Twenty-six years ago, Amy Plaisance was a stay-at-home mom who had a tough time finding a publication that regularly highlighted fun, family activities.
“There was not a one-stop source for parents then,” Plaisance tells Business Report in a feature from the current issue. “No one really covered this market.”
After discovering the hole, she filled it by launching Baton Rouge Parents magazine. Today, Plaisance is the publisher, editor and chief executive officer of the independent niche publication that boasts a monthly readership of 45,000 and is precisely targeted at parents in the Capital City.
Baton Rouge and the surrounding communities have their fair share of independent niche magazines. Often published weekly, monthly, quarterly or biannually, these magazines are usually free and found on grocery store and restaurant racks, at the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport and in waiting rooms at doctor’s offices. Each one focuses on a clearly defined market and sells ads to specific advertisers.
For example, Dig, which used to be called Tiger Weekly, is a weekly lifestyle magazine focusing on food, sports, news and entertainment in Baton Rouge. Country Roads magazine is published monthly and focuses on history, Southern folklore, restaurants, and daytrip or weekend excursions between Natchez, Mississippi, and New Orleans. The Livingston Business Journal and The Businesses Journal-Zachary/Pointe Coupee are also published monthly and cover business news in their respective communities. And the Healthcare Journal of Baton Rouge is published six times per year and covers the city’s health care industry.
In an era when print media seems as archaic as flip phones, local niche magazines are maintaining longevity by mastering readership demographics, advertising sales and content. Media experts say if independent niche magazines can stay focused, their future is bright.
“To make it, they need to assemble and keep a good audience that’s focused on that niche,” says Steve Buttry, director of student media for LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication. “Deliver a good product that the audience wants, find good businesses to keep the audience and if they can serve that niche well and help businesses with a particular interest, that’s their sweet spot.”
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