes secrets we’ve learned along our journey so far. Foundr is always about actionable advice, so we have an actionable, step-by-step, easy-to-digest article that lays it all out for you.

Let’s start at the first step: the beginning.

How We Started Our Own Digital Magazine

Foundr Magazine started like any company: small. On March 5th, 2013, Issue #1 of Foundr was published. It made $5.50 in profit with 79 downloads that day.

It’s a little different from what we publish today, isn’t it?

When it comes to launching your first digital magazine, chances are it won’t be perfect, but it’s a necessary step you need to take in creating that perfect version. The Foundr magazine you may be familiar with today wasn’t always that way, and issue 1 is proof of that.

Even today, we are still tweaking and improving our magazine. Our cover has been graced by some of the world’s biggest entrepreneurs, including Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington, Seth Godin, Marie Forleo, and Daymond John, but we never forget that it all begun with that first issue.

Launching a digital magazine takes a lot of work, but it’s super fun and can be an incredible platform for your business. We’ve broken down our process of creation into easy to follow steps, helping you to understand all the important stuff for planning a digital magazine.

READ MORE: How to Build a Profitable Marketing Strategy

So, You Want to Start a Digital Magazine?

A digital magazine is good for nearly any business, but there are a few questions you need to establish early on. Asking yourself these questions will give you a clearer idea of why you want to create a magazine, but more importantly, it will help guide your decisions further down the track.

Is a Digital Magazine Right for Your Business?

The first thing you need to do before launching your own digital magazine, is you need to make sure that it’s the right move for you and your business.

First off, check to see if there are successful digital magazines in your niche. If not, this may be a red flag that a digital magazine is not well-suited for your target audience. It may be that your target audience is older, and prefers print magazines. Or perhaps there isn’t enough varied content in your niche to create regular publications. You can only find out by doing research to prove your concept.

What’s Your Financial Situation?

Another consideration is money.

Startup costs required to create a quality digital magazine can be relatively high (as detailed below). To compound the problem, digital magazines do not have high price points—in some niches, you’ll find the prices hovering around only $0.99 an issue. In order to recoup your investment and start generating profit, you’ll have to amass a large audience, which may require some further investment.

A digital magazine may not be what gets you to a very high-income point in the short run. That’s not to say that magazines don’t make plenty of money. For example, Forbes magazine generates millions per year. But here at Foundr, we’ve found that a magazine is valuable beyond the profits it directly brings in. Those who will be winning in the future of media will no longer be companies that focus solely on publications.

The reason?

Generating revenue from ads, the primary model used by media historically, is no longer a viable option. You’ll be better off using your magazine as a tool to create diverse revenue streams rather than as the end destination.

Our suggestion? Use your magazine to create a mass of loyal followers, generate some recurring capital, and become positioned as an authority in your niche. Then, it’s all about developing a multi-platform strategy. You want a magazine, but you also want a podcast, a blog, digital products, social media presence, a newsletter, and more.

A magazine is the perfect multi-functional, front-end product for your business:

• Marketing: It’s a great way for people to learn about your company and offers huge value to interested customers.
• Building relationships: Magazines build trust between your business and your audience. Here at Foundr, we’ve also been able to use the magazine as a method to build trust and relationships with influencers as well.
• Recurring revenue: Magazines are born for subscriptions, and if you play your cards right, you can depend on them for consistent and recurring income.
• Influence: Nothing spells influence in your niche than having a quality magazine going out regularly. It’s more work than a blog, but the dividends in influence are proportional.

As great as this all sounds, keep in mind that magazines take as much work and time as any other business. Our CEO Nathan Chan worked on Foundr Magazine for a full year as a side-hustle before he was able to quit his job and grow his company.

But if you’re up for committing to the work, then read on.

The Tools You Need to Create A Digital Magazine

Digital magazines are easier than physical magazines for several reasons. There’s no need to worry about the logistics and expense of physically delivering the magazine, finding a good printing house, or worrying about misdeliveries.

Nonetheless, the technology landscape for setting up, distributing, and getting paid for your digital magazine issue is important. You need to have the right tools to build your magazine on a solid foundation. Lots of digital magazines will cut corners when it comes to tech, and as a result, they will freeze, break, and readers will bounce. Don’t let this be you!

Foundr Magazine only uses the best tools to support our digital distribution, and we vouch for all of the products that we use below. They’ve all been in use consistently at Foundr for more than two years, successfully distributing our magazine to our now 20,000+ readers per month.

READ MORE: How to Develop Powerful Business Core Values and Mission Statements

Using an App for Your Digital Magazine

When it comes to digital magazine technology, the core decision you’ll need to make is: app or no app?

You can certainly host your magazine on the web, and countless magazines do.

However, there’s something awesome about being able to flip through a magazine on your iPhone, anywhere, and anytime. Most importantly, you can get an app in front of a whole slew of new eyes through app distribution platforms.

This is why Foundr took the app route.

Our first issue of Foundr magazine was sold on the App Store and Google Play. We chose to get in front of a market that had buyers. Steve Jobs conditioned customers visiting the App Store to be prepared to pay for content. What’s more, these stores handle all of the billing, delivery technology, and might even help you with marketing (via “Featured” apps and other sections).

For these reasons, we’ve come to the conclusion that building an app to support your digital magazine is a much stronger play than a web-only magazine.

Digital Magazine Tools

MagCast is the technology that Foundr Magazine used to create our app, and from which we publish all of our issues. It allows you to upload your magazine’s PDF through the platform, and publish using the technology. MagCast takes care of the rest—they build your app and set it up in the App Store. They also make it easy to configure your magazine to look good in app form.

• Monthly: $ 297
• Quarterly: $ 787
• Annually: $ 2,997

Mag+ is another magazine app creation platform, which fulfills a similar function as MagCast. We don’t use it here at Foundr, but there it is for your consideration.

The pricing for Mag+ is variable, with flexible options depending on your needs. They have a “Pay As You Publish” option, as well as an “Unlimited Option”, but as this is your first digital magazine, these options may not be suitable for you.

• Monthly: Ranging from $499-$699
• Annually: Ranging from $5389- $7549

Issuu is a web-only magazine publisher. It’s of particular interest to those who are planning on using their magazines as ad revenue-generating machines. Issuu is great for beginners as it allows you to create for free.

• FREE, and up to $279 annually

FlipSnack is a handy little website that transforms your PDF into an interactive flipbook, which can then be presented on your website. This is the technology that we use to upload past and present copies of Foundr Magazine.

FlipSnack has a tonne of other useful tools for digital creators, including printing services and SEO management, so have a look through and see if it suits your magazine’s goals.

• FREE to $948 a year

Apple iTunes Store and Google Play

You need a place to distribute your magazine, and where else to go except the iTunes App Store and Google Play, where there are huge audiences waiting for your content. These stores already have the authority, audience, and infrastructure there for the taking. You’ll have to get registered with these platforms and follow their terms of agreement and pricing.

