By Lisa Tanner
Staff Writer
(Carrollton, TX) --
Brad Stribling knew sports fans wanted to keep up with the playing schedules of the hometown teams. But they didn't have an easy way to find that information in one convenient place, so he decided to create one.
The result is a handy pocket-size four-color magazine called SportsGuide, which quickly caught on after its introduction more than five years ago.
Now the SportsGuide publications, published quarterly in Dallas, Houston and Austin/San Antonio, bring in about 25 percent of the revenue for Stribling's Carollton-based company, The Marketing Group.
He never expected as much.
Stribling had watched sports enthusiasts check out the team schedules posted on a door at Humperdink's, a local restaurant/sports bar. So he knew they were looking. That's what gave him the idea to create a specialty publication catering to the sports-mad Dallas-Fort Worth market.
Clients of his marketing firm were searching for an economical way to reach the same audience, men ages 25 to 54.
" I knew a lot about those people and their media habits, so I knew what we needed," Stribling said. "It was an underserved segment of the market," he said.
He used his knowledge of the advertising and publishing industries to create SportsGuide, reasoning that as advertising rates climbed in the traditional media, advertisers would be looking for a more efficient, lower cost way to reach potential customers. |
And many advertisers would be a "natural" for the sports-themed publication, which now distributes 50,000 copies at major office buildings, hotels and airports, as well as through the publication's advertisers. Although advertisers range from SBA lenders to sports art galleries, the publication includes a healthy dose of automotive dealers, hotels, restaurants and ticket sellers.
Fox Sports Net Southwest, which includes Fox Sports News, Fox Sports World Espanol and others, was drawn to thepublication because of its target audience and long shelf life, said Tom Snethen, director of Fox's affiliate sales and marketing.
The publication's seating diagrams assure readers will save it as a reference book, Snethen said. And by advertising in the publication, Fox Sports reaches viewers as well as cable executives who make programming decisions, he added.
The SportsGuide's content is tailored to the demographics it reaches. The Fall 1999 publication for example, includes an article listing "The Worst Moments in Cowboys History", game schedules for pro and college football teams, the Dallas Stars game schedule and seating charts for both Texas Stadium and Reunion Arena.
Copies go fast, so, starting in January, Stribling will switch to a monthly publication schedule in Dallas-Fort Worth. That will make the book easier for readers to find. It will also allow Stribling to use the prominent guide cover to feature other major sporting events like the Byron Nelson golf tournament. |
