Q&A

This is a great question. Firstly, we believe that current advertising rates in full size magazines are extraordinarily high and becoming unaffordable. By switching to a digest format, IYH Magazine effectively rolled back ad rates a decade, while actually increasing ad performance. The key to publishing a digest size magazine is to only allow one ad per page. Other publishers of digest size magazines make the mistake of offering smaller ad sizes in the smaller format to appeal to very small ad budgets. This is a mistake. It isn’t the size of the page that counts. It’s the number of ads per page and issue that matters. IYH Magazine is the only home improvement magazine that does this.

Absolutely NOT. This is a misconception that people commonly have and publishers of full-size magazines want you to believe. The truth is that the number of ads per page and per issue is far more important than the actual size of the magazine. The key is having only one ad per page when publishing a digest sized magazine. We have the data to prove that a full-page ad in a digest size magazine (5.5” x 8.5 approximate size”) works just as well as a full-page ad in a full size magazine (8.5” x “11). Simply put, the reader is able to focus on the one ad on the page instead of 1 to 4 ads like other publications. If all other publications eliminated all ad sizes besides full-page ads, they would have fewer advertisers, higher ad visibility, and ad response would go up dramatically per ad. It’s not the size of the ad, but the number of ads per page and issue. Having said this, most advertisers would never be willing to do this because they would lose an enormous amount of profit.

Absolutely not. IYH Magazine is a targeted mailing focused on homeownership and household income.

No. IYH Magazine is mailed to owner-occupied homes that meet specific demographic requirements.

No. This is a falsehood peddled by some home improvement magazine publishers in an attempt to misinform potential advertisers and discourage them from advertising with their competitors. To add a homeowner’s name to a mailing list, one need only pay an additional fee for that data to be included.

Great question! By limiting page counts and only allowing full or double full-page ads we have less ad partners per issue, spend less time selling ad space all year, and utilize fewer sales reps, all of which, when coupled with lower digest size magazine printing costs, results in substantially lower production costs which we pass on to our ad partners in the form of substantially lower ad rates. Also, because we are not a franchise like many other home improvement publishers, we do not pay any royalty fees or other costs associated with operating a franchised publication, all of which are passed on to advertisers in the form of higher ad rates. Lastly, we would prefer to operate on slimmer margins and with better customer retention rates, rather than maximize profits on each client, which ultimately results in a lower ROI for the advertiser.

Every 3 weeks.

We used to mail monthly like other magazines. It’s just what they seem to all do. By mailing every 3 weeks instead of monthly, we generate a more consistent lead flow for our advertisers and more leads over all. When magazines are published and mailed every month, you will always have a 4th “dead week” as the lead flow always drops off significantly the 4th week after mailing for all magazines. And because our rates are so much lower than our competitors, our advertisers can afford the increased mailing frequency and additional issues per year.

Yes. Every advertiser receives a free call tracking phone number that is placed on their advertisement and forwarded without any delay directly to the phone number of their choice. Calls are recorded and dated. Advertisers are given login credentials so that they can listen and review any customer calls and see how their ad is performing. ALL NEW CLIENTS ARE REQUIRED TO USE OUR CALL TRACKING SERVICE FOR THE FIRST SIX ISSUES.

We believe that “less is more” when it comes to the number of advertisers and pages in a magazine. Most magazines have absolutely no limit to the number of advertisers, competitors or pages that they will allow in their publication. In magazine publishing, the more advertisers and pages you have, the lower the cost per page is, and the higher your profit margins are. Our competitors will often have well over 140 advertisers per issue, which is far to many. When that happens, the law of diminishing returns takes effect and the average response per ad drops significantly. Think of it this way. Would you want to be 1 of 75 advertisers in a magazine or 1 in 140? Ad visibility is everything in direct-to-home advertising. Given this fact, you would think that all publishers would reduce their ad rates as the number of advertisers increases and ad visibility drops, but they don’t. They just make more money.

Because we only produce and 92 page magazine maximum, and every advertisement is either a full-page or double full-page ad, we end up with around 75 advertisements per issue. As a result, we naturally end of with fewer directly competitive ads in most categories compared to other home improvement magazines that allow well over 140+ advertisers per issue which results in an excessive amount of competitive ads per issue in many categories. We usually see 2-5 competitive ads per category on average.

In some categories, we know that there should not be more than 1-3 advertisers and we will purposely limit those categories to ensure enough call volume for each advertiser. And in a limited number of categories we do offer 100% exclusivity such as pest control, house cleaning, carpet cleaning, etc. Ask your local Account Executive if your category qualifies for exclusivity.

We know that by only allowing full-page and double full-page ads in our publication, we dramatically increase ad visibility, reduce the number of advertisements, reduce competition, and generate more calls per ad. Publishers that offer ½ and ¼ page ads do this for one simple reason, higher profits. A magazine publisher makes a lot more money per page if they sell that space in the form of multiple smaller ads. One of our main competitors sells their full-page ad mailed to 200,000 homes for around $3,200 per issue and a ½ page ad for around $2,350 per issue. So as you can see, they make about $1,500 more per page when they sell two ½ page ads vs. 1 full-page. However, they also increase the number of advertisers and reduce ad visibility by doing this. Multiple sized ad offerings do not benefit advertisers, it hurts them.

New advertisers are required to sign up for at least 6 consecutive issues to start. This insures that their ad will be seen enough times by homeowners to generate a consistent ad response. We do not allow “one-shot” tests.

Yes. We have several clients that do this. Often they will put a full-page ad in the first half of the magazine and the other full-page in the second half. It is a great strategy for some.

Ad fees are due and billed to the member’s credit card on file two weeks prior to the published mail date. We do not accept payment by check. A Visa, Mastercard or American Express card is required for billing.

Yes. We consider the front cover, pages 2-25, the center spread, the inside back cover, and the back cover, premium placements. Premium ad placement rates vary and are in addition to our standard full-page and double full-page rates per issue. All other spots in our publication are considered standard placement and are rotated every issue in groups of ten ads to give all advertisers an opportunity to be placed in a variety of spots throughout the publication. If you wish to select a premium placement, please check with your IYH Representative about availability before reserving your ad.

Yes.

We allow members to advertise on the cover up to twice per year, but never on back-to-back issues.

You can change your ad every single issue at no additional cost. Having said that, once you find an ad that is performing well, we don’t recommend changes aside from updating expiration dates or making seasonal changes.

Absolutely. We have an excellent design staff that will work directly with you to create the best, most effective ad possible.

No