The Magazine That Aspired to Inspire

After four years, a quarterly trade magazine covering women in the electronic media had grown stale and perfunctory. The staff of the national nonprofit association that publishes the magazine decided it needed to break with the third-party vendor that had provided full editorial services for the publication since its inception, and recommended that the association retain Coulter Strategy & Innovation. The association’s board of directors had some trepidation about trying out a new firm but went along with the staff recommendation, in part because of Coulter Strategy & Innovation’s competitive rate.

The Challenge: After four years, a quarterly trade magazine covering women in the electronic media had grown stale and perfunctory. The staff of the national nonprofit association that publishes the magazine decided it needed to break with the third-party vendor that had provided full editorial services for the publication since its inception, and recommended that the association retain Coulter Strategy & Innovation. The association’s board of directors had some trepidation about trying out a new firm but went along with the staff recommendation, in part because of Coulter Strategy & Innovation’s competitive rate.

Coulter Strategy & Innovation’s Response: Coulter Strategy & Innovation addressed the board’s hesitance by reaching out immediately to the magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board (EAB). Working closely with EAB and staff members, Coulter Strategy & Innovation plotted out the next several issues of the magazine, each of which had a distinct theme set by the EAB. We came up with a lineup of article topics that balanced the fun and glamour of the industry with the practical realities of a central theme, whether it was sales and marketing, career inspiration and aspiration, or changing business models. We sought out the association’s expert members to contribute articles. We brought a new level of attention to every aspect of the magazine, and collaborated with the designer to reestablish its bold, tight lines. In many ways, Coulter Strategy & Innovation reinvented the magazine from within.

The Result: The changes were apparent with the first issue that Coulter Strategy & Innovation produced—its smooth, interesting mix of articles, polished writing and editing, and witty headlines drew immediate praise from the board and staff. But we really hit our stride with the second issue we produced, which addressed a new theme for the magazine—inspiration and aspiration—and which was distributed at a strategic-planning meeting of the board of directors right after it was published. Board members loved our treatment of the theme and have committed to addressing the topic again next year. And the association’s executive director called the issue “a slam dunk.”