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We're Going to LEGOLAND! How Custom Print Magazines Drive Behavior

We have decided to take a family vacation this year to LEGOLAND in San Diego (Carlsbad, CA actually) and it has everything to do with LEGO's custom magazine. I've discussed LEGO magazine before, and it never ceases to amaze me how they are a clear leader in content marketing and custom publishing.

I'd just like to spend a bit of time on some of the behaviors that we, as a family, have initiated directly because of receiving LEGO magazine every two months.

• We first learned about LEGOLAND from the magazine (we've been receiving LEGO magazine for about a year and a half now). The pre-Christmas issue had a story on all the happenings at LEGOLAND around Christmas time, and our two sons talked about this constantly. LEGO reinforces the theme park in every issue. The most recent issue featured a ride called "Land of Adventure" that my youngest, Adam, can't stop talking about. Behavior - we purchased passes to LEGOLAND.
• LEGO has their own social network as well.  A few months back, LEGO featured MyLEGO Network in one of the LEGO magazine issues. Not long after, our oldest son (Joshua) was finishing off his MyLEGO personal page and showing it to us, and with a self-created music theme to boot. Behavior - the magazine motivates my sons to spend more time on the LEGO website and the MyLEGO network.
• LEGO magazine's "cool creations" section includes winning models from photos kids upload to the LEGO website. Joshua uploads images frequently to the site and always checks the cool creations page to see if he made the cut that issue. Although he hasn't made it yet, he continues to try. Behavior - more time on the website, more time reading the issue - an integrated marketing dream!
• The value of co-branded partnerships is unbelievable, especially with children. My kids love Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Spongebob Squarepants, etc., for the simple reason that they were featured in LEGO magazine, bought the LEGOs, and then became fans of the shows (Note that the LEGOs came first). The only reason they haven't seen the new Indiana Jones movie is because it's PG-13 and we won't let them. Behavior - we have purchased both LEGO Star Wars video games, have the LEGO Indiana Jones game on pre-order, and have too many of the actual LEGOs to even count. It's sickening.

Custom print magazines can be an extremely powerful tool - maybe more so than ever before because of the integration of the web. It's amazing to watch my son read the print magazine and then jump up and head to the Internet to go to LEGO.com. Their blend of user-generated content, comic story lines (with branded characters), and magalog-type promotion is genius. It's also why the magazine has been around since I was a kid - because it works.

Two other important points: 1) At least four of our friends/family have requested a free LEGO magazine subscription from our recommendation, and 2) print will not die anytime soon because when kids can't bring their Playstation Portables, iPods or Nintendo DS systems into a quiet place, they can still bring their LEGO magazines. The same rule goes for many other business areas where technology isn't as portable as we would like (airplanes for one).

It's not often a company can show direct proof that sales happen from a custom magazine. In this case, our family is living proof that LEGO magazine is a profit generator and has helped LEGO become and stay the leading building-toy brand around.

Related Articles:

• Content Marketing Lessons from LEGO
• Webkinz - When Content Marketing Goes Good (and Bad)
• A Content Marketing Lesson from the Transformers

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Why Most Custom Publications Aren't Measured

I've been on hundreds of calls with marketers regarding the creation of a custom magazine or content-based Web site. In each of those cases, there was always someone in the organization who championed the effort. For whatever real reason (and there were many), this person thought a content marketing initiative was important for the business to consider.

At some point on each of these calls we came to measurement. Marketers would frequently ask how we could help them measure a custom magazine. To that, we began to dive into their marketing communications strategy. Frankly, what we learned was never pretty.

Rarely, if ever, did the marketing team have a solid idea of how the custom magazine fit into their overall marketing strategy. Strategically important questions, such as:

• What do you want the reader to do?
• What ultimate behavior are you looking to invoke from the custom publication after they read it?

These questions are very strategic in nature and would require a bit of thinking to figure them out. The messages that we construct as part of the custom publication would have to reflect that thinking.

Without a clear purpose to the custom publishing project, true measurement is virtually impossible. Without an understanding of where the custom publication fits within the overall marketing communications strategy, how would the business know it is working?  What was it working to do?

This always left us as custom publishers in a pickle. If we did our homework correctly, we wanted the business. But if we proceeded with the project without really extracting the purpose of the publication, we positioned ourselves as short-timers. Measurements then tend to be based upon an emotional connection to the publication, qualitative feedback from key customers or management, or price - none of which can be tied back to larger marketing objectives.

It's almost laughable that the custom publication, which has been around since the dawn of time and formalized in the late 1800's, is still a struggle to measure by both marketers and custom publishers.

