Advertise With the Indie Beauty Experience
Announce Your Message to 6,000 Loyal Opt In Newsletter Subscribers!!
Welcome to the Indie Beauty Connection Media Kit & Advertising Information Page!
Introduction & Advertiser Feedback
Editorial Calendar
Subscribership & Circulation
Subscriber Profile
Subscriber Satisfaction Rating & Newsletter Visibility
Sponsorship Opportunities, Specifications & Rates
Advertising Tips
Contact Information
Introduction & Advertiser Feedback
The Indie Experience (formerly Handmade Beauty Connection) is the indie beauty industry's first and only professional, regularly issued online publication. Since 2000, over 318 issues have been published, each one containing content that is 100% original. Our newsletter provides readers with more than words on their screens. We give them a memorable experience, and our sponsors are a part of that.
In conjunction with the Indie Beauty Network, the leading trade organization representing the independent (indie) beauty industry, our mission is to advance consumer awareness of the benefits of indie beauty products and encourage excellence in the industry as a whole. Founded in January 2000 by attorney, entrepreneur and handmade beauty products “junkie” Donna Maria Coles Johnson, the Indie Experience showcases fresh, evergreen, original content not found anywhere else in the world.
Here's what a recent sponsors have to say.
- "My single $150 sponsorship for my marketing boot camp generated over $1,530 in registrations, plus 43 new subscribers to my newsletter. I will definitely continue to advertise with Indie Experience!" Jamila White, E-Commerce Diva.
- "The new customers just keep coming!" Dennis Fioravanti, Essential Wholesale.
- I just wanted to let you know that we are so pleased with the performance of our ad in the newsletter. We can track where our visitors come from and they increased significantly on the day our ad ran in the newsletter! This is amazing and I am so pleased. Let me know when other sponsorship opportunities are available!. Emma Payton, General Manager, Green Valley Aromatherapy
Our dedication to quality, style and originality has made The Indie Experience the premier online publication. Our consistency -- never missing a single week of publication in 7 years -- guarantees that your brand will be displayed to an audience who is used to seeing our publication in their mailbox, and has come to expect us to deliver. Our publication is the perfect avenue to promote your products and services.
- raw materials and packaging supplies for cosmetics products
- "how to" classes, boot camps and books aimed at small business owners
- quality finished handmade beauty products and candles that make great gifts
- essential oils and other aromatherapy-related products, as well as other fragrant ingredients
- cosmetics making equipment such as molds, pH testers, mixers and soap cutters and stamps
- industry-related books, correspondence courses and other educational materials
- professional services that support manufacturers large and small (legal, accounting, public relations, technology, etc.)
We are often asked if we have an editorial calendar. As a weekly publication, we turn around our newsletter quickly and it's not practical to plan too far in advance. Each week features these departments
- Indie Motivator: short inspirational quote with dM's brief interpretation
- Indie Experience: linking to new and renewing members, and member news
- Today On Indie Business Radio: announcing the show guest and future show line up
- Indie Candy: featuring an inspiring member business story
- Indie Calendar: linking to upcoming events of interest
Additional features are added as appropriate. Each issue is sent in an "announcement" format with attractive photos so that readers can pick and choose which stories interest them the most.
Each issue, including sponsorships with links in tact, is archived in full at our Archives so your brand is displayed at our site and keeps working for you for years to come.
Effective February 2007, each sponsorship also include sponsorship of IBN's weekly Internet Radio Show, the Indie Business Radio Show. You can see more information about that show here. Broadcast weekly since October 2005, Indie Business Radio is a great way to share your products and services with a specialized market.
As of February 2007, The Indie Beauty Connection has 6,000 subscribers worldwide, and subscribership often grows by an average of 200+ per month. All subscriptions are 100% opt-in, and subscribers can easily unsubscribe at any time using the user-friendly instructions contained in each issue. Unlike most online newsletters which routinely include in their circulation numbers email addresses that are dead or which regularly bounce back the newsletter, we “clean” our subscription list regularly to ensure that we are quoting you the actual subscription numbers of actual newsletter readers.
