A simple comparison between Custom Media and your fitness workout.

Custom Media is to your company, what a healthy lifestyle is to your body. If you’ve taken reasonably good care of your health and then enrol into a gym or fitness program, you’re bound to see good results in less than a few months. On the other hand, if you’ve never lifted anything more than your T.V. remote while precariously balancing a six pack of beer and a bag of potato chips on your tummy, chances are you’re going to take a while to get back in shape.

Most people assume that custom media is, plainly, custom media. They assume that Custom Media summarises itself, and everything that tags itself with custom media is one and the same. But they couldn’t be further away from the truth. That’s like saying all body workouts are the same. To a layman or someone who hasn’t lifted weights all their life, all workouts could seem similar. But to someone who is focussed on seeing specific results, they would definitely be aware of different exercise regimens for different parts of the body.

Likewise, Custom Media too is a big fitness centre full of unique solutions for different requirements. It’s easy to understand once we see the big picture, and work out on the smaller issues that need immediate attention. All this, while constantly focussing on the long term results. Comparing a custom media exercise to a body workout, a basic media awareness campaign is like losing the first five pounds at a fitness centre. Beyond those first few pounds come a series of other milestones. Are you happy with a toned physique, or are you looking for six pack abs? Or perhaps, you want to buff up until you make a Spartan warrior huddle back into his cape with humiliation.

It’s your body, and you know how it works. Likewise, application of Custom Media solutions too is a set of milestones and goals that cumulate to give you the big result. So the next time you’re sitting around and wondering how soon you’re going to see results in a media exercise, go home and weigh yourself. Perhaps, you could then tally up the time frames!

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What do you want your ROI to be?

If your company wants to start an in-house publication, that’s a definite start to a better future. But then what do you do with it? And most importantly, how do you determine the return on investment in the publication?

The best way to judge the return on investment would be to divide them into different requirements of your particular company, and how it can help achieve your goals.

Increase in Market Share

A custom magazine is a great medium to improve the market share of a company, especially if it provides services in a competitive environment, where there are several other players operating within the same environment.

E.g. Hospitals, Supermarkets, Restaurants.

Increased Customer Loyalty

For companies operating in environments where all competitors offer commodities of values that are more or less similar, a custom magazine can play a very crucial part in subconsciously increasing customers’ loyalty towards a company.

E.g. Cellular Companies, Airline Services.

Creation of New Customers

A lot of companies depend on word of mouth. When you head out on a vacation, you’d prefer to stay at a place where a friend had previously stayed in and had a pleasant time. Similarly, having a company publication that can be taken home by a customer can add a big bonus to companies that depend on word of mouth, especially if the magazine makes for a great looking souvenir.

E.g. Hotels, Travel Agencies, Holiday Makers.

Increased Revenues based on Sales

People don’t like receiving annoying mailers or pamphlets in their newspapers. But if a company has commodities that are mostly based on point-of-purchase, the company has no choice but to find a good spot under a potential customer’s fridge magnet. In such cases, a publication can actually make for a classier read that would be better appreciated by a customer. And customers don’t overlook initiatives taken by a customer-focussed company.

E.g. Supermarkets, Malls, Food Chains.

Higher Brand Recollection

In a world filled to the brim with brands, and with new brands coming into our lives every day, a company can find it hard-pressed to ensure brand recollection. But a customer-focussed lifestyle publication can ensure all that and more, especially if the customer brings a friend along, and thanks the company representative for a great magazine!

E.g. Designer Labels, Apparel, Spas, Salons.

Increased Evangelism and Goodwill

This is got to be the best thing that a custom publication can do for any company. Get its customers talking for the company! It’s like a reality show. When you watch your favourite contestant on the television, and feel connected by some unknown bond, chances are you’re going to vote for them. You may even blog about them, and tell your friends about how nice this contestant is. That’s evangelism for you. Voters did that. Ordinary people did that. Guy Kawasaki did that. With a specially planned publication, so can you!

E.g. Hotels, Resorts, Health Chains.

Etc.

There are several other aspects that may be specific to certain companies based on which the Return On Investment can be calculated. Summarising the concept of ROI though, every company can find their own unique means to ensure that their investment can make a significant ROI when it comes to Custom Publications.

