Trust and Digital Fatigue Keep Print Alive

Consumers perceive traditional media channels as more trustworthy than online media. Simply put, people trust print more than most other sources. With the worry of fake news and how quickly things are posted and shared online, people find it harder to trust what they read digitally. In done by Two Sides, they discovered print magazines are rated as the single most trusted news source. A separate survey found of respondents favored print. Understandably, believed reading news in print gave them a deeper understanding of a story.

One of the main reasons people feel they can trust print is it is demonstrably more memorable. Research shows that reading/seeing a printed message increases recall. This has much to do with the tangibility of paper products: you hold them and turn the pages. For generations not born into the internet age, it is easier to trust print since it is how they traditionally got news; we trust what is most familiar.

Some have speculated Gen Z and later generations will not have this 鈥渋nstinct鈥� to trust print over digital and hypothesize this will lead to a decline in print. However, studies don鈥檛 support this projection. In fact, Gen Z still spends about an hour every week reading magazines. Added to this, a study found find it easier to read print over digital, and say they believe their peers would benefit from unplugging more. It seems digital fatigue is affecting all generations.

Print Can鈥檛 Die if Print Ads Don鈥檛

Another primary reason print magazines won鈥檛 die is print advertising would have to die first. Many digital communications are not just seen as untrustworthy but are . Did you know of consumers say they ignore online ads? More than 50% of people admit they actively try to avoid online ads at all costs, with online pop-up ads being the most disliked form of advertising. Many adults don鈥檛 trust advertising, was seen as the most trustworthy medium. Even more telling, say they trust print ads in magazines, and when making purchasing decisions, consumers trust print advertisements than they trust search engine ads.

When making a purchase decision, nearly say they prefer print marketing. Additionally, almost will act on direct mail immediately. When comparing direct mail marketing to email marketing, direct mail marketing has a open rate. Subsequently, overall often have a better ROI than digital ads: readers generally pay attention to printed items more, and they remember them for a longer period of time.

. . .

Given the rise of digital fatigue and internet trolls, print magazines are showing just as much promise as ever. There is plenty of evidence to dispute the claim that 鈥淧rint is Dead.” With Gen Z looking like a promising new generation of print consumers, and the overall population trusting print more than any other media, print seems safe. We won鈥檛 be running out of advertisers anytime soon, given the proven draw of the printed word. Why not start a conversation with us about how you can capitalize on your print needs today.

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Given this turbulence, many publications or membership-driven revenue models. These models can provide a more stable revenue and more accurate forecasting from a financial standpoint. While consumer-driven models may be more stable, they aren鈥檛 a reality for all publications. For example, for free city news publications or alternative newspapers, advertising is the only source of revenue. While still valued by readers, subscription-based models may not be viable for these sorts of publications.

Even once the pandemic ends, magazines may still struggle to find ad revenue from the usual sources. This is especially the case given that is on a steady incline.

Print ads will always be an important revenue source. The past year-plus has proven that it鈥檚 critical to have a diverse revenue stream, and there are other ways to generate revenue beyond banner ads and full-page spreads. Here are four avenues to consider.

1. Sponsorship

A corporate sponsorship can be a great option for publications that provide a valuable service to a community or region. Platforms seeking sponsorship must have similar values with their sponsor. In addition, they must be able to articulate the value they provide to the community. In making the case for support, it鈥檚 important to outline how their sponsorship would benefit your publication, i.e., where and how the money would be used. If your organization meets these characteristics, start seeking out philanthropic organizations or corporations that have a history of supporting institutions in your community. Sponsorship is a perpetual and sometimes exhaustive exercise of relationship building, but it can certainly be a fruitful one.

2. Partnerships

Similar to sponsorships are partnerships. For , the food magazine Delish partnered with Disney to create a special edition of their magazine all around recipes from Disney movies and theme parks. You may want to do something like this if your sponsor has certain products/brands that may be better promoted in print because of the images and the prospect of being able to have a physical copy of it. While not everyone can partner with Disney, there are most likely companies in your space that would benefit from a partnership with you and vice versa. However, make sure whoever you partner with is a good crossover and makes sense for both of your audiences.

3. E-commerce

If you have a brand, you have an e-commerce platform 鈥� even if your organization hasn鈥檛 tapped into it yet. Passionate subscribers or readers want to rep your brand. Not only is it free advertising, but it鈥檚 also a bona fide revenue stream. Hats, t-shirts, stickers and beyond, the e-commerce options are vast. For example, The New Yorker has an with a variety of goods reflecting the identity of their brand. If you have close relationships with other brands or advertisers, you could even host their products on your site and split the profits. Also, it鈥檚 important to bring the e-commerce to the platforms you鈥檙e engaging audiences on, whether it鈥檚 your website, social media pages or both.

