The Abergavenny Focus story so far…and why you’re so important!
Two years go this month, Pete and I took over the Abergavenny Focus. Doesn’t time fly? The idea of taking on a magazine was a daunting prospect principally because we’d never made a magazine before, and we didn’t live in Abergavenny! Nevermind, we thought, we can do this – Pete’s background is in graphic design, art and photography, and mine in writing and sales. We reasoned that by combining our skills, we could come up with something worthwhile and interesting.
Selling, producing, writing, editing, and laying out a magazine, as well as dealing with its day-to-day administration, was quite a learning experience! There were a many late nights, quite a few arguments, not to mention the huge upheaval and change of moving to our new home in Abergavenny and getting to know the people and the area. We dived straight in, head first, and we haven’t looked back.
We love Abergavenny and we’re delighted that we moved here and can call it our home. We’re so fortunate to be part of such a fantastic community (I’m sure you’ll agree – you’re part of it, after all), which embraced us wholeheartedly when we came here. It was important to us that we became part of the community. After all, how can you produce a local magazine if you don’t live here, alongside the people and businesses who are the lifeblood of our publication?
We’re really proud of what we do and of the magazine we produce and just how popular it is. We’re strong believers that it’s your magazine as much as ours, and every month we think hard about how to improve things so that it keeps you, our readers, interested and involved.
As readers, we welcome your feedback and your contributions. The Community Hub section of the magazine has been a huge success with so many interesting and inspirational news events from our area. Each month, I am bowled over by the number of emails I receive about worthwhile fundraising projects that are continually taking place. We’re pleased to support local events by featuring them in our events calendar and listing your groups and organisations in our Community Contacts section, so that the Focus remains a useful reference guide for everyone.
We’re passionate about making sure the money that advertisers spend on advertising with us is well spent. We’re not a faceless corporation or national franchise – we’re an independent company, we live right here in the thick of it, and it’s just the two of us running the show, so when you do call, you speak directly to me (Hannah) or Pete. We’ll chat to you about your specific advertising requirements and, if you want, we’ll come and see you, without obligation (providing you put the kettle on and make time for a natter!) so you can put a face to a name. When you book space, we offer bespoke advertisement design completely free of charge. That’s great news for new businesses and sole traders who want to make an impact but often don’t have the fancy or expensive advert artwork to help them do that. Most importantly, we don’t believe in a hard sell. Nobody likes to be on the receiving end of that do they? We believe that what we do and how we do it speaks for itself.
Regular readers will note that we have a band of very loyal advertising clients, whose adverts appear regularly in the pages of the Focus. We treat our clients well by keeping in touch and we reward loyalty by running a loyalty prize draw each month and by giving discounts for ongoing bookings. We also reward clients who refer new customers to us. It’s all about working together.
We’re delighted to be celebrating our two year anniversary. We hope to continue serving the community by publishing the very best local magazine for this area and providing the best possible client service we can.
Here’s to many more years to come! Cheers!
If you’d like to get in touch with us for any reason at all (even for a moan), you’re welcome to do so. Hannah can be reached on 07770 272 500. Pete can be contacted on our office number; 01873 840 793. Alternatively drop us an email. Hannah is: Hannah@thefocus.wales and Pete is pete@thefocus.wales -or use the Contact form here to send us a message.
