Custom Media to Drive ROI for your Advertisers

Gordon Plutsky

Last month I had the pleasure of speaking at the Folio 08 Conference in Chicago.  It is the national event for magazine professionals.  Ironically, I was not hearing a lot traditional magazine talk.  The big buzz was about web sites, lead gen, SEO, digital editions and face to face events.  I ran a lively and interactive session on B2B event models to a packed room.  It was clear that magazine professionals are looking to extend their brand, and find new sources of revenue.

While there was plenty of talk about web sites and events, it struck me that there was not as much buzz on custom media.  The most valuable assets media brands have are your circ files and the relationship readers have with your brand.  Magazines can leverage that asset by creating custom media channels for their clients to talk directly to their readers.  A custom media channel can be advertorial or original edit that is customized to a specific topic and created in partnership with the sponsor.  Give your advertisers the opportunity to leverage the relationship you have with your audience.  It will help them drive ROI and give them a greater affinity for your brand.

Many publishers are hesitant to do that for many reasons, but chief among them is a desire to stay within the paradigm they know so well.  It has been my experience that sometimes when you ask a traditional media person to shift away from running display ads, they get concerned.  It could be worries over editorial integrity, or the fact that selling run of book ads can be so darn profitable they don’t want to give it up.  The fact is selling print ads in a B2B publication is going to continue to be a challenge due to the reason you can’t show measurable results to satisfy marketers.  And, there are so many great other options to generate ROI – web casts, lead gen, web sponsorships, events etc.

Traditional media companies need to take a hard look at their business models and think about custom media as an integral part of the mix rather than an ancillary business.  When you get right down to it, marketers want your readers as customers and prospects.  The best way to survive this crazy market is to give them access in as many ways as possible.

Gordon Plutsky
Gordon Plutsky has a track record of success across all custom media platforms in building brands, live events and Webcasts, and market research. He writes and edits the King Fish Think Tank blog and is a guest contributor to several marketing Web sites, blogs and conferences. At King Fish, Gordon works with clients on the marketing and messaging of their private custom media programs, in addition to creating audience development and market research solutions. He's also responsible for the King Fish brand message, marketing and public relations. Previously, Gordon was Group Marketing Director for the CMP Channel Group and served as Executive Director of Marketing and Research at Ziff Davis Media. He can be reached at gplutsky@kingfishmedia.com.