Gaining User Loyalty with Digital Publishing: Why you need an App

Today, with the veritable clamor of media companies competing for eyes and ears across content distribution channels, the phrase 'reader loyalty' might seem anachronistic. At PixelEdge, we know this isn't the case, and we leverage our digital magazine publishing expertise on a daily basis to help our clients engage valuable, loyal readers. The big debate these days for publishers is whether to adopt a mobile website or a mobile app. If you aren't sure what the distinction between apps and websites, check out this article. The honest answer to this dilemma is that you need both, but with limited resources that's not always an option. So it comes down to defining your goals. And if your goal is to generate an engaged, loyal audience, an app is the way to go. Here's why:

1. Digital Apps are your storefront on readers' mobile devices

How can you know, for sure, that your readers will see your brand each and every day? Well, it starts with having your logo plastered right onto their mobile phone and tablet screens. For digital magazine publishing, having an app is like having your own private corner within your readers' mobile devices. Most people are within six feet of their smartphones at any given time: they access these devices numerous times throughout the day and regularly engage with them to consume content, play games, and generally pass time. What could be more beneficial than having your brand featured, right there on their home screens? Now add in the capability to send them push notifications, deliver new content, connect with their social media accounts, and allow them to download certain content for offline consumption, and you've created an experience that has become a central part of their lives.

2. Digital Apps let you easily optimize content for specific devices

Cost efficiency is important in digital magazine publishing. If a solution is too expensive, time-consuming, or unwieldy, it will be of little benefit to you or your readers. The challenge with having a mobile website (aside from it not being as readily accessible as an app), is that you have to optimize the design of the website for a variety of web-browsers and screen sizes. This, ultimately, means that you will spend time configuring each piece of content so that it looks good on the variety of screens it will be viewed on. With digital magazine apps, you don't have to worry about varying web browsers or screen sizes. Your digital app is already optimized for the devices it will be seen on. And in terms of cost efficiency, our digital publishing solution enables you to seamlessly distribute content at a fraction of what it would cost to have and maintain a mobile website.

Are ad blockers hurting your digital revenues? It's time to get creative with your monetization strategy.

As a digital publisher, it's likely that you depend upon digital ad revenues for a large portion of your content monetization. Thus, you might feel threatened by the increasing prevalence of ad blocking softwares available for web browsers. Ad blocking softwares essentially work by analyzing your website's code and then instructing the web browser to not display elements it recognizes as advertisements. 

As a digital publisher, you're probably wondering how to make money if your website's ads are prevented from being displayed. I recently stumbled upon this article, in which a number of methods are discussed. The article is definitely worth the read, but I've summarized a few of the key points here:

• Instead of relying so heavily upon display ads, adopt a sponsored content and native advertising strategy. Sponsored content and native advertising have grown in popularity over the past few years, largely due to the fact that they pose much less of a disruption to user experience on websites and mobile apps.
• Offer high-quality content that's worth paying for. This one should be self-explanatory, but figuring out how to most effectively charge for your content can be more complex than it seems. Digital publishers are employing a number of strategies such as offering guests 10 free article views per month before asking them to pay, or by combining free content with premium content that users pay for.
• Educate users about ad blocking ramifications. Users typically understand that, in order to view content for free, they might have to put up with some mild inconveniences such as display ads. You can create a notification on your website that displays whenever a user employs ad blocking software, letting them know that display ads help you to offer high quality content to users for free.
• Offer online stores where users can buy products and additional content. Diversifying your revenue streams might mean it's time to start letting users make purchases from your website. This can be a great way to grow revenues and tap into wider markets for your content and products.

Are you concerned that you are not currently equipped to make any of the above changes to your website or digital apps? Our solution at PixelEdge allows you to do all of these things and, better yet, our technology team will take care of it for you.

Why Having an Integrated Publishing System Matters More Than Ever

Today, more than ever, the lines between traditionally-defined media channels are being blurred. Television-, radio-, print-, and web-based companies are increasingly delivering their content across channels in order to reach audiences wherever they are: mobile devices, desktops, browsing the web, digital apps, YouTube, and social media, to name a few.

What does this mean for media companies? Of course, many things. But perhaps most importantly, it means that competition for eyeballs is fiercer than it has ever been. For example, while it is no doubt true that television and print media companies have always been indirect competitors, the permeation of cross-channel content strategies has brought these companies into more direct competition. Companies such as CNN and The New York Times now often appear side-by-side in Google's search index, along with Twitter and Facebook news feeds.

For traditional media companies, the process of figuring out how to manage all of these seemingly disparate channels is chaotic, but necessary. PixelEdge provides a platform for managing all of your media channels via an integrated and easy-to-use interface. With one click, publishers can deliver a new video, article, or audio track to their website, social media channels, and YouTube channel. They can also see analytics to determine how their content performs on each of these channels. Best of all, clients who use our platform do not need any technical expertise.

If you are struggling to figure out how to keep up with the rapidly-changing media landscape, and perhaps find these changes to be daunting, get in touch with us to learn more about how we can help. Our platform is easy-to-use, powerful, and affordable, and we'd love to put it to work for you.