Opinion: New Joplin Tri-State Business targets burgeoning market

Staying focused has been rewarding, and now, after more than 25 years in publishing, we are prepared for significant expansion.

After years of mulling it over and months – almost a full year – of planning and implementation, Joplin Tri-State Business has been born. The premier issue is dated April 10, and everyone here at Springfield Business Journal is extremely proud to be involved in its launch.

The publication goes to press every other week, 26 times a year. Initial circulation targets a handpicked group of 2,500 leaders throughout the Tri-State area and in Springfield. We believe there is increasing crossover interest and activity between the communities in rapidly developing southwest Missouri.

Several meetings with businesspeople and community representatives from Joplin and the surrounding towns of Webb City, Carthage, Neosho, Pittsburg, Kan., and Miami, Okla., inspired the energy and courage necessary to visualize and carry out the steps required to start up a brand new newspaper. Because our work with the Springfield Business Journal is already known, we have been welcomed. Joplin tri-state area businesspeople expressed their need for comprehensive business news, and we have pledged to meet that need.

We are grateful to have the opportunity to establish Joplin Tri-State Business headquarters in the Joseph Newman Innovation Center, 407 Pennsylvania Ave., right next to the Joplin Chamber of Commerce in the historic downtown area. From our offices in this beautifully restored building, the JTB staff has been able to get its feet on the ground and start running.

Joplin Tri-State Business would not be a reality this week if not for the enthusiasm, vision, persistence and plain hard work from SBJ Advertising/Marketing Director Mike Noggle. He has been the SBJ/JTB front man from Day 1 in Joplin. Mike makes friends and wins influence wherever he goes, and now he wears the general manager’s hat around the JTB office.

I am extremely proud and grateful, too, that JTB already has a talented staff in place. Jeff Wells is our editor, bringing a depth of experience in journalism, both with The Joplin Globe and The Morning Sun in Pittsburg, Kan. A native of Joplin, Jeff’s knowledge of the entire region, as well as his established relationships and understanding of the region’s economy, are tremendous assets to the new publication. Jeff has pledged to place editorial emphasis on the people behind the businesses and development in the Tri-State region. He shares my philosophy that business is all about the people.

Chantz Cravens, graphic designer on the SBJ staff, is using her talent to make the pages of JTB attractive and easy to read. We could have the best information in town, but if its format didn’t make you want to pick it up, we wouldn’t sell many newspapers. Chantz has an important job.

Michelle Lester, also formerly with The Joplin Globe, has already demonstrated her advertising and marketing talent. Selling advertising for a publication that has not yet published is not a job for the easily discouraged. Michelle’s positive attitude, sense of humor, business knowledge and conscientious care for prospective advertisers has helped make Joplin Tri-State Business a going concern from the outset.

When you call the Joplin Tri-State headquarters to request your new subscription, you will hear the competent voice of Brenda Ellis, office coordinator. Brenda’s duties include reception, bookkeeping and circulation services.

When you request a copy of Joplin Tri-State Business, I think you will immediately recognize its family resemblance to Springfield Business Journal, but I hope you will also notice that it has its own unique look and personality, just like the two close but distinct regions. It is exciting for us at the Business Journal to get to know the people and discover the abundant opportunity in Joplin and the tri-state area. It would be our pleasure to help you make your own discoveries.

Call us here at SBJ at (417) 831-3238 or in Joplin at (417) 625-6699, and we’ll arrange for you to see Joplin Tri-State Business. Send e-mail requests to bellis@joplintsb.com or dweber@sbj.net.

Dianne Elizabeth Osis is publisher and president of Springfield Business Journal Inc.[[In-content Ad]]