Since starting its flagship publication, CityScene Magazine, in 1999, CityScene Media Group has been dedicated to producing high-quality publications with compelling content. Through our partnerships with clients across the Columbus area, we have grown to publish six community magazines, including Dublin Life, Healthy New Albany, Pickerington, Tri-Village, Westerville and Discover Grove City.

Joining us on this episode are Kathy Gill, President and CEO, and Laura Pappas, Advertising Sales Manager.

Learn more about marketing using print, and how to pitch YOUR story to their editors!

To run a successful business, you need resources, valuable connections, and community recognition. Business Inspires will provide you with the tools, resources, and examples to inspire you to create the business you envision.

With more than 60 years as an integral part of the Grandview, Upper Arlington, and Marble Cliff communities, the Tri-Village Chamber Partnership is dedicated to a singular purpose - the success of the business community.

Thank you for downloading, listening, and following Business Inspires, a Tri-Village Chamber Partnership podcast.

This season is presented by: 

• City of Upper Arlington.

To schedule a guest appearance, or find out more about sponsoring Business Inspires, send an email to:

Katie Ellis, President/CEO, Tri-Village Chamber Partnership

katie@chamberpartnership.org

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Copyright 2025 Tri-Village Chamber Partnership

Mentioned in this episode:

Be Your Best Self 2024

Get ready for an epic experience that you won’t forget! The Be Your Best Self Conference, August 22nd at the Grand Event Center in Grandview Heights.

TriVillage Chamber Partnership link

David: Hello. Tri Village Chamber Partnership. David Polakowski, president and CEO. We have Katie Ellis, our operations manager.

Katie: Good morning.

David: And we are excited to have City Scene magazine and Tribe Village magazine, who is part of the city. City scene with us today. Laura Pappas, who is the dirt. Your title. Why did that just go out?

Laura: Advertising sales manager.

David: There we go. And Kathy Gill, who is the CEO and president of City Scene. Welcome.

Kathy: Uh, good morning. Thanks for having us.

David: I'm going to tell you, this is a fun one because Cathy's nervous. She didn't know how to go there. So if you listened in the past, there is no preparation. So, um, welcome, ladies.

Kathy: Thanks.

David: City Scene.

Kathy: Yes.

David: Let's go. Cathy, how did you get here?

David: That's what I was just going to ask. How did we get to Trivillage?

Kathy: It switched over for the first ten years, it was just up for Arlington Magazine because that's who we had a partnership with. So it was kind of the same sort of thing that, um, Pat lost his last name pat City of Grandview Heights was, um, like, hey, can we get this magazine for Grandview also? And we were like, oh, what a good idea. And also the upper Arlington chamber. There used to be an upper Arlington chamber in a separate grand view chamber. So they were morphing together for the Tri Village Chamber partnership. So this whole thing just really made a lot of sense. And we were saying, just because you live north or south of Fifth Avenue doesn't mean that you don't care about what's going on on the other side. I mean, the communities have been really good buddies for a long time.

Laura: Yes. So my sales background was primarily radio and TV. So this was my first go around with print. So, you know, it's a little bit different than selling airtime, which I did for years and years. And um, came upon City Scene through a friend of mine. And yeah, um, just starting in February of this year and just now learned a lot about this company.

Laura: Business to business sales. So we're anxious to get back into that. And working in the Dublin area and Tri Village and meeting nice people like you.

David: It's a fun area, but it is a great chamber. Looking at where the heavy imprint was in the past, how do you, in today's market, sell it, print today? How is it?

David: No, you're fine. This is what keeps us pulling that stream to keep our conversation.

Kathy: Imagine that over 20 years, how the face of the industry has changed. And we keep morphing as well. Sometimes they're pulling me along, kicking and screaming, going, oh, my God, do we have to learn something new? This is so annoying. And we have a, um, weekly newsletter. So now we have Laura. Um, do you love our this is what I usually do when we have new people start the company. We have a sales sheet and we call it our Media Buffet. And it's literally the list of everything that we do versus before, it was like, we have a print magazine and we kind of have this website, but we're not really sure how to use it. And so all the way through to the Media Buffet, that's like the weekly newsletter. We do contests, we have videos. It's like, yes, there it is. It's crazy. It's a lot to keep track of.

Laura: The magazines come out every other month, are issued every other month, so they have a shelf life of about five.

Kathy: To eight weeks, up to eight weeks.

Laura: And they usually it's very targeted marketing. So with social media online, you get all the interruptions on Facebook or Instagram or whatever, and you just kind of go through. But with print, you're a little more focused on the article. And it just, I think, sinks in.

Kathy: Before, we used to say that print is the medium that goes with you. So if you're going to the pool, you can bring your favorite magazine. It goes with you. But now, obviously, we have these miniature little computers that are in our hands that go with us everywhere. Everywhere.

