Why Digital will help your print publications?

22 April 2024

Print and digital can seamlessly coexist. Digital magazines possess the capability to augment your existing print strategy and introduce new benefits right from the outset. We are undeniably entrenched in the digital era. Technology has revolutionised our modes of communication, information retrieval, and overall perception of the world. Naturally, this transformation extends to publishing as well. While print magazines still hold their ground, a significant number of publishers are now turning towards the advantages offered by digital publishing.

Expand your audience
A notable advantage of digital publishing lies in its expansive reach. Traditional print publications are confined by circulation limitations dictated by production and shipping costs. Moreover, the print run of a magazine provides a fairly accurate estimate of the audience that will engage with its content, while digital can extend a much farther reach. The absence of physical production and distribution expenses makes it feasible to connect with a vast audience without breaking the bank.

Instant access
A digital magazine can be accessed instantly from any location, any time, through countless digital channels. A simple web-link or scanning a QR code and voila! With Touch Tree you bypass 3rd party App stores and vendors, with the nice benefits of lowering your digital magazine’s technical complexity & resource requirements.

Go Mobile
The big majority of your readers possess smartphone devices. By transitioning to digital publishing, you empower your audience to access a digital replica of your magazine directly from their smartphones.
This accessibility ensures that they can engage with your content conveniently, even when their print copy is not readily available.

Interactivity
While the tactile experience of flipping through a print magazine is unmatched, the digital space offers unique opportunities to drive interactivity that print cannot replicate. I’m referring to features such as video, animations, and 360-degree product displays that can be seamlessly embedded into your digital magazine. Additionally, digital platforms enable you to include content that didn’t make it into the print version, such as extra photographs, videos, or copy originally crafted for your social media channels. Digital magazines provide a platform to leverage surplus content, repackaging it for the reader’s benefit and enhancing their overall experience.

Cost effective
Consider the substantial expenses associated with producing print editions: paper costs, printer fees, and shipping expenses—all of which accumulate over time. However, when your publication goes digital, these concerns become obsolete. While there are still overhead costs to consider, digital publishing significantly mitigates them. The savings generated can be reinvested into your business, fuelling its growth and expansion.

Archive
Back in the pre-computer era searching for specific content meant sifting through endless pages of material. Today, you can digitise all your previous editions and make them available for your readers at the click of a button, where they can use specific search terms to access content, like they do on google.

Data driven
Digital magazines provide comprehensive analytics insights, allowing you to gain a deeper understanding of how readers interact with your publication. You can track popular content topics, analyse which pages they engage with the most, and pinpoint where they exit your magazine. Armed with this data, you can refine future editions and implement strategies to enhance reader engagement. Moreover, this data-driven approach offers an effective means to gradually increase advertising rates over time.

Green and sustainable
Going digital not only benefits your publication but also contributes to environmental sustainability. It takes approximately 3 gallons of water to produce a single sheet of paper. By embracing digital publishing, you have the opportunity to transition a portion of your audience to a medium with a more environmentally friendly footprint. At Touch Tree, we support our publishers by delivering digital magazine content through Amazon Web Services (AWS), a platform committed to utilising renewable energy and implementing a global sustainability strategy to minimise environmental impact.

Easy to update content
One of the key advantages of digital publishing is its ease of updating content. Unlike print, where mistakes are permanent once ink meets paper (like my regrettable double denim incident), digital allows you to swiftly rectify errors with the click of a button. Gone are the days of magazine recalls or wasted print runs due to unusable copies. With digital publishing, changes can be implemented instantly and seamlessly pushed out to devices, overwriting any incorrect digital editions. This ensures that your audience always has access to the most accurate and up-to-date content.

Additional digital advertising revenue
Anyone who has ventured into selling ads for a print publication understands the challenges involved. In contrast, digital publications streamline the advertising process. Leveraging the data you collect enables you to tailor your sales pitch effectively, as advertisers are more inclined to invest in ad space when they have a clear understanding of their target audience. With Touch Tree you can create, change and sell ads at will, plus connect them to articles, magazines and external web pages. This allows the flexibility you need to serve new and existing advertisers.

Flexible Content
Print publications impose limitations on the type of content you can deliver, primarily confined to photos and text. However, with digital publications, the creative possibilities are virtually boundless. Experiment with video content and digital-exclusive offerings that extend far beyond this realm. If you can conceptualise it, you can include it in a digital publication! With Touch Tree you can also create articles and highlights that promote your content.

Social Media
All you readers love it, they use it daily and it’s where they connect with friends and family. Your digital magazine can be part of their digital ecosystem, where they are reminded of interesting articles, new issues and more