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Stay connected to the public transit industry with our interactive solutions. In 2010, MassTransitMag.com averaged nearly 100,000 page views and 16,000 unique visitors per month.

 

Leaderboard

Buy the best! MassTransitMag.com leaderboard position is a banner advertisement you just have to see. At standard dimensions of 728 x 90 pixels, the leaderboard is the width of the page and lies above the masthead (the title area at the top of a Web page) and content. Leaderboards offer advertisers a great deal of advertising space in what some say is the most prominent position.
$950/month with 12-month contract

$1,050/month with 6-month contract

$1,200/month with 3-month contract

 

300 x 250 Run of Site Ad

MassTransitMag.com has just your size! Advertising on MassTransitMag.com gets you immediate, measurable results. Whether you want to rev up your branding message or drive prospects to your website, interactive banner ads can do the job. Our online ad choices allow you to pick the size that meets your budget and needs.
$750/month with 12-month contract

$950/month with 6-month contract

$1,050/month with 3-month contract

 

120/160 x 600 Run of Site Ad

Think big! The skyscraper ad position on MassTransitMag.com is a tall, narrow banner advertisement placed to the right of content on our web pages. The standard dimensions for a skyscraper ad are 120 X 600 or 160 x 600 pixels. Like the leaderboard, the skyscraper offers an advertiser a large space for a message.
$600/month with 12-month contract

$800/month with 6-month contract

$1,000/month with 3-month contract

 

468 x 60 Target Ad

Place your ad in the sweet spot of MassTransitMag.com our ad will be between sections where it can’t be missed.
$550/month with 12-month contract

$650/month with 6-month contract

$750/month with 3-month contract

 

Footer Leaderboard

MassTransitMag.com footer leaderboard position (standard dimensions, 728 x 90 pixels) offers advertisers a great deal of advertising space for the money; optimizing your audience reach and impact.
$550/month with 12-month contract

$650/month with 6-month contract

$750/month with 3-month contract

e-Newsletter Banners Ads

Advertising in online newsletters is one of the most popular forms of generating sales leads online. Send your advertising message to industry leaders with e-newsletter banner advertising. Your banner advertising can have a link from the e-newsletter to your site and also have an email link so that readers can contact you directly. Various sizes accommodate your marketing campaign's objective and budget.

 

Our newsletter mails five days each week, Monday through Friday, to reach over 10,000 subscribers. Select a day of the week and your ad will run each week on that day for the month

 

 

Size	Per month, 3 months	Per month, 6 months	Per month, 12 months
300 x 250	$1,300	$1,100	$900
120 x 120	$1,050	$850	$550
120 x 600	$1,100	$900	$700
468 x 60	$900	$800	$600

 

e-Newsletter Hot Product

Reaching the right prospect is easy using our e-newsletter Hot Product. The Hot Product is very prominent within the newsletter and provides you with plenty of space for your message and picture. MassTransitMag.com e-newsletters are designed to deliver your message to the precisely-targeted audience you need to meet and exceed your marketing goals. Because e-newsletters contain multiple articles, tips, updates and expert advice, your Hot Product will receive the advertising impact it deserves. Best of all, your Hot Product will run five times,
Monday-Friday, for only $250.
Rate: $250 per week, availability is limited.

 

eBlast

Send your message to readers who ask to receive your promotional advertising. Almost 17,236 Mass Transit professionals have requested that we e-mail to them promotional e-mails (NO SPAM!) from advertisers like you. Target your niche market by component category from one of our specific subscription lists: Our reporting will tell you how many e-mails sent, opened, clicked, and forwarded. Mailing lists updated daily! All of the content within the E-Blast is dedicated to your message. This is a great way to announce a new product or service, conduct a contest, feature specially priced items, or sell inventory quickly to a large, dedicated audience.
$0.25 per name, $1,000 minimum, segmentation is available.

 

What is included in a eBlast Package?

