Today we’d like to introduce you to April Aguren.
Hi April, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I moved into Avery Ranch in 2002, one of the first 200 homeowners in this new subdivision in far NW Austin. As the neighborhood grew (it’s now over 4400 homes and condos), there were many stories and conflicting information about the future development plans. When residents had an opportunity to be elected to the HOA Board, I ran in 2004 for one of the four open seats. Each term was three years and I had been elected four times, serving 12 consecutive years on the Avery Ranch HOA Board.
During the last year of my term, the Board was approached by a resident to launch a community magazine focusing on the stories and celebrations of our neighbors and resident businesses. I had advocated for the launch of that publication in 2015. The first issue of “Avery Ranch Living” magazine was published in January 2016. I had contributed articles to it over the years, but in 2018 the publisher approached me to be part of her team as her Managing Editor and Social Media Manager.
When COVID hit, magazine ad sales had slowed down tremendously. We decided that we couldn’t afford to continue publishing the magazine in its current form. So she had transferred all assets to me and I rebirthed the publication to an online version called “Avery Ranch Connects.” Our inaugural issue was January 2021. Because of my prior involvement with the print publication, I was bound to a non-compete agreement so I am not allowed to solicit advertisers. Because of my deep involvement with my neighborhood and love of sharing our stories and celebrations, I self-fund and publish the online magazine each month at averyranchconnects.com.
I strongly believe in local support. Sharing stories of our families, children’s activities, resident wins, and resident businesses bring more of us together and we feel more connected to the neighborhood we live in.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
One of the biggest issues is the awareness that the social news publication has moved online. Because it was sent free of charge to residents’ mailboxes each month, they expected it to stay that way. Even with a postcard campaign letting them know of the switch and participation at many of the neighborhood events with a booth to let them know we are online, we are continually met with surprise that they no longer receive it in their mailbox, even though December 2020 was the last issue mailed out.
That awareness also makes it hard to gather content for each issue every month. I’m fortunate to have my volunteer content committee who followed me from the print version to the online version, but each month, we scramble to encourage neighbors to submit stories to make a complete issue each month.
Because I’m self-funded, all the expenses for online hosting and marketing campaigns are born by me. I do accept donations but they are sporadic and don’t make a dent into my operating costs. It is the love of the neighborhood and the joy of seeing neighbors happy to see their content published that makes it all worthwhile.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
What pays the bills for my neighborhood magazine is my work as a freelance copywriter and content marketer. I mainly write for B2B clients in these three areas: website critiques, blog articles, and sales enablement tools. What sets me apart is that I have the fortune to be surrounded by a wide variety of people and have had my own diverse life experiences that I’m able to capture the voice of the client that I am writing for.
I’m a strong believer in the user’s experience and gear my writing style to what is called UX copywriting. In critiquing websites, I put them through the 5-second gut-check. If I can’t figure out what the site is about and how to get where I want in 5 seconds or less, then I let them know the areas where I recommend improvement to make their websites have clarity and a clear call to action.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
When I tried to launch a different print publication, it was difficult to solicit advertisers. There were two types of owners: 1 who saw it as an opportunity to increase their market share; 1 who held on to everything and wanted to weather the storm by not venturing into anything new. 90% of owners I met were of the second group. In following up with these owners, most who were able to pivot and do more business online are still with us today. Those who chose to stay the course or retract their businesses had a higher percentage of close rates.
So as in any investment, buy low and sell high. Being fearful kept a lot of business owners back.
Contact Info:
- Website: averyranchconnects.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/averyranchconnects/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/averyranchconnects
Image Credits
Jennifer Rudolph Photography
