GUIDELINES TO JOIN
The Parenting Media Association provides opportunities for member networking and professional development. To maintain the association’s reputation for quality and integrity, all existing and prospective PMA member publications are expected to exhibit high levels of journalistic excellence and ethical business practices. Once approved for membership, each member publication is expected to comply with PMA’s standards and criteria on an ongoing basis as follows:
Business Practices
Member publications must have been published for at least six (6) months, publish at least 4 issues per year, be professionally printed and publish a rate card and/or media kit with circulation numbers and a printing frequency that correspond with print figures.
Editorial
The editorial content of member publications must be dedicated to topics and subjects directed at the local parenting community in their regional markets. Member publications must maintain a minimum of 30% editorial content overall; maximum of 70% advertising overall, at least 75% of editorial content must relate directly to parenting/families and at least 60% of editorial content must be locally generated and/or locally focused or be of specific local interest to the publication’s readership.
Editorial and Advertising Mix
Member publications must exhibit a clear distinction between advertising and editorial content.
- Layout, design and typeface of all kinds of advertising pages should be distinctly different than editorial copy. The main typeface of the magazine’s editorial content should not be used in advertisements or special advertising sections.
- As publishers incorporate more options for advertisers to tell their stores in print, digitally and via social media, keep in mind our interest in being transparent with readers. When an advertising message has the feel of editorial content, it is important to alert readers. It is strongly recommended that words such as “Advertising” or “Sponsored Content” “Brought to you by…” be attached to any print ad, online copy, Facebook , Post or tweet that is tied to paid advertising.
- Editorial space should not be sold or bartered in exchange for advertising.
- Advertising should not be placed adjacent to editorial as the result of improper involvement or to imply editorial endorsement of particular advertisers. Advertising adjacency may be considered and be acceptable in some cases. The cases are best determined through discussions with editorial and sales staff.
Cover Guidelines
Member publications must exhibit a clear distinction between advertising and editorial content. While the cover is editorial space, in today’s business, there may be times when an ad might appear on the publication cover. Members must maintain the requirement that editorial space not be sold or bartered in exchange for advertising and the cover ad should comply with these requirements:
- Position: Ads on covers must be positioned on the bottom half, well away from the magazine logo.
- Size: Ads must be limited to no more than 1/16 size of the page
- Font must be different from the editorial font
- Ad message and language should not integrate with editorial (for example, if the edit blurb reads “Five Must-See Family Movies,” the ad copy cannot read “Chipmunks: The Must-See Movie of the Summer”)
- Art should be contained in a border or clearly separated by its own color
- False covers and the front side of cover flaps used for advertising should always be labeled as advertising.
Additional requirements of membership
In addition to the standards and criteria above, members of PMA agree to abide by the bylaws of the association and the policies of the association established by vote the vote of the members. Members agree to abide by the following:
- Submit annual dues renewal payments on a timely basis, including any supporting documents such as printer invoices and magazine copies for review if required.
- Donate up to three (3) full page color ads during each membership year (July to June) to be used by the association in a national donated space group ad buy program. The revenue from these ad sales goes to the association to help fund programming and keep the costs of membership and meetings as low as possible. Members are encouraged to present the group ad buy program to regional/national advertising prospects and will earn a sales commission in return for helping the association sell these important ads. See the member area on how to sell the donated space buy program.
