Advertising, B2B, Memberships & Subscriptions

How they did it: Sample boxes create high-margin revenue streams

Alisa Cromer February 1, 2025

You don’t need to be a high end fashion publisher to make big money from sample boxes. B2b publishers such as Parking Today and Fresh Cup, the online magazine for the cooking industry, have gotten into the game. Even The Local Palate, the food culture magazine of the south, sees gift boxes as a high margin source for significant incremental revenues and brand extension. Here’s how they do it, including different concepts, cost, pricing and fulfillment.

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Categories: Advertising, B2B, Memberships & Subscriptions

The Ultimate Guide to Selling Lead Magnet Advertising

Let's get creative! We researched more than a hundred different lead magnet campaigns to find the best ideas that command top dollars from niche advertisers, and how they did it.

First, to define the terms: A lead magnet is simply gated information a publisher creates that is valuable enough to persuade the audience to leave their contact information.

Advertisers will invest 2 to 5x the cost of a major campaign and in some cases $30,000 to $50,000 - for publishers to create the content, host the lead capture page or system, and deliver the leads generated. They, too, are worried about Google Zero.

The Lead Magnet itself could be a white paper, e-book, video, podcast, or webinar — as long as there is a “hook” that attracts the audience to exchange their contact info for access.

Steal these ideas: Below is a list of the most powerful peer-shared ideas for lead magnet campaigns from case studies and research.

Alisa Cromer August 6, 2025

White paper: Recent research on the value of print advertising

How should niche media, dominated by magazine brands, talk to advertisers about the value of print?

It’s a tricky issue. On the one hand, print sales continue to decline in the face of reduced advertiser demand. Media brokers place almost no value on profitable print advertising sales. This white paper shows all the research you need, with sources and links to use.

Alisa Cromer January 1, 2024

Best visual ideas for sales promotions: A showcase

We looked at hundreds of sales promotions and media kits for teh best visual ideas and showcase them here.

Alisa Cromer September 10, 2024

Niche Revenue Benchmarks: Key Findings and Growth Opportunities

The 2025 Niche Revenue Benchmark report gives new metrics for rev@employee and title, plus the five top opportunities for niche publishers, and key tips from over-performers. Think you know niche media? This report will keep you up to date on where the industry is headed, with links to case studies on publishers who are overperforming. Leave with practical strategies to grow the most valuable revenue streams.

Alisa Cromer January 3, 2024