What would it be like to be declared dead and then come back to life?
In 2008, it was predicted that print magazines would no longer exist. With the iPad on the horizon, everything was moving to a digital landscape. But according to Samir “Mr. Magazine Husni, May 2015 had 81 new print magazines planned to launch. So how did magazines do it? How are they still alive and still growing?
Dr. Samir Husni, referred to as “Mr. Magazine” by many in the industry, was the speaker at the annual AAF Dallas Magazine Day. Several members of Agency Entourage were in attendance. Dr. Husni emphasized the importance of engaging content as a reason for print magazines’ return to life. But how do we accomplish this task when the World Wide Web is available at everyone’s fingertips? Anyone can use a search engine to find an answer or read an article. But the differences is that magazine publishers are the “masters of experience.”
So what does this have to do with digital marketing?
As curators, analyzers, and creators, we have the ability to form a positive relationship between the content and the reader. By understanding and appealing to human emotions, we can create content that not only captivates the reader, but also produces an addiction to it. Give the audience the information they expect, but also leave them wanting more. By doing so, we can create a dependency on the information we provide, whether in print media or online.
It is a mistake to think that digital and print can’t co-exist. Instead of divorcing the two, we need to use them in conjunction. When print and digital are both utilized, they can “dispense the drug” that fuels the addiction to content. And when readers are hooked on content, they will continue to buy the magazine.
So lets thank this increasingly digital world for helping bring print back to life. It is ironic that what we thought to be the Grim Reaper of print magazines actually ended up being the angel that saved its life.