Apple iTunes Store:

• $99/year + 30% of the revenue from your sales

Google Play Store:

• $25 charge to register + $100/year + 30% of the revenue from your sales

When you start your magazine on a shoestring budget, it’s all about wearing many hats (publisher, editor, writer, interviewer, etc.), and it might stay that way. But if you decide to grow, you can start to flesh out your process and bring on a team. At this point, you may need to expand into productivity and management software. Otherwise, the technology for deploying a digital magazine isn’t too complex, and definitely within reach of the most tech-averse entrepreneur.

READ MORE: 10 Instagram Growth Hacks For More Engaged Followers (Without Running Ads)

Create Awe-Inspiring Designs

Today’s online business landscape is so incredibly competitive, no matter what product you’re selling. That means that you need to find new ways to impress your market and grab their attention.

One key way to do this is with a stellar, standout design.

How many digital magazines have the same serious covers, with predictable font choices, colors, and layouts? Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but the truth is, those things don’t stick out anymore.

You can’t stand out by fitting in, just look at these covers you’re competing with:

Great design is a minimum requirement.

When it comes to digital magazines especially, your potential buyers will not invest in a copy of your work unless it looks great. That’s just part of the experience they’re paying for. Great design also gets you to that trust threshold required for someone to hand their money over the internet. It’s legitimizing.

But the design that gets your digital magazine thousands of readers has to go far beyond this threshold. You can’t just be great—you need to be awesome.

Here at Foundr, everything we put out not only has great design, but we strive to make it unique, edgy, and even daring. We know that our magazine is read mostly by young people, who are full of energy and ready to make a change in this world through entrepreneurship. Our design has to convey that energy:

There are no shortcuts or formulas to good design. It really is just a question of hiring the right person for the job. Finding a quality designer isn’t easy, nor is it cheap. You shouldn’t expect to pay bottom dollar for top work.

There are plenty of websites that connect you to remote designers. These are great because they give you access to a global pool of talent:

These websites include:

• Behance: Search through the portfolios of thousands of designers and post a job to get applications.
• Dribbble: Search through portfolios of both individual designers and agencies. Pitch to them individually instead of posting a job and getting deluged by applications.

You might have to go through a few designers or agencies before finding the one that matches your vision and market. Here at Foundr, we went through two designers before landing one designer we work well with.

To find the right designer, always have a trial period or a test project. It could be as simple as having them create a short PDF based on a checklist.

The quality of the designer’s work is just as important as the speed with which they create it. Equally important is the relationship that you have with the designer. Do you jell with them? Do your working styles meld nicely?

In the end, you need to pick a designer you can trust. There is nothing that bothers creatives more than when clients micromanage their work. Many designers will drop clients that do not give them enough creative control.

Round-Up Top Content

You’ve got your magazine looking good, and you’ve got the right tech to put it out into the world. Now it’s time to focus on providing useful content for your readers.

Foundr Magazine is made up of three different “types” of content:

• General content related to entrepreneurship
• Feature articles based on top entrepreneurs we interview
• Virtual Mentor Q&A section

We round the magazine out with an editor’s note at the beginning and Actionable Takeaways at the end. The overarching goal of all of our content is to give great, actionable, fun-to-read content for our audience, who will then take this knowledge to apply it to their business-building efforts.

Overall, we keep the magazine relatively short compared to your standard print publication, at between 10,000-12,000 words an issue. Most articles are between 2,000-5,000 words, with our features and front features leaning on the longer side. We also tend to run shorter pieces at the beginning of each issue.

As a good general rule, we find our readers enjoy the content they can take away and do something with afterward. Whether it’s something that inspires them or gives them precise instructions, we recommend making sure that your content is helpful to your readers in some way.

We’ve also found that it’s best to also include some pieces that are lighter in tone and subject matter since most of what we cover is about the business world. We like to insert some lifestyle pieces that would still add value to a busy entrepreneur’s life, but also offer a bit of a break.

READ MORE: How to Start a Podcast on a Budget

How do we manage to get such amazing content?

The first step to creating meaningful and engaging content is finding excellent writers.

Spend some time searching for a good writer, and always ask to see examples of their work to gauge whether or not their writing style is what you need.

At Foundr, we firmly believe that you get what you pay for. While we do look to keep costs as low as possible, you cannot expect a life-changing magnum opus from a writer if you are offering them peanuts. Be fair with your budget, and consider whether the writer’s budget is doable for quality content.

The second step is getting a great copy editor.

A copy editor will take your magazine from good to high-quality.

They root out those grammar and spelling mistakes that you will miss during writing and editing. It depends on the editor, but ours also assesses the entire product and returns headline suggestions and stylistic feedback, such as the order of the articles, to produce the most polished and cohesive issue possible.

This person provides a fresh, outside set of eyes to go over what you’re creating, and offers insights you would likely miss.

When starting out, you may not be able to afford a professional copy editor right off the bat. Even if you are able to, it’s good to have an understanding of what these people do, and how it is important to creating a quality publication.

First and foremost, copy editors police your use of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. But they also help ensure a consistent writing style for your magazine.

This means making sure the way you spell certain words, punctuate quotations or present things like titles and headings is the same throughout your writing. It might seem inconsequential, but readers will notice when your publication has all kinds of crazy punctuation, or “startup” in one sentence and “start-up” in the next. This will give your readers the idea that the publication is unprofessional, sloppy, and not worth the money.

A great default tool for this is the Associated Press Stylebook. It’s the style bible for most of the professional media world. It can be old-fashioned at times but is the standard-bearer of all the media rules of the road.

As you grow and bring on more writers, you’ll find that having an internal “Style Guide” specific to your magazine will prove extremely helpful. A Style Guide is like a rule book that you set up, which outlines the conventions that your particular magazine follows—that is, the length of articles, how you handle things like headlines, first and last names, titles, the spelling of branded words, etc.

This can serve as a reminder to yourself, and a quick reference for any new editors or writers you are bringing onboard.

At Foundr, we have a style guide that we use with all our copy. Simple things like “US English only”, and “no curly quotation marks” are what helps to keep us consistent.

In the end, the style of your magazine will come down to what you feel will speak more to your audience.

If your publication is aimed towards more professional career people, it may not make sense to adopt a casual tone. If your publication is aimed towards a very tech-savvy audience, it may make more sense to throw in technical jargon or acronyms without much explanation.

Whatever the style of your magazine might be, it’s important to define it and stick to it.

READ MORE: Psychographics 101: Everything You Need to Know; How It’s Used in Marketing

Creating the Layout of Your Digital Magazine

Your magazine will need to have some kind of layout and will most likely have recurring sections.

For example, we have a recurring section called “Life Hacks” as well as our “Virtual Mentor” section, where an industry expert or entrepreneur answers questions sent to us via our Virtual Mentor email box.

In terms of layout, we place our content between the editor’s note from Nathan Chan, and our concluding section, “Actionable Takeaways,” where we list the best actionable ideas from the magazine issue.

