At the beginning of 2020 I did a new business plan and presented it to our dedicated staff. A few months later, due to COVID, that plan was out the window and we sat down to re-imagine where Chesapeake Family Life was headed.
I doubt there are many who got into publishing for the money. Money is incredibly important to every business, and we tend to set goals around it. But the thing that keeps the wheels rolling is our drive to keep our communities, readers, and industries informed.
Chesapeake Family Life's team has a dual purpose: to inform, educate and entertain our readers and to make sure our advertisers are best positioned in the long-term to carry out their missions. We know how important our role is, because we know how important your role is. The more we engage with our readers over multiple platforms, the better we can serve you, our advertisers.
After taking a deep breath, we re-prioritized and accomplished quite a bit, and feel ready to jump into 2021.
Accomplished:
E-newsletter subscribers increased by more than 11%
Built a new website with web traffic increasing by 81% and ¾ million pageviews
Weekly Podcast: 3rd Floor Views reaching on average 1,200 people each week
Chesapeake Family Life is now mailed directly to subscribers and into select homes
New digital magazine focusing on Maryland Lifestyle & Home: Chesapeake Inspired with video advertising reaches 60,000
New interactive web ad platform with attractive mobile and native-style units designed to handle high-impact advertising at a variety of price points.
Social media and programmatic advertising
We took our STEAM Fair virtual. This was the ultimate challenge, moving an event that was at its core a hands-on experience to a virtual event. We packed up 20 different activities into a box, mailed it out and also posted the instructions online. For four nights in a row we had speakers and demonstrations about STEAM related careers. In total over 20,000 participants joined us over the course of a week.
Coming in 2021:
Best places to live in MD directory
Women in Business directory and event
I am most proud of the work we have done in the community highlighting issues that affect our families and we will continue to speak about those topics and more. There will of course be other items that we focus on, and probably a few surprises along the way. But we'll never forget what we do and why we do it, provide high quality content that brings readers and advertisers together.
Thank you for your support in 2020 and I look forward to working with you in 2021.
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