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A Basic Estimate of Custom Publishing Expenses

Most companies want to know how much a custom publication costs, even before they give a thought about its advantages, or how it can help their company. It’s a shot in the dark, but I’ve come to acknowledge this question in the very first meeting with most new clients. And here too, I’m going to keep it straight and simple, as I have in all my other posts.

Simply put, WSYISYG. What You See Is What You Get. What do you want from the magazine? And that’s how much it will cost you. Additionally, what do you want to do, other than the magazine, to see the results? Sometimes, my clients want surveys conducted along with periodical feedback on different grounds. A few others want specific pages with unique content to be inserted for specific audiences. Some others want the magazines to be distributed in specific areas or at events where it would be most profitable for them. Almost all of them want me to create a self-sustaining environment by establishing teams to generate revenues for the magazine.

But if we’re speaking about a simple production cost only, it would be easier to explain it. To companies outside of India, most of these prices can seem ridiculous, but well, that’s why we have outsourcing, don’t we?!

Production of magazines, at least at Confetti Media, varies based on the photographic elements, the content and its requirements, etc., and etc. The number of pages too plays a crucial part in the estimation of the cost of magazine production.

But all publishing activities are based on the client’s specific requirements, so if your company would be interested in a publication, just ask. It only takes a conversation to find out how your company can make a difference.

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Why do companies have custom publications, and what benefit can your company get by having an in-house magazine?

Every meeting with a new client can leave one with interesting pointers and a new view on custom magazines. During my meetings with directors or CXOs, I explain new strategies that could help their companies with respect to their specific markets. At times, I know I’m not going anywhere with the meeting. They’ve made up their mind already. It’s easy to sense the negative vibe that’s filled the room.

For a comparative explanation, I tell them about a few other companies in their line of work who have started profitable in-house publications and how it has benefitted those companies.

During one such meeting with a new company, I told the head of this particular company about another company that had a publication. This person shot back at me and said, “That company is minting money, that’s why they have a magazine!”

Do you see the fine print here? It means that everyone assumes you’re printing a publication because “your company has a lot of money”! Isn’t that beautiful? Sometimes, we can’t see the obvious answer even if it’s stark naked doing the hula right in front of us! So by having a good in-house publication, people assume that your company is growing in leaps and bounds. They assume that this publication is a luxury that you can afford to give your customers because you have a lot of money to spare, which also means that you are willing to go the extra mile for your customer and potential customer.

This just shows that companies that publish their own in-house magazine are perceived to be well-established, and customer-focussed. It’s an intuitive perception that works wonders for any company.

Leaving the perceptions aside, a custom magazine has several excellent tricks in its pages. A company can use it in different ways to improve loyalty, or obtain more customers, while at the same time improving its brand recall, brand loyalty, and the number of people who become evangelists for the company on their own. Get in touch with me, so I can help you understand the different ways by which a custom publication can make a big difference to your company and its image.

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Make social media work for your company in more ways than just a web presence.

Social Media isn’t just social anymore. It’s a powerful, revolutionary tool that can make or break your business. A few years ago, perhaps it may have been just another site to say hi’s and exchange flirtatious nothings, but today social media is your best bet to profits and brand building.

What started off as a means to connect and interact between youngsters is now a frenzied ground for budding entrepreneurs, just as it is for established megabrands. Social media is the biggest thing that’s happened since the evolution of the internet. It’s even bigger than pictures of women on the internet! And that’s saying something if you actually know that stats of adult sites on the internet.

Across the world, companies have been jumping into the social networking bandwagon ever since it first tested waters. Brands like Coke , IBM, Microsoft, and McDonalds have been paying significant attention to the ways of social media, and have seen great results. On the other hand, companies like Dell have learnt the hard way about having a mandatory interactive presence in the world wide web. Google “Dell Hell” to know what I mean.

In India, we’re just so stubborn and hardwired to the tried-and-tested ways of regular ad campaigns and branding activities that we don’t want to reach out in any other way unless everyone else is doing it. Does that remind anyone about the story of the Indian crabs? But people in India can’t really say they haven’t heard about the importance of Social Media. Posts glorifying social media and its advantages are all around us. But keeping an Indian perspective in mind, does anyone really know the real use of social media?

