Print vs. Virtual - Lessons from Magazines
Ad Age provides a guide to more magazines that have gone the way of the Dodo bird. On a consumer level, reviewing the list made me kind of sad - as I subscribed to many of Conde Nast publications over the years. As a profe
ssional though - I understand that if a product isn’t generating revenue it either needs to be repositioned or pulled. I wonder if some of these publications had done a better job of building their presence on the web (such as Oprah’s magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, Real Simple, etc. has done) if they could have sustained the essence of the product reformulated to “web only” even as their print publication went away?
For those who rely on printed brochures and have written this line-item expense into their 2010 budgets - perhaps you should reconsider. Why not phase-out the printed materials to the degree that it is reasonable and create virtual/digital brochures? In what ways could you save trees, money and enhance your brand by building your presence virtually and without print?
