Today, Sunday, September 17, 2023, marks the 4th anniversary of Gentologie. It was on this day, on my return from a trip to Niagara for the unveiling of the Porsche Taycan, that I unveiled this brand, whose graphics were created in collaboration with the Gentologie brand\u2019s artistic director (and my cousin) Anne-Ren\u00e9e, by launching the 1st Gentologie magazine and changing the website. From 2019 to 2021, Gentologie magazine was in digital format and although the idea of the paper format was still in the back of my mind, it was still just a dream. A dream that came true in 2022, thanks to you. So, after 4 years of Gentologie, most of them in pandemic form, it\u2019s time to tell you about what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, I\u2019d love to tell you that everything is going great and that things are going really well, but I have to be realistic and honest with you, our community and friends. Our mission hasn\u2019t changed and we still want to \u201c Turn all men into gentlemen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019re lucky enough to have a number of products, take part in a number of events and be invited to a number of trips (three extraordinary experiences in 2023), but at the end of the day it all has to add up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, visits to the site are not living up to my expectations, Gentologie has around 10,000 page views per month, which is a long way from my initial target, but over the year it\u2019s still an increase of 86% compared to 2022 (we\u2019re at 87,000 page views since 1 January 2023). I\u2019d like to see at least 30,000\u201350,000 page views per month. Advertising revenue isn\u2019t great either (just like my salary), the Google AdSense ads you see on the site haven\u2019t yet earned us a penny since they were introduced last spring. The advertising and content in the magazine aren\u2019t up to scratch either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The launch of the print magazine in 2022, thanks to everyone who took part in our crowdfunding campaign, has certainly helped propel the Gentologie name a little further, but while I know I\u2019m heading in the right direction, the business plan isn\u2019t holding up at the moment, unfortunately. With 1,000 copies per issue, it\u2019s very difficult to make a magazine profitable. Advertisers want a higher distribution, but to do that we need more magazines and we need to pay for them and, above all, sell them. It\u2019s like the chicken before the egg, or the chicken before the egg\u2014it\u2019s a difficult balance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s a view of Gentologie from the media agency of a potential advertiser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Personally, I see more positives than negatives, but that\u2019s the general response of most advertisers. That and they don\u2019t have a budget. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To give you an idea, for a bilingual version of 1,000 copies, the cost is close to $15,000. This includes printing, proofreading, translation, graphics and distribution. I imagine you can see what\u2019s at stake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I would say that the biggest challenge in publishing a magazine is finding subscribers, especially with a small community like ours. Gentologie is in the men\u2019s lifestyle niche. You may have noticed that the number of men\u2019s magazines on newsstands is quite small, not to say tiny. What\u2019s more, Gentologie targets an audience in the luxury sector, i.e., men who are extremely busy and inundated with content, each more interesting than the last (not that Gentologie isn\u2019t, but we\u2019re up against journalistic, work-related, cultural news content, etc.). In short, going after subscribers one by one is a challenge. What\u2019s more, our subscription system is a bit complex and doesn\u2019t do everything I want. I\u2019m planning to upgrade it in the next few months, which will involve costs (yes, again), so we\u2019ll need to build up web expertise in this area in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So that you can have access to our magazine, over the next few weeks we want to find places to distribute it. It\u2019s already available at Genesis distributors for 2023, at La Poissonnerie La Mer\u2019s best customers and at Clusier. You can also find a digital version on PressReader and soon at Cafeyn. Unfortunately for Apple News+, only our French articles are available, not the magazines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We work with various partners, including PR agencies. Some of them understand our positioning perfectly, while others send us press releases even though they don\u2019t seem to have visited our site since we started in 2019. Of course, agencies want to promote their clients\u2019 products, but it has to complement our objectives and not feel forced, otherwise all three\u2014Gentologie, the partner and the client\u2014will lose out in the end. It\u2019s sometimes frustrating to repeat myself and constantly have to hit the same nail on the head. It\u2019s a daily job to explain some of the choices I\u2019ve made with Gentologie, but I have to focus on the niche of my platform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To be clearer, in a few days\u2019 time a clear and precise presentation of Gentologie will be available to agencies and marketing people, with the aim of giving the people we work with a clear idea of what Gentologie does, its mission and its long-term objectives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s on the horizon for Gentologie?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I keep coming up with new projects. Ironically, it\u2019s when the going gets tough financially that the most creative ideas come to me. The Gentologie Media Group, Gentologie\u2019s parent company, needs to become a content production powerhouse for us and for our customers, and it also needs to become profitable. And there are no 36 solutions, it\u2019s opening up to the outside world, going after clients to produce their magazines in-house, that\u2019s an expertise that I\u2019ve developed with Gentologie, and that the group needs to push.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The media kit for the magazine has recently been redesigned and an \u201cAdvertising\u201d page (you can see it here) has been created, which includes our media kit. The media kit for the website will be available next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How will Gentologie grow over the next few months\/weeks? We\u2019re also launching two new podcasts, \u201cGentologie On Air,\u201d the English version of our Gentologie Radio podcast (which I\u2019ll be relaunching in a few weeks\u2019 time too) and the second, yet-to-be-named, will be an intimate conversation between gentlemen on the various topics Gentologie has to offer. The latter will take place once a month, starting in October. In short, I want Gentologie to be an even bigger part of the media landscape in the years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another avenue I plan to explore between now and the end of 2023 is developing high-end, handmade physical products. Unique products produced in limited editions. You\u2019ll get a glimpse very soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As you probably know, we need you! Obviously, if you\u2019re an advertiser, investing in advertising on Gentologie<\/a> is an excellent way of funding us. Otherwise, as an individual and as a company, the first step to take, if you have the means, is to buy one or more subscriptions to Gentologie<\/a> and take part in our events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you don\u2019t have any money to invest in Gentologie (I understand that), don\u2019t hesitate to do free things like subscribing to the various Gentologie newsletters<\/a>, following our accounts, liking and sharing our publications on the various social networks (Facebook<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a>, X<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, Youtube<\/a> and Pinterest<\/a>), visit the website a few times a week and keep the \u201cLatest articles<\/a>\u201d page in your favourites, and, not forgetting, share our articles on social networks with your friends and colleagues. It costs nothing and can only help us make more money and talk to new readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And above all, it would be great if you could click on the adverts a few times (and not block them), that\u2019s also what keeps us alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, a special thank you to the companies that have supported us financially since the beginnings of the printed Gentologie magazine: Beam Suntory, Charton-Hobbs, Clusier, Perfect Pear, DDMG, Favuzzi, Genesis, Hu\u00eetres & Caviar, Poissonnerie La Mer, Rolland and Whyte & Mackay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I know this article is a bit long, but thank you for following us and, for those of you who are, for being loyal subscribers to Gentologie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With that, I\u2019m off to produce some content for you, dear community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n See you soon,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Normand<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today,September 17, 2023, we celebrate the 4th anniversary of Gentologie. Find out more about what’s next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"middle","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":["https:\/\/news-api.apple.com\/sections\/f8fa0cd9-384d-4da5-ac33-6dba082ff809"],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8722,7859],"tags":[],"coauthors":[5548],"class_list":["post-50656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-press-area"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n