In today’s world, digital magazines are an effective way to reach your audience. Due to their interactive nature, they achieve higher reader engagement in comparison to printed magazines. Easily manageable and shareable. Regardless of where your readers are or the device they use - digital magazines are accessible at any time.
In this blog, we aim to explain what digital magazines are and how they could be a vital part of your online marketing strategy. We’ll take you through some of the benefits and have curated a list of successful examples.
What is a digital magazine?
It should be safe to assume that all of you are familiar with printed magazines. In terms of content, digital magazines are not very different from traditional magazines. The main difference is within the presentation of content and the medium. A digital magazine is published, shared and consumed digitally - most commonly via the internet. Typically, its contents consist of formats such as articles, interviews, advertorials, and multi-page stories - just like in traditional magazines.
At first sight, a digital magazine might seem similar to a website. However, the reading experience could not be more different. Through a table of contents or any other type of navigation, the reader can find content that is relevant to them with the click of a mouse button. In linear navigation types, for example, slide navigation, the reader is guided through the story in a logical order in contrast to a website where they would roam freely. Moreover, content that expresses a certain value or a story (as opposed to just information) would be better highlighted as an article in a digital magazine instead of being overshadowed by other popular pages within your website.
What are the benefits of a digital magazine?
The advantages of a digital magazine are something a printed magazine simply cannot live up to. Here are the reasons why:
1. Interactive vs.static
Essentially, a digital magazine is a web document that lives on the internet. This means that we can implement various interactive elements, such as multimedia, clickables and animations. Sound, motion and imagery can help support your message. Considering today’s average attention span, interactive content is the clear winner over static, printed content or even interactive PDFs.
2. Readable on your preferred device
Anything that lives on the internet can be optimised for different screen sizes. A clear advantage of a digital magazine is that they can be viewed on any device at any time. The world is more mobile-dominated by the day, which is why optimising your magazine for smaller screens is not only easy, but essential.
The internet is a wonderful place in terms of shareability. Back in the day, you would need to wait for your magazine to be delivered. Today, we can search for any content our heart desires and have it ready at our fingertips. Digital magazines are easy to share on various other digital platforms and social media. In turn, that means it is also easier for your readers to share your digital magazine with others if they like it. The classic snowball effect!
If you are planning on regularly publishing magazines or making it a series, another advantage of digital publishing is the ability to subscribe easily. Every edition could contain a call-to-action to subscribe and stay up to date. This could also be very useful if you are trying to generate leads.
3. Tracking reading behaviour
The ability to measure reading behaviour is probably one of the biggest advantages of digital magazines in comparison to print. Tools such as Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager are easy to integrate and provide you with insight into your visitor’s interests. That way, it becomes much easier to understand your audience’s interests and provide them with relevant content in your next publication.
4. Environmentally friendly
Last but not least, printing is not a good choice if you care about your carbon footprint. Digital magazines eliminate the need for printing and distribution, making it a more environmentally conscious choice. Above all, imagine the reduced costs! Any digital content is significantly cheaper to produce. Whereas a spelling mistake in a printed magazine would call for a reprint, digital magazines provide you with the option to simply edit and publish - saving you money, time and stress.
Digital magazine examples to get inspired
Let’s say you’re sold and you want to start creating your digital magazines. To inspire you, we have curated a list of, what we think, are wonderful examples of digital magazines. These editions make good use of navigation, multimedia, interactive elements and animations to support its message.
Sustainability Magazine - Euro Pool Group
About Marine Ingenuity - Van Oord
Plan Amsterdam - Municipality of Amsterdam
How to start your own digital magazine
In order to get started creating digital magazines, you will need the right tools and software. Fortunately, there are plenty of digital publishing platforms available nowadays, offering specific features for interactive content creation. Most of these software platforms will feel intuitive and easy to use, ensuring your content creation process will be smooth.
What to look for in a digital magazine maker
The availability of so many content creation platforms may also be the reason to feel overwhelmed in making a decision. There are several things to pay attention to when exploring different platforms. The most important part is that you choose a tool that suits your needs and fits your skill level. Here are some of our suggestions on features to look out:
Prevent publishing through a custom app
Make sure your digital magazine can be accessed through a direct URL. Most readers don’t want to go through the hassle of having to download a separate app to read your magazine. This is where you may lose a part of your audience. Instead, a direct URL ensures the magazine can be read in their preferred browser and device.
Balance between easy design features and creative freedom
The creation of your digital magazine will take time and effort, but should not be cumbersome. Whether you are an experienced designer or a marketer just starting out, your software of choice should provide you with enough creative options to not re-invent the wheel, but also allow you to design freely.
If you are confident in your skill, you may benefit from a publishing platform that will offer you the freedom to position elements the way you want to. If you find this to be a little intimidating and prefer to work from an existing framework, templates might be a good choice for your. Not sure yet? Try to look out for both so you can always fall back on one or the other. Digital publishing platforms such as Maglr offer two distinct systems for both skill levels without the need to choose.
Mobile design and optimisation
We’ve already emphasised the importance of mobile-optimised magazines due to the increasing group of mobile users across the world. Therefore it is a top priority that your future platform allows you to create dedicated mobile designs of your digital magazines. Preferably, such tools contain a separate view in which you can position your content in a responsive view. Some software platforms may even offer the option to convert your desktop design to mobile automatically. However, this may be tricky, so it would be wise to select a platform that will allow you to make changes if necessary.
Custom branding options
Perhaps you are creating your magazine for a company, client or organisation. Every instance has its own story and branding that needs to be continuous throughout every edition. Having to adjust fonts and colours with every design would be exhausting. Therefore, be sure to look out for features that let your define a brand style. Usually these styles can be applied quickly through your design and are applied to all elements immediately. Aside from visual branding, some publishing platforms may allow your to use a custom domain to really complete the picture.
Connect custom marketing tools
If you’re a content creator, you may already use certain marketing automation programs. Ideally, your future publishing platform will let you connect to these tools so that data (from forms, for example) can be swiftly forwarded to your system of choice. That way, it is easy to keep everything in one place and streamline your process, especially in lead generation.
Maglr as your trusted partner in digital magazines
Maglr makes creating digital magazines effortless and fun. With our years of knowledge of digital publishing, we have developed a platform that aims to best suit your needs. With a large library of interactive elements, effects and animations at your disposal, you can create all sorts of interactive content besides digital magazines. No coding design skills needed. Get started creating your digital magazine today by requesting a demonstration or starting a 14-day trial.
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