How should you layout your magazine? There is no set way, but as with everything, get some inspiration from your own favorite magazines. Grab a few copies of your favorite digital magazine and study each one for:

• How it organizes its layout
• Which recurring sections it contains
• Use of visual points of entry
• If they have themed issues
• The length and tone of their articles (First-person? Long narrative stories?)

Historically, magazines are separated into some main sections:

• Front of the Book (F.O.B): This is the first third of the magazine. It contains elements such as contents, the masthead, letters to the editor, recurring features like Q&As or book reviews, regular columns, mini-stories, infographics, product reviews. The F.O.B. usually tends to be heavy on quick, visual pieces, not long pieces of text. It can sometimes extend to the first half of the entire magazine.
• The Well: Also known as the “Feature Well” is the heart of the issue. It holds the main stories, including the cover story. These articles take up big chunks of the magazine and are longer, with large pieces of text and illustrative photos mixed in. Sometimes a special issue will have closely themed features, but usually, the topics vary.
• Back of Book (B.O.B.): This is the last portion of the magazine. It’s usually pretty short, and usually contains one or two shorter pieces to round things out. Sometimes it includes additional resources for readers. Often magazines will have a one-page recurring feature on the last page of every issue.

Whatever you do, keep in mind that variety is a worthy goal for any magazine, new or old. Even in the Feature Well, keep your readers engaged by avoiding too many very long stories in a row.

Don’t be afraid to mix things up a little, keeping in mind that your consistent and recurring features create something that readers can look forward to, while variations provide pleasant surprises.

READ MORE: FREE TRAINING: Explode Your Instagram Account With Our IG Hacks Masterclass

Get Interviews with Hard-to-Reach People

Interviewing hard-to-reach people will likely be something many, if not all, digital magazines will be interested in doing. Whatever your niche, your magazine will benefit immensely from having a leader or influencer in your field appear in your magazine.

Nathan Chan was struggling to get people to accept interviews with his then small and unknown entrepreneur magazine. Everything changed when Richard Branson was interviewed and featured on the cover.

Nathan knew that he needed a big name to propel the magazine and raise its profile. He aimed right for the top with Richard Branson.

Branson has quite a few books out there, so Nathan thought to first contact the book publishers. From there, he found out who the head of PR was for Branson, which leads him to his main contact person at Virgin.

He then pitched to that assistant at Virgin.

Find your target’s gatekeeper, whether that’s an internal head of PR, their personal assistant, or an agency that represents them.

But the effort wasn’t over yet. Nathan had to call this PR person four or five times, leaving voice messages each time. When he finally caught her over the phone, Nathan made his case and emphasized that he really wanted Branson on the cover of his new publication

The PR person then agreed to an email interview, and the rest is history. The Branson issue was a major turning point for Foundr, with our interviews only getting better and better from there.

The Branson issue and the many other rockstar entrepreneur interviews we’ve done have had what is known as the “Oprah Effect” for Foundr Magazine. That’s when you’ve interviewed so many awesome and successful people, that people become interested in what YOU have to say.

That makes YOU the new influencer.

READ MORE: 3 Ways to Create a Facebook Sales Funnel That Will Convert Customers on Autopilot

Promoting and Marketing Your Digital Magazine

When starting Foundr Magazine, we were able to grow at a rapid pace by using many different marketing tactics and strategies. That initially meant throwing things against the wall and seeing what stuck. In the early days, Nathan had to work out and test many channels that were effective for growing Foundr. Below is what worked the best.

Social Media

Nathan was trying out loads of different marketing tactics over social media but was struggling to gain traction.

That was until he tried Instagram.

Once he broke the Instagram marketing code, he started seeing consistent growth in email sign-ups and magazine sales. Instagram has been the top channel for Foundr Magazine’s growth.

On Instagram, Foundr managed to generate 10k followers in two weeks, built an extremely powerful sales funnel, and landed some huge exposure for the brand.

When it comes to Social Media, there’s too much opportunity to put just in this article alone. We have a tonne of content, how-tos, and other hacking guides, so be sure to check out our other articles when you’ve finished with this one.

Keyword optimization for the App Store is not as complex as web SEO, although it is no less essential. You want your magazine to rank for key search terms in your niche.

If at all possible, you need to get your keyword into the title of your app. For us, “entrepreneur magazine” is a major keyword for our market, and is featured in our app title: “AA+ Foundr – A Young Entrepreneur Magazine.”

Using keywords can also get you in the top five apps pages, allowing you to piggyback off of the successful and well-known apps. For example, Foundr Magazine benefits from the fact that we show up along Entrepreneur Magazine in the top five apps under “entrepreneur.” We also show up when people search for “Forbes” or “Harvard Business Review.”

You can use tools like Sensortower to help you research your keywords, your competitors’ keywords, and more.

Don’t worry about the competitiveness of the keyword, get it into your title if at all possible. As always, perform A/B testing to refine the keyword that you include in your title.

READ MORE: We Went From 0 to $50,000 in Sponsorships in 4 Weeks & How You Can Too!

As mentioned earlier, the design and look of your magazine is of prime importance. Put yourself in the shoes of your audience. They are browsing the store, looking for something cool to read. Your front cover is therefore a marketing tool. Spend time working the covers and headlines because they are the difference between a reader and someone who brushes you aside.

Free App and a Free Issue

Without question, your magazine app must be free to download. This will reduce the friction getting from the App Store to your actual magazine. Up the ante by offering a free magazine issue. Offering even a couple of free issues is very effective in creating long-term subscribers.

At Foundr we give one of our best interviews (Richard Branson) and our guide to 10,000 Instagram followers for free, using our free app. Our 20,000+ monthly readers speak to the effectiveness of this tactic.

The more (positive) reviews you have, the better you will rank in the app store. To get good reviews, you need to make sure that your magazine is of top quality. Furthermore, you need to make sure that your technology works perfectly—no crashing, no unnecessary slowness, no annoying technical glitches. That’s why we recommend you go with a dependable publishing technology company, like MagCast, which will take care of that whole aspect for you.

Otherwise, you can collect positive ratings by prompting users to review you in the digital stores, preferably a few times over the course of the user’s interaction with the app.

Influencers

Foundr Magazine does double duty when it comes to influencers. Not only do we get to offer incredible value to our readers by interviewing the top entrepreneurs from around the world, but these Influencers also promote their features to their own audiences, serving as a valuable source of marketing.

Even if you aren’t looking to do interviews for your magazine, you can still network with influencers in your field and ask them to promote your work (for a fair exchange, of course).

READ MORE: 30 Expert Tips on How to Get 10k More Followers on Instagram

Making Money: Pricing the Digital Magazine

The production costs of your magazine will be much lower than a traditional magazine, and as such, you may be tempted to have this reflected in your price.

Don’t guess at your magazine price. Do a methodical competitive analysis. That is, go into the channel through which you will be distributing your magazine—whether that is the App Store, Google Play, or the web—and check out your competitors in the space.

Collect the prices, calculate the median and average. See how these magazines structure discounts for longer-term subscriptions and back issues.

