Having been in the publishing and advertising business for many years, I feel qualified to say that I recognize the start of a boom period for some publications. You might wonder, how can you say this when ad pages are down?
It's easy. The paradigm has shifted. Instead of publications being print properties, in the present and in the future, publications with a purpose are information sources, content providers.
I have been associated with Hydraulics & Pneumatics for most of my career. In 2001, things turned downward for print advertising. However, internet advertising was just getting started in our business. Now, electronic media is growing in both importance and in usage. When I refer to magazine with a purpose, I mean magazines like Hydraulics & Pneumatics that had a very specific purpose when they were founded and that purpose is more valid now than ever.
With the advent and proliferation of electronic media, magazines like ours have greater opportunities to deseminate very useful information and content and thrive into the next decade. I almost always recommend an integrated advertising program to my clients which means a combination of print and e-media.
In the electronic world, we offer an outstanding website that is full of technical information, listings of products, articles, e-books, our Fluid Power Handbook & Directory, and more to come. This gives our advertising clients some choices on how to reach their customers and prospective customers with their advertising message. It also gives them opportunities to have their prospects connect directly to their websites where they can make buying decisions.
Our diverse offering of content options also offer our readers and web users the opportunity to access information in ways most convenient to them. In addition to the e-media products listed, we now have digital-only magazines and our monthly magazine available in a digital format for readers who prefer it that way.
So when I say that I see a boom coming, I mean a boom in opportunity for magazines with a purpose, with great content, and with loyal readers and web users. We must continue to look at the future for great opportunities to serve our advertising customers and reader/user customers in the ways that they want to be served. If we do that, we will be participating in that boom.
