Inbound Marketing vs. Outbound Marketing

When I talk with most marketers today about how they generate leads and fill the top of their sales funnel, most say trade shows, seminar series, email blasts to purchased lists, internal cold calling, outsourced telemarketing, and advertising.  I call these methods ”outbound marketing” where a marketer pushes his message out far and wide hoping that it resonates with that needle in the haystack. 

I think outbound marketing techniques are getting less and less effective over time for two reasons.  First, your average human today is inundated with over 2000 outbound marketing interruptions per day and is figuring out more and more creative ways to block them out, including caller id, spam filtering, Tivo, and Sirius satellite radio.  Second, the cost of coordination around learning about something new or shopping for something new using the internet (search engines, blogs, and social media sites) is now much lower than going to a seminar at the Marriott or flying to a trade show in Las Vegas. 

Rather than do outbound marketing to the masses of people who are trying to block you out, I advocate doing “inbound marketing” where you help yourself “get found” by people already learning about and shopping in your industry.  In order to do this, you need to set your website up like a “hub” for your industry that attracts visitors naturally through the search engines, through the blogosphere, and through the social media sites.  I believe most marketers today spend 90% of their efforts on outbound marketing and 10% on inbound marketing and I advocate that those ratios flip.

The best analogy I can come up with is that traditional marketers looking to garner interest from new potential customers are like lions hunting in the jungle for elephants.  The elephants used to be in the jungle in the ’80s and ’90s when they learned their trade, but they don’t seem to be there anymore.  They have all migrated to the watering holes on the savannah (the internet).  So, rather than continuing to hunt in the jungle, I recommend setting up shop at the watering hole or turning your website into its own watering hole.

This article was sourced from Hub Spot and posted by Brian Halligan on Tue, Nov 27, 2007 @ 11:18 AM

Exciting new developments for Sapphire Dawn

Recently Sapphire Dawn was awarded contracts to maintain a number of websites as well as graphic design and email newsletters.

We have also just launched another client’s website Angel Yorkies. Janita is a breeder of the most adorable little Yorkshire Terrier Puppies.

We are very excited about this and look forward to an exciting year working with our clients. I am sure it is going to be a great year for all concerned.

 Cape Info Africa 27 June 2008

Again, another contract to do all this clients graphic design and also do their email newsletter. We sent the first newsletter out earlier this week.

More…

 

Cape Town Pride 27 June 2008

Sapphire Dawn will be responsible for the design of the material and for updating and maintaining the website for the 2009 Cape Town’s Pride Festival. Cape Town’s Pride Festival began in 2001 the festival is to be held between 20th February - 1st March 2009

More…

 

The Loft lounge and bar website 27 June 2008

Sapphire dawn has been awarded the contract to do the website maintenance, and all graphic design for The Loft lounge and bar.

More…

 

Angel Yokies Website Launched 20 June 2008

Angel Yorkies website has just been completed. Angel yorkies sells the most beautiful Yorkshire Terrier puppies…

More…

Sapphire Dawn’s Website, take a look…

Just thought that I would put a little snap shot of the new Sapphire Dawn website, please feel free to click on the image and it will take you straight to our new site.

Keep an eye on this blog for more exciting services and offers that we are working on bringing, in the near future. We are in the process of negotiating a few deals with potential partners to bring you even more exciting services and at better prices.

Sapphire Dawn’s website has been launched

We have eventually managed to launch our website… www.sapphiredawn.co.za after a few minor hick-ups in getting it right, I am happy to say that it is now finally at a point where it can be launched. There are still have a few small things that I am working on, but it is pretty much ready.

Please take a look and should you have any comments please email me directly on clinton@sapphiredawn.co.za.

Should you need any of our services please email sales@sapphiredawn.co.za or call + 27 79 707 7785.

Digital publications, cheaper than print

The fall in the value of the rand means that the cost of printing and distribution is increasing. This means that the cost of getting your magazine, brochure, catalogue and any other printed material will cost you much more than before. The good news is that you can still get your message out and reach your existing and new audiences at a much lower cost through digital and online editions.