I’ve come across several people who tell me they know everything about social media, but they just can’t see a way to incorporate it into their company strategy. Putting prejudiced options and old advice aside, every Indian company has to ask itself a question. Who is its target audience? And where can it find them? Today, almost every audience had created an online presence in their niche. Everyone is using some form of social media.

While new social media sites like Foursquare (which I think is the hottest entry in the last year) hasn’t still impacted the Indian audience, we still have quite a few social networking sites that are used aggressively like Facebook, Orkut, Linkedin and a few others. Everyone has an account in at least one such site based on their interests. Unlike print media, television, or even a radio which can’t really cater to one specific proven audience, the networking sites target a company’s audience to the tee.  And what’s even better? You can use the networking sites for free!

You can reach and connect with your company’s audience in a manner that no other medium can reach. As a company, you can also interact with them and collect ideas straight from your customers or potential customers, and build a strong loyalty program. Summarising this medium, you can actually brand and promote your company, while retaining your present customers, getting new customers, exchanging ideas, reaching out to a bigger audience, and increasing brand recall and brand loyalty at the same time. For Free!

In this small world of social internet connectivity, it isn’t the big bait with wads of money that catches the fish. It’s the innovative one.

Makes you think why companies want to spend millions of rupees every day just to grab a potential customer’s attention, doesn’t it? In some of my other posts, you can see how you can use specific networking sites to promote your company.

A whole new world of opportunities lies ahead for the innovative company that understands the potential of social media, and uses it to its advantage.

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Custom Publishing Tips

One of the prominent questions that I have been asked in my meetings with potential clients…

This has got to be one of the biggest issues that I have ever faced in the Indian custom media scenario. Eight out of ten times in every meeting with a potential client who is interested in custom publishing, I have been asked a certain question.

“If I launch a magazine, my intention is to see profits from month one (or month three). Can you make that happen?”

Every time someone asks me that, it makes me wonder if this potential client is interested in branding their company or trying to launch a new media house! Really, if making money is all that matters in launching an in-house magazine, then why not just start a mainstream publication. Why bother with an in-house publication?

I’ve also spoken with a significant number of potential clients outside of India too. And there’s a stark difference between the Indian market and the international one. Outside of India, the most common question that I hear is…

“If I launch a magazine, how will it help me brand my company, and what other benefits can I get from it?”

That question rings a beautiful monotone in my ears. I’m happy to hear it. A few clients do know the real advantage of an in-house magazine, and they are clear with what they want from the magazine. But I’m not trying to make some Indian companies look bad, but that’s life. It just shows the way we work. In India, we want results. And we want it now! Branding, building loyalty and creating brand awareness are crucial to any company. But these are intangible elements. And they need considerable time to take measurable strides. You can’t count these elements, and you really can’t call a custom magazine publisher, and ask him to show you results in a bank balance. But over time, there are other ways to see the innumerous results of an in-house magazine.

Speaking about the profitability of an in-house magazine, I must say that it is a definite possibility. Well, unless a specific company doesn’t want to include advertisements in its magazine. In my experience, I have seen that almost all in-house publications that have been produced by Confetti Media have reached a point of self-sustenance in less than a year’s time. Many of them even see an average profit of 200% on their production cost with every new issue. The only exception that I have seen is one of my earlier clients who needed a magazine more as a brand building initiative rather than as a revenue generating medium. But well, we all know our requirements and limitations.

So if you ever consider having your own in-house company magazine, which I think is an absolute necessity if you want to stay connected with your customers and increase evangelism, do ask yourself if you’re doing it just to make more money? Or are you using it to increase your brand value and your company’s customer satisfaction?

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I’ve been a part of the nascent Indian Custom Media industry for a while now, and I can definitely tell that this is one of the fast growing sections in the media business. But things weren’t so flowery and sweet even five years ago. When I first found myself working on a custom media publication years ago, it was an unheard-of affair, and one that left a lot of my colleagues confused and wary. Back then Custom Media just wasn’t an Indian thing. We didn’t think we’d ever need it.

