Strutting your Cyber Stuff: Learn how other magazines employ multimedia marketing to promote their Internet ventures

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Jan, 2002 by Dale Buss

Most magazines are clamoring to get on the Internet stage, yet when it comes to actually marketing their Web sites, many seem to be waiting in the wings. While investor-backed Internet ventures have been spending millions to plaster their brand names all over television, billboards and other traditional media--in addition to wallpapering the online environment with their logos--most magazine publishers, laboring under traditional budget constraints, are shying away from costly promotions, focusing instead on sensible efforts that promise a sure return on investment.

"Most publications have really taken a wait-and-see attitude about marketing their stuff on the Web, and rightly so, because their profit centers continue to be traditional publishing," says Jim Shulman, president of Marketing Results, a Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania-based marketing consultancy. "The Web is an investment for them at this point, and one that may not necessarily have a quick payback. We haven't seen a lot of aggressive promotion of Web sites out of this yet because it may not make economic sense for magazines."

PARADIGM SHIFT CREATES CHALLENGES

George Vrabeck, chief executive officer of Gr8Ride.com, a Primedia Co. portal that has integrated that publishing company's automotive brands, admits, "Every media company has had challenges with this. That's because it is a pretty radical paradigm shift."

Yet as they finally begin to feel comfortable with their Web offerings and with the online marketplace itself, more publishers are aggressively promoting their Internet properties. At a minimum, this usually involves leveraging the reach of their own multimedia assets. Some magazine companies are also beginning to push their Net properties via outside marketing venues where they believe the productivity of the placement is a foregone conclusion.

Here's a look at how five varied magazine publishers are marketing their Internet ventures.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Mitchell Prayer has the support of a global brand name and formidable multimedia resources to help spread the word, but the president of NationalGeographic.com is also pushing the envelope by marketing his site elsewhere online and penetrating newmedia platforms, including enhanced TV and the wireless Web.

"Right now, we have more than enough traffic to our Web site," he says. "And there's less of a need to go outside, because we're operating at a highly integrated level with our other properties." At the same time, Prayer insists on making NationalGeographic.com a pioneer in plumbing new possibilities because they are "relevant platforms for creating brand awareness and spotlighting the useful services and utilities that we're providing for readers."

There's no doubt about the reach of the National Geographic brand, with its four magazines, all of which are online as well as in print; about 70 new book titles each year; an international TV channel that is now available in 111 countries; and the launch of its U.S. TV channel this month. "Unlike many dot-coms that are spending 100 percent to 150 percent of their funds on marketing, we're in good position, because the National Geographic brand is one of the most trusted brands in the country, if not the world," Prayer says. "So we don't need to commit to that same level of spending that others do."

Praver makes ample use not only of ads in National Geographic magazine, but also of references at the end of most articles that direct readers to additional information that is available at NationalGeographic.com. The online operation is constantly cross-promoting with the TV properties, including a 30-second spot that has been running on the brand's international channel and will be airing on the U.S. channel right from the start.

NationalGeographic.com also has begun cross-promotional campaigns on the Web with sites in which the National Geographic Society has taken equity positions, including iExplore.com and Tripfinder.com. It also has struck deals with Yahoo! and plans to announce marketing arrangements with other portals. Now Prayer is planning to make his site a common presence on next-generation content and marketing platforms, including rich media on the Net, enhanced-TV services like TiVo and mobile Internet devices such as PDAs and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) phones. On devices like Palm Pilots, for example, many top brand names are striking marketing deals that have their brand icon pop up on the first screen, for easy access by users.

Praver acknowledges that many a marketer already has been frustrated because the wireless Web and other new marketing opportunities haven't reached fruition as quickly as has been projected. We've taken a methodical and scalable approach," he says, "and we'll just let the marketplace tell us when the time is right."

GR8RIDE

Primedia has funneled the Internet content of all of its 29 automotive magazines--including Automobile, Car Audio and Electronics, Lowrider and Mustang Illustrated--into this online site for hard-core auto enthusiasts. And CEO George Vrabeck is pursuing his single-minded focus on attracting car nuts by slapping Gr8Ride not only throughout all those print magazines but also on TV, at car shows, elsewhere online, and, soon, on flyers in a direct-mail campaign.