Frankly, I don’t know how that’s possible, considering retailers roll out the holiday merchandise upwards of two months in advance.
Combine that with the constant Christmas music that flood the FM airwaves immediately after Halloween, and I should have had all the advance notice I needed.
This year was different, though. It’s been a busy — albeit productive — year… especially here at Wind Systems. I’ll try and give you the short version.
This time last year, we were putting the finishing touches on our plan to overhaul Wind Systems’ editorial content, structure, and design. Our goal was to serve our readers the best we possibly could.
We spared no effort in doing just that. After countless hours spent planning, brainstorming, arguing, and compromising, we devised our plan.
There were plenty of growing pains along the way, some of which threatened to evolve into chronic injuries, but all of that was to be expected.
Eventually, a plan was finalized. We knew what we had in mind. We knew what we wanted to accomplish. We knew how we were going to implement it. What we didn’t know was how it was going to be received by our readers.
We unveiled our new vision with the January 2014 issue, without much fanfare. We didn’t say much about the changes we were making to the magazine — or about our motivations for making those changes.
That was intentional.
We wanted to give readers our absolute best effort, and then quietly observe their response in order to get an honest assessment of how well we were serving them. This issue marks a full year of Wind Systems operating under its new vision, structure, and design. I’m thrilled to tell you that the response to this point has been overwhelmingly positive.
Thank you. But we want to know more.
If we only sought a general consensus, we’d have the best excuse in the world to sit back and say to ourselves: “That’s good enough.” We’re simply not satisfied with that.
In the upcoming months, you may receive an email invitation from Wind Systems to participate in a brief reader survey. When you get that email, I urge you to follow the link and invest a few minutes to tell us what you like, don’t like, or would like to see more of in our magazine. Help us perform a true, transparent assessment of how well Wind Systems is serving its audience.
Much like in the political arena, every vote does count, and every voice will be heard. Up until this point, I’ve specifically chosen to use the word “changes” when speaking about Wind Systems’ new vision and structure.
Marketing strategists would tell you that was a mistake. Instead, they’d say, I should’ve used the word “improvements,” because it serves to plant a positive image in the mind of the reader.
But we’re not going to play that game. We’re not interested in shaping your response. We’re interested in your response shaping us. Besides, we don’t get to decide if our changes are actually improvements. At least, not until we hear from you.
Thanks for reading,
