You look at the magazine stand and this mess is what you see. Hundreds of cover lines. So many different covers. Each title only has a few seconds to catch your attention.
Ensuring customer loyalty is an integral part of any magazine’s overall strategy. You have to make sure that you evolve just enough, so your readers are able to experience something new after a year or so. How do you reel in all those first time purchasers?
You put half of Priscilla Merielles’ face — er, you get their attention with the cover.
All editors and publishers will tell you that the cover is their greatest sales pitch of all.
Some general rules when it comes to making a magazine stand out at the newsstands:
- All main cover lines must be visible from 6 feet away.
- Put the most important piece of information on the upper left side of the cover. You know how magazines are stacked over one another because of the limited space — well this is done to address that concern.
- Don’t effin’ cover your masthead, no matter how good your cover image is. This is pretty basic stuff when it comes to branding.
- The most important story for the month is usually placed at the upper left side of the page. Believe it or not, some people still buy magazines for the articles.
What happens when you change so many elements on your cover in such a short period of time?
