After finding out Swimmer takes 30% of our budget,I was thinking how to make it better.I think it is perhaps fine as it is now for what it does now,but if it is to help us grow...
What do you think?
Rodale had a magazine called "Fitness Swimmer' a few years ago and I thought it was excellent and I think implied that such a mag could be(almost) profitable.The current 4 in one format of "Swimming World" now seems excellent.Perhaps Swimmer should have sections:Competitive Swimmer,fitness swimmer,tri,noodlers(to be totally inclusive.)This might help with the problem of technique articles in Swimmer.The articles seem aimed for the middle and are too simple for elite swimmers and too advanced for beginners.
If you want to sell issues how about more pictures of good looking Masters swimmers in swim suits(it worked for Sports Illustrated.)
I don't find the "new product"section very helpful as it just gives what the company says.How about product testing? I expect a company would be glad to say"our goggles were the top rated by USMS-publicity for us.)If you really want to sell how about product testing on LZR vsTracer Rise,vs Nero Comp.I bet most swimmers,coaches,and parents would be interested in that.
Parents
Former Member
Fitness Swimmer had that ad for sex improvement tapes. The editor got so may complaints because it was a "family magazine" she had to apologize. It lost several subscriptions because of this. In time she was reassigned and then fired. Somewhere i have the copy with the ad & the copy with her apology.
Ah, yes, I'd forgotten that. But that's probably just a symptom of the larger problem expressed earlier, that swimmers don't spend a lot of money on gear and so it's hard to get a ton of advertising for a swimming magazine. So I guess they had to look elsewhere.
I remember seeing the ad and thinking, "Hmmm, that's kind of odd. I didn't expect to see an ad like that in this magazine," but apparently other people had a much bigger problem with it.
Fitness Swimmer had that ad for sex improvement tapes. The editor got so may complaints because it was a "family magazine" she had to apologize. It lost several subscriptions because of this. In time she was reassigned and then fired. Somewhere i have the copy with the ad & the copy with her apology.
Ah, yes, I'd forgotten that. But that's probably just a symptom of the larger problem expressed earlier, that swimmers don't spend a lot of money on gear and so it's hard to get a ton of advertising for a swimming magazine. So I guess they had to look elsewhere.
I remember seeing the ad and thinking, "Hmmm, that's kind of odd. I didn't expect to see an ad like that in this magazine," but apparently other people had a much bigger problem with it.
