About the Program
MagsBC pairs “coaches”, experts in a specific area, to meet with member magazines for a half-day consultation.
We look for coaches with expertise that meet your needs: from accessibility to workflow, strategic planning to ad sales, inclusive editorial to online marketing and more.
MagsBC is also offering member magazines up to 4 subsidized six- to nine-month consultations (6 ninety-minute consultations total) starting May 2023 with Katahdin Media Management. Check our March 29 newsletter to find out more and to register for a free 45-minute consultation with Katahdin before you apply for the longer consultation.
Participating magazines contribute toward the cost of a consultation, and we use this contribution to leverage the funding for this program. Very small magazines may have this fee reduced.
Why your magazine should participate
Participants of this program have overwhelmingly given their consultants top marks, judging that their time and money was well spent and that the consultation and coach made a significant positive impact on their magazine.
The Details
See below for everything you’ll need to know to take advantage of our Magazine Coach Program half-day consultations.
If you have any questions, or want to know more about the longer consultations with Katahdin Media Management, please contact Sylvia Skene, Executive Director, MagsBC at 604-688-1175 or exec@magsbc.com.
MagsBC accepts applications from member magazines for half-day consultation on a rolling basis. We then arrange for an expert to meet with the publisher and/or senior staff to help them improve in a targeted area such as business management or editorial workflow.
Process:
- A member magazine publisher or senior staff member must identify a specific area their magazine needs the greatest help in. Please do not choose more than one area for a consultation
- The publisher or senior staff member emails the application to the executive director at exec@magsbc.com
- If accepted, the executive director gets in touch with the magazine contact identified on the application to discuss one or more possible coaches and identify the best one for its needs
- The executive director recruits the coach for the consultation, either the one identified, or a substitution if that person is not available or feels they aren't a good fit
- The executive director sends the magazine an invoice for its contribution toward the consultation costs
- Once the invoice is paid, the executive director connects the magazine staff with the coach and sends the magazine a pre-consultation survey
- The magazine's staff and the coach negotiate a date to meet, ideally within 2 weeks of being connected
- The publisher or other person with the most understanding of the issues and the magazine fills out the pre-consultation survey at least 3 days before the consultation and forwards it to the coach and the executive director in confidence, as well as confirming the consultation date and time
- After receiving the survey, the coach has a short (up to half an hour) informal discussion via phone or online with the contact to discuss the focus of the consultation and other details
- The publisher and/or senior/relevant staff meet with the coach for a half-day consultation
- The coach sends the contact a 1-2 page summary of the consultation with a list of recommendations for the magazine, ideally within a week of the consultation
- The coach invoices the Magazine Association of BC, including the following in the invoice:
- Magazine met with
- Date & time of consultation
- If the billed fee is less than the coach's normal fee, the difference declared as an in-kind donation
- The magazine contact fills out MagsBC's Magazine Coach feedback survey.
MagsBC pairs a coaches to a magazine based on which coaches we have (a few of which are listed below) and what the magazine tells us they need.
MagsBC is also open to recommendations, and, if necessary, does a comprehensive search to find an expert with the right fit for the member's needs.
We are happy to take suggestions from the member magazine, but the final choice of coach remains with the association.
Consultations are most effective when only the key staff people responsible for the area identified meet with the coach, generally two to three people. If you have more than one magazine, staff members from other magazines cannot attend as the consultation is tailored to one magazine only. However, if you wish to have a publisher's consultation with more than one magazine's staff in attendance, we can work something out. Let's talk!
Our Coaches
Allyson McGrane
Business Planning | Marketing Planning | Fundraising and Grant Strategy | Online Content Creation Strategies
Bakau Consulting
Inclusive Content Strategies | Radical Content Creation | Anti-Racist Editorial Practices | Diverse Audience Engagement
John Milne
Business | Finances | Sales | Editorial Resource Allocation | Audience Development | CASL Compliance | Niche Magazines
Kim Pittaway
Editorial Quality | Journalism | Workflow | Packaging | Strategic Planning | Small Magazines
Lisa Manfield
Online Publishing | Audience Engagement | Digital Marketing | Search Optimization | Reader-Generated Content | Working With Bloggers
Patrick Sauriol
Digital Marketing | Copywriting & Online Content Strategy | Website Redesign | SEO | Search Engine Marketing | Paid Ads | Social Media
Rainey Smith
Online Ad Operations & Setup | DFP (DoubleClick for Publishers Ad Server)
