Advertising for the Community

Last week I shared some some info about the shift of calendar postings in the article It's All in the Store.

Before I jump specifically into today’s topic around advertising on MN Playlist I wanted to share one more change you’ll see in the store. It relates to a bigger change on the site that we think people are really going to enjoy (particularly performers).

With the new MN Playlist you’ll now purchase EITHER a Classified Ad OR an Audition Ad. With the new site we have separated out our most popular classified ad - the audition - and beyond just making it a specific item in the store we have created a dedicated page just for auditions.

You did indeed read that correctly: “a dedicated page just for auditions.”

You’ll no longer need to use a filter to see auditions as a sub group of all classified ads. We’ve created an entire page designed just for auditions. With a whole new look and feel and dedicated filters for finding exactly what you are looking for at a moment’s notice.

And don’t worry the rest of the classifieds are getting their own page with a whole look and feel that fits that content.

So what does this have to do with Advertising on Playlist.

I took a long hard look at what I wanted for advertising to be on Playlist. As we’ve watched the digital ad industry explode over the years I knew that putting ads all over Playlist (while profitable in the short term) was a quick way to ruin the site. After a lot of consideration and conversation with our design and development partners over at Ten7 I landed on the following:

• We would maintain the original concept for the site of a few strategically placed ads available for purchase by the community.
• Ads would be placed in the three locations that receive the most traffic: magazine articles, the calendar page, and of course our new auditions page - which we anticipate as the most trafficked page on the site.

I’m excited about this new direction for advertising on the site, it keeps with the simpler streamlined approach we are taking to the overall design while providing companies who pay to take advantage with digital real estate that we know receives traffic. In the end Playlist will remain a unique entity in the digital sphere, one where we aren’t selling out to advertising dollars, and instead focusing on what brings our community (YOU) value.

Do you provide marketing work or support for a theater company, do you run a performing arts company or space, are you an instructor in town and want to promote your classes? Then you’ll want to advertise on Playlist. Join our Mailchimp email list for advertisers and get access to a special launch discount when the site goes live in Nov. Follow this link to subscribe and be the first to advertise on the NEW Minnesota Playlist!