Like many media companies whose legacy product is a print publication, we have seen our display ad sales decline steadily in recent years. The rise of digital advertising has already hastened the demise of the print versions of consumer stalwarts such as Redbook, Glamour and ESPN The Magazine and here in the business-to-business publishing realm it’s no different.
And, as with other B2B media firms who seek to offset declining ad sales by leveraging the close relationships that niche publications have with their audiences, Quirk’s jumped into the event space, starting in 2015 with our Brooklyn Quirk’s Event and eventually expanding to three cities (Brooklyn, London, Chicago) last year and for 2020. The events have been wonderfully successful and we have been gratified and humbled by the support from attendees and exhibitors, which has allowed us to keep the magazine going despite the shifting ad-buying landscape.
Still, it’s been clear for a while that some changes were necessary with the magazine. Thus, starting with this January/February edition, our 2020 publishing schedule will consist of six combined-month issues (along with our annual Researcher SourceBook, which will be mailed with the September/October issue).
Beyond the decreased frequency, you’ll no doubt notice a few changes, the biggest one being the absence of the Names of Note, Research Industry News and Product and Service Update sections. The growing popularity of our Daily News Queue – our business-day e-mail blast of the latest MR-related goings-on which delivers the same content found in those sections in a much timelier fashion – coupled with an even longer gap between issues made including those sections in the print magazine seem, well, kind of silly. (News junkies fear not: You can sign up for the free Daily News Queue and Weekly News Queue at https://bit.ly/2qWeXKB and we will also publish compilations of recent news and post them to our website each month.)
While the issues will be fewer, they will be bigger. We hope to fill the pages that previously held the every-issue departments with more of the articles readers have told us they find most valuable – the case studies, the explorations of methods and techniques, the overviews of best practices.
Another factor behind the reduced issue output is changing media consumption habits. With more and more content to consume, from more and more outlets, readers don’t always have time to pore over a print magazine. (Though on that front, I’ve appreciated the many, many kind readers who have told me that they save their issues of Quirk’s for situations like long plane rides where they do have blocks of open time. One woman even told me that she takes Quirk’s with her on vacations and that on a recent getaway, while she sat reading an issue, her husband asked, “Are you working?!” “No,” she replied, “I just really enjoy reading the articles!”)
I recognize that fewer but bigger issues doesn’t exactly reduce the reader’s burden but when coupled with our fine e-newsletter, which is ideally suited for shorter and/or more timely articles, and our lineup of blogs, our goal is to deliver marketing research-related content in a range of forms – and all still free of charge, as usual.
Ability to adapt
One of our company attributes of which I am most proud is our ability to adapt. Of course, it helps that we are a small and nimble organization of just 10 full-time employees – with no committees or other bureaucratic layers to bog down launching new endeavors or adjusting to market realities. We’ve also had the good fortune to partner with similarly responsive companies and organizations who share our enthusiasm for delivering quality and value to our readers and the industry as a whole.
As always, I welcome your comments on the changes to the magazine. If you have stories or topics you’d like us to cover, please let me know!