BINJE, a business journal in New Jersey, launched digitally on May 5. And while it’s billed as an on-line site, it was determined that it would still produce a print product.
That proved to be a wise decision by founder and editor Tom Bergeron – and a profitable one.
BINJE’s debut edition, released in June, was a whopping 72 tabloid pages, complete with 21 full-length stories and 45 advertisers, combining for 30.5 pages of ads. Bergeron obviously was thrilled. More importantly, so were readers.
“The biggest response we got was: ‘I’m so glad you’re doing print,’” he said.
Bergeron, who began his career at The Star-Ledger in 1990s, was pleased to see the throwback format was welcomed. He was happier still to see it wasn’t a one-time phenomenon.
Thanks to the efforts of Heather Long, BINJE’s head of business development, the second issue, a specialty issue on Cancer Care in July, was 36 pages with 11 advertisers filling 10 pages. The third edition already has 17 advertisers.
Bergeron, who ran NJ Biz and help found ROI-NJ before creating BINJE, said the secret is making print editions have purpose.
The debut edition celebrated the launch of the site. Future editions will be built around single topics or all-star sections, recognizing the leading figures in a certain sector, industry or community.
“The days of producing print editions based on solid stories are over – online has proven to be a better outlet for that,” Bergeron said. “But there still is a love for print, especially among the traditional business audience.
“If you are strategic in content, you can succeed.”
