IN-HOUSE PUBLISHING CASE STUDY Los Angeles, California 2011 Annual Magazine & Membership Directory (including Relocation Guide)
The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce converted the 2011 Edition of its Annual Magazine and Membership Directory to an in-house publication, hiring Chamber Marketing Partners to sell ads and manage the entire project. In-house publishing became a consideration because the substantial profits were compelling.
David Eads, Executive Vice President and COO of the Chamber says, “For the amount of investment our members were making in ad sales, we just thought we should see larger margins.”
The issues critical for Eads to make the switch were: 1. Generating larger margins. 2. Better monitoring of member investment. 3. Tighter control over content and branding. 4. No additional staff burden.
Chief Executive Gary Toebben was initially skeptical, “I knew how much work it could potentially be, so I pushed back” says Toebben. “I was pleasantly surprised with the feedback that I got from my staff about how easy it was to do this internally, and how much more money we made because we had more control over the process... essentially increasing our revenue five-fold.”
Pat Clark, Membership Manager says, “it took just minutes of my time a day... It helped me as a membership manager communicate on a different subject with our members... I can use that as a talking point.” The membership team was better able to understand their members' needs.
Mandy Denaux, Marketing and Communication Director, says, “The process took us less time than in the past... We have more ownership and we feel more attached to the project.” About CMP Denaux says, “I always felt like somebody had our back. Before we even knew there was an obstacle, [CMP] was there saying ‘this is what we've encountered, here's how we're going to address it and we didn't have to worry about it.
Chamber Marketing Partners provided the ad sales team and managed all the moving parts of the project, including managing staff and vendors, and communicating with key stakeholders.
With more pages available than before, Denaux says, “ultimately the book is better... it's a stronger piece content wise... we're more proud of it. My department is not a revenue generating department; we are the ones that spend money. To be able to contribute to revenue is something we are proud of.”
Bottom Line: Sales reached $165,000, the Chamber's profit was over $55,000, or 33%, staff are more proud of the end result and the process was easier than in the past.
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