4. Affiliate Marketing

If you don鈥檛 want to build out your own e-commerce platform, affiliate marketing can still tap into the rising digital sales trend. This type of marketing directs your audience to affiliate merchant platforms. With monetized links or unique discount codes, your platform can get credit for 鈥� and a portion of 鈥� these sales. The key to affiliate marketing is staying true to your readers and aligning with affiliates that have products your readers actually want. At the same time, it鈥檚 important to seek out multiple merchants to partner with. While it may not be a gold mine, affiliate marketing is an easy and effortless way to boost your bottom line.

While there are always new trends that catch on in the industry, each magazine is unique. Shifting production costs to consumers from advertisers may work for some publications, but for others it just isn鈥檛 an option.

Overall, the media organizations that emerge from the pandemic-era stronger are those that apply the same level of creativity towards diversifying their revenue streams as they did to their content.

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Why Your Magazine Needs a Digital Edition

In some ways, a magazine is limited. For example, all the articles have to come out simultaneously, and the reader cannot easily access external resources, like past issues or additional information. There are still many benefits to printed magazines, but we will get to those later. Right now, let鈥檚 consider the many reasons to why to consider a digital version starting with accessibility.

The internet is constantly in our pockets: we can get the latest copy of any digital magazine whenever we have the time for it. A massive benefit to digital editions of publications is getting to use video and links to augment the content your subscribers have come to expect in your printed magazine. Another great way to capitalize on the benefits of digital is using the online data you receive to improve your product and your process. With this data, you can determine which articles are the most engaging, what links get clicked and discover when you should be posting based on when your customers are looking at your content. With a digital site, you can also to see what performs better. This has helped many companies drive engagement and can help your writers better understand which headlines engage your customers. You can subsequently use the higher-performing headlines in your print materials.

Why Your Digital Edition Needs a Printed Magazine

Top among the many reasons why you need a physical, printed magazine is people still prefer them. from 2019 showed 74% of people preferred printed over digital. While this info is pre-pandemic, few would be surprised to see this trend continue, especially with the past year giving many people digital fatigue.

There are a host of reasons why digital editions should never be the only version, but perhaps the biggest is the psychological effect physical, printed objects have on the reader. Were you aware many studies have shown people recall words they read on physical objects much better than on digital? The for this are: paper makes content more intuitively navigable, it facilitates better mental mapping of info and drains fewer cognitive resources, so retention is better. Additionally, with a physical object like a magazine, it is much easier to form a connection. When you feel like you own something, you place more value on, and have more attachment to, the 鈥渙wned鈥� content. You touch it, pick it up, lose it, and then wonder where it went. Those things cannot happen with digital editions.

There are many other reasons you should continue printing your magazine. We will go in-depth in an upcoming blog post but for now we will give you some of the broad strokes. Print is still trusted much more than digital. With questions regarding the trustworthiness of online content, people are falling back on the medium they have always trusted: print. Throughout this pandemic, we have also seen many people getting digital fatigue. There is an intergenerational feeling of the need to unplug, to turn to other content avenues, like magazines. Finally, print magazines are more intuitive. Once you see them, you immediately know how to access them. With print, there is no challenge of which link to click on or how to get to what article like there may be with a digital version.

How Digital Editions AND Printed Versions of Your Magazine Work Together

As we mentioned earlier, using data from your digital editions can make your printed magazine better by using headline and content testing. Also, providing an online option will open an avenue to draw in more people and result in new readers finding your publication. Making your magazine more accessible can be a good thing for both print and digital editions. Once you have your digital version established, it will be easier for people to read your articles as soon as they are released. You may also decide to leave some articles exclusively for the printed version and just preview them on your digital edition to entice people to buy a physical copy. The opposite can be done with your printed copy driving more traffic to your digital version to check out video content or recently updated articles. Many people love the nostalgia of old copies of magazines but cannot access them easily. With a digital edition, you can upload files of your previous publications so your subscribers have access to older articles or just the one they missed a few months ago.

Now you are ready to take advantage of both print and digital. Do not fall behind and miss out on this opportunity to grow your readership. Talk to your sales representative today about digital publishing and app development options. See what we have to offer here.

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How Paper Mills Work and What鈥檚 Going On There Right Now

First, mills establish monthly paper tonnage allocations based on historical purchases as well as other factors and communicate those allocations to customers.聽Each mill has different formulas they use, but the hoped-for outcome is to maximize their sales and to satisfy as many customers as possible. Next, they establish dates when customers may place orders for each specific monthly production run.聽They typically set these dates several months out.

Before the pandemic, a number of paper mills were closing each year due to lowered demand, reducing sources for many standard printing and publishing grades. Once the pandemic began, some mills who had operated at narrow profit margins decided to start producing paper for packaging as online orders were picking up. As print started to increase during the third quarter of 2020, demand skyrocketed.