For example, here’s how Foundr has structured its pricing (all pricing in USD):

• Individual issues cost $4.99
• 1 Month Subscription costs $2.99 (savings of 40%)
• 1 Year Subscription costs 21.99 (savings of 63%)

As we’ve done, incentivize your audience with savings for longer-term subscriptions, which offers them a deal, and provides you with higher per-customer revenue.

READ MORE: Building the Perfect Sales Funnel for Your Shopify Store

Ready to Start Your Online Magazine?

When it comes to launching your own digital magazine, the most important takeaway from this post is to explore different revenue models for your magazine. As mentioned above, traditional media based on ad revenue is on its way out, and we are seeing an emergence of new and exciting models.

Magazines are now hosting conferences, creating courses, selling coaching, and even creating physical products. It’s an exciting time to be a creative entrepreneur in media. At this turning point, the most daring and creative among media entrepreneurs will define the winning business models and become leaders in the field.

But what do you think? Do you think this new model will succeed? Are you thinking of starting a digital magazine? Comment with your thoughts below.

About Nathan Chan

Nathan Chan holds a Master of Business from Victoria University and is widely respected as one of the brightest minds of his generation. An expert at entrepreneurship, he started Foundr -- a global media and education company that reaches out to millions of people across the world. In the last seven years, Nathan has interviewed some of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time such as Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington, Mark Cuban, and Tim Ferriss. He currently leads the team at Foundr as their Chief Executive Officer.

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Magazine Business Plan Template [Updated 2024]

Magazine Business Plan Template

If you want to start a Magazine business or expand your current Magazine business, you need a business plan.

The following Magazine business plan template gives you the key elements to include in a winning Magazine business plan.

You can download our business plan template (including a full, customizable financial model) to your computer here.

Below are links to each of the key sections of your Magazine business plan: I. Executive Summary II. Company Overview III. Industry Analysis IV. Customer Analysis V. Competitive Analysis VI. Marketing Plan VII. Operations Plan VIII. Management Team IX. Financial Plan

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Magazine Business Plan Home I. Executive Summary II. Company Overview III. Industry Analysis IV. Customer Analysis V. Competitive Analysis VI. Marketing Plan VII. Operations Plan VIII. Management Team IX. Financial Plan

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What Is a Business Plan?

Understanding business plans, how to write a business plan, common elements of a business plan, how often should a business plan be updated, the bottom line, business plan: what it is, what's included, and how to write one.

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master's in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

A business plan is a document that details a company's goals and how it intends to achieve them. Business plans can be of benefit to both startups and well-established companies. For startups, a business plan can be essential for winning over potential lenders and investors. Established businesses can find one useful for staying on track and not losing sight of their goals. This article explains what an effective business plan needs to include and how to write one.

Key Takeaways

• A business plan is a document describing a company's business activities and how it plans to achieve its goals.
• Startup companies use business plans to get off the ground and attract outside investors.
• For established companies, a business plan can help keep the executive team focused on and working toward the company's short- and long-term objectives.
• There is no single format that a business plan must follow, but there are certain key elements that most companies will want to include.

Investopedia / Ryan Oakley

Any new business should have a business plan in place prior to beginning operations. In fact, banks and venture capital firms often want to see a business plan before they'll consider making a loan or providing capital to new businesses.

Even if a business isn't looking to raise additional money, a business plan can help it focus on its goals. A 2017 Harvard Business Review article reported that, "Entrepreneurs who write formal plans are 16% more likely to achieve viability than the otherwise identical nonplanning entrepreneurs."

Ideally, a business plan should be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect any goals that have been achieved or that may have changed. An established business that has decided to move in a new direction might create an entirely new business plan for itself.

There are numerous benefits to creating (and sticking to) a well-conceived business plan. These include being able to think through ideas before investing too much money in them and highlighting any potential obstacles to success. A company might also share its business plan with trusted outsiders to get their objective feedback. In addition, a business plan can help keep a company's executive team on the same page about strategic action items and priorities.

Business plans, even among competitors in the same industry, are rarely identical. However, they often have some of the same basic elements, as we describe below.

While it's a good idea to provide as much detail as necessary, it's also important that a business plan be concise enough to hold a reader's attention to the end.

While there are any number of templates that you can use to write a business plan, it's best to try to avoid producing a generic-looking one. Let your plan reflect the unique personality of your business.

Many business plans use some combination of the sections below, with varying levels of detail, depending on the company.

The length of a business plan can vary greatly from business to business. Regardless, it's best to fit the basic information into a 15- to 25-page document. Other crucial elements that take up a lot of space—such as applications for patents—can be referenced in the main document and attached as appendices.

These are some of the most common elements in many business plans:

• Executive summary: This section introduces the company and includes its mission statement along with relevant information about the company's leadership, employees, operations, and locations.
• Products and services: Here, the company should describe the products and services it offers or plans to introduce. That might include details on pricing, product lifespan, and unique benefits to the consumer. Other factors that could go into this section include production and manufacturing processes, any relevant patents the company may have, as well as proprietary technology . Information about research and development (R&D) can also be included here.
• Market analysis: A company needs to have a good handle on the current state of its industry and the existing competition. This section should explain where the company fits in, what types of customers it plans to target, and how easy or difficult it may be to take market share from incumbents.
• Marketing strategy: This section can describe how the company plans to attract and keep customers, including any anticipated advertising and marketing campaigns. It should also describe the distribution channel or channels it will use to get its products or services to consumers.
• Financial plans and projections: Established businesses can include financial statements, balance sheets, and other relevant financial information. New businesses can provide financial targets and estimates for the first few years. Your plan might also include any funding requests you're making.

The best business plans aren't generic ones created from easily accessed templates. A company should aim to entice readers with a plan that demonstrates its uniqueness and potential for success.

2 Types of Business Plans

Business plans can take many forms, but they are sometimes divided into two basic categories: traditional and lean startup. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) , the traditional business plan is the more common of the two.

• Traditional business plans : These plans tend to be much longer than lean startup plans and contain considerably more detail. As a result they require more work on the part of the business, but they can also be more persuasive (and reassuring) to potential investors.
• Lean startup business plans : These use an abbreviated structure that highlights key elements. These business plans are short—as short as one page—and provide only the most basic detail. If a company wants to use this kind of plan, it should be prepared to provide more detail if an investor or a lender requests it.

Why Do Business Plans Fail?

A business plan is not a surefire recipe for success. The plan may have been unrealistic in its assumptions and projections to begin with. Markets and the overall economy might change in ways that couldn't have been foreseen. A competitor might introduce a revolutionary new product or service. All of this calls for building some flexibility into your plan, so you can pivot to a new course if needed.

How frequently a business plan needs to be revised will depend on the nature of the business. A well-established business might want to review its plan once a year and make changes if necessary. A new or fast-growing business in a fiercely competitive market might want to revise it more often, such as quarterly.

What Does a Lean Startup Business Plan Include?

The lean startup business plan is an option when a company prefers to give a quick explanation of its business. For example, a brand-new company may feel that it doesn't have a lot of information to provide yet.

