As it moves into its fourth decade, House & Home magazine will be continuing to invest in print while making a foray into e-commerce.
The magazine’s November issue marked its 30th year of publishing, with 172 pages of advice on style and decor. Early next year the company, which also runs events and a TV channel, among other things, will also be introducing ways for its audience to purchase products directly from its web site.
Lynda Reeves, founder and publisher of House & Home, told Marketing the mixture of offerings is one of the keys to the publication’s many years of success.
“We never sell one medium — we sell our footprint, always,” she said. “It’s very important because different mediums are good at different things. For the (home) enthusiast, they want print, because they want to carry those pictures to the store, or to curl up with it.”
Whereas many Canadian publishers are reducing frequencies and cutting corners in other ways, Reeves noted that earlier this year, House & Home actually bumped up the quality of its paper stock.
“I’m not going to say it’s easy and not the same margins as in 2008, but it’s still a good business,” she said, arguing that more Canadian publishers are missing opportunities to spend on better content. “Then they wonder why people don’t want their product.”
Beyond those pages, of course, is a lot of work in digital similar to other Canadian publishers. For example, House & Home recently held its first Facebook Live event, where it has more than one million followers. It also has a strong presence on platforms tailor-made for its audience like Pinterest, with close to 100,000 followers. In total, Reeves said the House & Home portfolio has a reach of 5.5 million people.
“In order to make it in Canada, you have to have to have that sweet spot where mass market converges with high income. It’s just not a big enough market,” she said. “It really comes down to looking at ways to reach more people, to work strategically and bring value to your advertisers. And you can’t disrupt the reader’s experience.”