• A pre-designed, HTML e-mail message covering your company, product(s), service(s), or any other information you want your customers to see
  
  
• We can also design your blast from a print advertisement, a PDF, or from scratch
  
  
• A subject line that meets our approval must be also provided
  
  
• Subject lines should be as enticing as possible, more than ONE word, and NOT in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
  
  
• Rich media is not accepted
  
  
• Animated GIFs are discouraged as Microsoft Outlook 2007 will not accept them
  
  
• Pre-designed blasts should be mindful of differences in e-mail client compatibility
  
  
• A blast that is entirely a linked image it NOT recommended, as today's e-mail platform block images. An HTML e-mail should be a combination of text and images with a call-to-action within the text component
  
  
• If sending a pre-designed blast, a text version must be included
  
  
• Full image paths in the code must be used (ex: http://www.domain.com/images/graphic.jpg)

 

eProduct Showcase

Stretch your budget with a Product Showcase! A Product Showcase provides an electronic advertising vehicle for our professional advertisers to reach a 100% opt-in e-blast list in a cost effective manner. The Product Showcase is an opportunity for advertisers to pay for a portion of an e-blast and maintain the high impact effectiveness that an e-blast delivers. A total of 6 to 8 advertisers, each with an individual product to promote, combine to complete the Product Showcase. If more than 8 advertisers want to purchase an eProduct Showcase, additional eProduct Showcases are sent to accommodate demand. Each advertiser submits one static graphic of their product, one company logo with url link and 40 - 60 words of copy. The interactive department designs each advertiser's space and returns a proof to the client for an okay.
$595 per Placement

 

What is included in a eProduct Showcase Package?

• Title or name of your product
  
  
• Product Image: Hi-res (we will resize it to fit your placement)
  
  
• Company Logo Image: Hi-res (we will resize it to fit your placement)
  
  
• Product description: 40 - 60 words describing your product. Can be in paragraph form or 4 - 6 bullet points
  
  
• A link to your website or specific page on your site
  
  

 

Trade Show Exclusive

The Trade Show Exclusive is a short (1-4 minute) video that features a specific product, service or message your company is promoting at an industry trade show.
http://www.cygnusb2b.com/videoQA/index.html

 

Hot Spots

The Multimedia Engagement Product (MEP) is a single interface that allows for the presentation of a variety of multi-media through the use of "hot spots" and buttons. By clicking on these different "hot spots" or buttons the visitor can be presented with an almost unlimited selection of media that could include: video, audio, text, tables, images, downloads, links to URLs and more.
http://www.cygnusb2b.com/videoQA/MEP.html

 

Product Video

These short (up to 1 minute) videos showcase your product while informing your customers of its features and benefits.
http://www.cygnusb2b.com/videoQA/MEP.html

 

How To/Training Video

The How-To/Training Video showcases the steps of a specific task or technical application. The primary purpose of these videos would be to further the skill-set and/or education of the viewer.
http://www.cygnusb2b.com/videoQA/training.html

 

Video Newscast

The Video Newscast is a long-form (10 minutes or greater) video production that aims to be an informational resource for the viewer. This is accomplished by presenting the viewer with highlights and features of a trade show or other industry event through a variety of video reports all tied into a cohesive product through one or more hosts who lead the viewer throughout the overall product.
http://www.cygnusb2b.com/videoQA/newscast.html

 

Company/Product Video

The Company or Product Profile videos would entail an indepth look at a company, individual or product with video capture on location.
http://www.cygnusb2b.com/videoQA/profile.html

 

Custom Video Package

The Cygnus Video team can make the process of creating a video specifically tailored to your needs EASY. We provide all the equipment and knowledge to meet your marketing needs and you can be as involved or hands-off as you desire.
http://www.cygnusb2b.com/videoQA/custom.html

 

 

Marketing Tool

The term "Webcasting" is the ability to use the Web to deliver live or delayed versions of audio or video broadcasts. A Webcast is similar in intent to a live power point presentation but designed for the internet. Webcasts deliver the audio and visual content right to the users' desk top.
$9,500

 

How Webcast Works

A Webcast is an advertiser-sponsored event that is broadcast over the internet from a Cygnus site to viewers who are a targeted market segment for the sponsor. A Webcast can be taped at an exhibition and delivered in real time to an audience across the country or it can be taped on location on a specific topic and viewed at a later time which is convenient for each viewer. It can have registration to the event or can be viewed upon demand without viewer information supplied. In summary, a Webcast is flexible to the needs of the client and viewer.

 

What Is Included

• Logos and taglines presented on promotional materials from date at the onset of the promotional campaign.
  
  
• Sponsor's name and tagline in pre-Webcast reminder e-mails to registrants and follow-up thank you e-mail after their participation
  
  
• Logo and tagline, linked to sponsor's home page on the landing page of the individual presentation
  
  
• Logo and link on the sign up page of the individual presentation
  
  
• Logo included in the frame of the presentation
  
  
• Sponsor will receive at least two power point slides (one before, one in middle or at end) of the presentation thanking them for sponsoring with marketing message.
  