Sections can include: a value proposition ; the company's major activities and advantages; resources such as staff, intellectual property, and capital; a list of partnerships; customer segments; and revenue sources.

A business plan can be useful to companies of all kinds. But as a company grows and the world around it changes, so too should its business plan. So don't think of your business plan as carved in granite but as a living document designed to evolve with your business.

Harvard Business Review. " Research: Writing a Business Plan Makes Your Startup More Likely to Succeed ."

U.S. Small Business Administration. " Write Your Business Plan ."

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How to Write a Business Plan 101 This guide to writing a business plan will outline the most important parts and what should be included in an effective plan.

A business plan is a written description of your business's future, a document that tells what you plan to do and how you plan to do it. If you jot down a paragraph on the back of an envelope describing your business strategy, you've written a plan, or at least the germ of one.

Business plans are inherently strategic. You start here, today, with certain resources and abilities. And you want to get to there, a point in the future (usually three to five years out), at which time your business will have a different set of resources and abilities as well as greater profitability and increased assets. Your plan shows how you will get from here to there.

Related: 7 Steps to a Perfectly Written Business Plan

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Magazine Publishing Business Plan Sample

May.08, 2018

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Table of Content

Do you want to start magazine publishing business?

Do you want to start a magazine publishing business? Although this business requires a lot of initial capital, the rate of return which it yields on investment is extremely high. Magazine companies generate incomes from various sources such as from the advertisements which are featured in them, from the people who sign in online, and of course, from their sales in newsstands. But starting a magazine isn’t an easy job and you will have to effectively plan everything. In the United States, 9 out of 10 magazine businesses fail due to poor planning. That’s why before you consider how to start your own magazine , you will have to prepare a comprehensive business plan. If you are wondering how to write one, here we are providing you the business plan of a magazine publishing business startup named ‘The Reader Monthly’.

Executive Summary

2.1 the business.

The Reader Monthly will be a lifestyle magazine owned by Martha Martin, a passionate writer. The company’s main office will be located in Dallas.

2.2 Management

The success of a startup heavily depends on its staff and management that’s why Martha planned it before considering how to start a magazine business on your own . The main management of the company will comprise of sales executives, graphic artists, and journalists. The staff will be hired one month before the launch of startup and will be trained by Martha.

2.3 Customers

We will target the young adults, adults and senior citizens of the United States. Our readers can read our magazine either in printed form or in digital form on any device.

2.4 Business Target

Our business targets, as outlined by our publishing company business plan , are as follows:

Company Summary

3.1 company owner.

The Reader Monthly will be owned by Martha Martin, a passionate writer. Martha has been associated with some of the biggest international magazines including TIME and PEOPLE for more than 13 years.

3.2 Why the Business is being started

The business is being started due to two reasons. The first one is to make profits in this industry. The second one is Martha’s passion for writing and her desire to add something better to the society. Martha herself described the reason for starting her venture in the book launch ceremony of her latest book The Dying Angel as, “ starting my own magazine is something I am born for.”

3.3 How the Business will be started

The company will be started in an abandoned press office in Dallas which ceased to function a few months before. The company will initially procure following things for the startup.

• Office furniture including filing cabinets, work desks, roundtables, couches and chairs for the meeting area
• Computers with color printers and scanners
• Press machines
• Graphic designing software including Illustrator, Freehand, and Photoshop
• A strong internet connection and office telecom systems
• Assorted office stationary and brochures

The financial experts have forecasted following costs for the startup:

The detailed startup requirements are given below:

Services for customers

Before you start a publishing business or even think about how to start a publishing business , you must decide what type of magazine will you be publishing and which niches will it cover. You must also plan what other services for business will you offer, for instance, sending magazines to subscribers by mail. The Reader Monthly will be a lifestyle magazine but it will also contain a few sections featuring health, entertainment, and technology. We will offer following services to our customers/readers:

• Magazine Retail Sales: Our readers can get our latest magazines from any newsstand or bookshops located across the United States. Retail sales will be the biggest generator of our revenue in our annual sales from the magazine readers.
• Magazine Subscription: Our readers can also subscribe us to get the latest magazine delivered to their doorstep in printed form.
• Magazine Online Subscription: Our readers can also subscribe us to get a copy of the electronic magazine which can be read on any electronic device.
• Advertisements: We will offer advertisement services to the various companies and businesses located across the United States. Advertisements will be our biggest source of revenue.

Marketing Analysis of magazine publishing business

The most important component of successful magazines business plan is its accurate marketing analysis that’s why Martha acquired the services of marketing experts to help her through this phase. It is only after this stage that a good magazine business plan could have been developed. If you are starting a magazine on a smaller scale, say an online magazine, you can just take help from this magazine business plan sample or the other magazine business plans available online. Marketing analysis is an extremely important component of all publishing business plans , therefore, it must be considered before starting a magazine business plan .

5.1 Market Trends

The American magazine industry contributes $28 billion in revenue every year and the magazine advertising are alone responsible for generating more than $15.2 billion. There are more than 21,000 publishing businesses in the United States that employ more than 117,000 people across the country. However, the magazine industry declined rapidly with the increasing popularity of the internet and the smartphones which completely eliminated the need for printed magazines. The industry nowadays is truly struggling for surviving in America as well as in other countries. A 2012 survey revealed that only 3 percent of Americans read magazines on a regular basis. Statistics has it that in 1985, there were more than 1,676 dailies in America but in 2011, the number dropped to below 1,400 and is still dropping. While the popularity of printed magazines keeps falling, people are paying more attention to electronic magazines which can be read on any device like laptops, mobile phones, kindles. You also need to create a magazine in a mobile application that will allow users to quickly learn about the release of new materials, but for this, you will have to write a business plan for mobile applications . After identifying these trends, it is clearly evident that it is not easy for a startup to survive in the magazine industry unless it is properly planned and adds value to its readers.

5.2 Marketing Segmentation

It is very important to analyze the market segmentation of the readers which will be buying your magazine because a successful and efficient magazine marketing plan can only be developed after we completely know our potential customers. Our experts have identified the following type of audience which we will be targeting:

The detailed marketing segmentation of our target audience is as follows:

5.2.1 Young Adults:

Our first target group will be the young adults in the United States who are between 18 to 25 years of age. This group mostly comprises of college or university students who like to read magazines in their free time. According to a recent survey by Statista, young adults read more magazines than any other age group in the United States that’s why this group will have the biggest contribution in our revenue from the magazine’s sales.

5.2.2 Adults:

Our second target group comprises of adults from 25 to 60 years of age. These people lead a busy life due to their employment and other engagements that’s why they don’t read as many magazines as the young adults or the senior citizens.