The ability to deliver attractive content through old and new media platforms will improve your chances of increasing revenue and staying ahead of the game. Rethink your communication tactics and adopt a 360 degree media capacity.

A digital edition can be produced to look just like a print version, in much less time, and includes some really attractive features such as realistic page turning effects. Not only do you not have the high printing cost but your distribution cost is considerably lower as you no longer have to pay for the transport and other ever increasing distribution cost as you can now simply email it to your readers/customers. And you can have total control over who sees it through a subscription management system.

You can add dynamic, animated, interactive material and embedded video clips to enhance the reading potential and encourage customer interaction. A statistics system can provide details such as unique visitors, links followed and pages viewed which will back up advertising revenue.

Thirty seven percent of the respondents on a recent survey reported that they were more likely to engage with advertising in the digital edition.

Furthermore adding a digital version will strengthen your brand and reaching new audiences placing you a step ahead of your competitors. An equivalent html version can be generated to enable auto read services to be added and to increase web browsing functionality which is great for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and page ranking on search engines.

 “Print-centric organisations are inherently unable to compete successfully in the fast-moving, volatile online world. And integration of print and online in the same organization is virtually impossible.”

Donald Kummerfeld,
President and CEO of the International Federation of Periodical Press

‘Business of Magazines Annual Conference MPASA 2007’

We at Sapphire Dawn aim to support business in reaching this changing market and increasing demand for content on various platforms through offering you the ability to take your traditionally print documents to your readers through digital and online publishing.

Please take a look at the following links for examples of what can be done. If you still need convincing we will take your existing magazine, brochure, catalogue and any other printed material and produce a digital edition for you as a demonstration for free.

Here are some examples of what your digital publication could look like:

·          Newsletter with video content

·          Magazine

·          Brochure

·          Catalogue

·          Restaurant menu

Sapphire Dawn brochure.

For more information or wish to discuss this in more detail or to get your demo digital version please feel free to contact me
on +27 79 707 7785 or email me on clinton@clintonlord.co.za

Face of magazine publishing today

Magazine publishers can no longer afford to depend on their print edition to bring in the revenue. With production costs increasing publishers need to start considering their options; these options include digital, online and mobile editions. Publishers that do not adopt a multi-platform approach to publishing are going to find themselves falling behind in the new publishing landscape.

Publishers need to recognize that they are no longer magazine publishers but content providers. Reading habits are changing and the methods of obtaining content are no longer only via traditional print media. Audiences are using a variety of media channels to obtain information and South African publishers are finding themselves competing more and more with international content providers.

This trend is set to increase as more South Africans are accessing the internet according to the APMS 2007B survey released by The South African Advertising Research Foundation (SAARF) (www.saarf.co.za) on Thursday 13 March. Once broadband really arrives in South Africa this trend is going to have a huge impact on the way in which we interact. Introducing modern media channels to compliment existing offerings is the only way to ensure that you stay ahead of the game.

Digital editions or digital magazines provided enormous added value for advertisers, which can increase revenue for the publisher as advertising rates can be adjusted to reflect these added benefits. As well as boosting advertising revenues, the subscription models can bring in further revenue through new and audiences that previously would not have been reached.

Benefit to the publisher

-          Quick production time – digital magazine can be produced quickly.

-          Maintain the look-and-feel of the print edition.

-          Realistic page-turning and other visual effects to look like a print edition.

-          Production and distribution costs reduced.

-          Reach a wider audience.

-          Total control over paid subscriptions.

-          Strengthen the brand the magazine.

-          Staying ahead of its competitors.

-          Generate an equivalent HTML version

o   Enable auto read services.

o   Increase web browsing functionality.

o   Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

o   Page ranking on search engines.

-          Include multimedia; news feeds, video and sound clips.

-          Increased revenue through advertising and subscriptions

Benefit to the reader

-          Lower subscription fee due to reduced production and distribution cost.

-          Immediate delivery.

-          Search capabilities allowing quick and easy word and phrase searches.

-          Archiving the publication for easy reference.

-          Thumbnails views.

-          Incremental zooming.

