How it all started! The inspiration for The Listing came way back in 2005, when founder Cath had two young children, and was always on the look out for free or low-cost activities to do as a family.
“I grew up in the area so knew there were so many things going on, especially in the villages, and we were just not getting to hear about them in the local papers until after the events. The Crow and Weekly News came through the doors on a weekly basis then, and, it’s hard to imagine now, but Facebook wasn’t around!
“I’ve always loved writing, have a background in marketing, and had always wanted to run my own business and do life my own way. I guess I didn’t really think too deeply about it, and just jumped in and launched a magazine for Royston!”
And then what?
The Listing was really well received right from the start. There was clearly a big need for an affordable platform for local businesses to advertise, and for events and community news to be shared. But with this comes a challenge: the sheer resource that’s needed to collate the information, to design, to manage the correspondence. That is still a challenge that we face now. We have limited space and don’t like to let anyone down, so we manage this as effectively as possible, including taking longer articles and extra content online to our website.
The time it takes to produce the magazines (we have two versions of The Listing: one for Royston, and a separate magazine for the SG8 villages, and two versions of Local Connections Magazine: one for Buntingford area and the other for villages South of Cambridge), meant that the business grew quickly, from sole trader to limited company, and over the years has employed over ten people to manage the editorial, sales, design and administration.
Who works at The Listing?
Sharon joined The Listing in 2013. “After 15 years at Saffron Insurance in Royston, where my role was all about community connections, networking and business development, I felt it was time for a new chapter. I first met Cath through the Royston Chamber of Commerce when I moved to the town, and we soon became friends. So, when the opportunity came up at The Listing, the timing couldn’t have been better.
What I love most about this role is the variety – no two days are the same! From planning and creating, to working with local businesses, organisations, and readers, every part of the process feels rewarding. I love seeing adverts, articles, and community stories come together in a magazine that people look forward to each month. For me, it’s all about the connections – supporting local businesses, celebrating our community, and sharing the best of what our area has to offer. I feel really lucky to be doing a job I truly love.”
It’s just the two of us, Cath and Sharon, who produce The Listing. Like many small businesses, lockdowns had an impact and it was time to re-think how to do things. Cath was ready for a new challenge and to step back into the day-to-day of the business and a hands-on role. It is a challenge to cover so much with a team of just two, we receive 100s of emails for each issue, and can only achieve what we do through so many tight systems and processes and an almost telepathic brain between us! It’s fabulous team work, exhausting, rewarding and exciting all in one go.
The Listing’s team of distributors, adults and teenagers, deliver the magazines through your letterboxes every month.
One of the aspects that we love is just how many young people have started their working life delivering The Listing. It’s a responsibility that we take seriously: giving them that first opportunity in work to grow in confidence, show reliability and commitment, learn the value of money, and develop that all important work ethic. Seeing our young team leave and go on to their next job is so rewarding; just this week we’ve heard from two from our team who are now working in eateries in Royston.
A huge thank you goes to the parents too – we know and appreciate the effort that you put in to ensure the magazines are delivered.
We are always looking for new people to join our waiting list for a round, please email us hello@thelistingmagazine.co.uk
We’ve also employed young people in editorial roles, and again seeing their careers take off with so much small business experience has given them all an excellent start to working life.
What’s involved in producing The Listing?
Correspondence is a huge part, whether by email, phone calls, face to face, Whatsapps, Facebook messages, texts… you’ll often see us emailing ourselves mid-conversation so we don’t forget what we’ve discussed! Talking of phone calls, we do receive a number of calls asking for an advertisers’ number, or thinking we are the advertiser, or sometimes just for a chat.. we know our area inside out and have become adept at signposting callers to the right organisation or business.
Each issue starts with content planning, and we spend a lot of time ensuring our content has broad appeal, is of local interest, and isn’t too skewed towards one age or interest group. We’ve learnt a lot through our Readers’ Survey and will be sharing more findings over the coming months, you can read about some of the changes we’re making in our article on page 22.
Our content is published over multiple channels: in the printed magazine, on our website and on social media. Each of these mediums needs to be treated slightly differently, and all adverts and editorial content need designing, editing and setting ready for when it goes live, either digitally or in print.
With so much to share, our biggest challenge is fitting it all into the limited print space (it’s a dream to have more pages to play with this month!). Deadline weeks are fun too, as we jump between tasks and try not to lose our place!
Every month, we try to pack in as much as we can, and our editorial focus is always on what is coming up, rather than on events that have happened.
The Listing is all about our community, bringing people together and making a difference. Sometimes we can feel a disconnect, working behind a screen weeks before the magazines come out, but when we hear your stories, how you’ve been to an event, joined a new group, found a brilliantly helpful tradesperson or discovered a new shop in town, it makes it all worthwhile. Our aim is to make a difference to just one person’s life by helping them feel more connected in our community, and from the feedback we’ve received over the years, we really have made a difference to people’s lives.
We work with businesses of every size, from new start-ups to well-established companies. One of the things we enjoy most is that very first call or enquiry, where we get to chat with someone about their marketing needs. It’s so rewarding to help a business grow, raise awareness of an event, or attract people to their meetings. Along the way, we’ve had the chance to learn about so many different industries, which keeps our roles exciting and full of variety.
With our added digital packages – such as social media alongside magazine advertising – we can really get to know a business and help them reach their target audience. What matters most is making sure our customers see a return on their investment. Whether it’s a small local start-up, a community organisation, or a larger corporate company, we’re here to support them all, working to a range of budgets to keep advertising affordable. It’s all about seeing our customers succeed, and with both print and digital options, we’re here to make sure every business gets the visibility they deserve.
What’s next for The Listing?
We plan to keep on doing what we’re doing! Our world is ever more reliant on digital communication, and we have at times questioned how relevant printed information really is. But what has come home to us, loud and clear, is how very valued The Listing is. In our experience, on a local level, clear, concise information is SO important. We’ve all said “I know I’ve seen it somewhere on Facebook but can’t find the post now…” Online information seems to disappear into the void, and of course not all of our community is online. Print is tactile, trusted and can be picked up, put down, referenced, and relied upon.
So The Listing is here to stay, printed, delivered, trusted, with our website and social media channels extending our reach in our community.As many readers said in our survey “Keep doing what you are doing. It’s wonderful!”