Our subscriber feedback shows that most of our subscribers are either small beauty business entrepreneurs or avid hobbyists seeking to one day start their own businesses. A growing number of our subscribers are professional service providers seeking to connect with small businesses of all kinds, plus we have a growing number of freelance writers and magazine editors who like to remain abreast of industry news and trends and to find interesting story leads.
Subscriber Satisfaction Rating & Newsletter Visibility
Feedback reveals that Indie Experience readers are pleased with the quality of the newsletter, providing an average rating of 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. Each issue of Indie Experience is uploaded to our popular website, http://www.indiebeauty.com, which receives an average of over 53,000 visits and nearly 150,000 successful page views each month.
By far some of the most popular pages at our website are made up of our newsletter Archives. Unlike almost all other publications, the Indie Experience accepts only two carefully selected sponsors per issue. The first sponsorship is situated at the top of the announcement and the archived version, and the mid-sponsor is situated in the middle of the announcement and the archived version. We consider our sponsors to be an integral part of our newsletter content, and we regularly refuse ads that our readers will not immediately identify as complementary to our mission. Our sponsors thus receive unsurpassed exposure as the first thing our subscribers see when they open their email or click on our website to view our newsletter.
We only accept sponsorships from member of IBN with a current, active membership.
Sponsorship Opportunities, Specifications & Rates
The price to sponsor the Indie Experience is $199 per issue for the top spot and $99 for the mid-slot. As subscribership increases, the price to sponsor the newsletter may also increase. For this reason, we reserve the right to change the rates and terms specified in this document at any time prior to receipt of payment for a sponsorship. Sponsorships may be reserved at any time on a first-come, first-served basis. Available dates change quickly so if you are interested in a particular date, please email to inquire.
Our top sponsor format is as follows:
Width: no less than 300 pixels and no more than 375 pixels
Height: no more than 200 pixels high
Weight: no more than 20K
Our mid-sponsor format is the same width and about half the height of the top format :
Width: no less than 300 pixels and no more than 375 pixels
Height: no more than 75 pixels high
Weight: no more than 20K
There will be no exceptions to these size requirements.
We are frequently asked questions about what is and is not an effective ad for an online publication. Our experience has shown the following:
- Short and to the point is more effective than long and drawn out
- Color is always attractive and if you wish to have an animated graphic, please submit it as a single animated GIF file
- Opening an ad with your main attraction works well as an attention-getter. The first line of your ad should mention your free offer, free shipping, discounts, free gift with purchase, etc.
- Mentioning reasons why readers should buy from you is important, especially if the market for the product you are advertising is particularly competitive
- Linking directly to what you are advertising is important. Remember that a link to your home page may not be the best link to send readers who click on your ad.
- Providing a deadline for response to your offer, i.e., the last day for free shipping or the date the sale ends, helps readers remember to respond to your ad -- this also prevents people from expecting to benefit from a discount months or even years after your ad appears
- Since this is an online publication, including phone numbers is often wasted space. You must have a website to advertise in our publication.
- Linking to special pages within your site that you don't advertise elsewhere is a good way to gauge how much response you get from Indie Experience readers!
Since studies show that people are much more likely to remember a message if they have seen it at least three times, we recommend that advertisers place an ad in 3 consecutive issues for maximum results. Of course, we realize that not all businesses are inclined to do this, so we offer as many or as little sponsorships as you'd like on a first come, first served basis.
All ad submissions must be grammatically correct and free of spelling errors. At this time, we do not offer advertising text-writing services, but we will work with you to the extent we can to ensure that your ad reflects positively on both you and the publication.
The price to swap out an ad that already appears in our Archives is $100.
I welcome the opportunity to serve you by bringing your message to our readers. To discuss your requirements in detail and book a sponsorship, please contact IBN's president, Donna Maria, at (704) 843-9877 or email Donna Maria.
