What is the cover of a magazine for?
>> to tell you what you'll get inside.
It's the equivalent of a headline in an ad, an email subject line, or the newspaper front page.
This is a beautiful cover, but it's very vague in what it promises. And as a result, it fails in its purpose.
It is the cover of the National Trust magazine, sent to me regularly. If you don't know, the National Trust is a splendid organisation which manages and arranges visits to places throughout Britain.
They were once my clients and for decades I've regularly visited stately homes, castles and gardens they manage.
The magazine is really there to get more traffic. I receive it regularly but have never looked inside. Not once - until a few days ago I bothered to.
I was amazed at how interesting it was. There were scores of interesting stories. I would say several on each page. Among others:
- John Lennon's birthplace (incidentally not far from mine)
- A chef who cooks regency dishes - the kind popular 200 years ago
- A bed that dates from 1720
- Paintings by Fox Talbot the Photography pioneer (I have visited very grand old home several times)
- Good books to read this summer
- Walking in the Welsh mountains near my childhood school
- How to attract bees to your garden
- Fresh flavour combinations in your cooking
- Going barefoot
- Lady Londonderry's garden
- The Giant's causeway
- Bird watching
- A mine in Cornwall where the shafts went nearly a mile under the sea. Who'd be a Cornish lead miner?
So many things to see, and try. All missed if the cover doesn't lure you inside.
And what you read there, though well written , is vague.
If you look at a successful magazine or newspaper, movie or TV show trailer you'll see it's full of lures to get you to go further with information about what's inside.
But the "headline" didn't draw me into the National Trust magazine - despite the beautiful photo.
My friend the late Bill Jayme called the direct mail envelope The Hot-pants on the Hooker.
You MUST concentrate on the first things people see - whatever you're selling, whatever the media. When making speeches the thing I always agonise on is the opening.
The headline, the picture, the caption, the subject line, the first thing you see on the landing page - all vital. And in most cases all can be improved.
In the case of that front cover they should have listed some of the good stuff inside.
The secret of success is to concentrate on the right things, and quite frankly most people don't.
Do you? Do you think you could be doing better? Do you have the courage to admit it if you don't.
Drop us a line. No obligation - just an opportunity. We've seen it all before. And can usually help.
Best,
Drayton
I ghostwrite educational email courses for emerging tech companies. 30 years of consulting with established and startup CEOs
3 年Aren't they the people who now want to trash our history?
Consulting Copywriter, Maximum Results Copywriting
3 年Thanks Drayton! Great reminder, as you say, of the importance of concentrating on the right things. I'm guessing that whoever is responsible for the magazine at the National Trust is not involved in the marketing side...or they are not very good at it. Every contact with a customer or a prospective customer is an opportunity to get the message across. Would love to know more about how they handled marketing when you worked with them.
Ideas man. Direct Response Marketer & Copywriter. Free tips on writing, marketing, and life in my Goldmine newsletter—link in the Contact info.
3 年When a company is focused on its aesthetics it often misses the opportunity to sell what it offers. This magazine is a great example. I have another example of an email list I'm recently on. The emails, I guess, are a collection of things they find interesting. And the writing has a good slant on storytelling, but everything reads like there's an inside joke. After browsing their website for nearly an hour I still had no idea what I was reading or what they do. I did buy something and in the comment section of the order form I suggested they may want to make the customer journey a bit more clear. I never heard back from them on that, but I still get their emails.
Digital Marketing *
3 年The food for thought indeed...