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Strengthening Relationships
In the Netherlands they’re often called ‘sponsored magazines’. They’re also known elsewhere as ‘house magazines’, ‘custom publications’, ‘branded magazines’, ‘private media’ or ‘corporate magazines’. House magazines are often hard to distinguish from their newsstand counterparts, but they’re distributed in controlled circulation to a company’s customers, prospects, suppliers, employees and partners. They’re an increasingly popular medium for strengthening relationships with these audiences. They deliver fresh, targeted content that attracts, informs and entertains them while developing loyalty and leads and building brand awareness. The best can even establish ‘industry thought leadership’.
Offsetting the Costs
Although the rewards of effective house magazines are great, the costs of their production are high. For this reason they're a vehicle that can usually only be considered by the marketing or corporate communications management of large companies. Costs can nevertheless be offset by the inclusion of outside advertising from clients' strategic partners and others promoting products or services identified as being of interest to the magazine's readership.
Improving the Cost/benefit Ratio
The cost/benefit ratio can also be improved by repositioning the articles for other media. We've been researching and writing for the flagship management magazine of Europe's largest electronics company for a number of years. The journalistic nature of the magazine's articles means most of them can be reused effectively on their corporate website.
Alternative Vehicles
There are alternative communications vehicles more appropriate for less substantial marketing budgets, but that nonetheless can provide many of the same benefits. Elsewhere at Oake Communications online we describe the print and online newsletters and specialized or subsidiary websites we create for our clients.
Connecting with your Readership
As experienced writers and editors, we understand that the criteria for successful house magazines are much the same as forthe periodicals we all choose to subscribe to or buy. A blend of words and
images that connects with their readership. Our clients know that their management, customers and other stakeholders are sophisticated, media-savvy audiences.
Dual Objective
Your valued audiences quickly recognize the spin in articles that are little more than expanded advertising messages. While we don’t attempt to disguise the fact that the house magazines we produce with our clients are sponsored – indeed published – by them, their content engages, interests and enlightens their audiences. They achieve their dual objective of creating reader affinity and meeting our clients’ corporate and marketing communications goals.
Credible and Persuasive
One of the great advantages of house magazines is that they provide sufficient space for in-depth, interesting content while the information exists in a trusted, permanent and portable medium. Our writers understand intelligent audiences, from technology to global finance and from pharmaceuticals to logistics. We know how to present information in a way that these audiences will find credible and persuasive.
Communicating Authoritatively
Most of the house magazine projects for which we provide research, writing and editoral are lead-managed by specialized sponsored magazine firms or specialist teams within full-service agencies. In addition to calling on our general native English journalistic and editorial expertise, our particular knowledge and experience of management, technology and finance means we can communicate authoritatively with both interview sources and readers at executive levels.
Partnering
Some other clients contract our corporate journalism and editorial services directly for their in-house publications. In these cases, they usually project manage the publications internally, but we can also assist them by partnering with designers, photographers and printers, carefully selected to match each client’s unique needs.
Contact us today to arrange a initial discussion of how Oake Communications can ensure a measurable return on your investment in your custom published corporate magazine.
