No Controversy, Just Ways To Improve Your Business

In January, Golfweek magazine fired its editor for running the photo of a noose on its cover in promotion of an article about the "lynch" comment Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman made during a broadcast. When my wife read about the editor getting fired, she asked me if I would ever condone creating a similar controversial cover (sans the noose, of course) for Business Solutions magazine (BSM). "We don't try to entice people to read our articles by being sensationalistic or cryptic; we're very blunt," I explained. "Basically, we tell the reader, if you do what the person on the cover is doing, you can be successful, too." She thought about this answer for a moment, and then replied, "Hmmm, sounds like you're a self-help magazine for businesspeople."

I had never thought of it that way, but my wife was right. In every article of Business Solutions, we try to offer what we call "actionable information," those self-help editorial 'nuggets' that make a light bulb go off in a reader's head and make a person say, "Hey, if we did that, maybe we could improve our business or increase revenue!" For instance, on page 30 there's an article about how VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) VAR Teoma Systems plans to grow sales 20% this year by implementing a new sales strategy and an improved method of tracking professional services. Maybe you're not a VoIP VAR, but it's likely that the lessons Teoma Systems has learned regarding its sales strategy and services tracking system could apply to your company, too. In the article "Discover Untapped POS Revenue In Schools" on page 36, the VAR, Business Data Systems, offers actionable information regarding another topic most readers are interested in — increasing recurring revenue. By focusing on selling its POS (point of sale) systems to schools instead of restaurants, Business Data Systems has drastically increased its recurring revenue stream. Again, this VAR's experiences can likely offer you a lesson to be learned no matter what your specialization, and that's why we prominently display those types of feature articles on our covers.

We've been designing our BSM covers with the same goal in mind for almost 18 years — to offer you, the reader, valuable business information. Sure, occasionally we change our design and update the look of the magazine, but we never deviate from our actionable information concept. After all, wouldn't you be more attracted to articles that could improve your bottom line rather than those containing controversial news from your industry?