Print publications have been one of the most disrupted industries in the 21st Century. Digital technology has laid waste to traditional publishing mediums for a vast array of different reasons. Newspaper advertising revenue has been in decline for decades, falling from $60 billion in 2000 to $20 billion in 2015. It’s time to start thinking about going digital if you are not already!
Going digital is no longer optional for publishers looking to remain relevant and profitable. The good news is that doesn’t have to be a bad thing! There are untold benefits of combining your print media with a digital publishing platform.
We’ve compiled a few of our favorites to help you see the benefits of going digital!
6 Benefits Of Going Digital
Considering how prevalent digital publishing has become in the 21st Century, there are thousands of benefits of going digital. We’ve whittled down the list to six of our main reasons for going digital.
Reaches A Global Audience
Digital publishing puts your content in front of a global audience. Over half of the global population is online, as of 2017. Almost two-thirds of the world’s population owns a smartphone or cellphone of some kind.
Physical publishing restricts your content to the audience that can physically receive your product. Shipping publications overseas has always been prohibitively expensive. The price of international shipping has gotten out of hand, in recent years, and can put a serious strain on the budgets of smaller publications.
That’s not to mention the time it takes to ship something overseas. Considering that 63% of consumers report shipping costs and delays as being their least favorite aspect of shopping online, that can have a significant impact on your bottom line.
Going digital puts your content in front of your audience, instantly and inexpensively.
Going Digital Helps You Save Money
Creating your magazine is only the first expense in the long process of getting your magazine on the newsstands. You’ll also need to pay to have your magazine printed. Then you’ll have to promote your publication, which can cost more than producing the publication itself.
Going digital helps you save money in a variety of ways. First of all, digital media can be infinitely reproduced without a loss of quality. Digital publishing also saves on shipping costs, as we’ve mentioned previously.
Finally, going digital reduces the cost of promoting your digital publication. There are endless ways to advertise and market your digital magazine. Digital magazines and newspapers can be promoted via the heavily-trafficked Magazine and Newspaper section of the App Store. Becoming a success on the App Store could essentially be the digital publishing version of scoring big on iTunes.
Easy Social Sharing
There’s little need to state the benefits of social media marketing, this far along in the evolution of the digital marketplace. There are approximately 2.56 billion social media users, as of 2017. Even more, more than 1 million new active mobile social media users are being added daily.
Digital publishing is an easy way to earn customer loyalty. Consumers between the ages of 18 – 34 are 95% more likely to follow a brand via social media. 71% of that audience is more likely to recommend a product or service if they’ve had a positive social media experience.
Going digital is an efficient way to convince your audience to share your content via social media. This can tap into the power of influencer marketing, as well, with your customers essentially advertising for you. This doesn’t cost your marketing department a dime, either.
Social media can be a tremendous source of traffic when handled correctly. A well-placed link can yield a rich, ongoing source of traffic, even without going viral. Don’t underestimate the power of Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest as a source of generating traffic!
More Opportunities For Ad Revenue
One of the biggest challenges of going digital has been the ability to monetize digital content. Digital publishers have been trying to counteract the decline of ad revenue by any means necessary. All manner of unscrupulous advertising practices sprang into being, as the publishing industry struggled to adapt to the new paradigm.
It may seem that going digital would reduce ad revenue, but that suggests a limited worldview. Yes, you might not make as much as your paper publications for the first few issues. This is offset by the numerous new potentials for generating advertising revenue.
The entire publishing industry has had to ‘diversify its income stream.’ Barely anyone operates a single-channel business, at this point. Once your digital presence is established, you’ll have five times as many places to place revenue-generating advertising.
Segment Your Audience
Digital publishing can be incredibly powerful as a marketing tool, as well. While the way you create your digital content might not change that much, the way you spread it around might.
Digital publishing is most effective when it’s part of a content strategy. Going digital lets you spread your content in innovative ways that will tell you exactly who your audience is and what they’re looking for.
These insights can further your refine your content creation process. It can also offer more opportunities for marketing and advertising when handled correctly.
Creates A Digital Marketing Ecosystem
We should all be striving to make our content do double (or triple) duty. After you’ve written your articles, there are numerous ways to repurpose that material into new blog posts and web content.
Each of those posts can serve as inbound marketing for your digital publication, as well. Your audience will share your content via social media, as well, bringing in new eyes and ears with each share!
These are just some of the nearly infinite benefits of digital publishing. It’s also a fantastic opportunity to get into publishing without a massive overhead. Creating a digital publication can lead to a paper publication down the line, once you’re already profitable!
Ready To Go Digital?
Whether you’re converting from print or starting a digital publication from scratch, we’ve got you covered! Our digital publishing platform is as simple as dragging-and-dropping your content into our custom software. Find out more about how MagLoft works, and get started publishing today!
