Why Print Magazines Still Work
Recently I was at a business conference and on the attendee’s tables (you know the ones you visit during the breaks) were a significant number of business cards, several flyers of different shapes and a handful of magazines – displayed there by the business owners to connect with potential customers and business partners.
Each break that day, I deliberately watched as the magazines were picked up, flicked through and snuffled into laptop bags to be read in more detail later on – perhaps on the plane trip home. If we consider ‘airtime’ on content, the magazines received the most time – people holding them in their hands, staring at the compelling covers, handing them to each other – just like you do at a newsstand or magazine retail outlet with one of the ‘glossies’.
On my plane trip home, I read those magazines about people’s business offers, programs or services that they could provide and started to understand their company, and the person behind the company pretty well by the stories and content they have collated for their magazine.
The flow was different than a website scroll and I was in a more receptive mood to receive what they were offering. In 10 minutes I had read this particular magazine and identified a service that one of my colleagues could potentially use and had referred her to that business (via their magazine) before I left the plane.
* Side note – I also thought how wonderful it would be to have my magazine in the seat pocket of every business owner on that flight home. #notetoself
There’s a new behavior now about the excitement of receiving home delivery of parcels of things we have bought online – why not create the same excitement with your ‘lumpy’ magazine delivered straight to the door of your customer.
7 EXAMPLES WHEN PRINT WORKS BEST
- It’s not as common as a flyer, so your magazine more likely to stand out and be noticed.
- Receiving a magazine as ‘lumpy mail’ is less and less common these days, therefore it’s a great chance to delight and surprise future leads or clients by being different in your approach.
- It tells the story of who you are and what you do and what you can offer’ in one reading experience.
- They’re a great handout for every seat in the room when you are speaking on stage.
- Super cool hack – every page (if designed purposefully) can act as its own stand-alone flyer and be printed separately as needed – giving you more bang for your buck!
- Ability to showcase more than one product or service in one media, without confusion – we are used to reading magazines that cover many different topics in the one edition – customer familiarity is high.
- Super handy for businesses who have high-end content or services to leave with clients and demonstrate their portfolio in a professional and modern way. It’s not as common as a flyer and more likely to stand out and be noticed.
I hope you found this helpful.
Feel free to share this post with other business owners.
P.S For all our magazine clients, we seek out sustainable printing quotes from reputable printers with proven records in environmentally friendly offset and digital printing and encourage all to do so too.
Ali Fowler – Creator, Something Good