5.2.3 Senior Citizens:

Our third group comprises of senior citizens aged above 60. These people are usually retired and have a lot of spare time that’s why they also read magazines. The detailed market analysis of our potential customers is given in the following table:

5.3 Business Target

We aim to see ourselves among the top ten lifestyle magazines of the United States within next six years of our launch. Our main business targets to be achieved as milestones over the course of next three years are as follows:

• To achieve the net profit margin of $10k per month by the end of the first year, $15k per month by the end of the second year, and $25k per month by the end of the third year
• To balance the initial cost of the startup with earned profits by the end of the first year
• To have around 99,000 subscribers through direct sampling and marketing by the end of the first year

5.4 Product Pricing

Our pricing strategy is as follows:

• Single issue: $0.65 per issue
• Yearly print subscription: $7.0 per 12 issues
• Yearly e-magazine subscription: $1.49 per 12 e-issues

We have strategically priced our e-magazines in extremely cheaper range due to two reasons. Most of the people prefer electronic magazines to print magazines, and it is costlier to send print magazines to the readers as compared to providing them the digital ones.

Sales strategy is also an important component of an effective magazine business plan so make sure to plan it before you consider how to start a magazine business .

6.1 Competitive Analysis

We have a really tough competition because we will be competing with magazines some of which have been around for decades. Our biggest competitors are US Weekly, The New Yorker, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Harper’s BAZAAR and GQ. Our competitive advantage will be our lower prices combined with quality content which will be no less than that of the top magazines.

6.2 Sales Strategy

After carrying out a detailed analysis, our experts came up with the following brilliant ideas to advertise and sell ourselves.

• Google search ranking is one of the most important factors in deciding the success of online magazines, that’s why we will put special emphasis on it. We would do our best to get higher rankings in Google search results.
• We will give away 3 free magazines copies to our readers upon subscription.
• We will carry out a large-scale social media campaign and will interact with our readers to promote their interest.

6.3 Sales Monthly

6.4 sales yearly, 6.5 sales forecast.

Our forecasted sales on a yearly basis are summarized in the following column charts:

The detailed information about sales forecast is given in the following table:

Personnel plan

Personnel plan, like all other plans, is an important component of an effective business plan so it must be planned before you think about how to start my own magazine .

7.1 Company Staff

Martha will act as the Chief Editor of the magazine and will initially hire following people:

• 1 Accountant for maintaining financial and other records
• 2 Sales Executives responsible for marketing and discovering new ventures
• 6 Graphic Artists for designing the magazines
• 10 Journalists for creating the content for the magazines
• 4 Technical Assistants for handling the company’s web and social media pages
• 20 Print Press Workers for publishing the magazine
• 10 Distributors for distributing the magazines to various outlets across the United States

7.2 Average Salary of Employees

Financial plan.

As the last step for preparing a magazine publishing business plan , you have to prepare a detailed financial plan. The financial plan should craft a detailed map of all the expenses needed for the startup and how these expenses will be met by the earned profits. It is recommended that you hire a financial expert for guiding you through all financial aspects needed for starting a magazine business .

8.1 Important Assumptions

8.2 brake-even analysis, 8.3 projected profit and loss, 8.3.1 profit monthly, 8.3.2 profit yearly, 8.3.3 gross margin monthly, 8.3.4 gross margin yearly, 8.4 projected cash flow, 8.5 projected balance sheet, 8.6 business ratios.

Download Magazine Publishing Business Plan Sample in pdf

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OGSCapital’s team has assisted thousands of entrepreneurs with top-rate business plan development, consultancy and analysis. They’ve helped thousands of SME owners secure more than $1.5 billion in funding, and they can do the same for you.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• Initiate with Your Business Concept: Lay the Groundwork: Start by introducing your business idea into Plannit AI's Business Plan Generator. This first step is crucial, as it sets the tone for a tailored, insightful business plan that truly resonates with your vision. Capture the Essence: Our platform is designed to grasp the nuances of your concept, ensuring that the generated plan accurately reflects the core and potential of your business.
• Navigate Through the AI-Guided Questionnaire: Tailored Interactive Experience: Plannit AI’s AI-guided questionnaire is your interactive guide through the planning process. It meticulously gathers information about your business's objectives, strategies, and market positioning, ensuring a comprehensive and reflective plan. Intelligent Feedback and Suggestions: As you progress through the questionnaire, benefit from smart prompts and suggestions, ensuring that your plan is not just detailed but also strategically sound and aligned with industry standards.
• Generate Your Plan with Advanced AI: Intuitive Plan Creation: With the questionnaire complete, Plannit AI's advanced algorithms intelligently analyze your responses. They then craft a detailed, customizable, and strategically aligned business plan, providing you with a structured, coherent, and actionable format. Benefit from AI-Powered Insights: Plannit AI offers AI-driven insights and suggestions, ensuring your plan is not just a document but a strategic tool equipped with tailored AI prompts and an in-app plan editor. Get inspired by browsing through our sample business plans, a collection of successful strategies across various industries.
• Finalize Your Plan with Confidence: Dynamic Adaptation and Refinement: Plannit AI recognizes that a business plan is a living document. Our platform allows for continuous adaptation and refinement, ensuring your strategy remains agile, relevant, and aligned with your evolving business goals. Professional Presentation and Sharing: Once your plan meets your standards, utilize Plannit AI's export features to present your plan professionally. Choose between various formats for exporting your business plan, ready to impress stakeholders, attract investors, or guide your team. Review and Adapt: Ensure your business plan is a living document, ready to evolve with your growing business. Plannit AI's dynamic platform allows you to adapt your strategy as new opportunities or challenges arise.
• Roadmap for Success: At its core, a business plan acts as a strategic guide, providing detailed steps on how your business will achieve its objectives. It helps you navigate the startup phase, manage growth effectively, and tackle unforeseen challenges with a well-thought-out strategy.
• Securing Funding: For startups and businesses looking to expand, a business plan is crucial for securing loans or attracting investors. It demonstrates to potential financial backers that your business has a clear vision, a solid strategy for profitability, and a plan for delivering returns on their investment.
• Informed Decision-Making: A well-prepared business plan offers valuable insights into your market, competition, and potential challenges. This information is vital for making informed decisions, from day-to-day operations to long-term strategic shifts.
• Market Analysis and Strategy: It allows you to conduct an in-depth analysis of your target market, understand customer needs, and position your product or service effectively. The marketing strategy outlined in your business plan helps in identifying the best channels and tactics to reach your audience and achieve market penetration.
• Financial Planning: One of the most critical components of a business plan is the financial forecast. It outlines your funding requirements, expected revenue, profit margins, and cash flow projections. This section is essential for budgeting, financial management, and ensuring the financial viability of your business.
• Goal Setting and Performance Measurement: A business plan sets clear, measurable goals and objectives. It provides a framework for monitoring performance, measuring success, and making necessary adjustments to stay on track.
• Aspiring Entrepreneurs: If you're at the idea stage, looking to transform your vision into a viable business, Plannit AI offers the tools and guidance to bring your concept to life. Our platform helps you articulate your business idea, define your target market, and develop a solid plan to turn your dream into reality.
• Students and Educators: For students delving into the intricacies of business planning and educators teaching the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, Plannit AI serves as an invaluable resource. It provides a practical, hands-on tool for learning and teaching how to create detailed business plans, analyze markets, and understand financials in a real-world context.
• Startup Founders: In the dynamic startup environment, Plannit AI is the ideal partner for founders looking to pivot quickly, secure funding, or understand their competitive landscape. With our AI-driven insights and market analysis tools, startups can make informed decisions and adapt their strategies to thrive in competitive markets.
• Small Business Owners: For small business owners seeking to optimize their operations, expand their customer base, or explore new markets, Plannit AI offers targeted solutions. Our platform simplifies the planning process, enabling owners to focus on growth while managing the day-to-day challenges of running their business.
• Consultants and Freelancers: Consultants and freelancers specializing in business development, strategic planning, or financial advising will find Plannit AI a powerful addition to their toolkit. It allows them to provide clients with comprehensive, data-driven business plans and strategies, enhancing the value of their services.
• Non-Profit Organizations: Leaders of non-profit organizations can leverage Plannit AI to plan initiatives, secure funding, and manage resources more efficiently. Our platform helps non-profits articulate their mission, set achievable goals, and measure their impact, ensuring they can make a difference in their communities.
• Innovators and Inventors: Individuals looking to commercialize innovative products or technologies can use Plannit AI to navigate the complexities of bringing new ideas to market. From patent strategies to go-to-market plans, our platform covers all bases, ensuring innovators can focus on what they do best.
• Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) and Government Agencies: Government and SBA backed entities can greatly benefit from integrating Plannit AI into their services, enhancing their ability to support a larger number of clients more efficiently. By facilitating quicker, more in-depth business plan development, these organizations can spend more time assisting with plan execution and less time on creation, ultimately serving their communities more effectively.
• Anyone with a Business Idea: Ultimately, Plannit AI is for anyone with a business idea, regardless of industry, experience, or stage of business development. Our mission is to democratize business planning, making it accessible, understandable, and actionable for everyone.
• Interactive Questionnaire and ChatGPT Integration: Plannit AI transforms the business planning process into an engaging conversation. Through our advanced ChatGPT integration, we offer a questionnaire that dynamically adapts to your responses, ensuring your plan is personalized, comprehensive, and aligned with your business goals.
• Dynamic Planning Environment: Unlike static templates provided by many, Plannit AI introduces a living platform that grows with your business. It features real-time updates, strategic insights, and a feedback mechanism that keeps your business plan current and actionable.
• Extensive Educational Resources: Our Education Center is packed with articles, guides, and sample plans to bolster your planning process. It's designed to arm you with the knowledge to navigate the complexities of your industry confidently.
• Enhanced Collaboration and Customization: Recognizing the collaborative essence of business planning, Plannit AI supports team efforts with multi-user editing, annotations, and feedback features, ensuring a comprehensive approach to your strategy.
• Customer Success Stories: Our users' achievements are a testament to Plannit AI's effectiveness. These success stories illustrate how diverse businesses have utilized our platform for strategic planning and growth.
• Tailored Business Plan Creation: Our platform stands out with its tailored approach, featuring customizable templates that directly cater to your business type and industry, making plan creation straightforward and relevant.
• Content Generation:: ChatGPT helps draft various sections of a business plan, from executive summaries to marketing strategies, by providing structured and coherent text based on the prompts given.
• Strategic Insights: It can offer suggestions on business strategies by analyzing trends and providing examples from a wide range of industries.
• Financial Planning: While it can't replace professional financial advice, ChatGPT can guide the structure of financial projections and statements, helping you consider important financial aspects of your plan.

