How To Keep Your Magazine Relevant In An Ever Digital World

It’s safe to say that the coronavirus pandemic has completely changed the world as we know it. Not only are there the millions of deaths the virus has caused, but there’s the massive impact on the workplace culture to consider as well, with thousands of workers now working from home on a regular basis.

This change demonstrates the growth of technology throughout the years. Going back a few decades ago, being able to seamlessly work from home wouldn’t have been an option – the software and technological infrastructure simply didn’t exist at the time.

Nowadays though, that’s all changed, and more and more industries are now embracing the digital world we live in, utilising an abundance of technological advances in the work they do. From estate agents to construction workers, schools to furniture manufacturers, digital is now – in essence – the thing that makes the world go around.

So, what about the industries which can’t rely on digital advancements in the same way, like the print industry for example? Well, that’s what we’re here to discuss today.

The magazine and newspaper industries have been hit pretty hard by the world’s progressive adoption towards digital, but that doesn’t mean all is lost. In this article, we take a detailed look at how mediums like these can stay relevant in an ever digital world.

The Problem With Print

First things first, in order to understand how to improve the print industry, we need to look at why.

Put simply, the rise of the internet over the years has left the print industry in its wake. As such, content is now created at a faster pace than at any other point in human history.

Coming up with stories, editing them, printing them and distributing them out to avid readers has simply not been able to keep up with the immediacy of the internet. Nowadays, if you want to find an answer to something, you Google it, so there has been a huge dynamic shift in the way people choose to consume content.

To this end, it’s been incredibly difficult for magazines and newspapers to keep up. Thanks to social media, content can now be created in a matter of seconds. If a newspaper or magazine then reports on this content, they’re effectively covering old news and repeating a story everybody may have heard already.

Couple this with the fact our attention spans are now less than a goldfish, our society simply feeds off a need for immediate information. So, what is the print industry supposed to do?

Time For Change

Well, as the old saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them – and that’s exactly what the print industry needs to do if it’s going to survive.

Print publishers need to connect their printed editions to rich, engaging, exclusive, digital content if they want to remain in the game, and they need to implement improved methods of distributing their work effectively.

While the traditional days of printing bespoke magazines may be fairly outdated, that’s not to say it’s completely dead.

Instead, print publishers need to think of ways that offer the best of both worlds to consumers – a printed medium with a digital edge to it. With this in mind, Augmented Reality (AR) is often a good place to start.

The Best Of Both Worlds

Giving publishers the ability to link their physical magazine to engaging content via a smartphone, AR bridges the gap between print and digital, creating a potential stream for advertising revenue in the process as well.

There is so much that goes on behind the scenes of a magazine article, after all. From the photoshoot to the interview itself, all aspects involved with developing a magazine article can create valuable content for a reader to engage with. And now, thanks to augmented reality, consumers can engage with a printed story they’re enjoying, before heading online to discover more.

While the consumer may have initially paid money to consume a magazine’s content, by offering engaging, exclusive digital content on top, they will feel like they’ve received an improved level of value, combining the quality of print journalism with the convenience of digital marketing. Simple.