Simple Mag digital cover
Omolade Rachael Ogundare
In a time where it is all about screens, from laptop, to smartphones and even ipads, with little or no need for interaction with any print medium (magazine or newspaper), how do people in the print business attract the attention of readers and how do they keep their customers and attract advertisers? Too many questions desperate for answers.
Out of curiosity, we spoke to the CEO of Simple Magazine, a celebrity and lifestyle Magazine in Lagos. This enigmatic publication has stayed relevant in a digital era where people have access to every necessary information including education, information and entertainment at their fingertips.
How does a print magazine mogul stay afloat to attract its target audience and subsequently, amass the huge readership to attract advertisers? We unravelled this with our penetrating questions.
Kindly introduce yourself
My name is Adedamola Edun, I am mostly known as “Simple”. I am a graduate of Public Administration, University of Lagos. I currently run a print media and an online Tv outfit known as Simple TV.
What is the name of your magazine and did you ever change the name at any point?
My magazine has always been called SIMPLE magazine. It is the brand, it is what is known amongst our audience.
How long have you been running this Magazine?
I have been running this magazine for about 10 years now, and I can tell you that it was not this big when I started, we thank God for growth.
How do you stay up and relevant in this digital age where everyone prefers a soft copy?
We ensure we move to what everyone wants, what the public needs and find a balance between both by publishing the print and digital issues. You really just have to understand the behaviour of the consumers, predict how they react to certain information and you can know how best to keep their interest and offer them exactly what they want. In our print edition, we offer indepth views into personal lives of celebrities and their lifestyle. Stuff that you will not get elsewhere, so yeah, we strive for uniqueness.
Also, we keep our digital presence updated, our website and our social media platforms, we still cater to the needs of our audience daily, while we release print versions monthly.
How do you convince clients that you have the right visibility for their advert purpose?
First off, they know how competent we are. Anyone who has been active in the celebrity and lifestyle scene knows our influence, our track record and our history. Also by letting them know of our capability in terms of their needed audience, the proposed objective to be attained and showing them effective measures which we have in place to attain such.
Advice to anyone dreaming of owning a magazine in this time
Well, I won’t discourage anyone, once you are sure it is what you want, you have to do your best in terms of proper planning and research of your target audience, how best to reach and keep them, and just work towards achieving growth while at it.
Thank you for your time Mr. Adedamola Edun
You’re welcome.