Take The First Step Towards Success With our AI-Generated Business Plans

Business Plan: Why You Need One

A detailed business plan is an essential part of every new business or company. It lays the groundwork for a young company and informs the reader about what you have planned and how you intend to implement it. Learn why the business plan is your most important startup tool.

Business Plan Templates and Examples

Business plan: the most important tool for decision making.

One of the most important things to remember about a business plan is that it is ultimately a tool for decision making and implementing a strategy. Although there is no established, formal guideline for a business plan, there are formats that are generally accepted for laying the groundwork for a structured, well thought-out business plan.

These parts often include an executive summary, financial review, organizational plan, sales and marketing strategies, as well as general company background and experience. 

Keep your audience in mind!

Depending on its focus, a business plan may be created with an external or internal audience in mind. Sometimes a business plan is created for employees and stock holders to inform them about a change in direction or about new products and services. Other times a new business or entrepreneur will draft a business plan in order to obtain external funds to start up the company. These are often complete with a financial review of the company's expected expenses as well as a long-term profits and losses outlook.

Get technical support!

Business plans have traditionally been closely guarded and contain a company's internal planning and finances. In the past, this has made creating a business plan a difficult task for entrepreneurs with limited business experience, however with the increasing popularity of the internet, there are now tools available online to help you create and customize a business plan for your company. 

Consider legal implications!

Something to consider are the legal implications your business plan may have. If the document remains internal and confidential, this is of less importance; however, if you plan on using your business plan as a means to gain external funding or to inform readers about the direction of the company, you should first consult a lawyer while creating the plan and before finally releasing it.

If you create a business plan for only certain people to see, be sure to have others sign a NDA before giving them access to your company's business plan. 

Let people help you!

One of the most strenuous parts of creating a business plan is the research and work involved even before you begin the task of writing. You often have to spend weeks or months carefully calculating all connected costs, as well as giving consideration to a marketing plan and the overall implementation.

Because this is such a large undertaking, it is wise to employ the help of accounts and marketing specialists. Even seasoned entrepreneurs often seek external help during the preparation of their business plan. Your local Better Business Bureau can help you find the resources and materials necessary to start. 

Calculate carefully!

Finally, after a business plan is created, it must be correctly executed. Be sure to know how and when each part of the plan is to be implemented. Investors are likely going to drill you on how you intend to implement each stage of the start up, so make sure you know each part in and out before presenting it to potential investors for your company.  

Through thorough planning and careful execution, your business plan will be the most important part of your new business's success.

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photo credit: iStock.com/damircudic

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Networking is PR & PR is Networking

Networking is all about public relations, and public relations is all about networking. The two go hand-in-hand to help increase brand awareness, grow relationships, and drive sales.

How are the two linked? Since PR is the practice of deliberately managing the spread of information between businesses and the public, and networking is the process of interacting with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts, both PR and networking build mutually beneficial associations.

The Continued Advantage of Virtual Networking

While the pandemic saw a surge in virtual networking, the practice continues to be valuable. Via online networking, entrepreneurs and employees have the opportunity to meet and engage with potential referral partners or clients in local, national and international environments. When networking virtually, use these tips to add an extra boost to name recognition:

• Rename yourself to include a few words about what you do. For example, list your name followed by a description such as “public speaking coach,” “mortgage banker,” “long-term care insurance expert,” “publisher,” etc. By adding these terms, others who may not have time to interact with you in a breakout room will see what you do and know to reach out to you.
• Create a virtual background including your company name and logo or book jacket. Again, this boosts brand awareness by allowing others participating in the virtual networking call to see clearly who you are and what you do. Take the opportunity to add PR to your networking by keeping your company/brand/product/book easy for all to see.
• Prepare your contact information to submit in the chat in advance. Noting the best way to reach you provides promotional coverage for all in the virtual meeting to see and save.
• Remember to update your calendar link so that meetings can be easily scheduled.

