When planning to start a magazine

• Don't be scared by the fact that you are being thrown in at the deep end of marketing. Use your journalistic instincts, get the (if I remember rightly) who, where, why, what, when right.
  
  
• The "why" is the most important. Why do you want to publish this magazine, in terms of communication? Why would a business want to receive it.
  
  If there is no why, there is no point to the publication and no point in reading it or advertising in it.
  
  
• If you are helping business, this is something larger advertisers may want to be associated with.
  
  
• A few of these could kickstart smaller advertisers' interest.
  
  
• The why, and the print run figures for people like mobile phone vendors are key.
  
  
• Try posing as an advertiser and getting the media packs of magazines serving a similar market. The media packs are stuffed with useful information.
  
  
• Besides seeing the competition's claims having the media packs will help when you create your own .
  
  
• If you can beat the competition, you can use copies of their magazine as a calling list, and have the comparisons ready.
  
  
• Anyhow, before anything else, work out the why.