As the digital world continues to evolve, businesses are finding new ways to take advantage of the opportunities it offers. A strong trend that has been building in recent years is digital content marketing.
The idea behind this trend is simple but powerful: when businesses offer insight, information or inspiration related to their industry online, they can attract the attention of users interested to learn more. By providing value to readers, you can boost awareness, grow your audience and encourage sales.
In this article, we will explain why digital publishing is a natural fit for content marketing, and five ways Calaméo can help implement your strategy.
Publish a digital magazine
A great magazine is a classic format for capturing readers’ attention and can be a useful part of your content marketing strategy. Build articles and visuals around your industry or your product to entertain and inspire potential customers. For example, Callaway teamed up with Whalebone magazine to produce a special issue focused on all things golf:
Publishing digitally with Calaméo makes the magazine accessible for golf fans all over the world to browse online.
Include links to your site
Creating connections between your content and your business is a key element of successful content marketing. It couldn’t be simpler with digital publishing—just add links to your website! External links provide readers a seamless transition between enjoying your publication and visiting your business’s site.
💡TIP: Our advanced statistics can help you track which publications drive the most traffic to your site.
Offer a bonus
Everyone loves getting something extra—so why not offer your audience bonus content when they visit your site? Whether it’s a recipe collection or a look at company culture, digital publishing allows your standalone content to shine as an interactive flipbook with professional polish. Plus, in just a few clicks you can embed your publication on your blog or website for your readers to discover.
Share a printable
Printable templates are a favorite for content marketers in every industry. Take relevant information, format it so that your audience can print and use as they like, then publish! The example below shows a printable from Shambhala Publications’ book, Real Life Rules:
Our PREMIUM and PLATINUM plans allow you to enable printing so that your readers can print directly from the viewer.
💡TIP: Pinterest is a perfect place to share your ditigally published printables. Check out our post on Pinterest for digital publishers for tips to get started!
Generate leads
White papers, reports and guides can help establish your business’s knowledge and authority in your field. The Race Director’s Guide to Digital Marketing is a great example from Big Run Media:
This type of publication can also be an effective way to develop a subscriber base or generate leads. Consider asking for your readers’ email address in exchange for downloading your publication and be sure to include a “Contact us” button.
There are plenty of smart strategies for using content marketing with digital publishing to grow your business. No matter how you want to reach your audience, our solution provides the features you need to share your expertise.
Have you ever wanted to start your own magazine? We here at Calaméo did—way back at the beginning of last year, when we had the idea to create our CALAMEO Magazine. Since that first issue was released in February 2019 we’ve learned a lot about how to start a magazine from scratch. For example, what you’ll need to get organized, get creating and get out there.
Keep reading to find our complete guide to start your own magazine, plus three great reasons to opt for digital distribution.
Big-Picture Planning
The first and most important step when you start a magazine is to decide on your subject matter. Maybe there’s an idea you’re passionate about and want to share with others. Or maybe you’re part of a group interested in exploring new ways to communicate. No matter where you’re coming from, take a few minutes to write down the main topic for your magazine. Some possible topics are:
A
hobby or activity, like birding
A
place or institution, like a town or local museum
An
industry, like higher education
An
organization or association, like a sports club or charity
A
business or institution, like your company
For example, we decided right away that CALAMEO Magazine would be about the digital publishing sector as well as about our company. We wanted to give readers a deeper look at Calaméo’s history, people and news. But we also knew that we wanted to provide insight into the digital publishing world and analyze key trends.
Once you’ve defined your subject, it’s time to consider the goals you have for your magazine. These can be business goals, such as selling advertisements or making new contacts. They might also include personal goals like challenging yourself creatively and growing a collaborative community. In other words, write down the reasons why you want to start a magazine. This will help you focus on what’s most valuable and, a little farther down the road, help you evaluate your success.
Finally, think about the scope of your project. Some magazines come out once a week and have hundreds of employees; some magazines only put out one issue every six months. Here at Calaméo, we chose to make four issues of CALAMEO Magazine during our first year of publication. How many times would you ideally like to publish this year to work toward your goals? Pick a number before you move on to planning the actual content of your magazine.
