Having started at zero, the wife and husband team behind the digital Blackmore Vale magazine are celebrating their venture’s first birthday with an astonishing 10,000 direct monthly subscribers – and a whopping social media reach of 145,000 people in the last month.
Not bad for a new venture that all ‘experts’ said was destined to fail.
‘Everyone told us that a purely digital magazine in an aging rural area would not work,’ says editor Laura Hitchcock, 47, who with husband Courtenay, 55, had no previous magazine publishing background. Or any budget. But they went ahead anyway.
And they’ve proved experts wrong by showing there is a huge demand for a purely digital magazine. By all the accepted standards of measuring a digital publication’s performance/success the figures are impressive: they enjoy a 157% increase over the average UK open rate – and a 680% higher click through rate (CTR). The UK average page conversion rate is 2.35%. Theirs is 5.3%.
This is local media in a new form. High production, full colour, long form local issues and gone are the countless pages of tiny small ads – too time consuming for a small team to make viable. Instead there are fewer, more visual ads for top tier local businesses who love the proven reader commitment to the enriched magazine experience; using links within the content, immediately accessing more information and playing accompanying video.
‘Digital publishing is no longer the future – it’s already here, we’re doing it.’ says Laura, ‘It is economic and green; no paper, print or physical distribution means minimal carbon footprint. It is also instantly accessible, versatile and allows high production values. The stats prove our high levels of reader interest – it’s all transparent. The Press Gazette has reported digital growth is outpacing print decline.’
‘I strongly believe that it’s our hybrid model of solid digital skills backed up by the traditional publishing skills we have recruited that has proved so successful’ Laura continued. ‘We know the digital world – and we were approached by a number of highly experienced editors and journalists who have quickly become much-loved columnists and a part of the team.’
‘But remember, you ‘cannot launch a digital glossy magazine in north Dorset. Experts have told us it just won’t work.’
You can read the latest issue of the Blackmore Vale here – and get in touch with Courtenay if you’d like to see the full media kit on advertising@theblackmorevale.co.uk.