ENID — As well as publishing a daily newspaper, Enid News & Eagle offers other services through Eagle Marketing, which publishes the glossy Etown magazine.

“Eagle Marketing is a full-service marketing agency affiliated with the News & Eagle, and the Eagle team does Web sites, video advertising, billboards, wall-size photos and banners, direct mail campaigns and more,” said Jeff Funk, News & Eagle publisher.

“We’ve also created or helped produce a lot of fun events like the Smokin’ Red Dirt Barbecue, Princess Ball, Taste of Home Cooking Schools, Changing Places, Jazz Stroll, game nights at David Allen Ballpark, the Bill Engvall comedy show and concerts,” he said.

Frank Baker, Eagle Marketing director and Etown managing director, said the magazine has found its niche in Enid and has been growing since it first printed four years ago.

Baker said creation of Etown is the result of asking the citizens of Enid what they wanted to see and read about.

“We had done some focus group work with a number of our local citizens to see if there would be an interest in a lifestyle magazine, and the response from every one of our focus groups was extremely positive,” Baker said.  “Etown is up to nearly 10,000 circulation. It is based on a ($25,000) to upper-40s income qualified demographic.

“However, we have seen a tremendous amount of our readership growth come from the Baby Boomers who remain a dynamic and involved part of our community,” Baker said.

Etown is delivered by mail primarily, although copies are sold at the News and Eagle, 227 W. Broadway. Baker said the magazine will be sold at more locations in Enid later this year.

He said keeping up the quality the magazine is known for is the biggest challenge Etown faces.

“The most challenging aspect to Etown is living up to the reputation we established right out of the box,” Baker said. “It’s a glossy, high-quality piece that caught the zeitgeist of Enid just as soon as it arrived. Enid was looking for a positive, upbeat fun read that featured great writers and some amazing photography. “We also were well aware what an outstanding product already existed with the Enid News & Eagle, and we wanted to chart out something as different as possible.”

Even with a declining economy, Baker said the magazine’s advertisers have continually supported it.

“The support of our advertisers has been strong from the beginning and has done nothing but grow since Etown’s inception,” he said.

As well as advertisers, Baker said the Etown staff deserves as much credit for the magazines success.

“We’ve had a number of fine salespeople work on this magazine from day one, but Cathy Nulph has been the heart and soul of Etown’s financial success,” Baker said. “Through her Etown Fab 5, Fab 10 and Fab Couples promotions, Cathy has become the face of Etown and deserves a great deal of the credit.”

“In terms of the visuals, Etown’s former art director Rob Johnson and current art director Amber Curtis have established and grown our artistic template. And, of course, without our chief photographer Bonnie Vculek and some other wonderful photographers, Etown wouldn’t have become the successful periodical that it is today.”

Baker said more events and promotions are in store this year.

“The future holds a number of special Etown events that emerge from the mind of Cathy Nulph,” he said. “E Fluff is a fun, 2010, ongoing promotion, and we’re sponsoring a home-based business event in late February.”

Baker said the magazine continues to listen to its readers, who provide many ideas that fill the magazine’s pages.

“We also want to continue to tell the stories of Enid in Etown,” Baker said. “I have a huge file of brilliant ideas submitted by our readers, so I suspect we have plenty of material to work with. I kid around about Etown being pretty and shallow, but I like to say it’s really about the best of Enid and what we aspire to be.”