A Dot-Com In Every Corner

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, March 1, 2001 by Jane E. Zarem

Nevertheless, Hughes emphasizes that established brands should take the risk. "If you've got a good brand, and you build a dot-com on that brand, you will survive because you're real. The ones who enter the market with a 'one-note samba' will only become real if no one tries to block them. If someone challenges your space, and you don't fight back," he warns, "they'll roll right over you. There's a need for a dot-com in every arena. If you've got the book of record in a given industry, and you don't set up the power site, someone else will."

For a single-magazine publisher with an existing content-based site, adopting the A&R model would require changing to a product-oriented site, and gradually adding a site or two, targeting the sites in house ads, and placing keywords in appropriate search engines. The cost would be minor, says Hall, and results would appear immediately because of the product sales.

The A&R model itself presumes an initial magazine launch with five related sites. Hall estimates a $3.5 million investment and projects a profit by month 11, with cumulative profits of over $33 minion by year three, and $76 million by year five.

"Any publication that targets a specific audience has products that those people are interested in buying," he says, "and those, as well as generic products, should be available on its sites."

"One size doesn't fit all," quips Hughes, "but if you've got a big brand--don't let the fire go out."

MARKET DOMINATION: HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS

* Cross-market a niche magazine with multiple Web sites targeting the same readers to get a much greater marketing impact.

* Use multiple product-based Web sites, rather than multiple magazines with free content-based Web sites, to increase cashflow and revenue, provide financial assistance and reduce overhead.

* Sell both special-interest and generic products on the Web sites to address readers' needs and desires while reaching out to a broader audience.

* Separate different types of products by using different Web sites to keep it simple for both special-interest and generic customers.

* Market generic products to both the magazine's readership and to wider audiences with search engines.

Your Readers Are Listening

AN AUDIO PROGRAM KEEPS SUBSCRIBERS WHO ARE TOO BUSY TO READ CONNECTED TO THE PRINT PRODUCT.

What happens when a subscriber just doesn't have enough time to read your magazine? No renewal.

A remedy for that subscriber has come along. Audible Inc. of Wayne, New Jersey, enables magazine, newspaper and book publishers to transfer their existing content to a Web-based audio format. At the same time, the publisher earns incremental revenue--with no investment, no costs and no overhead.

Here's how it works: As each issue appears, the publisher's editorial team provides Audible with selected content--the most important or compelling articles that readers won't want to miss. The text is recorded in Audible's studios, then immediately encoded into appropriate audio formats, encrypted, then posted on Audible's Web site (www.audible.com).