MPA Reports asks Jamie Trowbridge Four (more) Questions four years later. Yankee's President talks about evolving with the times, using digital effectively, successful audience development and the importance of philanthropy. (Click here to read his Four Questions from 2005.)

Since 1935, Yankee Magazine has been sharing every last detail it can find about New England with its 500,000 paid subscribers. Only slightly more than half of those reside in the six-state region Yankee focuses on, according to the Yankee Publishing’s president, Jamie Trowbridge, the grandson of the company's founder. The family-owned company that is based in Dover, New Hampshire, also publishes the 217-year-old Old Farmer's Almanac, "America's oldest continuously published periodical,” which sells about four million copies annually.

Q. For a magazine that’s been around for such a long time, clearly Yankee Magazine has learned how to adapt with the changing times. What's the philosophy toward change?

A. Until recently, our approach to changing Yankee was constant but incremental. Readers told us the best thing about Yankee was that it never changed. Now we don’t have the luxury of changing our business slowly. In 2007, when we changed the dimensions, frequency, rate base, and editorial format all at once, some readers howled with protest, but most of them have since come down out of the trees. Because Yankee does not serve a market niche highly valued by advertisers, we are continuing to adjust our publishing model. We are currently considering adding new benefits for subscribers to justify an increase in subscription prices and negotiating with advertisers to accept some payment tied to response to their ads. Regarding new benefits, in addition to more content from Yankee, we are soliciting special offers from iconic New England brands that we can extend to subscribers. We'll test this at first as a premium subscription, and if it's a hit we'll change our basic subscription offer. Over time we can imagine that subscribing to Yankee may feel more like joining a club, with the magazine being one of many benefits.

Q. The Yankee Magazine Community Partners program helps support hundreds of community organizations throughout New England and Yankee Publishing gives directly to many causes throughout the region. Why is philanthropy so important to Yankee Magazine?

A. While our first commitment is to our readers, we do everything we can to support the non-profit and trade organizations who are working to keep New England, New England. Without crossing over into boosterism, we are an advocate for the region. New England’s influence on America’s course has been and continues to be enormous, but sometimes the region does not get the credit it deserves.

Q. How are Yankee and the Old Farmer’s Almanac using digital effectively?

A. We’re having good success selling products and services on our websites. We’ll continue to sell advertising on our sites, but we’re putting more of our focus on generating transactions--selling our own products and also others’. One example: In our region Yankee is the exclusive distributor of ARES, an online travel booking service. We’re partnering with other sites and tourism marketing organizations to generate sales and sharing the commissions. On Almanac.com we are selling our books and calendars. We will start selling other branded merchandise such as hats and aprons shortly. Then we expect to sell unbranded products that relate to subjects of interest to Almanac readers. We're negotiating with wholesalers now for specialty foods and tools for gardeners.

Q. For a title that is focused on one particular region, what do you find to be the most successful forms of audience development?

A. Our approach to audience development within the region is fairly typical; finding readers who love New England beyond our borders has always been a challenge. Our extensive gift subscription program helps in this regard. It’s surprising how many gift recipients turn into subscribers and gift donors. Like most publishers today, we are using our websites and social networks to introduce new readers to our magazines. We don't really find readers who live outside the region. They find us, and the web has made that easier.

–Mark J. Miller