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Print’s Not Deadhow contently (a tech company!) made huge profits from a print magazine

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Meet

We provide talent and tools to help brands become publishers.

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This is the story of how we used our own product to publish a beautiful print magazine— and how it drove huge profits to our business.

Our Story

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March 6: The Idea

With Contently’s Social Content Summit approaching, we decided the best way to introduce potential clients to our core product was to put it in their hands. And so the idea for Contently Quarterly was born.

The conference was 3 weeks away.

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March 7-8: The Team

At the time, Contently was a company of 15 people— only one of whom had any publishing experience.

We needed an editorial team — STAT.

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March 7-8: The Team

Within two days we’d culled a freelance team of 12 journalists, an editor, and an editorial designer from Contently’s pool of over 30,000 creatives.

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Working with the managing editor, Contently put together a 22-story editorial calendar.

Those stories were then assigned out to the team of journalists.

March 9-10: The Calendar

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March 10-17: Content Creation

The writers scoured the globe for sources, whipped up brilliantly written paragraphs, took photos, and wrote their hearts out.

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March 10-17: Content Creation

Contently’s HQ team used their own workflow software to answer questions, field pitches, and manage deadlines.

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March 18-20: Edit

The managing editor feverishly dotted i’s, crossed t’s, requested revisions and deleted Oxford commas.

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March 20-23: Design

Once the stories were completed, edited and approved, the editorial designer got to work.

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March 24-26: Print

Design approved, the magazine was shipped to the printers for a 10,000 issue run.

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April 3-4 (and beyond): Distribution

Contently handed out 300 copies at its conference, sent another 50 to relevant press contacts, and distributed the remaining magazines to marketing departments and agencies across the Fortune 2000.

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April 3 to September 1: Tracking

Contently tracked 4 separate groups of magazine recipients.

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April 3 to September 1: Tracking

opportunities People who were already interested in the company

leads People who had heard of Contently

but weren’t considered ready for sales

prospects Potential customers who weren’t yet engaged

press

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Q2-Q3 2013: The Results

The magazine introduced Contently to new prospects, who became clients in the amount of: $250,000.

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Q2-Q3 2013: The Results

It also helped Contently close $600,000 worth of deals that were already in the pipeline.

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Q2-Q3 2013: The Results

Together, those deals will generate approximately $1,800,000 in income for Contently writers over the next year.

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The cost?

printing $15,000

content $5,000

edit $2,500

design $2,500

$25,000total:

+

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The ROI

The return on our investment: • 10x on new business • 24x on Contently’s

existing pipeline...

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In Summary

$25,000magazine production cost

$600,000closed pipeline

$250,000new deals

$1,800,000writer income (estimated)

10xnew

24xpipeline

roi

... and one happy company.

contently.com @contently