  
• Sponsor will get verbal audio thank you at least twice during presentation
  
  
• Entire Webcast, including sponsor logos and links, will be archived for one year

The MassTransitMag.com Buyer's Guide is an interactive listing of companies and their associated products/services solutions located in one, easy to-navigate place. A Premium or Featured listing ensures your listing is moved to the top of the list or highlighted, making you stand out from your competitors. Don't let your sales slip away because you haven't enhanced your listing. Additionally, industry category and subcategory sponsorship advertising options are available. Contact your sales representative for details.

 

Tier One: Category Sponsor:
$4,500 annually ($375 per month)

• 300x250 Banner Ad: at the top of each page of the category selected
• Skyscraper Ad Position: on each page of category selected
• E-blast: sent to our opt-in e-mailing list
• Featured company listing on the Suppliers Directory homepage and category pages
• Weighted higher in search results

 

Tier Two: Subcategory Sponsorship:
$2,500 annually ($208 per month)

• Featured company listing on the Suppliers Directory homepage and category pages
• 468x60 Banner Ad on main category page and each sub-category page
• Weighted higher in search results

 

Tier Three: Featured Company Listing:
$1,200 annually ($100 per month)

• Featured company listing on the Suppliers Directory homepage and category pages
• Weighted higher in search results

 

For more information on these and other opportunities, please contact Sara-Emily Steadman at ssteadman@masstransitmag.com or call 920-568-8344.

 

 

Looking to fill a critical job opening? Use the MassTransitMag.com Job Center to precisely target your message to reach top candidates now available in your market.  By advertising in the MassTransitMag.com Job Center, you have the opportunity to market the benefits of your open position(s) and your organization and stimulate response from the best talent pool of professionals operating in your market – our readers!  

 

Contact Sara-Emily Steadman:
Phone: (920) 568-8344 / (800) 547-7377 ext. 1344

Email: ssteadman@masstransitmag.com

 

Sent electronically to our complete list of opt-in names, the Market Research Survey is sent to those who have agreed to participate in MassTransitMag.com surveys. You are provided with all the information obtained from the survey in a complete report, along with analysis of the information by the MassTransitMag.com publisher and/or editor.

 

Either way, you will achieve immediate results. More importantly, you have valuable data in your hands. We'll put together a form to find out what potential customers really want from your products or services. We'll compile the results and send it to you in real-time by e-mail. Your custom-designed survey will be promoted to an opt-in audience via an e-mail blast.
Rates

1-5 question survey $0.35/email address plus $500

6-20 question survey $0.35/email address plus $75

 

 

 

Strategize before building emails

Prior to constructing your email, make sure that your message is clear and concise. Develop and refine what you want to say so that readers don't lose interest or get confused about what your call-to-action is. What is your offer? How will reading and clicking through this email help the reader? Make sure they know what's in it for them. Before and during the building process, continually ask yourself, "What would I think if I got this in my inbox? Would I immediately delete it? Or worse, report it as spam?" Rule No. 1 — don't be spam.

 

Layout/Theme

Keep your layout simple and free from complex tables by avoiding unnecessary embedded rows and columns. Make sure that you achieve balance between the amount of text and images your email contains. Non-text content such as videos or background images should not be used as the main focus. Replace them with an attractive call-to-action button that will lead to a landing page with the promised content.

 

Since many users simply scan emails in lieu of reading them, it's important to make your copy easy to process. There are several ways to ensure your message is easy to scan. Try a light background with dark copy, placed in short, and centered lines that read vertically above the fold.

 

Another effective approach is to make sure that your important content is placed in an F-shaped pattern. Studies show that readers will first view the headline, followed by the text down the side and finally the middle section of text.

 

• Users first read in a horizontal movement, usually across the upper part of the content area. This initial element forms the F's top bar.
• Next, users move down the page a bit and then read across in a second horizontal movement that typically covers a shorter area than the previous movement. This additional element forms the F's lower bar.
• Finally, users scan the content's left side in a vertical movement. Sometimes this is a fairly slow and systematic scan that appears as a solid stripe on an eyetracking heatmap. Other times users move faster, creating a spottier heatmap. This last element forms the F's stem.

 

Headers/Footers

The pre-header and footer are two of the most important elements of your email. The pre-header is located at the very top of your email, and is what your reader is going to see before scrolling down into the body of the email. Company logos/brand need to be at a top corner of your eblast.