Building Your Team
Now the fun part of how to start a magazine begins! That’s right—it’s the “getting the team together” stage of the project. The size of your team can vary depending on the resources that are available for your magazine. But even limited resources don’t mean you’ll have to sacrifice on quality. At a minimum, you should count on filling three primary roles: Editor, Lead writer and Designer.
Each of these three roles comes with a different responsibility that is essential to creating your magazine.
The Editor is in charge of decision-making. He or she has final say on the topics to cover, assigning stories and approving design.
The Lead writer is generally asked to produce the text content of the magazine, including features, interviews and opinion pieces.
And last but not least, the Designer creates the finished publication. This can involve making page templates, developing a graphic identity for your magazine and illustrating its content.
Finding collaborators to help you start a magazine can mean getting creative. For instance, you may want to put out a call for volunteers, either within your organization or your community. If you have a budget, you can get in touch with freelance writers and designers on platforms like Behance and Fiverr. On the other hand, if you plan to be your own designer, the templates available in sites like Canva allow you to handle basic graphics and layout.
Inside this Issue
After you’ve
assembled your core team, it’s time to work on the first issue of your magazine! Above all, you’ll want to think carefully about the way your content is structured. That’s because you can use this same structure in every issue of your magazine. As a result, you’ll save yourself time and the stress of making such fundamental decisions for each new release.
Begin with your ideas for the main rubrics, or categories, of content that you would like to feature in your magazine. Be careful not to confuse content categories with actual, specific stories that you might already have in mind! For example, our CALAMEO Magazine has nine rubrics: our Editors’ Note, a table of contents, Stats, News, Highlights, Interview, Tips and Editors’ Picks. While the subjects change from issue to issue, the structure stays the same.
With your magazine’s rubrics figured out, the Editor can begin to assign topics to your contributors. Your Lead writer should take on the most important stories, but you can consider asking additional writers and creators to contribute content or even ask for submissions. (Just make sure to explain the topic well enough to receive relevant responses!) Meanwhile, discuss the upcoming issue and its subjects with your Designer so that he or she can prepare layouts and other graphic elements.
Now all that’s left is to set some deadlines! The Editor of your magazine should let everyone else involved in its creation know when their content is due. Plus, the Lead writer and Designer will need a schedule for completing the layout, making edits, finalizing the publication and the planned release date. Stick to your schedule as closely as possible and voilà—the first issue of your magazine is done!
Getting to Readers
There are still a few more choices to make before you get your publication in front of readers. Perhaps the most crucial question when you decide to start a magazine is whether to publish in print, online or both. In the past, print was the only option for new projects and came with lots of built-in costs, from paper to postage. However, it’s now both easy and common for magazines to be available in a digital format.
Besides the lower costs associated with online publication, digital magazines can benefit from incorporating interactive content. You can add links to other websites to cite sources, promote products and events or support advertisers. Spice up your stories with videos from YouTube, audio tracks or even GIFs. Thanks to digital publishing platforms like Calaméo, it only takes a few minutes to make your magazine fully interactive online.
Plus, a digital magazine offers you key information about your readership that print distribution can’t match. Instead of relying on the number of printed copies you’ve ordered, you can effortlessly access analytics showing how many views your magazine is receiving online. (And if you need further details about how readers interact with your content, advanced statistics can provide insights.) This data will help you evaluate the progress you’re making toward your goals as you create the next issues of your new magazine!
We hope that this practical guide to how to start a magazine has given you the right tools for taking on such an exciting project. We loved creating CALAMEO Magazine and are happy to announce that a brand-new issue will be coming your way this spring. Ready to try out publishing your own digital magazine? Join Calaméo today and publish for free.
Many marketing campaigns today are entirely digital, but not all of them are successful. Companies should put thought and intention into their digital marketing campaigns so that they reflect the brand and reach the right audience. Here we have compiled the top tips for creating a successful digital marketing campaign.