And in most of my meetings over the years, one of the most common questions I’ve always heard from a prospective client is “Why on earth would we have to print a custom publication or indulge in non-conventional activities when we’re perfectly happy with the proven full page advertisements we spend millions of rupees on?”

True, you say? Well, join the club. Not mine, but the one that’s left behind in the last century!

Most of us are completely oblivious to the changes in the world of media in the recent past. The sort of techniques and innovations that have hit the media industry just in the last year alone is mind-boggling. But this is not the time to elaborate on them, at least not today. Why talk about checkmates when we’re still learning to move the pawn? Personal blogs are personal. And I can’t talk about the changing tides of media while rambling about my drunken escapade at the same time.  So well, a new blog with all the works for any budding custom media enthusiast was on my mind for the New Year, and so I figured I’d better get to it.

Google “Custom Media” or “Custom Publishing India” and you’re sure to come up with tons of info about the definition of custom media. But are all of them helpful? I rather think not. Whatever the definition, the easiest way to come clean off the mumbo-jumbo is a simple line that clears the air. Custom Media is a way by which any organisation, big or small, can make a BIG difference to their company by incorporating media activities into their company core strategy. I’m sure you know about the commonly discussed media activities, the spanking new internet activities, the idiot box, the glossies, the broadsheets, and the radio. And we’ve also seen the same splashed with advertisements.

So that is a media activity, right? Right?! Wrong.

Well, you see, in the new world today, just an advertisement isn’t enough to get a consumer interested in you. We see big brands advertising all the time, in every medium, so much so that we get sick of it even before trying the product. That’s never a good sign for a company making the product. On the other hand, we have companies that don’t think they need to promote or advertise. They sit back in their big cushy leather recliners and scream “show me the money”. And if anyone asks them why they aren’t interested in advertising, they turn their nose up and scoff, “we’re so good, we don’t need advertising…”

Well, yeah right, now really….

And then we all know what happens. Another VC funded competitor springs up with well structured plans and fresh ideas, and then, bang! The old “I’m-so-good-I-scare-myself” company starts showing a stark reduction in their quarterly profits and soon, they’re all old and forgotten. Sometimes, in life, it’s our own arrogance and ignorance that shovels our downfall.

So over-advertising isn’t good. Not advertising isn’t good too, obviously. So let’s put our brains together. What’s the best path? Oh yeah, the Middle Path!

Well, that isn’t good too. Unfortunately, the middle path is actually the sad one. It can also be the worst of all paths here. The heavily advertised one can get hit below the belt because the consumer could get suffocated, or worse, it could be a bad product and news always spreads fast. The small budget advertiser may carve a niche for themselves, but that niche would last only as long as they’re the lonely one there. A new guy comes in and provides the same, while advertising cleverly at the same time, and he’d be the one going straight to the bank. Now back to the middle path. The sad thing about the middle path is that we get so used to seeing this product being advertised at regular intervals that we just don’t care anymore.

It’s like watching “Avatar” for the second or third time. The first time, you get all misty and drooly, and gasp oohs and aahs, but the second or third time, chances are, you’d be asleep midway. Trust me. Been there. Done that. Those 3D glasses are hypnotisers! Or it’s also like those Spraymint ads on Mtv. We’ve all seen that, but nobody cares. But I hope you’re getting the point here. By being a regular advertiser at regular intervals, people get so used to seeing you now and then, that well, they frankly don’t care about the product. It’s not worth a conversation anymore.

So if we get all of these together, it’s a startling revelation. Huge ad budgets aren’t good. Small budgets suck. And the middle path is just, well, sad. But this is exactly what most people still don’t understand. They just can’t seem to get that. Well, advertising and media activities do help, but they are way too inefficient. It’s just not worth it anymore. Especially when you can carefully plan a custom media activity for ten percent of an ad budget and see tenfold increase in profits!

That’s the power of Custom Media. And it’s not just for the big fish. Custom media and custom marketing strategies are a breath of fresh air to corporate houses all the way to the little budding entrepreneur. Anyone can use it and see the results for themselves. I’ll tell you more about how you can use it for your specific industry soon.

But then again, are you ready to remove the blindfold of traditional ideas and join the speeding bandwagon of Custom Media?

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