It’s not always easy to change something that seems to be working fairly well, but that’s exactly what we’ve done with Cordillera Ranch Living Magazine over the past year. After six years of working with the same publishing and ad sales team, last summer the ad sales director role became available.  My wife, Sara, calling on her past sales positions, seized the chance to step in and take over as Director of Advertising.  It was a natural fit considering her cozy (and expensive) first-hand relationships with so many of the boutique shops in Boerne that are ad clients or prospective clients.  She’s not only quickly grown ad sales but it’s also given her a much-needed injection of “adult time” during weeks that had typically been only filled with the insightful conversations (or arguments) of two to eight year olds. She has done a great job with the new role and seems to have helped a happy base of clients grow their brand and sales through the magazine’s exposure.

Then, starting with the May 2015 issue, we began working with a new publishing team to help produce the bi-monthly magazine. The Traveling Blender, LLC publishing company is a Boerne-based husband and wife team (Louis and Trisha Doucette) who have approached the magazine with a fresh set of eyes and ideas. You might have noticed a few of the subtle layout improvements they have made to give the magazine a little more reader-friendly style.  It’s not that the magazine was in disarray or major need of revamping; after all, the original publisher (Schooley Media) that we partnered with to develop the first six years of the magazine had built a very nice template, layout and luxury style for the magazine. However, as the saying goes, if you’re not improving you’re losing ground.  So, with much thought and consideration, this year we took the leap to make a change to something that was working in the hopes of continuing to upgrade it, and we feel it’s been a great move and have thoroughly enjoyed working with the Traveling Blender team. Change is rarely easy but can definitely be rewarding.

With the new team’s help, this July issue of the magazine has a fresh mix of stories — and new advertisers — so kick back, enjoy the read and have a great — albeit soggy — summer.

Regards,

Charlie Hill
Vice President
Cordillera Ranch