-          Interaction with the writers and advertisers

Benefit to the advertiser

-          More interactive dynamic, animated, interactive advertisements.

-          Embedded multimedia; video and audio clips.

-          Customer interaction.

-          Statistics system providing detailed reports:

o   Unique visitors.

o   Links followed.

o   Pages viewed.

The Harrison Group in conjunction with Zinio recently conducted a survey (detailed results will be released on 20 March) which indicates that 44 percent of readers find advertising in digital editions to be more appealing, more so than print advertising and 37 percent of the respondents reported that they were more likely to engage with advertising in the digital edition.

What does this mean for print publishers?

There is no reason why publishers should not continue to produce their print editions but, they can now offer an alternative to their readers who can subscribe to receive a digital version of you publication, at a lower cost. This will mean that the print and your distribution costs are lower as all that is now needed is to notify the subscriber that the publication is available.

 About Sapphire Dawn
Sapphire Dawn will support you in reaching this changing market and increasing demand for content on various channels. Through our full service offering; after consulting with the client we will conceptualise and design the publication and deliver the final print magazine, digital edition and produce the content for the online version. Editorial and photographic services are also available and we can advise on the production of your advertisers new and exciting multi-media advertisements.
For more information please visit Sapphire Dawn or contact Clinton on + 27 79 707 7785 or clinton@clintonlord.co.za

The new South African Publisher

The 2008 Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) figures indicated that publishing, in South Africa,  has suffered in the last quarter of 2007, mostly due to the weaker economy which resulted in less disposable income for the consumer. In other words, people just can’t affrod to buy magazines anymore.

The fall in the value of the rand means that the cost of printing and distribution will increase. Magazine publishers and companies need to rethink their communication tactics and adopt a ‘360 degree media capacity’ in order to stay ahead of the game. The ability to deliver attractive content on old and new media platforms will increase their chances of saving their publications and retaining their readership.

The AMPS survey results (March 2008 -AMPS 2007B) released 13 March 2007 showed that  internet usage has risen significantly over the previous AMPS period (September 2007 -AMPS 2007A) with 6.9% of respondents accessing the internet in the past 7 days over the 6.0% in the previous survey and from 7.1% to 8.1% accessing the internet in the past 4 weeks.

At the recent ‘Business of Magazines Annual Conference MPASA 2007’ Donald Kummerfeld, president and CEO of the International Federation of Periodical Press said “Publishers who remain print-centric (print dinosaurs) will eventually disappear.” Neal Farrell, of Ramsay, Son & Parker, echoed Kummerfeld’s sentiments, “Content will win at the end of the day. Remember, we are no longer magazine publishers, but content publishers. Because content is everything.”

“Print-centric organisations are inherently unable to compete successfully in the fast-moving, volatile online world. And integration of print and online in the same organization is virtually impossible,” Kummerfeld warned. Publishers and other organisation should consider outsourcing digital publishing and online publishing to companies that have the capacity to support them in reaching this changing market and increasing demand for content on various platforms.

The Harrison group recently said that according to a recent survey 80 percent of digital magazine readers are very, if not extremely satisfied with their experience. Readers who subscribe to digital magazines feel that they engage more with the advertising in a digital magazine. Although many magazines are not yet using the full capability available in digital publishing and are still only using the same adverisement as in the print version. Publishers need to start using dynamic animated interavtive advertisements in their digital editions instead of static two-dimesional ads. The benefit of this is that readers can now interact directly with the advertiser through email links or links directly to the advertisers website. From an editorial perspective it is possible include live news feeds as well as include sound and video clips in the articles which will allow the reader to interact with the article.

The added benefit of a digital edition is that publishers and advertisers can retrieve statistics such as uniquie visitors, links followed and page views. Most systems will generate an equivalent html version which can be used to enable auto read services, web browsing functionality and SEO optimisation.

Today it has become essential for all companies not only publishers to reassess how their marketing communications or publications are delivered to their audience. In an effort to meet this need Sapphire Dawn offers the following services; Design, Print publishing, Digital publishing, Online publishing, Project management and Consulting.