A business plan for magazine development or circulation needs to look carefully at the current market for the publication you propose. It's no secret that the Internet's dominance and the popularity of news-oriented websites has made it more difficult for newspapers and magazines to retain their readership and earn sales at the newsstands. Magazines need to continually refine what they offer to readers in order to compete. Articles need to be more engaging, graphics more original, stories more compelling – or online media will claim the eyeballs you're after. So how does the magazine business plan address this predicament? With candor and a solid depth of research. Your investors will understand the market conditions, but you should still being as much support research into the picture as possible. What does circulation look like for magazines like yours? How many readers are there in your target markets? What other metrics support the market opportunity? Some other considerations include:
• What distribution channels will you use? Will there be an online component of the magazine as well?
• Do you have an established readership from another publication that could migrate over?
• What does your target reader profile look like?
• When do you anticipate reaching break-even post-investment?
• Do you have any gaps on your management team that an investor will need to know about?
Of course, you will also need to populate a full financial model that uses sound assumptions about sales rates, market penetration, and business expenses to show potential investors what the net profit might look like. Their ROI hinges on this, so expect them to scrutinize it. MasterPlans has been writing business plans for magazines since 2002. Our past clients include start-up and spin-off publications as well as existing magazines both in print and online. The business model can be difficult to describe well, but our qualified team of writers and researchers always rises to the occasion. Let us help you too – call a consultant today at 877-453-2011.
