I did not think of it. I wish I had. It was an advertising Sponsor of our two neighboring publications, Marple Friends & Neighbors and Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors, who first said it when I asked why he also wanted to become a Sponsor of this new hometown magazine, Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors. Candidly he replied: “Bob, we know everyone reads your magazine. We even read every new issue cover to cover, on the day it arrives in the mail. We just want to always be seen at the party.”
Insightful! I suppose our magazine is like a party going on. After all, the mission and motto of our publications is: “Bringing People Together.” We do that through our own unique brand of social-media-in-print which creates a sense of belonging to a community, by one or two degrees of separation most readers find with every feature article. That feels good, like being “at a party.” And readers often tell me that feeling often starts at the moment they notice the latest issue of their hometown magazine has just arrived in the mail.
For you newer residents of Newtown Township, for all you homeowners in Edgmont Township, and our friends & neighbors in Willistown Township, this social-media-in-print hometown magazine is the party, and it’s just starting up for you with this inaugural issue of Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors. Welcome to The Party!
The success of our local Friends & Neighbors magazines as social-media-in-print for more than four years in Marple and Newtown Square, is what inspired our staff and our advertising Sponsors to expand the party’s guest list. Because a good party is always a better party, when it’s a bigger party, this new magazine is now mailed to all Edgmont Township homes, the newer homes in Newtown Township, and many of our friends and neighbors living in Willistown Township.
Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors, as a new, free monthly magazine that will continue to arrive in the mail each month, and has been made possible by financial commitments made by the businesses you see advertising on these pages. The owners of those businesses are the Sponsors of the party. We owe them our thanks. But for this party to get louder, I need the help of readers who I like to call our “Reader Leaders.” If you enjoy reading this first issue of Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors, let us know.
We need your feedback. We also need your suggestions for future articles. Nominate a friend or neighbor for our cover story. Suggest an organization or place in your community for a feature article. Let’s grow our page count for local features in each new issue. But to do that, we’ll need to add more local businesses who want to be seen every month and be known as our community Sponsors.
Which local businesses should we also invite to the party? Who are the local Experts you trust? Who is missing from this social-media-in-print party which will now be Bringing People Together across Newtown Edgmont every month through this magazine? We expect, just as our other local magazines, it will remain in homes all month long until the next issue arrives in the mail with a new local family on the cover and more interesting local feature articles to read.
The simplest way to be a Reader Leader, and join our Bringing People Together mission, is to kindly let our advertising Sponsors know you have seen them on the pages of this magazine, while thanking them for investing in your community as a Sponsor. Pick a few Sponsors. Call or stop in to thank them for demonstrating how important Newtown Edgmont is to the success of their business by their choosing to use a portion of their limited marketing budget to be seen by you in your hometown magazine. Consider rewarding that investment which is now Bringing People Together across Newtown Edgmont, through Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors magazine, by choosing to do
business with our Sponsors first whenever possible.
Help grow our magazine page count so we can publish more local features every month. Here’s how: think of businesses you trust. Recommend they should be seen on these pages and at the party that is Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors.
If your Reader Leadership results in our hometown magazine gaining a new advertising Sponsor, I’ll be asking if we can share your name with readers and I’ll ask you to nominate a local resident family to be featured on the cover of an upcoming issue. Just follow the steps on page 13 to see how easy it is to be a Reader Leader.
Bob Blaisse
Publisher
Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors