Last month, The Advertiser hit a milestone – its 200th issue! To recognize that achievement, let’s take a quick look back at how this magazine has evolved from its humble beginnings.
8 Years Ago and 8 Pages
When The Advertiser was launched in the fall of 2008, it was 8 pages long, and it was designed to be sent in the actual mail too. Sure, we had PDFs back then, but the predominance of e-mails, e-magazines, and e-delivery of everything did not have the hold on us that it does today.
The Advertiser featured what made it a success – advertising! Designed primarily like the classifieds section of a newspaper, the magazine offered a convenient place to run equipment ads, among other things. As a weekly magazine, the turn-around time was fast – materials received by noon on Tuesday would be included in that week’s issue released on Friday.
Bigger and Better By 50, 100, and 150
Just over 1 year later and passing issue #50 in early 2010, The Advertiser was still a weekly publication, but it had grown substantially. Instead of 8 pages, the magazine was 28 pages, and it was chock full of ads in all shapes and sizes. Adding another year to that, issue #100 appeared in spring 2011 and still had the classic newsletter look, focusing on those classified and full color ads.
By issue #150, the look of the current magazine had arrived. A full-page cover photo welcomed readers to the issue, and news updates or an article were appearing on page 3. The Safety First series had begun – continuing today, this series was designed so that managers can conduct their monthly safety review with the convenient article written in both English and Spanish. The page count had increased a little too, with issue #150 reaching 31 pages.
Going Monthly and Growing
The last weekly issue of The Advertiser was released in September 2012. Thanks to our loyal readership asking for more, however, the magazine relaunched in January 2013 in its current monthly format. Still committed to featuring its valued advertisers, the magazine continued to average 30 pages per issue. In the coming months, however, more articles trickled in, and more information was highlighted in addition to those ads.
Now 3 years later, the March 2016 issue was 56 pages long including all of those ads that our readers want, an industry calendar, and 12 articles. What a great way to reach our milestone 200th issue!
Moving Forward with The Advertiser
A lot has changed since this magazine began 8 years ago, both in these pages and in our industry. But we’re looking forward to bringing you even more great ads, articles, and updates in the months to come. Please let us know what else YOU would like to see in our pages. Got an idea for an article? Want to ask a question or discuss an issue? Have a product or service that you’d like to advertise? Simply tell us what you’d like to see or like to provide. The Component Manufacturing Advertiser is an open forum for news and updates – thank YOU for reading and contributing!