This Magazine pioneers couponing deal for subs; sells 286 in one day

 This Magazine is the first magazine in Canada to take advantage of the Groupon daily couponing site to sell subscriptions, according to a story on Mastheadonline. The site sent out a half-price subscription offer to its list of  400,000 Toronto-area subscribers;  it netted 286 subscriptions at a one-day-only price of $13, of which Groupon keeps half. A regular subscription to the magazine is $30.

The idea to promote the magazine through the Chicago-based group buying site was suggested by This Magazine editor Graham F. Scott, says publisher Lisa Whittington-Hill. “We haven’t seen any other Canadian publishers doing this. We don’t have a huge marketing budget at the magazine and are always looking for cheap and cheerful ways to promote.”

(One of the wrinkles in the coupon offer is that, the Groupon system only collects an e-mail address and sends out a coupon code, while the magazine needs to have a name and mailing address to fulfill the sub. So people who took up the offer need to phone the magazine or e-mail them with that subscription information.)