How to Generate Revenue with Digital Magazines

December 15, 2009

A few months ago, a colleague and I excitedly took on a research project for one of our expansion stage portfolio companies, Zmags. As part of the strategic consulting services offered by our team, the goal of the project was to understand how companies can generate revenue by implementing digital magazines into their content marketing strategies.In order to complete this task, we did the following:

  1. Research, Research, Research – We took the time to review analyst reports, articles, and digital magazine pricing schemes to understand current industry standards for publishing, both on and offline.
     
  2. Customer Calls – We spoke with over 20 current Zmags customers to gain a better understanding of their successes/struggles related to attaching ROI to their digital magazine investments. There is no better way to understand your target market than to pick up the phone and give them a call. 
     
  3. Data Synthesis – Once we had conducted baseline research and made several phone calls to current customers, we took some time to review everything that we had collected. Once we had our heads around the data, we summarized it in a useable form.
     
  4. Revenue/Return Model Creation – Armed with solid findings, we created a revenue/return model that the Zmags sales team could input live numbers into, in order to generate ad savings quotes to prospects on the fly.

Upon completion of the project, I was happy with what my team had delivered.Offering operational support to the management teams of our portfolio can be incredibly rewarding. It’s nice to know that our efforts can often provide them with the support that they need to go the extra mile.

Update!
Just last week, I received an email from a member of the marketing department at Zmags.The company released a brand new eBook called “Profitable Magazine Publishing: Your guide to generating revenue with digital magazines.”

The eBook contains data from the research that my colleague and I collected a few short months ago. Seeing this piece of work was incredibly rewarding. It’s nice to know that as a part of OpenView Labs, our global consulting services are proving to be the special ingredient that will take our growth capital investments to the next level.  

eCommerce Manager, Saucony

Kellie is the eCommerce Manager, Saucony at <a href="http://www.wolverineworldwide.com/">Wolverine Worldwide</a>. Previously, she was an Analyst at OpenView.