David: As I'm looking at your website and.

Katie: So then what's the best way, if you want to attend this pitch session, what are you looking for? What's the best way someone can prepare to pitch perfect.

Kathy: So we do have this kind of pitch session once a year, and I guess to prepare for that, it's like if you're a little bit familiar with the magazine, that we're always looking for different categories of stories. So we're always looking for personalities to feature personalities. We're always looking for events, especially if they're new events or grassroots events. Sometimes we'll feature smaller events that neighborhoods, um, are putting on versus the larger events like the arts and UA. Also we're always looking for food stories. We love doing um, where somebody wants to share a recipe. So if you live in, um, the community, and let's say your kids on a soccer team, and there's some jojo down the street who has a kid on the team, and they make the best energy bars, that put us in contact with that person because we want to share that recipe also we do that living stories. Um, so if there's somebody that's doing a remodeling, or if you see building and remodeling going on and you want the inside scoop, tell us about that, because we'll send a reporter to go figure out what are they really doing over there at the corner? Are they building a roundabout or what are they doing? So those are um, all kind of the topics, uh, if you will, to pitch at the pitch story. But if you can't come to that, because as I said, it's once a year, we want your input all year round. So the biggest, best thing is send an email call in the front of the magazine. There is contact info for everybody. There's the main office line. Call the office line and say, I have a story idea for Tri Village magazine. Whoever answers will put you in contact with the right editor. Send an um email. It lists out everybody's email addresses. It's also on our website, Trivillacmagazine.com. And anytime, um, during the year you can call, you can email, you can send us a um, letter. But the biggest thing is just to tell us that, hey, I've got a good idea for a story and check it out and at least let us know so we can go and investigate and kind of do our homework, um, and try and bring some more good stories to everybody. Beautiful.

Laura: Well, in our advertising clients, too, they want to be profiled.

Kathy: I don't want to buy an ad, just do a profile. That my business. Everybody has a story. Every story is wonderful and great, but my ad, it's a better way to do to pitch your message. And it's got all your contact info.

David: But anyway, my four page spread that they did last summer on me, i, uh, still have magazines from it. It was a great and thank you for the highlight and the coverage, because it really was a lot of fun. Again, reading about yourself is like, whoa.

Laura: Do you get extra copies for your family?

Kathy: Did anybody come up and ask for your autocraft?

David: Yes, they have. And I'm like, not today. What are your favorite stories? What are the stories that you in sales and in print that you have had that really highlight, uh, what you've done over your career and in your short time that you've been with City Scene?

Laura: Yeah, I get some advertisers, uh, some businesses who have some really interesting back stories. I could name a few. One of, um, the stories was I don't know if it's a vegan, but a restaurant, Clean Eating, that just opened in Dublin. And Clintonville, and I think he's expanded to New Albany.

Kathy: Clean Eats. Okay.

Laura: Clean Eating. And, um, the concept came about because he's a former White Sox baseball player who got into this business, was injured in his career, and, um, started this business in Columbus. And, uh Casey Schroeder. Yeah. Name and name.

David: And it's funny because as we were talking, that's one of the things I was going through the Trial magazine online, and that's what popped up.

Kathy: Yeah.

Laura: Is that what popped, uh, up?

David: Well, yeah, I think it's at the top.

Laura: Okay. Yeah.

David: Anyway no, I get it.

Kathy: Some of the stories I just get really passionate about is like we just did a story this summer about the woman who is like, the core of the Dublin Food Pantry and she was featured on the cover, um, of Dublin Life magazine for this August, um, issue. And we were at the Irish Festival last weekend. Hottest, nastiest, hottest winner. Oh my God. Every year it's the hottest weekend of the year. But she was up, um, there and she was like, just saying, oh my gosh, what is going on here? My face was on the cover of this magazine. So David, it's like you she's like, people are asking me to speak. Well, we were handing out the magazine, too, anyway. But she had an amazing story as well. So through the years, there's a couple that really kind of hit home, I.

Laura: Think, dealing with a lot of small businesses. Everybody's got a backstory. It's so interesting to learn how they got into the business, small businesses, it's hard.

Kathy: And how they're giving back to the community. Because if it's just a plain old business profile, we're not business first. We're not going to just do it about the business. We do the story about the person behind the business and then what they're doing in the community and their ties. Um, and it just really makes the city feel like, um, a small town. And it's amazing how everybody still knows each other.

David: And the fourth situation, it's all scary. How the interconnection? There's so many positive things in all three communities. And I thank you both for highlighting and taking the Tri Village magazine to what it is today, because I still think we have magazines here if, um, anybody needs to get one at Cohat. But I think it's just a great way to highlight who we are and what we do in our trivillage area.

Kathy: Yeah.

David: So thank you, ladies.

Kathy: Thanks for having her.

Laura: Having us.

David: Talk soon. Village