April 2010

Digital Magazines vs. Online Magazine Microsites vs. Websites

Submitted by dave_reik on Fri, 04/30/2010 - 16:59

What’s the Best Solution?

There are many options for presenting magazine-style content online. How do you know which approach is ideal for your publication? You can start by answering three simple questions.

Is your online magazine an extension of a print publication?
Do you want to optimize your online magazine for web viewing?
Will you update your online magazine content regularly?

First, what are the different solutions?

If we put online magazines on a continuum with print-centric solutions (PDF/Digital Magazine) on the left to web-centric solutions (full featured website) on the right, magazine microsites would fall in the middle. Below are explanations of each.

PDFs are the simplest online versions of a print magazine. You just post the PDF file of your magazine online and allow people to view it. But it’s not very compelling for readers because:

Large files are often blocked by firewalls and slow to download
Readers don’t want to download big files onto their computer
Reader experience is cumbersome—you have to read pages sequentially
No interactive content

This option is also limiting for publishers—you can’t add rich media or new content, you can’t track viewer activity, and search engine optimization (SEO) is limited. This solution is quickly becoming obsolete.

Digital Magazines (flip books) are high-quality online replicas of print publications that offer value-added functionality such as interactive media and live links. There’s no file downloading and it’s easier for readers to navigate with a flexible control strip and search functionality. Advertisers like this approach because they can replicate print advertisements online and embed active links to their website. However, people find these solutions hard to read because they’re based on PDFs that were designed for print viewing, not for the Web. Reading requires a lot of zooming in and zooming out. And publishers can’t add new content. Digital magazines are a lively way to view a static print magazine online.

Online Magazine Microsites are HTML-based solutions that take advantage of the design and interactive possibilities of the Web. Based on a print publication or an online-only magazine, it’s a dynamic gathering place where readers peruse your magazine content, view rich media (videos, podcasts, slideshows), and link to your social media sites. Online magazines replicate the magazine-reading experience with a flag treatment, Table of Contents, feature stories, and departments. By mixing custom designed feature articles with various article templates, you don’t have to design every page from scratch. Instead, you upload content as often as you want using a simple Content Management System (CMS). Readers prefer this solution because articles are easy to consume and graphically compelling, content is updated regularly, plus navigation is highly intuitive.

Websites can be used to house online magazine content for organizations’ whose primary business is magazine publishing. For these companies, the main website is an extension of the magazine. For organizations that do more than magazine publishing, articles posted on the primary site get lost unless they’re packaged in a magazine microsite.

What are the ideal scenarios for each solution?
Getting back to the original questions….

Is your online magazine an extension of a print publication?
Do you want to optimize your online magazine for web viewing?
Will you update your online magazine content regularly?

If your online magazine is based on a print publication you can consider all options. But if you’re creating a web-only magazine it makes sense to focus solely on web-centric solutions. Why create a print-centric publication to be viewed online? Why invest in designing each and every page of your publication from scratch when it’s never going to print? There are much more efficient ways to do this. If you plan to update your content regularly, PDF/Digital Magazines are not a viable solution—an online magazine or website is the way to go.

The ideal scenarios for each solution are:

PDF/Digital Magazines
You have a print issue and have already invested in the design of each page. Repurpose it. Don't want to add any extra content; just want to replicate your print piece. Great for magazines with ads—publishers can sell online ad space in addition to print.

Online Magazine Microsites
You want to extend your magazine's brand online and give your magazine lovers a solution optimized for the Web. Regularly post fresh content to keep your audience engaged. Make your magazine a two-way conversation with your audience through article commenting.

Websites
Your company is all about your online magazine. Readers don’t distinguish between your magazine’s brand and your organization’s brand.

Social Media Marketing: Not the Leading Marketing Tool

Submitted by dave_reik on Thu, 04/22/2010 - 11:43

The title of a recent Junta42 Content Marketing blog entry caught my eye--“Five Reasons Social Media Marketing Comes Last”. When every other blog entry, email subject line, whitepaper, and webinar advocates the high priority of social media marketing, it was refreshing to read something different.

Based on an excerpt from Shama Kabani’s new book, The Zen of Social Media Marketing, this blog entry explains why social media marketing should come last in your marketing plan, yet why it must be there.

The main distinction Shama makes is that social media is a consumer platform, not a marketing platform. With a consumer-owned platform, you can listen and you can participate in the conversation but you don’t control what or how much is said. You still need a marketing platform—a one-way communication vehicle that enables you to deliver your marketing message to the consumers you want to reach.

Since social media is where your customers are, you have to be there. But don’t forget that while social media provides a great place to meet and greet customers, you still need traditional marketing platforms (i.e. advertising, websites, email, e-newsletters, PR, webinars, special events, catalogs, etc.) to communicate your comprehensive marketing message.

