Updated 1/5/07
2007 NBCA Newsletter Ad Rates

1/26/07 See important announcement about 1/2-page ad policy here.

Dear North Buckhead Newsletter Advertiser,

In response to your interest in the North Buckhead Newsletter, here is some information about our neighborhood association, our "North Buckhead Newsletter" and our ad rates.

North Buckhead / North Buckhead Civic Association

North Buckhead is the Atlanta neighborhood bounded on the south by Peachtree Road, on the east by Peachtree-Dunwoody Road, on the west by Piedmont and Roswell Roads and on the north by Atlanta’s city limits.  It is geographically the second largest neighborhood within Atlanta.  (Incidentally, the largest neighborhood is in southeast Atlanta and is mainly undeveloped land.) 

North Buckhead is an established single-family residential area with many new condominium towers.  Currently, our neighborhood has roughly equal numbers of condominiums and single-family home units.  It also includes significant institutional areas such as Piedmont Center, Tower Place as well as major commercial areas such as Phipps Plaza, plus transportation infrastructure such as the Buckhead MARTA station and the GA-400 Buckhead interchange.  In addition, it has dozens of excellent restaurants within and near its borders and is home to the unique in-city Blue Heron Nature Preserve. 

The North Buckhead Civic Association was established 35 years ago to represent the interests of North Buckhead homeowners.  Its acclaimed web site is at www.nbca.org.

Growing Size

The North Buckhead Newsletter has grown in size.  Eight years ago, we had 8-page and 10-page newsletters.  For the past several years our newsletter has included 12 8.5” x 11” pages.  During 2006, we expanded to 16 pages.  Even with 16 pages, it has been a struggle to keep it that small, given all the ads and articles that we want to print. 

Growing Distribution 

Our newsletter distribution keeps growing.  Five years ago our newsletter was delivered by hand.  (As we later found out, some copies never were delivered.)  Today, we have a USPS mailing list of about 3,500 North Buckhead residences plus another 100 copies for government officials, local businesses, the press and other associations. 

Quarterly Issues

We issue our newsletter four times per year (approximately in March, June/July, October, December.) 

2007 Newsletter Ad Rates

Our newsletter is money loser, costing over $12,000 annually to produce and mail while ads are bringing in only about 60% to 70% of that amount.  The purpose of charging ad rates is not to make the newsletter into a moneymaker.   It may always lose money  – it is published to inform the neighborhood and to enhance North Buckhead’s sense of community. 

Nevertheless we review our rates from time to time and adjust them so they are fair value to both the association and to its advertisers.  Hence, we are announcing 2007 ad rates.  We continue to offer a lower cost alternative (offered only to neighborhood businesses)  – NBCA Business Memberships at just $50 per year.

Our newsletter ad represents an excellent value – the cost of delivering your ¼ page 4-issue ad is currently about 3½ cents per recipient per issue.  Plus, your ad will be included on our web site’s newsletter archive – www.nbca.org/newsletters.htm. 

Please provide your ad by e-mail in a publication-ready format (pdf, jpg, MS Publisher, etc.)  While our newsletter is black and white, your color ad will be reproduced in color on our web site.  

These ad rates are roughly 20% higher than those from 2003-2005 except for ½ page ads which were previously priced at a relative discount to ¼ page ads. 

If you have an existing ad, the price of your existing 4-issue ad depends on when you started.  If your subscription started with the 1st issue of 2006, the new rates will apply with the 1st issue of 2007.  If you have an ad that started in mid-2006, the new ad rates won't apply to you until you renew your ad in mid-2007.

The small print: The 4-issue rates are for publication-ready ads.  New ads will be included on a space-available basis with preference given to those with North Buckhead businesses.  Ads will be accepted for publication at the discretion of NBCA.  While NBCA's last two newsletter editions of 2006 were 16 pages long and were sent to about 3600 addresses, we cannot guarantee that future newsletter distributions won't be larger or smaller.

1/26/07 Important announcement about 1/2-page ad policy

From: Gordon Certain
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 11:02 PM

Subject: Changes in North Buckhead Newsletter Ad Policy

Dear North Buckhead Newsletter Advertiser,

I want to inform you of changes NBCA will be making in its newsletter ad policy. 

As background, I think you are aware that our newsletter has been very successful.  We have recently enlarged it from 12 pages to 16 and have expanded its mailed distribution to about 3500 copies for the most recent issue. 

We believe that our newsletter is attractive to advertisers because homeowners throughout North Buckhead enjoy reading it.  We have tried to keep the newsletter’s focus on

neighborhood news as opposed to trying to make as much money as possible.  To keep the newsletter interesting and readable as well as to increase the value of the ads, we have avoided having entire pages full of ads.  Instead, we sometimes turn down ads and/or ask advertisers to run smaller ads.  We have also increased the price of ½-page ads, significantly in 2007.  Yet we expect to have trouble accommodating all advertisers.

The NBCA Board discussed this concern in its January meeting and decided that we would discontinue offering ½-page ads.  In order to avoid a sudden change that might be disruptive to our loyal advertisers, we decided to give two issues’ notice of this change.  Accordingly, beginning the third issue of 2007, our newsletter will no longer accept ½-page ads (or multiple smaller ads from the same advertiser).  

We do not want to penalize current ½-page advertisers by forcing them to pay for two 2007 1/2-page ads at the $300 single issue rate.  Instead, we will offer a blended rate of $750 for two ½-page ads followed by two ¼-page ads.

We deeply appreciate the loyalty of our advertisers, some of whom have run ½-page ads for years.  We considered the options of adding even more pages or of reducing article content to make room for more ads, and have concluded that neither approach is consistent with our mission.  We also had our rates reviewed by an advertising professional, who said they were fair, so a big ad price increase was not pursued.  In the interest of providing more open access to all of the local businesses who want advertise in our newsletter, this change is necessary.

Some of the recipients of this letter don’t currently advertise but have requested ad space in our next newsletter.  As we have said previously, we will review the situation in February while laying out the March newsletter and will let you know whether there is room for new ads.  Hopefully, by the September/October edition we will have room to accommodate all present and potential advertisers.

While this ad policy decision is final, if you have questions or comments, please send them by e-mail or call me at 404-231-1192.

Finally, NBCA has another advertising opportunity that should be mentioned.  We have our Annual Meeting each March, usually drawing 100+ attendees.  The ad opportunity is to co-sponsor the Annual Meeting.  Last year, four businesses were co-sponsors at a cost of $100 each – their names and contact information were listed on the back of the program, announced to the audience and mentioned in the subsequent newsletter article about the meeting.  The same arrangement is available for the March 2007 meeting.  If you are interested, please contact me.

Sincerely,

Gordon Certain
President and Newsletter Editor
North Buckhead Civic Association     

CC: NBCA Board