Find out how simple it is for you to win more customers
The magazines were started in 2009 by Gary Prince after a long career as a golf professional and a later position as manager of a local golf club.
Being a local resident himself Gary recognised that it would be of huge benefit to local businesses if they had an effective advertising platform, so, he started with the Barton Bugle and subsequently expanded his portfolio to include a further four magazines for the BH25 and BH23 areas: Highcliffe Herald East,Highcliffe Herald West, New Milton Mail and the Mercury.
Gary spends his spare time with his lovely wife Sally and their huge hound, the inimitable Bernese Mountain dog, Bertie. And of course, playing golf!
Our monthly magazines are read and often kept by thousands of locals who enjoy a great mix of community stories, what's on guides, interesting articles about our local history and quality editorials plus of course an excellent range of advertisments showcasing local tradespeople and businesses.
We have a really simple purpose: to provide an effective advertising platform where local business and community groups can tell people about their services and products.
Because local business needs to advertise to get more customers and local people need local business to get their goods and services from.
It’s a symbiotic relationship where everyone benefits, not least of all the local economy and the employment opportunities it affords.
We have first-hand knowledge of just how much self-motivation, not to mention self-discipline, it takes to keep your own business growing and thriving.
We always strive to make it easier for other entrepreneurs and business owners to do the same.
DISTRIBUTION The magazines are published monthly, and hand delivered by
Royal Mail.
The Barton Bugle covers 4037 homes and
businesses, New Milton Mail3272, Highcliffe Herald East4481, Highcliffe Herald West4905and New Milton Mercury 5915 (New
Milton Mercury covers New Milton North of the railway line, the far East part of Barton, Ashley,
Bashley and Wootton).
Our total monthly distribution is 22,610 magazines, reaching well over 50,000 local residents!
ONLINE COVERAGE
Our magazines are published monthly on our website & social
media so you will get an online presence at no extra cost.
NEW PEOPLE ARE MOVING INTO AREA EVERY MONTH
In most cases these residents are new
to the area and have no local knowledge. They are looking for guidance and the magazines
offer the perfect opportunity for businesses to get themselves in front of these new potential
customers.
Let us guide you through the process
We need your adverts to be relevant and high performing because we know it will attract prospective customers to your services and products and we want you to be successful.
To help you with this, we work closely with you so that the final design reflects your business and delivers top results.
To start with, we will take all of those preliminary details like the size of the advert, your budget and which of our magazines you would like to go into etc.
This quick and painless fact-finding mission is really useful, as this will enable us to assemble a bespoke advertising solution for you that is truly unique to your business.
We then talk to you about your business to get a general understanding of what is you do, what types of customers you are looking to attract and what you hope to achieve, and because only you know your business inside and out we listen to any ideas or suggestions you may have about your planned advertisement campaign.
No two businesses are the same, and personalities, ethos and history all play a part in your ongoing success, so we like to get as much detailed information about your business as we can.
Next, we then like to zero in on the more specific details of your business so we fully appreciate and understand what it is that you want to advertise including any special offers you may have currently and any unique selling points that we should be telling potential customers about.
Think of this as a little fine-tuning and final polishing, this gives us, and you a distinct advantage when we are designing your advert.
Just like your own identity makes you uniquely you, your brand identity is the special secret recipe that sets your business apart from every other Tom, Dick and Sally out there and your brand identity (design) It’s what shapes your company.
Brand identity is a collection of all elements that your company creates to portray the right image to its customers.
Brand identity is different from “brand image” and “branding,” even though these terms are sometimes treated as interchangeable.
Sharing your brand identity with us is the key to creating great advertisements that stand out and engage with your audiance whether they are existing or future customers of your business.
Now its time to add some colour, we’ll want to know if you have a logo, a specific colour palette, font type or any other design details.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t have some or all of those things, we can take care of these for you, its all part of our excellent design service. Once you are 100% happy that we have understood all of your advertising requirements we will get one of our top graphic designers and expert copywriters to work on the advert for you.
You may already have your own in-house designs, and that’s okay as we can use these too as long as it meets our quality standards and is in a PC readable format.
Next, we always like to proof-read your advertisement and double-check that we have included all aspects of your original brief, plus we also carefully read through the text elements of your advert before sending over a draft for your final approval.
This is very important, as once your advert goes to press we are unable to make any adjustments. Its always best to check, and then check again.
Now its time for the last stage in the advertising process. Once we have your final approval, your advert gets sent to our high-quality printers, and from there the finished magazines start their local delivery journey.
Most of our magazines get delivered by Royal Mail, whilst a limited number get hand delivered by our very own delivery team. You will always receive a complimentary copy of the magazine to read and keep, and an electronic version of each of our magazines can always be found on our website.
AND THE MAGIC?
More customers for your business of course.
STILL NOT CONVINCED? See what our lovely customers say about us
Don't just take our word for it, see what our customers really think.