SEO: The real reason for corporate blogging

Submitted by dave_reik on Wed, 04/14/2010 - 14:51

Many companies develop corporate blogs with the primary goal of building a large subscriber base and generating a loyal readership. From this ongoing relationship they hope to build brand awareness and promote goodwill. Maybe that’s why 77% of business bloggers are unhappy with their current blogging efforts (according to Forrester Research.)

Why Blogging is Your #1 Search Marketing Tool, an interesting and thorough whitepaper produced by Compendium, provides lots of statistics that point to the real reason why companies should blog—to drive your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Below are some of the statements I found most compelling:

As much as 80% of all web activity begins with online search.
Historically, 85-95% of clicks on a search engine results page (SERP) occur in the organic section of the results page—not in the Pay Per Click (PPC) section.
Statistics indicate that a consumer’s capacity for corporate blog subscriptions rarely exceeds 2-3.
Corporate blogging is not about establishing a following—it’s about creating keyword-rich, relevant and personal content that resonates with your target market helping them solve their problems via search.
A common misconception among corporate bloggers is that they’re writing for regular, repeat customers when—in actuality—those who read corporate blogs tend to skew toward first-time visitors by an 80% margin.
With valuable and relevant content, frequent updates, and subject specificity, corporate bloggers can greatly improve their search engine rankings.

I encourage you to download this 12-page document and read it from start to finish. You’ll find useful tips on how to select titles and keywords for your blog, how frequently you should blog, who should blog, how short a blog entry can be, and much more.

New Director of Marketing at Diablo Publications

Submitted by dave_reik on Thu, 04/08/2010 - 10:12

Diablo Publications is pleased to announce that Dave Reik has joined our management team as Director of Marketing. Dave will be leading the marketing efforts for both Diablo Magazine and the Diablo Custom Publishing (DCP) division.

Dave was previously with Penton Media, where he held the position of Director of Audience Marketing and Business Development for Mix, Electronic Musician, Remix and Music Education Technology magazines, as well as their online properties and events. As a key member of Penton's senior team, Dave led the marketing and business development activities for both the business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sectors.

We asked Dave four questions relating to what he hopes to accomplish at Diablo Publications and how he intends to get up-to-speed in his new role. Here’s what he had to say…

Q: First, what intrigued you to join Diablo Publications?

A: One of the many compelling reasons to join Diablo Publications for me is their continued commitment to excellence from Diablo magazine, as well as DCP's extensive and impressive list of prestigious customers.

As an active member of the East Bay community for over 10 years, I’ve admired this high-profile publication and wanted to be a part of it. Now I look forward to getting involved with our readers and business community and sharing Diablo Publications’ message more broadly to help fuel the company's continued successes. I’m thrilled to be leading the next stage in the comprehensive marketing strategy for Diablo Publications.

Q: What are the initial steps you took to get acclimated as the new marketing director?

A: I started off by meeting with the strategic management team to understand each of their needs and to get a sense of the company’s 30+ year history. My goal was to get a true, firm understanding of the company’s business model. Then I reviewed the existing marketing collateral with the sales team and filled some gaps. After reviewing the internal systems, I was able to make a few quick efficiency enhancements to our web programming processes. I also researched the competitive environment for Diablo magazine and for custom publishing. My intent over the past six weeks was to get a sense of where we’ve come from and identify where we should be going.

Q: What do you see as your biggest opportunities in the near term?

A: I can envision many ways to expand our customer base by targeting local companies that have a need for custom publishing and for building awareness of their brands. I anticipate there will be a variety of public relations opportunities with local media that will help us get the word out about Diablo and DCP. And our team is working diligently on providing extensive online applications to help our advertisers and partners achieve higher ROI. We plan to leverage new forms of media (i.e. video, podcast, social media, mobile devices) to discover new customers, as well as help our clients communicate with people they haven’t been able to reach.

Q: Where will you focus your marketing resources to achieve the greatest gains?

A: To start with, I plan to leverage our third-party partners. I’m exploring ways to get the most out of our existing relationships and I will be looking to form new partnerships that will help us quickly expand our new media offerings and provide our clients with a broader set of services.

Enhance your targeting with smart Twitter searches

Submitted by dave_reik on Thu, 04/01/2010 - 11:53

Since one of the biggest benefits of Twitter for business marketing is tracking what people are saying about your organization and your industry, honing your Twitter search skills is essential. Plus, smart Twitter searches can uncover prospective customers.

That’s why you should read this article “7 insanely useful ways to search Twitter”, written by John Jantsch. You’ll learn how to get the most out of Twitter’s advanced search functionality and how to combine Google and Twitter to find out not just what’s being said but sometimes more importantly, the characteristics of who is saying it.

These seven tips provide an effective way to stay current on who is talking about your business or industry and what they’re saying. You’ll also learn creative ways to search for Twitter users who could be prospective customers. I highly recommend it!