 

Currently, one-quarter of companies do not use any type of pre-header, and 80 percent do not use white list instructions. Surprisingly, snippet text is only used by about 13 percent of marketers. Again, it's crucial for campaign optimization to test using the pre-header a few different ways in order to find out what works best for different campaigns and audiences.

 

With the footer, make sure that you include an option for readers to view the email by mobile device. Currently, 75 percent of marketers are providing a good user experience by having links for profile and subscription management, yet fewer than 10 percent create a mobile version of their email.

 

Using Images in emails

To ensure your emails still work even without the images showing, you can make a few simple improvements:

 

• Never use images for important content like headlines, links and any calls to action.
• Never use an all image blast (blast that has no selectable text; everything is contained within the image)

 

Headers/Footers

1. Many email packages (like Outlook) block images by default until the user okays the download. So when a message arrives in a user's inbox, it appears blank until they download the images.
2. The file size of an image is (almost always) larger than text. We have file size limitations, so it's hard to keep within those limitations when the entire blast is composed of images.
   • Add a text-based link to a web version of your design at the top of your email.
   • Get added to your recipient's address book or whitelist.
   • Use alt text for all images for a better experience in Gmail.
   • Always add the height and width to the image to ensure that the blank placeholder image doesn't throw your design out.
   • Test your design with images turned off before you send it.
   • Always use "ALT" tags

    

 

Bring back tables

As much as we all hate it the reality is that email standards have taken a giant leap backwards in recent years. While we can all work to increase email standards support it's not going to be an overnight process.

 

So if you need to do anything more complex than a single column, you will find you need to use structural tables. Outlook 2007, for example, has little support for floats. A simple table will keep everything together.

 

Engage the Reader before the open — use the Preview Pane wisely

This is "prime real estate." This is the window below your inbox that previews the email and is found in many popular email clients such as Outlook and MacMail.

 

To ensure that the reader is engaged and can clearly view the email, our recommendation is that emails be between 550 and 700 pixels wide. Also make sure that the purpose and call-to-action of the email is made apparent in the top 300 pixels so that readers can see the email even if they don't open it.

 

This top area is a great location to place your company logo. In addition, design several different background scenarios so that you can cater to each email client's specifications.

 

A Call to Action Needs to be in the "Above the Fold/Preview Pane"

 

Height of the email

The average preview pane is around 300-500 pixels high, so make sure you include any important bits of your email in this area.

 

Can you embed video players in the blast?

No. Please realize that video requires a browser plug-in to display and this is not possible to include in a blast for security purposes. Our third-party email marketing providers won't even allow you to attempt this.

 

What most companies do is place a mock-up video player with a freeze frame and "click to play" button, when clicked a landing page with video is viewed in the browser.

 

This is a standard internet convention.

 

Can you have flash or animated GIFs in blasts?

Flash cannot be sent under any circumstances. Animated .gif files can be received by many products except for Outlook 2007.

 

Web friendly fonts.

 

Web friendly fonts

We cannot control the fonts used on an end user computer. The font needs to exist on the end user system for it to render on the blast piece. This is why we use web friendly fonts; as a generalization.

 

You can install the font on your system to use within the blast. You can then include in the inline css a back up font type or types. If the end user does not have the font needed on their system the backup you set will be used. It's the best we can do or anyone for that matter. The font has to exist on the end user system for it to render.

 

Increasing open rates

There are a ton of elements you can vary to try to entice more of your subscribers to open up your emails. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

 

• Experiment with your subject lines: Try including details about the content of the email right in the subject line, instead of using your standard subject.
• Send on a different day: Are your subscribers too busy on a Wednesday morning to read your email, leaving it languishing down the inbox? Maybe a Friday afternoon email would be welcomed.
• Get the important content up the top: Remember that many people will see a preview of your email before deciding to open it or ignore it. Make sure your email is recognizable, and that your key points are in the top third.

 

Subject lines

You need to set your message apart.

 

• Keep subject line short, informative, and relevant.
• Don't be afraid to use your brand name.
• Integrate strong action words to make a subject line compelling, you have to use a bit intrigue.
• Don't include characters: (e.g. "!", "//", ":") because (1) - they are likely to be filtered out as spam, and (2) - use of characters easily forms an unprofessional impression.
• Stay away from words such as "free" and "guarantee."
• Do not use ALL CAPS or the use of generic subject lines, such as "Check this out!"

 

URLs/Links

• Make sure you use clean URLs for links in HTML messages. Don't use long/ugly URLs. URLs should be embedded into relevant call to action text.
• Repeat URLs often in your message (top, middle and end)