Summary
The publishing industry, particularly magazines have been harder hit then most in this recession. It doesn't look like it will come back when the economy recovers. How do you bring this revenue up if you hold equity in publishing properties? One solution is to find ways to generate leads for ROI focused advertisers.
Analysis
So many advertisers have opted to pull out a print because it's ROI is hard to prove.
Advertising revenue has gone down 35% for B2B magazines. Advertisers now go on the web looking for that ROI that their CEO has told them they must have to keep their job. This has dramatically impacted publisher's revenue. So how do you get your investment back from magazine properties? Insist that your publishers and their salespeople find ways to develop lead generating tools for advertisers. This involves creating quality metrics with cutting edge technology. It also involved training the sales staff to use these metrics appropriately. If they can prove that advertising brings a profit (something most publishers have run from in the past) they will increase advertising. It is difficult to do and their is no silver bullet. But there are magazines who have had some success with it. This article does a good job of giving examples that have worked and why. Revenue cannot be assumed as in the past (because advertisers were content to brand), it must now be proven (through lead generation) to earn the advertiser's dollars.
This author consults with leading institutions through GLG
Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.
