Making the most of digital magazines

Life used to be so simple; print was static, web pages could be animated. Now, a digital magazine combines the full-page scale of the former with the extra possibilities of the latter. Links, videos, interactivity and animations are all well-understood parts of the modern playbook.

It’s often forgotten that this applies to advertising as well as editorial. In fact, in many instances, you can be a lot more creative with advertising because editorial is constrained somewhat by magazine style and other guidelines.

So, what should you do with all this freedom? Here’s our guide to getting advertising in digital magazines right, how to optimise the designs and how to increase awareness, engagement and response.

Find out more about the value of advertising in membership magazines here.

What you need to know

Basic digital magazines, sometimes known as page-turners, are not new to the industry or to audiences at all. They tend to have few or even no features and, to be fair, this often helps them stay inexpensive. Sometimes, this can be enough to satisfy an audience or at least be accepted as better than nothing.

But sophisticated digital magazines can offer much, much more. Often effectively reaching the level of being a dedicated microsite, they can go further than just being a digital echo of a print mag and they can carry extra content, games, animation and video in a far more engaging way. Despite this, many digital magazines still carry static, featureless print-style adverts that underwhelm when compared to the more impressive editorial material.

“Failing to take advantage of what digital has to offer is like going to print without a headline or forgetting to put in a call to action, a URL or a contact number on an ad. You just wouldn’t do it!” says Alan Dykes, Dialogue’s Marketing and Digital Director. “If you can add video, if you can introduce tease-and-reveal, promote social sharing, if you can get an edge – any edge – with your creative, it’s worth putting the time and effort into doing so.”

Find out more about the value of interactive content here.

How to get your message across

Let’s start with the basics. Making a digital advert by simply copying a printed one is not the best way to make the most of this medium, even if your digital advert carries the exact same information as the print one does.

This is often where people make their first mistake. There’s plenty of overlap between print and digital, true, but the ways they are responded to by the reader are ultimately different – and that counts double in the luxury sector.

Dialogue’s Creative Director Richard Berry explains why: “Let’s think about the restrictions of a print advert. You’ve got limited space, for a start. Your message has to be clear straight away; the artwork has to be very obvious and imminent. However, with a digital magazine advert, there is a chance to introduce an element of storytelling as the page reveals itself.

“There’s a need in all advertising to get your message across instantly and that is no different in digital magazines. But, once you’ve grabbed the audience’s attention, digital offers a certain element of exploration. You’re offering your reader something interactive, something enticing, something to navigate through.”

Find out more about what the future holds for luxury digital marketing here.

What are the fundamentals?

Many digital publications, like their print counterparts, offer a free design service to advertisers. Even if you already have a well-established graphics team in-house, it might still be worth taking them up on this offer because the magazine’s team will know its technical requirements and what its audience expects. See what they suggest; it could make your ad more noticeable, more interactive and ultimately garner a better response.

In the meantime, what should you be aware of? Well, the classic rules on headlines, imagery and calls to action apply in digital adverts too, but you’ll need to add in extra considerations on pacing, text that reveals in stages, animation and video. At the most basic level, there are also more logistical elements to think about.

“Perhaps the most important consideration is the change in orientation,” Richard explains. “Print will usually be portrait, but digital will often be landscape due to the different shape and size of screens – especially if you are using a responsive platform to deliver it (and you should be doing this!).”

That is something you need to keep in mind for anything digital. Phones and tablets could carry a resized print ad (but beware of legibility and a too-long scroll of text) in portrait mode, but it’ll be up to 50% smaller in landscape. A desktop PC or Mac is landscape by default. You’ll want to know which devices your audience are most likely to view the publication on, so it’s a good idea to consult the publishers for this information.

“An effective advert that generates response has got to centre around the messaging and the storyboarding. How does it all fit together and reveal itself?” Richard adds. “You can bring in a headline, flip it and spin an animated flash and fade in some text – you can do all sorts – so it’s all about deciding which elements will complement rather than distract from the advert’s message.”

Find out more about best practice in digital magazine design here.

Putting content first

The takeaway is this: digital magazines are bridging a gap in publishing and attracting a significant share of the audience, so it’s worth making sure you have a presence in this sector.

This adds up to having a lot more to think about but, as a convenient place to start, you’ll need to consider these four things:

1) Does your print advert contain the right kind of engaging imagery that will make it stand out in a digital edition too? Or do you need to start again?

2) Consider all of the elements that can be made interactive. What can you add? What do you want to link to? How do you want to add value?

3) Think about how it will be read. Will it work in portrait and landscape? Will it work on mobile, tablets and desktops? Will it work on a smaller screen? If it’s too small to see and you’ve accidentally created an accessibility issue (more on that in our blog here), you might need some heavy copy cutting to reduce the word count and scroll time.

4) If you do include links – to video, to websites, to social channels and so on – is the landing page you’re linking to optimised for the device the traffic is coming from as well and does the content there match the promise of the ad?

As a parting gift, here’s some free advice: if you receive requests to provide layered files, high-resolution photography, video, links or even to cut your copy from your publisher, it’s not that they’re just being awkward perfectionists – we promise. It’s all designed to encourage digital magazine readers to stop, look, read, watch and then share your advert.

Digital magazine advertising should be about choreographing the user journey with all the tools the platform allows. We can help with that, so talk to us today to find out more about how we can make sure your ad goes further than ever before.