STRONG BAT / SERVICES





		For the price of an ad in someone else's magazine, Strong Bat will develop, design and operate your own exclusively branded online magazine featuring daily updates, content-related e-commerce on every page, and unparalleled performance guarantees. We'll also work with your existing vendors to supplement such online-magazine support services as online and traditional marketing, public relations, market research, offline community building and promotional events. can we answer any questions? q1: HOW CAN YOU OFFER TO DEVELOP, DESIGN AND OPERATE ONLINE MAGAZINES AT SUCH A LOW COST? q2: WHO SAYS YOU CAN CREATE ONLINE MAGAZINES THAT HOOK THE ELUSIVE 18-TO-34 DEMOGRAPHIC? q3: IS A BRANDED ONLINE MAGAZINE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN BANNER ADVERTISING? q4: IS A BRANDED ONLINE MAGAZINE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN SPONSORSHIPS? q5: WHY COULDN'T WE DEVELOP AND MAINTAIN OUR ONLINE MAGAZINE OURSELVES? q6: CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT STRONG BAT PRODUCTIONS? q7: CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR SERVICES? q1: HOW CAN YOU OFFER TO DEVELOP, DESIGN AND OPERATE ONLINE MAGAZINES AT SUCH A LOW COST? a1: Because we know how to develop, design and operate online magazines at such a low cost. Since 1993 - even before the first web browser, Mosaic, revolutionized the Internet - we've been successfully creating nationally acclaimed online magazines for the college and 18-to-34 demographic on budgets that would bring corporate new-media publishers to big weepy corporate tears. We've learned to be resourceful. And now our proven strategies and resources are already in place.

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q2: WHO SAYS YOU CAN CREATE ONLINE MAGAZINES THAT HOOK THE ELUSIVE 18-to-34 DEMOGRAPHIC?
a2: Our readers do. Within our first year of publishing Crisp online magazine, we attracted over 300,000 unique visitors and 2.1 million pageviews per month, with third-party surveys showing 92 percent of our readership in the 18-to-34 demographic. Cory Treffiletti also says we can. While Media Planner for DeWitt Media's online accounts, he appreciated our over-delivery for BMW's online campaign, and officially stated: "We chose Crisp for BMW's 318ti coupe promotion because we're targeting a young affluent audience and Crisp has shown that it can effectively reach that demographic." You can also click to hear clients who say we can and the media venues who say we can.

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q3: IS A BRANDED ONLINE MAGAZINE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN BANNER ADVERTISING?
a3: Yes. It seems like overkill to compare readers being interrupted by your online advertising banner with readers interacting with your online branded magazine, but hey - we love citing statistics. You probably already know that, on average, only 0.4% of the consumers who see an advertising banner actually click the banner to enter the advertiser's site [The Web Developer's Journal]. You should also know that out of those few consumers who click through a banner to the advertiser's site, dramatically fewer interact with your brand past your first page. Only two percent of visitors who click-through ad banners actually explore a site once they've discovered it's a promotional site and not a content site [TidBITS Magazine].

And at the risk of beating a dead banner-like horse, here's the clincher. Even if the heavens opened up and God Him/Herself bestowed upon thou/you a campaign of 100 percent click-through rates, ad banners still wouldn't build more brand equity than your own branded online magazine. Brand equity is built only through regular brand interaction, and no matter how many consumers you drive to your website through banner advertising or any other vehicle, you won't be able to keep them there without real content and you won't be able to keep them coming back without continual updates. You'll be starting from scratch each new traffic-driving campaign. Whereas with a branded online magazine, your consumers will be interacting with your brand over and over again.

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q4: IS A BRANDED ONLINE MAGAZINE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN SPONSORSHIPS?
a4: Yes, and we'll keep this one short and self-evident. Sponsorships allow you to non-exclusively brand only a portion of an online magazine's content while, for less money, our service allows you to exclusively brand all of an online magazine's content. (Non-exclusive. Exclusive.) (Portion. All.)