What is digital marketing?
Before we dive into how to create a successful digital marketing campaign, let’s first define digital marketing. More people than ever are using the Internet for almost everything in their lives. So it’s no wonder that companies are doing less traditional marketing (printed media, billboards, television, etc.). They are now embracing digital marketing, which comprises all marketing that uses the Internet or an electronic device. Due to widespread use of the Internet, digital marketing can of course reach a much larger audience via these digital channels than traditional marketing. So how exactly should your brand approach these potential customers?
Take advantage of key moments
There are several factors to take into consideration for your digital marketing campaign, timing being one of them. You need to know when consumers will be open to your campaign.
ZMOT
According to Google’s ZMOT model, the Zero Moment of Truth is the stage in the purchasing cycle when consumers research a brand or product online before making their purchase. The Zero Moment of Truth arrives between the stimulus (needing a product) and the First Moment of Truth (buying a product). Consumers make their decisions based on Internet research, consulting several sources. Your brand needs to make a good first impression during this preliminary research stage.
Micro-Moment Marketing
The ubiquity of smartphones has changed digital marketing over the past few years. The ZMOT concept has evolved to now encompass micro-moments. Rather than one moment in which consumers sit down to research (ZMOT), their research is broken up into many (micro) moments throughout the day. These are the small increments of time during the day that consumers are on their mobile devices researching or considering a product or brand. Now, digital marketers have opportunities all day long to grab consumers’ attention and the possibility of engaging directly with them.
Consumers encounter a plethora of digital campaigns every day because they are constantly connected. Differentiate your brand by personalizing your content to make it unique. Make sure that your brand is recognizable (and that your content is mobile-friendly).
No matter the medium or the channel you decide to use, any material that you put online should reflect your brand ethos and be well-constructed. Otherwise, consumers won’t get a true sense of your brand and will favor another brand that feels more authentic. Consumers consult several sources before making their final decision. There is a lot of competition to vie for consumers’ attention, so make sure your digital presence is strong.
A successful digital presence can be the key factor in consumers deciding to go with your brand over another. Ensure that your content is engaging and the customer journey or path to purchasing is clear.
💡TIP: To personalize your digital publications, enrich your content with the Calaméo “Editor” tool!
Make it easy to navigate
An arduous and time-consuming search or buying process can turn potential customers off. Enrich your content but make sure there is a path for the customer journey. Create an effective and clear Call to Action (CTA) to give consumers some direction. Calaméo users can put links directly in the publication so potential customers can be easily redirected to the website to make a purchase.
Make it shareable
We all remember digital marketing campaigns that have gone viral. You can instantly recall the brand and exactly what they were promoting. Viral campaigns often include video elements or an eye-catching graphic. Sometimes they are social media campaigns that encourage users to upload their own content, or user-generated content. Not every digital marketing campaign should have the goal of going viral, but it should at least be easy to share! Make sure that your campaign is shareable and optimized for social networks.
Remember the ZMOT and Micro-Moment Marketing concepts? Consumers have to start their search somewhere once they realize they need a new item. In fact, 89% of customers begin their research with a search engine. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is a valuable tool that will help you nab the right audience at the right time. You do this by using key words and phrases in your campaign that your target audience is searching for. Want to know more about SEO? Read our SEO trends for 2021.
Analyze your results
You won’t know if your campaign is successful unless you are analyzing all the associated metrics and data. Are you looking at your leads, sales, page views, clicks, “dark social” shares? All of these (and more!) add up to give you a full picture of your digital marketing campaign’s success. If you are publishing with Calaméo, you can easily track your publication’s statistics. This feature is integrated in Calaméo and intuitive to use. Another option is Google Analytics. It’s a great tool for tracking how consumers are engaging with your content.
A successful digital marketing campaign depends on several factors. Make sure you are taking advantage of key moments, creating content that reflects your brand, targeting the right audience, and analyzing your results. With these tools in hand, you will be well on your way to creating a successful digital marketing campaign.
