Feature · Publishing CRM

Every advertiser’s full story, on one screen

Years of ad history. Every contact at every agency. Every issue they’ve run in. Co-op relationships, billing contacts, creative approvals — all the relationships and detail your reps need to grow accounts, not just chase them.

Native agency hierarchy  ·  Targeted email lists  ·  4.6/5 Capterra functionality
M Advertisers Acme Corp Contacts Agencies Lists Email A Acme Corp Customer since Jan 2019 · Healthcare · Last contact 2 hrs ago ACTIVE VIP TIER 1 Lifetime value $284,500 42 ads run · 7 yr customer Contacts (4) + Add JS Jennifer Smith VP Marketing · Primary decision-maker PRIMARY DK David Kim CFO · Billing & AP BILLING RM Rachel Martinez Creative Director · Materials CREATIVE PB Paul Brown Procurement · Contracts AGENCY OF RECORD Westwind Agency 15% commission · Books for 12 advertisers View → Activity Feed Filter ▾ Email opened: Q3 proposal 2h ago · Jennifer · viewed 3× Call logged: Renewal discussion Yesterday · S. Kim · 22 min Renewal alert fired 3 days ago · Contract expires Jun 30 Tearsheet sent: Spring issue Last week · auto-delivered Note added by S. Kim Last week · “Wants digital expansion” + 38 earlier activities Ad History (last 8 issues) Win ’24 Half · $4.1K Spr ’25 Full · $9.2K Sum ’25 Full · $9.2K Fall ’25 2-Page Spread · $18.4K Win ’25 Full · $9.2K Spr ’26 Full · $9.2K Sum ’26 Booked $9.2K Insights ▲ Growing — spread last fall, full pages now Avg deal: $8,463 · Renewed every issue Suggest: Pitch back-cover for Holiday issue Open Deals (3) DEAL SIZE ISSUE VALUE STAGE PROB. REP Q3 Renewal — Full Page Westwind Agency · 4-Color · 6× freq Full Page Summer 2026 $8,398 Negotiating 85% S. Kim Holiday Gift Guide Insert Westwind Agency · Premium · 1× run Half Page Holiday 2026 $5,200 Proposal 55% S. Kim Digital Display — Q3 expansion Direct · Programmatic placement Banner Q3 Digital $3,800 Discovery 25% S. Kim
What’s Included

A CRM that speaks publishing, natively

Most CRMs were built for a sales rep selling SaaS subscriptions to one buyer at one company. Publishing CRM was built for the way ad sales actually work — multiple contacts at every advertiser, agencies of record, co-op relationships, and years of multi-issue history.

Advertiser 360°

Every contact, every ad, every invoice, every note — on one screen

Agency Hierarchy

Native agency-of-record records linked to the advertisers they buy for

Multi-Contact Roles

Tag contacts by role: decision-maker, billing, creative, procurement

Advanced Search & Lists

Pull targeted email lists by category, geography, ad history, or status

Email Integration

Send via Mailchimp, Gmail, or platform-native mail with engagement tracked

Account Status & Tiers

Active / expired / VIP color-coding with automated status transitions

Advertiser 360°

Open one screen, see everything

Every contact, every ad ever placed, every invoice, every email opened, every note any rep has logged — all on one record. When a rep takes a call, they walk in already knowing the full history. When an account changes hands, the new owner inherits seven years of context, not seven hours of catch-up.

  • Full ad history timeline across every issue and publication
  • Contacts grouped by role: decision-maker, billing, creative, procurement
  • Activity feed showing every call, email, note, and engagement event
  • Open deals, paid invoices, and aging A/R all visible on the record
  • One-click account ownership transfer when reps move on
  • Custom fields and contact groups to match how your business actually segments
Advertiser Quick View — Horizon Health Network H Horizon Health Network Healthcare · Customer since 2022 · Westwind Agency ACTIVE VIP TIER 1 Lifetime value $142,800 18 ads · 4 yr customer Overview Contacts (5) Ads (18) Invoices (24) Notes (42) Files Recent Activity Tearsheet sent · Spring issue 2 days ago Note: “Wants Spread for fall” 3 days ago · M. Reyes Renewal alert fired 1 week ago · contract expires Aug Order placed · Spring full page 2 weeks ago · $9,200 Email opened: Q2 proposal 2 weeks ago · viewed 4 times View all 142 activities → Open Deals (2) 2-Page Spread · Summer + Fall Negotiating · 85% likely $18,400 Holiday Half Page Proposal sent today · 60% $5,200 A/R Status PAID $87,200 OUTSTANDING $9,200 22 days Last invoice paid: Apr 14, 2026 View aging report →
Built for the Way Publishing Actually Works

Generic CRMs flatten relationships. Publishing isn’t flat.

