Customers become fans when brand communication becomes an experience. As in content marketing, online magazine strategies can stage brands and increase reach here at a glance.
If you want to build up a standing with your target group, you have to convince them of your content – whether through learning effects for professionally experienced readers or entertainment value through original content.
Blogs are limited in their format and are only suitable for sharing personal opinions, experiences and news about the company. However, successful brand communication today must look beyond the company’s own products and services and serve the information needs of the target group.
Therefore, in content marketing, online magazine concepts, strategies and careful development offer effective ways for companies to profile the brand in terms of content and make it appear more credible – by offering added value to the potential customer before he or she even purchases anything.
In addition, a company can effectively link the online magazine format with its online marketing measures and gain additional reach with its content via targeted search engine optimization and social media channels.
Online magazines increase the visibility of brands on the web
A blog focuses either on people or the company. The structure of the blog feed provides a constant news value like in a newsroom and makes the content short-lived. All contributions revolve around the subjective perspective and the perception of the operator. The format thus sets the boundaries. The added value for the user often fails at this point because of the consistency of the blog’s content.
However, the company should strive for topics and content with a longer-term relevance – contributions that do not lose their topicality so quickly, but that have a lasting effect on reach and brand communication with a growing audience. In content marketing, online magazine concepts focus more on the technical benefit than on the company, even though the brand core shapes the content design.
Through content with added value, the target group is ultimately addressed in a needs-oriented manner, which leads to higher brand awareness. Those who also provide their audience with relevant content on a long-term basis increase their credibility and gain trust. This sets the course for conversions and strengthens customer loyalty.
The advantages of an online magazine at a glance:
- higher content volume
- better user experience
- more SEO possibilities
- long-term added value
- more effective development of brand awareness
- increasing traffic
- more leads
A strong brand presence with content and layout
- Content alignment
Based on the brand core and the corporate goals, the content must be adapted to the reality of the target group. All relevant data on demographics, emotional needs and other levels of the target audience can be collected through quantitative and qualitative research and summarized in a persona, an archetype of the target group.
This enables a needs-oriented approach and reaches potential customers with an effective message at the appropriate point of their customer journey. An essential aspect in determining the right domain is a memorable name that stands for the content and the brand core – the be-all and end-all for successful brand communication.
- Layout
If a company wants to convince with content, it must also put it in the foreground. The online magazine should of course pick up the design of the corporate identity, but if the layout looks like an advertising board from the street, even editorially high-quality content loses credibility. Rather, stylistic restraint conveys the impression of journalistic quality, which the user is happy to engage in during his search for professional information benefits.
The development stages of a content marketing online magazine
- Ideation:
The development of the content marketing online magazine begins with an analysis of the current demand and competition. The results of the person-based customer analysis form the basis for planning in terms of content, form and timing in order to address the needs of the target group in a targeted and consistent manner. At the same time, the company must become aware of its actual possibilities and strengths:
- Conception:
From the product strategy to the user experience, all aspects of the business model are geared to customer needs. The needs-based content strategy determines the information architecture – a value-added structure in which the content and formal aspects are perfectly aligned to offer the user an optimal user experience. At the same time, the information architecture is specifically planned during the conception phase to ensure the effective and sustainable generation of leads.
- Development:
Based on the content and formal conception, the requirements for online marketing and IT arise in interaction with the information architecture. The framework conditions for the technical implementation must be discussed and continuously optimized in close cooperation with the IT team.
Success can be planned: with the editorial staff on reader catch
An editorial plan forms the basis for the development of content. The editorial process, the distribution of tasks and the team structures are clarified and recorded here for all team members. Clear delineation of responsibilities simplifies identification with the task and strengthens the workflow in the team.
If all team members are in the same starting situation, joint solutions for optimizing work processes can be discussed. In this way, the entire team benefits in the long term from a discussion at the same level. This not only ensures the consistency of the magazine’s content, but also enables a self-contained brand identity.
The editorial team is committed to a common goal, a common style and thematic orientation to avoid differences in content. For precise internal and external author briefings, however, sample articles are essential to ensure a stringent implementation of the goals. The structure of the editorial text contributions should be based on the journalistic standards of the industry – here is a small excursus.
More reach right from the start through content marketing online magazines
Via owned media platforms such as social media, newsletters or various corporate publishing channels, but also native advertising and display campaigns, the online magazine is launched with a clear claim for the target group.
It is important that the content is at the center of the campaign, but that the magazine can also establish itself as an independent brand whose brand identity is geared to the needs and motives of the target group. A high brand awareness ultimately leads to increased traffic quality.