Helping You Build an Audience: Journals Marketing at Duke University Press

At Duke University Press, our marketing department works to increase the visibility of our journals through conference planning, advertising, direct marketing, the creation of marketing materials, publicity, social media, and the continuing development of the DUP website and our online content sites. Learn more about the marketing processes in this post for our Journals Publishing Series.

Branding and Design

We dedicate resources to marketing each journal individually and, working closely with our editors, create a distinct identity and brand consistent with the unique mission of each journal. We employ three full-time journal designers; one designer is based in the journals marketing department and ensures that each piece of marketing material we create is both aesthetically pleasing and consistent with the journal’s identity. Our journal designers ensure that the publications and marketing pieces clearly reflect this identity.

Audience-Focused Marketing

We strive to increase the readership of our journals worldwide. We support the editorial quality of the journal by increasing a journal’s visibility, driving submissions, and supporting editors with calls for papers and other materials. We ensure that our journals are indexed and abstracted in appropriate sources so that all potential readers and contributors can find and access the journal easily. Additionally, advertising and direct marketing help to broaden the reach of the journal to audiences that might not be familiar with its content. We have a presence at over 80 academic conferences and 18 library conferences each year where we display and sell journals, host events, and support subscriptions. We also create and share resources for authors to help them find their audience on social media.

We have established a substantial following through social media platforms which gives us the opportunity to reach potentially new audiences and to promote immediate visibility of a journal, editor, author, or article.