By: Joe Pulizzi, Content Marketing Evangelist
Online marketing, social media and mobile marketing are all the rage these days, and rightfully so. According to IDC, smartphones recently outsold PCs for the first time, meaning that nearly everyone in the world has a social media and information machine in their pocket or purse at all times.
And by the end of this post, I’m going to get you thinking about print magazines. Yes, print.
Jeff Jarvis recently wrote about how companies need to ignore print, citing that the sheer cost of printing and production “are killing.”
He’s right, if you are a media company. But if you are an association, nonprofit, small brand or large multinational, there is an opportunity in print custom magazines right here, right now. Here’s why.
1. Getting attention: Have you noticed how many fewer magazines and print newsletters you are getting in the mail these days? I don’t know about you, but I definitely pay more attention to my print mail. There’s just less mail, so more attention is paid to each piece. Opportunity? Fewer traditional publishers are printing magazines today, which leaves opportunities for nonmedia companies.
2. The focus on customer retention: In a recent content marketing research study from Junta42/MarketingProfs, customer retention was the most important goal for marketers when it came to content marketing outside of basic brand awareness. Historically, the reason why custom print magazines and newsletters were developed by brands was for customer retention purposes. We have a winner!
3. No audience-development costs: Publishers expend huge amounts of time and money qualifying subscribers to send out their magazines. Many times, publishers need to invest multiple dollars per subscriber per year for auditing purposes (They send direct mail, they call, they call again so that the magazine can say their subscribers have requested the magazine. This is true for controlled (free) trade magazines).
So let’s say, a publisher’s cost per subscriber per year is $2 and their distribution is 100,000. That’s $200,000 per year for audience development.
That’s a cost that marketers don’t have to worry about. If association and brand marketers want to distribute a magazine to their members or customers, they just use their mailing list. That’s a big advantage.
4. What’s old is new again: Social media, online content and iPad applications are all part of the marketing mix today. Still, what excites marketers and media buyers is what is not being done. They want to do something different, something new. It’s hard to believe, but I’ve heard many marketers recently talk about leveraging print as something "new" in their marketing mix. Unbelievable.
5. Customers still need to ask questions: We love the Internet because buyers can find answers to almost anything. But where do we go to think about what questions we should be asking? I talked to a publisher recently who said this:
“The web is where we go to get answers, but print is where we go to ask questions.”
The print vehicle is still the best medium on the planet for thinking outside the box and asking yourself tough questions based on what you read. It’s lean-back versus lean-forward. If you want to challenge your customers (like Harvard Business Review does), print is a viable option.
6. Print still excites people: I talked to a journalist recently who said it’s harder and harder to get people to agree to an interview for an online story. But mention that it will be a printed feature and executives rearrange their schedule. The printed word is still perceived by many as more credible than web content. It goes to the old adage, “If someone invested enough to print and mail it, it must be important.”
Whether that’s true or not, it is still a widely held perception.
7. Unplug: More and more people are actively choosing to unplug — or disconnect themselves — from digital media. I’m doing this more myself. I’m finding myself turning off my phone and email more to engage with printed material. A year ago I didn’t see this coming. Today, I relish the opportunities when I can’t be reached for comment.
If I’m right, many of your customers (especially busy executives) are feeling the same. Your print communication may be just what they need.
Online content marketing is definitely here to stay. Yes to social media, apps and the rest of it, but don’t forget that print still can play an important role in your overall content marketing mix.
And, if you still don’t believe me, here’s more on why print and digital are secretly married. Good luck!\
Joe Pulizzi is CEO of Z Squared Media LLC, whose brands include Junta 42, the Content Marketing Institute and SocialTract. Joe also speaks around the world about content marketing and sometimes promotes his book, Get Content Get Customers, called THE handbook for content marketing. You can reach him at joe@junta42.com.