The solution seems easy - define the purpose; define the objective. If you can define the purpose, you can most likely find a way to measure it. Unfortunately, it's never that simple. Most marketers still have only a basic understanding of the content marketing process. Most custom publishers are more concerned with landing the job now and worry about the consequences later. Frankly, in today's technological age, both are unacceptable.

To marketers - if you can't determine the true purpose for your content project, don't do it. To publishers - challenge your partners to determine that purpose. Get it on paper and put it in the Agreement that you both sign. It both saddens and amazes me about the number of custom projects that are out there that have NO measurement at all to them. The solution is evident, and both sides must take responsibility to make it happen. Now that's what I call a partnership.

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Trade Publishing's Dirty Little Secret

I've been focusing a lot lately on the rise of corporate media. I've received more than a few notes and emails that I'm flat out nuts about this notion, and a few that agree with me. For perspective, check out Are Corporations The New Kings of Content?

One of the underlying principles behind the growth of corporate content marketing is the diminishing role of the trade publication. My third point in this post on corporate content reviews the financial dissimilarities between corporate spending and the investment of traditional media.

"It is corporations, and not the traditional press, that have the financial resources to go out and create the best content."

In the "Corporate Kings" article, we review that:

"Corporations often have bigger budgets and more resources to find and pay for the best research and content in the markets they serve. Unfortunately, too many media companies have been cutting both research and editorial budgets at the same time. The quality of corporate publications today are excellent and ever-improving. At some point, their quality will surpass independently-produced publications."

A "Per Word" Comparison

Let's just look for a second at what trade publications spend on outside editorial versus what corporations spend. This forum post reveals that trade publications tend to pay $0.50-$0.75/word for writing services. I know one that pays $0.30/word. At the same time, good writers can get $1.00/word and upwards of $2.00/word for writing on corporately-funded projects. Even when writers work directly with a custom publisher, $1.00-$1.25/word is commonplace. It's easy to see where the quality talent (and therefore product) is going.

Dirty Secret?

I had an interesting conversation with a former trade magazine editor who has recently moved onto other opportunities. He confirmed the information above and went on to state that,

"With all of the competition for time/attention, it's suicidal for trade publishers to reduce the quality of their core print product. They [trade publishers] say it's just as good as it ever was, and while it's difficult/impossible to measure the quality of the output (which is part of the problem), no one can argue that there are less editorial resources being invested on the input side (fewer people), and those resources are being spread more thinly across print, online, and events. This logically translates into lower print quality."

Is this trade publishing's dirty little secret? I'm not sure how much of a secret this is, but I do know how much more challenging it has become for advertising reps to sell the "quality of editorial" as a reason to purchase an ad.

There is no question about this though: The majority of trade publications have seen a "steep" decline in resources as a combination of cutbacks and multi-purposing of staff. Have you looked at what a trade magazine editor does today? Writing, editing, designing (in some cases), event management, webcast coordination and speaking, managing freelancers, going on sales calls, blogging and more. All this with less staff than ever before. It would take a thousand miracle-workers across a thousand industries to maintain "leadership-type" quality in those publications. Is it hard to see why many of these editors are leaving for corporate shores?

What Does This Mean for the Corporate Marketer?

For those marketers in corporations, this trend means that it has never been easier to get great editorial and writing talent for your content marketing and custom publishing projects. Frankly, many established editors in industries across the board are looking to jump ship...they just don't see the right opportunity yet.

I had a nice discussion with an expert in eMedia trade publishing today. He is recommending that his clients focus on a true competitive set, which includes, in some cases, their largest customers in each category. This is difficult for publishers to accept. Now they not only have to worry about the number 1, 2 or 3 book in the field, they also have to worry about their (traditionally) best customers. Oh, how times are a changin'.

What this also means for corporate marketers is that trade publications are much more accepting to work on custom publishing projects than ever before. New revenue streams are hard to come by for the trades, and custom publishing/content marketing initiatives are growing at a significant clip. Forming good relationships with your trade publishing counterparts may assist you in your content efforts...that is, if they have enough staff to fully service your project.

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It's Gold Rush Time for Corporate Content

Check out this post targeted to custom publishers on the Custom Publishing Council site! Key is, as more and more marketers move into creating their own content, more and more service providers will be offering these services. The differentiator will be great content!

Toyota Connections Hits and Misses the Mark

Toyota Connections is a custom magazine targeted to Toyota owners in the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Professionally executed by Pace Communications in Greensboro, North Carolina, Connections is a beautifully-designed piece with a lot of promise.

Spec Report
- 32 Pages
- 4 Color
- Standard Size
- Summer 2007 Issue
- Frequency - 3x annual

Here's a quick review of the high points, and places where this magazine could take a few steps forward.

Hits
1. Variable/data-driven pages. Page 3 of the magazine includes a personal letter to the car owner offering highlights of the current issue. The personalization gets my attention, and the note is from the dealer who sold the owner their last Toyota. The address of the dealership is on this page as well.