On top of increased demand, mills have seen a significant jump in the cost of pulp and chemicals needed to produce paper. Labor shortages, Covid-related issues, transportation delays, logistical difficulties and increased demand across all segments are impacting mills鈥� ability to provide enough paper on time. With the increase in demand, price of materials and labor shortages, prices for many paper types have increased. Year over year, most items are up approximately 20-25% or more. It is also worth mentioning that the closely related lumber market also saw a large spike, peaking in May 2021. While it has gone back down now to almost pre-pandemic pricing, it will take a while for the increase to work its鈥� way through to retail pricing.

What We鈥檙e Doing About It

We are currently placing orders as soon as the mills open ordering for each month. These orders are placed for the full amount of tonnage allocated to us even if we do not know specific basis weight/size/finish/plant information when we place those orders.聽 However, they are placed with an LDC (last date to change). The LDC is generally two to three weeks before the actual production run, and we must firm up all details by that date.聽Prior to the expiration of that date, we can cancel all or a portion of the order, and we can change item specifics (basis weight/size/finish/plant).聽Ordering like this ensures that we get the maximum supply we are allocated.

With all of the struggles mills are facing, many printers are having trouble with some of their orders getting canceled. However, as one of 色情论坛鈥檚 core principles, we are built on our strong relationships. We believe that is precisely why we have been fortunate enough to be given special consideration during this tight market. Our standard method of putting in our orders as soon as the order books open works for 95% of our customers. The remaining 5% of orders come in after the initial order has been placed. Challenging times like these are when having such great relationships with our paper manufacturers pays off. We are currently getting inquiries for some much larger than average orders from existing customers and also some prospects.聽Many of these are driven by a desire to get ahead of potential price increases and secure materials for projects essential to their business.

How to Help Your Printer Help You

色情论坛鈥檚 vendors and purchasing groups are working around the clock to procure the print materials our customers need for all of their upcoming print jobs. If you are looking for ways to make sure you get all the paper you need, we鈥檝e got some tips.

First, make sure you confirm your paper order with your printer. Then verify your printing and bindery schedules so you know if there are any date changes. If you can, be flexible and get pre-press artwork to your printer early. Doing all these things will make it easier to get your product printed on time.

Through this time, make sure that your team understands that paper prices continue to rise and will most likely be higher than your initial quoted cost. Keep in mind that you may have to be flexible with your paper stock. Talk with your printer to ensure your specified paper is available. To avoid surprises, we recommend that you also discuss acceptable alternatives in case your original selection is not available.

Specific Grades

Below we have listed a few of the specific paper types that are currently harder to get. Again, if one of the types is something you use (or even if it鈥檚 not), check with your printer to make sure you are on the same page.

• Uncoated Freesheet
• Uncoated Groundwood
• Uncoated Offset
• Coated Freesheet
• Coated Groundwood

The hardest areas currently are Uncoated Freesheet, Uncoated Groundwood and Coated Freesheet.聽Then it鈥檚 uncoated offset, Coated #1, #2 and #3 and Uncoated Groundwood (65 bright to 80+ bright).

Uncoated offset is very tight and we are sourcing these products from multiple mills to try to fill all opportunities before us.

As for coated freesheet, we have been able to fill the demand for almost all orders.聽 Those remaining to be filled are being actively worked to determine if we can substitute other weights, sizes, grades, etc.

Coated groundwood (CGW) is commonly used in magazine and catalog projects and is in very tight supply.

Lead times for most grades are currently in the 12 – 16 week range

If you have any questions or concerns the number one thing you can do is talk to your printer as soon as possible. As with many things in this pandemic, different factors in the paper industry are changing day to day, so don鈥檛 hold off on reaching out.

Sources:

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However, some design trends perpetually cycle through the mainstream that every designer should have in their arsenal.

Join us for the third edition of our Words of Wisdom Webinar Series: The Duotone Effect. In this session, we will be sharing a design trend called duotone. Below are some of the topics we will be covering, including showing you four different variations of duotone using Photoshop and InDesign and explain why it鈥檚 one you should know.

What are Duotones?

You may not know the name, but you鈥檝e definitely seen this design trend everywhere as it has been consistently popular for many years. 聽A simple definition for Duotone design is recreating an image using just two colors, one for the dark parts of the image and one for the lighter elements. We鈥檒l be going over why it鈥檚 so popular and keeps coming back into style.

Photoshop

For those Photoshop fans out there, we鈥檒l be showing two different ways to make a Duotone effect. The first technique will be using the entire photo and applying the duotone. The second will teach you to isolate a figure within an image and then apply the duotone to achieve a flat background.

InDesign

We鈥檒l also show you how to make a .tif in photoshop and edit it in two different ways. One will be using a regular grayscale photo, and the other will show you how to create a screen-printing effect that is popular with duotone images. We will then show you how to take both files over to InDesign for the final step of creating the duotone effect.

We鈥檒l then be answering any questions you have! We hope you鈥檒l join our webinar at 10:30 a.m. Central on July 27 to learn more about duotones and a few different techniques for creating them.

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