In ad sales, one agency books for ten advertisers. One advertiser has six contacts in different roles. One co-op campaign involves a manufacturer and twenty retailers. Salesforce or HubSpot make you build all of this with custom objects. Magazine Manager has it built in.

Generic CRM

Flat contact list

Salesforce treats every contact as belonging to “an account.” There’s no native concept of an agency that books for multiple advertisers, or a co-op manufacturer that funds ads at retailer accounts. You either flatten everything (losing the relationship) or build it with custom objects, formula fields, and triggers (and pay a consultant to maintain them).

Acme Corp Westwind Agency Acme Corp Q3 Order Westwind for Acme Q3 Same data, duplicated & disconnected
Magazine Manager

Native publishing relationships

Agencies link to advertisers natively, with commission terms applied automatically. Co-op manufacturers link to retailer participants with split-billing built in. Contacts carry roles — decision-maker, billing, creative, procurement — so reps know exactly who to call for what. No custom objects. No consultant.

AGENCY Westwind Agency Acme Corp Horizon + 10 more Decision Billing Creative 15% commission auto-applied to every Westwind deal Roles tagged · contacts segmentable · history rolls up
Advanced Search — Build Targeted List Build a list of advertisers matching: Category is Healthcare 142 match Last ad ran in Last 12 months 88 match Status is Active or Expired 82 match Avg deal size > $5,000 34 match + Add filter Save as Saved Search ⌄ Result 34 advertisers ~62 unique decision-maker contacts available for outreach Email Campaign Export to CSV Saved Searches Q3 renewal candidates Lapsed Healthcare ads VIP Tier 1 active No order > 90 days
Advanced Search & Targeted Email Lists

Pull the right list. Send the right message. Track who actually engaged.

Reps want to email “all healthcare advertisers who ran with us last year but haven’t booked Q3 yet.” In a generic CRM, that’s a custom report request to RevOps. In Magazine Manager, it’s three filters and a Send button. Save the search, run it again next quarter, send via Mailchimp or platform-native email with full open and click tracking.

  • Filter by category, geography, ad history, status, deal size — combine freely
  • Save searches and re-run them whenever you need that list again
  • Send targeted email campaigns directly to the result set
  • Mailchimp integration with per-rep API keys for individual tracking
  • Track opens, clicks, bounces — logged automatically against each advertiser
  • Contact groups let you tag manually-curated segments alongside dynamic lists
Connected to the Rest of the Platform

The CRM that feeds the entire ad sales lifecycle

Publishing CRM is where every relationship lives. The other features draw from it: deals link to advertisers, invoices route to billing contacts, tearsheets go to creative contacts, renewal alerts target decision-makers.

Where Publishing CRM fits in the lifecycle

It’s the foundation every other feature reads from and writes back to.

CRM
Advertisers, agencies, contacts — the source of truth
Pipeline
Deals open against the advertiser, history rolls up automatically
Billing
Invoices route to the billing contact, agency commissions split correctly
Production
Materials go to the creative contact, approvals tracked on the record
Tearsheet
Auto-sent to the right contacts at the right addresses
Renewal
Alerts fire to decision-makers, deal re-opens with full history
Sub-Capabilities

Everything the CRM handles natively

Six pieces of a publishing-aware CRM — not bolted on, not configured by a consultant.

Advertiser 360°

Every contact, every ad, every invoice, every note in one place. Drill into history without switching screens or systems.

Agency Hierarchy & Commission

Native agency-of-record records linked to the advertisers they buy for. Commission rates set once, applied to every deal automatically.

Advanced Search & Saved Lists

Combine filters across category, geography, ad history, deal size, status. Save searches; re-run them on demand.

Email Campaigns & Tracking

Mailchimp integration with per-rep API keys. Or send via platform-native or Gmail. Opens, clicks, bounces logged against each advertiser automatically.

Account Status Color Coding

Active (green), expired (red), no contracts (black) — visual status across every list and search. Automated transitions when contracts run out.

Account Transfer & Roles

Globally transfer all of a rep’s accounts to the next person in one action. Tag contacts by role so the next rep knows who to call for what.

Verified Capterra Review

From a publisher with a distributed team

“Our company has been spread across the country and working mostly remotely since before the pandemic. This software has helped us all to be able to perform our individual job functions while still being able to see at any moment what others are doing or have in the works. This helps us to be able to respond to changes in real time and give our clients the best customer service possible.”

TH
Tanna H. · Project Manager
Construction Trade Publishing (11–50 employees) · 2+ year customer
★★★★★
Verified Capterra review
See It With Your Advertisers

See your advertiser book running on Publishing CRM

Book a 30-minute demo. We’ll set up sample advertiser records using your real categories — healthcare, automotive, real estate, whatever you sell — so your team can see the difference.