Page 4 includes current events around the reader's area that are within a one-to-two hour drive. Grabs my attention immediately and is a pleasant surprise.

2. Perforated and attached to the cover is a full-service coupon set. Perfect motivation to get the car back in the shop. Some good deals here as well.

3. Articles on "Portable Fitness" (exercising while on the road), "Natural Beauties" (three national parks I can drive my Toyota to) and R&R (recommended music to listen to in my Toyota) are all engaging articles that make me want to get in my Toyota and head for the road.

4. Book contest. Those who return the owner's update card or complete it online can randomly win one of the books in this column.  Good motivator to fill it out. Wish there were more possible winners though.

Misses
1. Two features on Toyota cars is one too many (Highlander and Scion). One is enough.

2. Not sure the fit with some of the editorial. The "Safe at Home" column is good, but I don't see the relation with my Toyota. I was also at a loss with the home decorating feature. These two stories just don't seem to fit in with my Toyota magazine. Would like to see more of a link to my vehicle.

3. Some good call-to-action throughout (contest, links to pertinent Web sites, toyota50th.com commemoration, Sudoku key), but there could be some improvement here.  For example, could we go online to get a couple additional travel workouts?  How about additional imagery and "can't misses" from the national parks article?

Connections does a good job overall of pushing the reader to more, but there could be improvement in integrating the print version with online resources (read on for more, etc.).

The online version contains all the articles, plus some more contest information. But, Toyota misses the mark with the online articles by not having links like "forward to a friend" to get the articles out to other Toyota and non-Toyota owners. Also, other than the articles, there isn't much here. There is an opportunity here to create an online experience for the reader (which may be in the works). Get the reader truly involved in the Toyota lifestyle, don't just give them an online article.

Overall, the magazine is beautiful and professional, but there are clearly some opportunities to take the reader even further into the Toyota brand and experience.

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Business 2.0 Going Away? Say it ain't so.

This NY Times article confirms the strong possibility that Business 2.0, the 7-year Time Inc. magazine covering technology and start-ups, will cease to exist starting this September.

This event, maybe more than others, should tell us the fate of the traditional marketing machine we once knew. Business 2.0 is my favorite magazine by far. It's not even close. When Business 2.0 is placed in the mailbox, I get as giddy as a schoolgirl (just ask my wife!). Along with a few blogs out there, such as Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin, you won't find better information on startups and the mashup of today's technology than Business 2.0.

What this says is that no matter how great the content is, supporting it financially through the sale of print and web ads is challenging if not increasingly impossible. Even some niches out there that I thought were impermeable to ad sales concerns are showing some wear.

(Side note: It's still so interesting to me that many companies are continuing to launch print magazine startups. Not integrated emedia and print, just print. Are they hiding under a shell or just blind to their passion?)

Okay, but really, why do print magazines continue to fail?  Well, there's that whole measurement thing. Print ads are impossible to measure by today's ROI standards. But the key is really content control. Why should a company place advertising messages beside content they have nothing to do with, when they can create great content themselves, send it to who they want, and leverage that content in about 20 other ways from the web site to trade shows to internal communications?

Just looked at the April issue of Business 2.0.  Their main advertisers, like Acura, Visa, FedEx, HP, Nasdaq...they all do multiple content marketing initiatives. When marketing budgets are looked at within each of these companies, what do you think will be more likely to be cut? Will it be the print ad that you can't measure? Or will it be the content marketing initiative that can... be measured in multiple ways, create direct relationships with customers, fill in the gaps in your database, be integrated with all your marketing, and help you keep your job as a marketing executive? Hmmm...tough choice.

All that said, I understand why Business 2.0 "might" go away, but I will be sad if and when it happens.

People Are Still Reading Magazines

Interesting article here from the WSJ called "All things Digital - The End of Time." In it, WSJ interviews Ann Moore, chairman and chief executive of Time Inc.  Ms. Moore, in discussing the value of print, states that: "People are still reading magazines...About 84% of all adults still subscribe. Time spent reading has been actually very stable, in spite of the fact that we all spend about 3,500 hours consuming media."

Ms. Moore goes on to discuss that the problem is not on the user behavior side, but on the print advertising dollars side. This makes perfect sense if you look at the increasing rise in custom magazines...all during the time that print advertising revenue has plummeted. People still enjoy the print medium...but marketers have become increasingly frustrated with lack of measurement concerns, and the availability of so many more options.

Custom magazines remain strong since they are NOT dependent of advertising revenue (at least not to fully support the production). Custom magazines that are dependent solely on advertising, will continue to be under pressure since they live in the same world as traditional magazines.