Magazine Gets Bigger in Effort to Find a Niche

They wanted it convenient and professional. But more important, they wanted it to fit in a back pocket. What they saw as an ideal magazine format, however, others mistook for a throwaway coupon book.

Orange County publisher Ivan Katz and his associates had wanted their “pocket” business magazine not only to look different, but also to provide a different service from what its competitors offered.

Earlier this year, Katz and the two-person staff at his Costa Mesa publishing firm, Connections to Excellence, got together to launch a new business magazine. The first--and last--issue of Direct Response Business Magazine was published in March and distributed free by mail to 73,000 businesses in Orange County and Long Beach.

But the pocket-size magazine had a suitcase-size problem. Its 3.5-by-8.5-inch format gave the magazine the distinct look of a coupon book. Some advertisers, whom Katz hoped to lure with a large free circulation targeted at Orange County business people, were hesitant to spend their ad dollars in the mini-magazine.

Though some advertisers were turned off by the small format, at least some said they were pleased with the response their ads received. Bryn Berge, owner of Berge Pools in Costa Mesa, said the ad he placed in the magazine “started paying off for me,” though he admits to being “a little surprised at the size of the magazine.”

Discouraged at advertisers’ reaction to the magazine size, Katz decided last month to change to a 5-by-7-inch format, about the same size as Reader’s Digest. And he renamed the it the Business Guide to Corporate Excellence.

Advertisers “wanted the traditional format but same response as the coupon style gave them,” Katz said. “With a 60,000 circulation--we dropped Long Beach--we’re going to virtually everyone. No one has done that circulation number.”

Advertising rates range from $3,300 for a profile on a company up to $12,000 for a front cover and story. A full-page black-and-white ad costs $1,700, while a full-page four-color ad is $2,100.

The new issue is scheduled to be mailed to Orange County businesses this week.

Before founding Connections to Excellence, Katz was publisher for seven years of Orange County Business-to-Business magazine, a “how-to” magazine for small businesses.