Content Production Simplified
Digital Magazines
ONLINE PUBLICATIONS Digital Magazines or Ezines (Electronic Magazines) are gaining popularity, with the number of people using smart devices to access them on the go growing. As the market moves away from purely lifestyle, there’s an increasing niche developing for the B2B Marketer looking to take advantage of new and exciting ways to get content in front of potential customers.
CONTENTS WHAT WHERE WHO HOW WHY CONCLUSION
WHAT
Readers turn to Digital Magazines for:
Digital Magazines, Webzines or Ezines all refer to publications that are issued online instead of as a traditional print edition. These online magazines often share similar content to a blog or newsletter and in most cases, replicate a print version of the original publication. Ezines essentially allow for greater editorial and design control and make distributing and sharing marketing content with a wide audience quick and easy. Today, many businesses use Digital Magazines to promote their products and services and many have begun publishing them in multiple digital formats - as traditional web pages or Flash versions that mimic traditional magazines with flipping pages.
WHAT 73% of readers are using Ezines for their job and 64% are likely to share content they’ve seen in a digital magazine with a colleague. 42% of readers suggest that they would register to a digital magazine if the content was relevant to them and 20% said they would read frequently if this was the case. (UBM)
88% Technology news & analysis 49% Industry research
51% Tutorials, guides & advice
Readers turn to digital magazines for:
45% Business news & analysis (UBM)
73% Technical information
WHAT
63%
Examples include Manufacturing Global,
of readers want a greater choice
Manufacturing Today, Industrial Buyer,
of Digital Magazines. The Manu-
Manufacturing Engineering and Plant
facturing and Engineering sectors
Engineering.
are underrepresented in the Ezines currently available.
These digital publications succeed because they deliver information that’s relevant to their industry readership, in entertaining formats. For example, they’ll regularly include one or more of the following features: • Problem solving articles Designed to answer typical or topical frequently asked questions. This allows businesses to provide solutions or advice for their customers and gain some authority in their industry in the process.
• Interviews Q&A articles are popular and offer insight into the way a business leader operates, which customers may be interested in knowing. If interviews regularly appear in an Ezine, they’ll often advertise the next interviewee and ask readers to submit questions that they’d like answering – further building engagement with the audience.
WHAT • Industry Insight Delivering important sector-related news, stories about events like trade shows or summarising a recent report can reinforce the publisher’s authority on industry matters and warrant trust from the readership – believing the publication to be a source of pertinent information.
• Top Tip Lists Lists offer a quick read to readers browsing online. Revolving these lists around a ‘how to’ or ‘top tips’ theme can help businesses in technical industries to break down complicated information in an easy to understand format. Plus lists can be expanded on in more detail in a blog or online article – adding a link to this in the digital magazine helps to drive traffic to a company’s website.
• Teasers Adding a short snippet about what to expect in the next edition of a publication, helps to build anticipation and persuade readers to return.
• Product Highlights Products and services can be introduced and promoted discreetly in ‘soft-sell’ articles, reviews or product launch stories.
WHERE Readers find Digital Magazines through:
Magazine circulation figures show promising results for digital adaptations. The Professional Publishers Association revealed research demonstrating a trend towards popular magazine titles being reformatted for the online environment - offsetting the fall in print to some extent. Whilst industry related Ezines have been slower in adopting the online format, those that are producing a frequent edition have found a regular readership looking to access topical business, commercial and
62% General
industrial information
search engines 36% Vendor websites
Readers find 50% Business & tech analysis websites
digital magazines through:
(Visually)
55% Alerts & e-letters
WHERE Smat Mobility As the number of tablet and smartphones users has grown, applications and device-ready tools have increased to cater for a mobile audience looking to find and read digital magazines on the move.
59%
of people are more likely to read a Digital Magazine
2 in 1
tablet owners read newspapers and/or magazines on
10%
of tablet owners read digital magazines on their device
93%
of adults still read magazines in print.
75%
of marketers plan to spend more on mobile-accessible
after purchasing a tablet device.
their device.
almost every day.
content through 2015, to cater to the growing number of tablet & smart phone users.
WHO 27% of B2B Marketers are utilising digital magazines as part of
Examples include Manufacturing Global,
their content marketing strategy.
Manufacturing Today, Industrial Buyer, Manufacturing Engineering and Plant
Of this, 42% of manufacturing
Engineering.
businesses are utilising digital magazines as part of their content marketing plan.
