What is Patron Online?

Founded at Minot, North Dakota, in 2009, Patron Online – Patron, for short – is a Web site and print publication providing information on the arts and popular culture in the Minot area. Patron provides content in six areas: Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Words & Pages, Food & Dining, Popular Culture, and Lifestyle. The first issue was October 2009. The ultimate goal is to produce a quality product, including writing, design, and all other aspects of communications.

Patron is distributed free online at www.patrononline.com and in print, available for pick-up at dozens of locations throughout Minot. Among the locations are restaurants, bars, hotels, shopping centers, businesses, and venues for events. Patron prints and distributes10,000 copies. In 2010. Patron will be available by subscription at $24.00 per year.  Subscriptions may be made for oneself or as a gift for another.

Individuals who have traveled around the country and the region are likely to be familiar with similar publications. Among them are City Pages in the Twin Cities, Independent in Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, and Riverfront Times in St. Louis. In eastern North Dakota, High Plains Reader serves the communities of Fargo and Grand Forks.

While most of these alternative publications are weeklies, Patron is published monthly, on or before the first day of each month, depending on the content. However, the Web site – www.patrononline.com – is updated continuously, and it features content not available in the print version, such as blogs and ourinteractive INTERACT calendar and map. We think this incorporates the best qualities of print and those unique to the Internet. Many national print publications are experiencing existential problems due, in part, to the Internet. We see our model as a bridge between the print-only world and the Internet-dominant world.

 Who is behind Patron Online?

Paul N. Lee, Ph.D., is the founder of Patron Online. Dr. Lee serves as publisher and editor.  A Minot native, Dr. Lee graduated from Minot High School in 1970 and Minot State University in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Later, he earned a master’s degree in mass communication in 1985 and a doctorate in higher education in 1992, both from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Lee has spent 40 years working in communications, starting in 1969 with a ten-year stint as a graphic designer at Lowe and Larson Printing, now Lowe’s Printing, in Minot. Then, he worked for six years at Minot State University in public information and university publications, as well as serving as a journalism instructor
and adviser to the award-winning Red & Green student newspaper and Beaver yearbook. The 1984 Beaver and the 1984-85 Red & Green received honors as the best among North Dakota colleges and universities.

In 1985, Dr. Lee left Minot and worked in marketing and communication at the University of Minnesota and as managing editor of print publications and electronicdocuments at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.

Dr. Lee was a professor of communication for 14 additional years, teaching courses in journalism and public relations, at Barton College (1992-2000) in Wilson, North Carolina, and Maryville University (2002-2008) in St. Louis.

He advised student media at Barton and was founding adviser of Gateway Maryville, the online student newspaper at Maryville. Dr. Lee retired from teaching in 2008 and returned to Minot.

 How is Patron Online supported?

Patron Online is supported by advertising and (marginally) subscriptions.  Advertising dollars will support both the Web-based component and the print publication equally. Advertisers cannot advertise in the print piece and not on the Web site, and vice versa.

Advertising rates will be determined by the size of the print advertisement. The cost per column inch of advertising decreases as the size of the print advertisement increases.

Larger print advertisements will have more links on the Web site. For example, a small print advertisement will have only one link on the Web page, from its name (or logo) to a copy of the print advertisement.

A full-page print advertisement may have up to four links on the Web site – one from its logo to the print advertisement, and then a combination of the following: PDF files, links to the advertiser’s home page or other Web pages, video or audio clips, and animation.

Also, Patron is looking for Premium Advertisers, which are advertisers that sponsor one of the six content areas, plus the INTERACT calendar and map.  Premium Advertisers will have their logo placed atop the page on both the print and Web versions, and they will be listed first among the slate of advertisers appearing on all Web pages.

Premium Advertisers must sign a one-year contract to sponsor the content area.

Who is the Patron Online audience?

The audience for Patron is an eclectic combination of individuals. The audience includes:

• individuals who have an interest in the arts and popular culture in the Minot area; 
• visitors to Minot who may be staying one of the city’s hotels or motels, and who may or may not consume traditional media;
• people who are out and about in the community looking for dining options or activities for the evening; 
• individuals who may not get out much, but who have a subscription to the print version or access to the Internet version; and 
• Younger people who are often un-served or under-served by traditional media. Many of them use social media – Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter – and Patron will use these outlets to engage this audience.  We will appeal to them in the content areas of personal technology (i.e., personal computers, cell phones, iPods), viral videos, video games and arcades, and other topics of interest to this often ignored segment of the audience.