Tips to Be Remembered During In-Person Networking

Take advantage of meeting potential business contacts by attending a variety of events to better get to know connections.

Order a professional name tag. A pre-made name tag is a great way to promote yourself and your business. Every public relations opportunity is a business opportunity. Remember that at events, you are truly publicizing your business to others.

Business cards never get old. While many are sharing electronic business cards, most won’t remember your name or business in order to look up that contact information in your phone. 

Ask for Speaking Opportunities

Being a keynote or featured speaker is another PR opportunity that results in having your name and company featured on flyers, social media and more. It’s another way that public relations and networking go hand in hand.

Keep your talk educational in nature. No one wants to listen to a sales pitch. Give insights and advice. This is a perfect way to promote your business with targeted audiences.

Many organizations also have podcasts or videotape speakers to feature on YouTube channels. Share this content as another publicity opportunity.

About the Author: Andrea Pass, owner of Andrea Pass Public Relations, has been in the public relations field for more than 30 years and has represented a wide range of businesses, consumer products, and authors by securing interviews and coverage on podcasts, digital media, print, and broadcast. Visit www.AndreaPassPR.com . 

To access more business news, visit  NJB News Now .

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Trump says he wants huge tariffs if elected. That could send inflation spiking.

• Trump has plans for at least a 10% universal tariff on US imports, he told Time Magazine .
• He argues that such a levy wouldn't lead to increased inflation.
• But research from the bipartisan Tax Foundation suggests otherwise, and says Trump's 2018 trade war was also economically damaging.

Former President Donald Trump has made it no secret that he plans to build a wall of tariffs around the US, with higher rates applied to those he sees standing in the way of American trade.

If elected, his proposed measures include a 10% universal duty on all imports headed into the country, though Trump recently told Time Magazine this figure could reach even higher. 

China could face a tariff as high as 60%, which Trump argues will bring back production to US shores.

"I call it a ring around the country ... A reciprocal tax also," the Republican candidate said in a wide-ranging interview with the outlet. "And if we do that, the numbers are staggering."

But historical precedence has shown that tariffs can lead to surging inflation, something the Time interviewer brought up to Trump, who was quick to shrug it off.

"I don't believe it will have much of an effect because they're making so much money off of us," he said. "I also don't believe that the costs will go up that much."

The non-partisan Tax Foundation would beg to differ. Their research shows that duties on imports force traders to either raise their prices or pull their product entirely, which also pushes prices higher because supply is diminished.

Related stories

Further, tariffs also boost the cost of parts and materials, adding price pressure on the final product, even if made in the US, the foundation found.

But Trump refutes this: "I don't believe it'll be inflation. I think it'll be lack of loss for our country."

In his view, countries such as China, India, and Brazil take advantage of the US, by barring American products while at the same time looking to boost domestic production of these same goods.

"I think what happens is you build. What happens to get out of the whole situation is you end up building, instead of having your product brought in from China, because of that additional cost, you end up making the product in the United States," he added later. 

Still, when taking a look at Trump's 2018 tariff policies against Beijing, price hikes are among the lasting consequences. Tax Foundation estimates that the tariffs then imposed have amounted to an $80 billion tax increase on Americans.

"Look, I took in billions of dollars from China. Nobody else ever did anything on China," Trump explained. "I also let people know what the threat of China was. China was going along making $500 to $600 billion a year and nobody was ever even mentioning it until I came along."

To be sure, a majority of Trump's restrictions have stayed in place under the current Biden administration; the institute calculated that these remaining tariffs could reduce long-run GDP by 0.21%.

More tariffs under Trump could be poorly timed, as US monetary policy is already struggling to clamp down on current inflation levels. Recent hotter-than-expected data has even amplified worries of a stagflationary scenario , in which the Federal Reserve would have to raise interest rates to pressure down pricing.

But Trump allies are reported to be discussing ways in which the former president could take control of the central bank, in an effort to ensure lower rates. However, any attempt to threaten Fed independence would risk an investor backlash , Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff recently said.

Watch: A proposed merger could help Donald Trump pay off his $454 million fraud penalty

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Give 270 to raffle rare $15,000 Kentucky Derby 150: Baccarat Edition whiskey

By wmadministrator

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky.   (April 25, 2024) – The odds are in your favor in this raffle for the world’s most expensive bottle of whiskey. Give 270 is offering bourbon aficionados and horse-racing fans the chance to own a valuable part of history with the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby. The Elizabethtown-based nonprofit is set to host the latest edition of its  20/20 Unicorn bourbon raffle series , offering 20 whiskey bottles, including a rare Kentucky Derby 150: Baccarat Edition whiskey bottle from Woodford Reserve as the grand prize. The raffle is set for Wednesday, May 8 at 8 p.m.

Crafted by Woodford Reserve in celebration of the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby, the   grand prize  is a triple-barreled American whiskey aged in three distinct casks – the traditional bourbon barrel, a cognac cask and an exclusive barrel seasoned within the Kentucky Derby Winner’s Circle. Limited to just 150 bottles, each is showcased in a crystal decanter meticulously crafted by artisans of the French Maison Baccarat and presented in a custom leather carrying case. One of the 150 bottles will be presented to the winner of the Kentucky Derby during the Garland of Roses ceremony at Churchill Downs. The extremely rare bottle retails for $15,000.

In addition to the grand prize, each $20 ticket purchased offers participants two chances to win from a curated assortment of 20 limited edition and allocated Woodford products. During the raffle, prizes numbered two through 20 will be drawn initially, with all tickets returning to the tumbler for an opportunity to win the Kentucky Derby 150: Baccarat Edition.

In January, the 20/20 Unicorn raffle theme made its debut, showcasing products from Buffalo Trace Distillery and a subsequent raffle was held earlier this month, featuring products from Michter’s Distillery. Each event in the series offers $20 tickets providing the chance to win from a curated set of 20 prizes from a specific distillery, including a standout rare “unicorn” prize.

The upcoming Unicorn raffle is set to take place live on Give 270’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. All proceeds will benefit Give 270’s work supporting worthwhile organizations and initiatives in central Kentucky. Tickets are available for purchase until 7 p.m. on the night of the drawing and there is no limit to the number of tickets purchased per individual.

“Our Unicorn raffles have been incredibly successful in supporting important community initiatives while also offering truly unique and covetable bottles,” said Eric Clemens, Board Chair of Give 270. “This latest edition’s grand prize is our most exceptional yet. It perfectly embodies the essence of the Unicorn series, and we’re thrilled to celebrate the Kentucky Derby by doing what we do best: giving away exceptional bottles for exceptional causes.”

To purchase tickets and stay up-to-date on raffles and events hosted by Give 270, visit give270.org.

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