More magazine publishers every day are discovering that advertisers want and need more from them than ads. They need the .
鈥淲e are in the next phase of evolution in marketing and publishing,鈥� according to Omeda, a company specializing in gathering and segmenting audiences for media companies.聽 Omeda concludes that, to generate revenue, publishers 鈥渉ave the business structure set up and the capabilities needed to effectively target the right audience at the right time鈥� and they should partner with advertisers to add value.
So how can you, as a publisher, ?
First, there鈥檚 the data
Scattershot marketing is on its way out. Today鈥檚 word is 鈥渢argeting.鈥� Fortunately, you have a leg up on the targeting process, and you can offer your advantage to your advertisers.
Omeda states the case succinctly: . As advertisers and publishers focus increasingly on niche markets to keep costs down and customer response up, detailed and accurate information about the people who might buy their product or service becomes more valuable.
Then there鈥檚 building relationships
It can be argued that marketing is a conversation, a way to establish connections that become mutually beneficial relationships. , writes Greg Brown at Hubspot, involves 鈥�.鈥� Basically, Brown says, curation gives 鈥渁dvertisers and audiences more of what they both want.鈥� And what do they both want? Connections. In other words, relationships.
As an example, Brown cites T Brand Studio, a project undertaken by the New York Times that has seen considerable success by helping 鈥渁dvertisers build powerful, lasting, and memorable bonds with their audiences鈥� by supplying strong custom content carrying the advertiser鈥檚 brand.
The tactics might vary from publisher to publisher, but the strategy remains consistent. You can:
- Help your advertisers identify their target audience
- Provide the means to deliver what that audience wants
- Build revenue for your advertisers through the target audience
- Increase revenue for your magazine through higher levels of advertiser participation
It鈥檚 a relationship where everybody wins鈥攁udience, advertiser and publisher.
Ad diversity and segmentation
As already noted, helping advertisers with their marketing extends far beyond offering online or print ad space.聽 As Brown says, publishers 鈥渉ave infinite resources at their disposal: content and audiences are valuable building blocks.鈥�
Beyond the content and audiences publishers can deliver, advertisers can benefit from a variety of tactics, including:
- Sponsoring webinars to educate target audiences
- Magazine-sponsored conferences and events
- Social media support
- Branded content that offers information readers want
In today鈥檚 highly competitive environment, where publishers and advertisers vie for an audience, the more powerful the impact you can make on readers the better. The key is to do much more than toss out an advertiser鈥檚 name and a generic message.
Segmentation, based on all the data you have about your readers, allows you to give your advertisers an invaluable targeting tool. With your help, they can tailor their message to smaller 鈥渟ub-audiences鈥� who are far more likely to respond to it. Segmentation creates efficiency, and more efficiency translates into increased profitability. In the meantime, you develop a new revenue stream by providing the data and other services.
Overcome ad blocking
Why should advertisers appear in your online edition if their ads will be blocked and never reach readers? , and some advertisers are reducing their participation as a result.
Greg Brown suggests that the solution is not to fight the software but, rather, help readers gain the control they want. If this sounds counterintuitive, it is. But sometimes it鈥檚 not a good idea to go with intuition.
You should ask yourself why your readers opt for ad-blocking. 鈥淭ake a step back to figure out why your audiences might be using ad blocking software,鈥� Brown writes. 鈥淎re your banner ads too obtrusive? Are marketing messages irrelevant? Take the time to uncover the 鈥榮tory behind the story鈥� by digging into these questions.鈥�
Helping your advertisers tailor their marketing messages to make them attractive and relevant to the audience could go a long way toward making ad blocking irrelevant. The idea isn鈥檛 to stop ads from appearing but, instead, to find a way to make them as valuable as other content.
Brown offers several resources to help you tackle the ad-blocking challenge:
Rely on performance, not history
Sarah Sluis quotes Eric Zinczenko, CEO of Bonnier Corp., who spoke during the American Magazine Media Conference in 2018:
She also cites American Interest Media President and CEO Andres Clurman as saying, 鈥淭here is a disconnect between what [marketers} think and feel [about the magazine experience] and . . . the KPIs and marketing science.鈥�
In other words, your history as a highly respected publication is less important to advertisers than their key performance indicators. Appearing in an iconic magazine is no longer a vanity move. It has to pay off in profits.