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q5: WHY COULDN'T WE DEVELOP AND OPERATE OUR ONLINE MAGAZINE OURSELVES?
a5: You could. But, according to Forrester Research, it would cost you the industry average of $3.1 million a year to operate a content site, and that cost is continuing to rise dramatically. Here's the scary (scarier?) part: many of these content sites are failing miserably. It's difficult to succeed in attracting Net users at any price - especially difficult when you're targeting the lucrative-yet-elusive 18-to-34 demographic. Which makes it nice to have Strong Bat's proven publishing services - and for a fraction (of a fraction of a fraction) of the average price that it would cost you to try.

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q6: CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT STRONG BAT PRODUCTIONS?
a6: Certainly. Please peruse our bios section, and feel free to contact us directly for any additional information.

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q7: CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR SERVICES?
a7: We'll tailor our services to your needs and our content to your nuances, but here's a general overview, with proven case studies for each service in our portfolio section.

Branded Online Magazine
Strong Bat will work with you to name, develop, design and operate your own branded online magazine within your domain, featuring daily updates and contextual e-commerce (commerce offers integrated with related content). The magazine will be located at http://www.yoursite.com/yourmagazine. To help online consumers find it, we'll also register a front-door domain at http://www.yourmagazine.com, but that page will automatically relay readers to within your domain URL for maximum branding.

And just so it's clear: We're talking about real, high-profile magazine content - not "Cool Web Links" or vacuous eye candy or gimmicky contests. Our principals literally wrote the book - the first book ever - on writing for online magazines: Online Markets for Writers (Henry Holt & Company, June 2000), highly praised and available online and offline nationwide. We've been publishing internationally acclaimed online magazines for the 18-34 demographic since 1993, launching the Trincoll Journal online before HotWired and even before the first web browser, Mosaic, revolutionized the Web.

Our award-winning content has ranged in subject from established editors and A & R reps volunteering to help emerging under35 year-old writers and musicians get their breaks, to love "Question & Answer" sessions with Karen Salmansohn, television's renowned relationship expert and author of _How To Make Your Man Behave In 21 Days or Less Using the Secrets of Professional Dog Trainers_ (Workman's Publishing). And depending on the content's gist, our contributors have ranged from regular people such as Amy Carle, ranting/rambling about trying to balance her office day-job with her theater-group dream job, to presidents and presidential hopefuls such as Bill Clinton and Bob Dole, answering the top 10 questions from Crisp readers one week before the 1996 election in Crisp's first-ever Online Presidential Youth Debate. (As did Gore and Bush in our 2000 Online Presidential Youth Debate.)

Content will also boost your commerce. Your magazine will not only have e-commerce offers on every page, those offers will be imbedded into related content so they transform from hard sells to convenient reader services. In a men's magazine, the article "Top20 CDs Women Say They Want Playing In Your Bedroom" could also provide readers with the opportunity to buy any of those CDs. We'll come up with creative ways to position and sell your product through related content - including product partnerships for added sales opportunities.

Online and Traditional Marketing
We'll work with you and your marketing agency to research, develop and implement a marketing strategy for your branded online magazine, including strategic Web alliances, general Web linking, ongoing search-engine registration and troubleshooting, directory/resource listings, applications to award sites, newsgroup postings and strategic cross-media alliances (e.g., we secured marketing for Crisp from Writer's Digest Books, Netscape Press and Packard Bell, who bundled a link to Crisp with nearly two million of its computers).

Public Relations
We'll work with you and your PR firm to supplement publicity efforts for your branded online magazine. We've been specifically promoting 18-to-34 online magazines since the Web's effective inception in 1993. We know the subtle intricacies of the Web and your forthcoming online magazine, as well as the next hooks that will get your site into the news, and even the specific media contacts who will get you there. Our previous PR efforts have secured recognition in over 75 media venues ranging from CNN, USA Today online and MSNBC to Details, Vibe online and Advertising Age.

Innovative Market Research
Strong Bat will work with your market research firm to supplement research efforts through your branded online magazine. We'll also utilize our current database of custom market research conducted with such partners as Project X and such clients as Citibank and CKS Partners.

Offline Community Building
and Promotional Events
We'll work with you and your agency to produce and coordinate offline community building and both promotional online and offline event opportunities, including our forthcoming event, "Sensory Binge: A Live Sampler of America's Best Performing Artists," an AIDS benefit and celebrity artist showcase being broadcast live to next-generation movie screens on 40 college campuses nationwide and heavily promoted.

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