As you probably know, engagement is the latest buzzword on Madison Avenue, Michigan Avenue and wherever ad agencies reside. Getting customers involved in advertising is not only a priority, it’s everything. Engagement is a hot topic because connecting has become more difficult. A more hurried, harried, multi-tasking consumer who has become increasingly more elusive is the primary cause for this heightened challenge. Additionally, there are many more media outlets vying for that customer’s attention. With most of these media outlets being ad-supported, the number of ad messages has also dramatically increased.

Because of these factors, advertising success may appear daunting. But it is eminently achievable. Needed: an effective creative campaign based upon a sound positioning strategy . . . and an effective media plan that includes media outlets which are truly connected to target demographics. If the medium itself doesn’t engage, the advertising doesn’t even have a shot, regardless of how brilliant it is.

In the Greater Sarasota market, SARASOTA Magazine has been providing advertisers with engagement for 27 years. In a strong and competitive print market, SARASOTA has consistently and dramatically been the dominant glossy magazine for affluent readers, upscale advertisers and leading community organizations. Our connection with readers is not only well-known, it’s supported by highly credible MRI research:

• 80% of our subscribers refer to an issue an average of 3.1 times.
• The average subscriber spends 62 minutes reading each issue.
• Each subscriber copy is read by an average of 3 people.

It’s as if a good friend returns each and every time SARASOTA arrives in a subscriber’s mailbox. Before actually opening our magazine, both subscribers and regular newsstand buyers alike anticipate a warm, stimulating, interesting, thought-provoking and humorous experience. This anticipatory pleasure from loyal readers is an advertiser’s dream: a close customer bond with the medium that contains your advertising. That bond is not easily or quickly achieved. It is based on consistency, familiarity, some welcome surprises and maintaining the highest magazine publishing standards month after month and year after year. Having readers open SARASOTA Magazine with such a positive, connected attitude truly benefits you as an advertiser. That ability to create transference is what dramatically distinguishes our effective, ad-friendly magazine from others.

Earning the confidence of our readers is of paramount importance to us, as is having the trust of our advertisers. In that regard, we provide advertisers with authentic, verified qualitative and quantitative circulation, demographic and readership data. In a growing, dynamic market that seems to continually attract speculative publication ventures, SARASOTA Magazine is the only magazine in Greater Sarasota that is a member of CRMA (City & Regional Magazine Association). That membership brings with it some rigid requirements that necessitate extremely high self-imposed standards relating to editorial, advertising and distribution. They include exposure to a circulation audit by one of four highly respected independent firms, subscription to a credible reader research study and a paid circulation policy. Dropping free bulk copies of a magazine is prohibited because that practice has been proven to result in decreased readership and lessens the image of publications that do so.

"Content is king" has been our mantra for 27 years. We strongly believe that if what’s on our pages is good for our readers, it’s inherently good for our advertisers. Engaged readers have the opportunity to see ads over and over again within each issue. With editorial content being such a high priority of ours, we’re thrilled and honored to once again (two years in a row) be selected by Florida Magazine Association as the Best Written Magazine in the state of Florida. We’re proud to have also been awarded six additional FMA editorial and design awards.

Today’s challenging consumer environment dictates the need for intelligent, well-conceived media decisions. In that regard, we welcome your close scrutiny of SARASOTA Magazine. We invite you to utilize our intimate, long-term relationships with our readers, who are your potential and existing customers. In doing so, we ask you to think of us as your partner, with our responsibility being to provide you with optimum reader engagement and essentially to help you grow your business.

— Jeff Lawenda, Executive Publisher