HOW FORMAT
DELIVERY
Relevance and brevity are essential in
Once the layout has been designed
creating a successful online magazine.
and converted to PDF format, it’s easy
Ezines should contain appropriate
to publish a magazine online through
content specific to a targeted audi-
a user friendly site like ISSUU (where
ence and that content should also be
this Ezine has been published) or
presented in a focused and succinct
Presspad - a tool that allows members
manner.
to format their magazine as a smart device application too.
See the checklist below to understand how both can be achieved:
• Keep articles short. Between 300 and 500
• Again, divide the magazine into thematic
words is the ideal length for digital maga-
sections (or chapters) to make it easier for
zines, to retain interest and it also offers the
the reader to navigate.
opportunity to include links to the full article online. Likewise, the number of articles in an edition should be limited, generally no more
• Remember, attracting attention also comes
than 6 for a frequent Ezine.
down to how the digital magazine looks. Graphic Design is obviously at the core of
• Digital magazines need to ensure that they
this and including interesting visuals such as
stray away from their specific theme. This
infographics to represent data, is one way to
theme should guide the topics that are cov-
improve a publication’s appeal. Learn more
ered in the magazine’s content.
about infographics in our recent article.
WHY READERS Reach Digital magazine circulation had doubled in the first half of 2012, compared to the rate of the entire previous year. This in mind, it is wise to provide the option to receive content digitally. Ezines can reach an audience across the globe instantly, on their preferred portable device. Speed Digital editions of magazines and journals can be delivered fast, as the customer requires them. Interactivity With the ability to add audio, video, links elsewhere online and animated visuals – Digital publications capture their audiences’ attention and encourage potential customers to engage with the content. Cost Ezines are often free to download or subscribe to and for the publisher, they offer dramatically reduced production and delivery costs to their print alternatives. Essentially they are a cost-effective way of distributing a message to a large audience.
WHY In short, Digital Magazines are another
37% based a product or technology
platform where businesses can showcase
purchase decision on information
their products & services and, as these
they read in a Digital Magazine.
statistics suggest, it helps to drive sales. and 12% based the same purchasing decision on details they learnt from advertising in a Digital Magazine.
WHY PUBLISHERS Appointments As is the case with magazines in print, people begin to remember the release date for an Ezine. Publishing digital magazines at regular intervals (i.e. monthly) initiates an appointment with the readership and can help to build engagement around the brand – as consumers habitually download the latest edition of a familiar Ezine.
Entertainment Digital magazines offer escapism. Customers are more likely to browse topical and entertaining content in their spare time, over content that’s delivering a hard sell. Providing an online publication that’s informative but remains interesting, will make an audience more inclined to share features and articles from it. Remember to add social media buttons to ensure that’s even easier to share. You can learn more about optimising social media for marketing purposes in our recent news story.
WHY
Story Building Companies are using blogs and other long forms of content to build a story around their business messages. Digital Magazines lend themselves to this style but also allows for a mix between more comprehensive content and shorter extracts – catering for different readers.
SEO As access to information continues to grow, the ability for businesses to stand out from the online crowd becomes increasingly vital. SEO is an important factor in ensuring that customers are able to discover relevant content. As a digital magazine is likely to include text, SEO can be improved by using the key words and phrases that people are likely to be searching for online. Additionally, adding useful links and ensuring that a digital magazine is ‘device ready’ will also increase SEO prowess, exposing content to a wider audience.
CONCLUSION Providing great content in an easily accessible package to meet a target audience’s needs builds a trust relationship with that audience. They’ll come to associate that Digital Magazine as being useful – a place where solutions are provided - and this will help to enhance a business’s reputation and authority in the industry, essentially making it easier to turn this following into conversions and sales.
Applegate the business marketplace Applegate Marketplace is the UK’s leading means for business buyers to source the tools, components and services they require, detailing over 17 million products and 400,000 companies. Over 300,000 buyers a month use Applegate, and thousands of businesses publish their product information on the site. Applegate assists both buyers and sellers, providing an efficient information marketplace. The company is ISO 9001 certified and has established broad expertise in assisting firms to grow their business online. Applegate has close links with the engineering sector, funding industrial heritage charity Grace’s Guide (www.gracesguide.co.uk) and promoting British design and manufacturing.
T: 0845 600 7177 E: enquiries@applegate.co.uk W: http://www.applegate.co.uk
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