Declining magazine revenues prompt online move

 emarketer offers some disconcerting news for magazine publishers. According to today's report some 525 American titles folded in 2008 with others closing in 2009. All attributed to a shift in print advertising to other media, in particular the Internet. Previous blog entries have discussed the wider issue of a move away from print to the Internet. A good example is Technical Data Sheets. Often these are required by architects or consulting engineers at short notice. Fifteen or maybe twenty years ago they were faxed and a printed copy followed by mail. As a result there was little point in using colour print - sales publications could do that. Today the PDF is the preferred format and colour is back. Many architects have recognised that they do not want to use valuable office space for rows of traditional ring binders either when they can simply download what they need.  From the print side Printweek.com today reports on job cuts throughout the print industry and carries an article that conditions are right for mergers. Within this article is news of investment in digital print technology in the field of intelligent colour personalisation which is another subject and a indication that print specialisation is the future.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that there is still a preference for print as a preferred medium for reading away from the computer screen. Some journals have reacted to this better than others by revamping not only the design of their publication but also investing in content by providing articles that are interesting to read. In the industrial publication sector IET has done this very well with their E&T journal. The Engineer continues to offer good value content and interestingly offers the same magazine online, but most industrial sector publications have long since descended into a catalogue of paid for press releases, manufacturer sponsored articles and shrinking advertising revenues. It appears they remain alive by a combination of telesales to companies equally slow to recognise the changing times. Some publications carried by the inertia of advertisers are almost unreadable, but that is another story. Ironically although many industrial companies invest in R&D to innovate new cutting edge products, they do not do the same for their marketing but continue to roll out the same budget and formula year after year - same advertising, same magazines, attend the same exhibitions with the same people and have an amateur approach to the Internet.

So has the printed magazine a future? Good content and good design are key. In a straw poll yesterday in a client's office there was an overwhelming preference for this to be in print. News headlines are OK on the Internet where print cannot compete so well, but magazines carrying more researched in depth articles could have a good future. 

Finally my own straw poll on the train out of London last night. Several people were reading books, quite a few were skimming through the free evening papers - nobody had the paid for Evening Standard - others were plugged into iPods, some were asleep and one girl was watching a particularly blood thirsty samuri movie on her lap top. Nobody had a magazine. 

Instant marketing is not a cheap fix

As the recession deepens and gloom spreads  I have noticed an increase in articles about marketing on the cheap. Typical sub heads such as, "Instant Press Releases", "Cheap business cards", "Free Marketing Plans" and"Free Sales letters" are promoted on one  web site referred to in a marketing newsletter. It all gives the impression that marketing can be applied like a fresh coat of paint to cover up the blemishes and that by using these free tools - and of course buying the book - business success will follow. Unfortunately nothing could be further from the truth. What do cheap business cards say about a company? That the company has little substance, is amateurish and it just creates a negative early impression. And what about instant press releases? Just because you submit a piece about your company it does not mean it will get published. In fact it is very unlikely to be published in a journal that addresses your target audience. Here is the point of marketing. It is not a short term fix to be applied when sales enquiries slump. Savvy companies will already have their marketing plans in place, will have professionally designed business cards, support literature and web site; have regular editorial coverage in the appropriate trade publications because they had taken the time, given the commitment and made the investment to develop a marketing philosophy throughout the enterprise.  

Now social networking tops e-mail for popularity

 We have been experimenting with social networking and blogging with one of our clients for a while now but it is still too early to draw any conclusions as to the business value. One thing that soon became apparent was that blog content rapidly appeared on Google searches which must be a positive result if relevant in-bound links to the client's site are rewarded with higher ranking. But our adoption of social bookmarking links is even more recent  so far with no tangible results, but due to the adoption of such august organisations as the BBC and the sheer number of users (110 million according to Nielsen) it must be worth a try. I have personal anecdotal evidence from the younger (twenties) ladies in my family that Facebook in particular  is being preferred by them to e-mail as a communication tool with their friends. Recent research from Nielsen reported by Webpronews seems to confirm this through actual research and finds that over two thirds of the online population goes online to visit social networks and blogs. It also confirms that Facebook is the most popular and that more older, but not old,  users are joining. Another  finding is that mobile is "playing an increasingly important role in social networking". Of course there again the young early adopters of Facebook are prolific users of mobile communication too, so it is not perhaps surprising  now that the technology facilitates access to social networking sites from a mobile phone. Of course what is actually communicated is another matter, but unlikely to be very business oriented. Despite the undoubted prominence of Facebook it seems but a short while ago that MySpace was the place to be. An article appearing  on the BBC site posed the question - "Has MySpace lost its cool?" 

This article also points out the importance of the advertising funded business model. Will Facebook similarly lose its shine? For marketers many of these web 2.0 applications are both accessible and plausible but for those of us in B-2-B marketing still difficult to recommend with any confidence especially if they prove to be no more than a passing fad. On the other hand, it was not much more than 10 years ago when we were challenging clients to invest in a web site at all, then suddenly every business had a site. So what about e-mail then? It is  a very cost effective tool for communicating with the target audience but does require a lot of work in building and maintaining a good database and more and more organisations are blocking deliveries of messages. On the other hand, looking at the one or two web sites in the same market sectors as our clients that have a Facebook page, typically they have very few "friends" and fail to actually use or develop it. Back to the old problem then of generating content and this is where a good outsource specialist knowledgeable in the market can bring the experience and expertise to build and maintain the brand whatever channel is used to deliver the message.