Advertising works (not?)
The market knows two causes: bad and wrong sheet line and no or too little advertising revenue and subscription contracts.
The sheet line
Social media has completely corrupted the information market for classic media such as TV, daily newspapers and magazines. Embedded in a traditional editorial operation, the editor-in-chief is usually the last person to get a press release to read.
Via news feeds and Facebook, users and partners have long since commented on the latest SAP press release with numerous tweets before the E-3 editorial team decides whether or not to include this news item in the next monthly issue.
The information monopoly of every media outlet and many journalists has been pulverized by social media.
E-3 Magazine has found an answer to this new world and has been growing very successfully for over 15 years. This issue has 132 pages of information and education for the SAP community.
A key success factor for all media - traditional and social media alike - is advertising revenue. Unfortunately, we and many other publishers hear all too often: We don't do print advertising because it doesn't work, there's no associated lead generation, etc., etc., etc.
Admittedly: Print advertising doesn't work in many cases! Why?
Because the advertising subjects are bad. Because savings were made in the wrong place - neither a professional photo shoot was organized nor a recognized advertising agency hired.
Print advertising works quite well if you approach the design of the advertising subjects professionally.
The best example of this is the automotive, cosmetics and fashion industries. Here, high-quality advertising subjects are produced at great expense and even higher sales are achieved. In these industries, there is a pronounced brand awareness, which is also cultivated by means of very high-quality subjects.
In our experience, if print advertising doesn't work, the fault lies not in the medium but in the wrong approach and poor communication of the subject itself.
Similarly, a bad editorial gets no letters from readers, not because it is placed in the wrong medium, but simply because it is poorly written.
Good advertising, good texts, good layout, good pictures work! From 15 years of E-3 production we know that quality always leads to success. Sometimes you have to buy this quality expensively: Good photographers, good graphic designers, good advertising agencies are not cheap - but it works!
Just as the E-3 editorial team pays conscientious and precise attention to the quality of content; SAP partners responsibly and carefully produce their hardware and software as well as services; so too should marketing and advertising departments create the best possible advertising subjects for communicating with potential and existing customers.