Monthly Archives: September 2012

For over 150 years, businesses have relied on printed media to get their marketing message out and reach their marketing goals. Even after the advent of electronic media, including computers, the dependence on and usage of print media marketing material stayed tremendous. However, the emergence and growth of digital media has changed the landscape.

Next to business cards and advertising fliers, some of the most used printed marketing pieces are brochures and catalogues. This is especially true for businesses that sell physical products, both retail and wholesale. Brochures and catalogues are distributed usually in three different ways: at point of sale, via off-site sales people and indirectly via mail and third party publication inserts. Most of the time, these pieces need to be of a high quality (especially catalogues) to be effective. The production and distribution costs for this have skyrocketed, so much so that many companies either started to charge a fee for their catalog or discontinued them altogether.

Many companies turned to publishing digital brochures and digital catalogs to reduce their marketing costs, at least initially. The ability to do this was made possible by the huge presence and usage of the World Wide Web. Now it was possible to not only digitally produce the brochures and catalogues, but also to digitally distribute them via the web. Of course, having a “hard copy” of these pieces was still necessary. This still could be done digitally, via putting the piece on a computer CD/DVD and recently, miniature flash drives.

However, businesses soon discovered that there are many other significant advantages besides saving on costs. Today’s internet world has created a huge demand and even dependence on multimedia to get information. This applies also to actual and potential customers. People want and expect to see videos, hear audio and play with interactive graphics. This can only be accomplished only via electronic brochures and digital catalogues, whether via the web or on a stored memory device.

People today also expect things to be current and very fresh, not static. They are always looking for something new or different. While it is unfeasible to satisfy the readers demand for this via print media, electronic media accomplishes this very well. Digital brochures and catalogues can be revised and updated on a very frequent basis. This allows companies to make note of periodic sales and special events, take advantage of a marketing opportunity or even respond to a marketing threat.

Some of the biggest advantages are available by using online brochures and catalogues. With recent web applications, companies can now track who and where their potential and actual customers are. It is possible to ascertain which exact items in a catalog are being looked at and which aren’t. This allows companies to identify and take advantage of trends and adjust inventories and even pricing. A huge benefit is the ability for the reader to get online live assistance and to make purchases simply by pointing and clicking.

While the continued use of printed brochures and catalogues will be necessary for certain companies, today’s digital information age requires all companies to utilize digital marketing pieces.

Martin Alan enjoys writing on subjects such as literature, publishing technology from the digital magazine, publishing software and sharing sites to self publishing. He also enjoys keeping up-to-date with the latest developments and innovations in technology and online marketing.

For more information on online publishing click here: http://www.yudu.com

Author: Martin Alan
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Digital TV, HDTV, Satellite TV

Independent authors are in a unique situation. For the first time, writers and publishers are not dependent on each other. Indie authors can publish books without a mainstream publisher or an agent. But in doing so, indie writers have unique roadblocks that can hinder them, that successful authors don’t necessarily have.

Are Indie Books Good?

One of the stigmas that independent writers have to overcome is ‘indie books aren’t good’. Let’s face it, there are a lot of bad books out there, where the indie author did not take the time to write a book in which the plot is good, the book is edited well, and free of grammatical errors. So independent writers have to work around this. The best thing an indie writer can do is to pen a phenomenal book and get it edited by both a story editor and a language editor. Make sure your indie books are great.

Get your book edited as well. It is worth the money to hire a qualified editor to review your book not only for grammatical errors, but also for content. Make sure that your story flows:

• plot must be consistent
• characters must be consistent (i.e. an introvert would not be out in public meeting people all the time, unless you’ve given your character some motivation to do that)
• your story should not have holes in it, nor should it rely on coincidence for action to occur

Author Websites

Along with writing a great book, independent writers need to make sure they are marketing their books, and one key way is to have a great author website. I have seen way to many authors that use a blog for a website. There is nothing wrong with this, as long as the blog looks like a website, and it is set up well. The roadblock of author websites is that indie authors typically don’t have, or don’t want, to spend money if they don’t have to. But this is a critical area where you should spend to get the best. Make sure:

• your website sells your books
• make sure that there are hyperlinks to where your books are sold (make it easy for readers, don’t make them search for you on Amazon)
• have links to your blog, Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook, and other accounts

Not Understanding Marketing

Indie writers need to understand that writing a novel and marketing a novel are two different things. So many authors have websites, blogs, and Facebook fan pages that have poor copy-writing. As an author, you have to understand how marketing is a different skill, one that takes time to learn. If you do not have the time to learn this, you should consider hiring this out. Make sure:

• you have a Twitter account, and use it, but not just to sell
• you have a Facebook FAN PAGE, as this is great for selling your books

Final Thoughts

In order to sell books, not only do you need a great website, you need to have a Facebook fan page, because Facebook has over 800 million followers that can become your fans. But your Facebook fan page needs to be a great page that focuses on marketing. If you would like to receive more tips on how to set up a Facebook fan page, AND how to market your books, visit here for more tips. Remember, you CAN learn how to market your books!

If you enjoyed this article and would like several more FREE tips, go to fanpagemagic.com for more valuable information.

Renee Pawlish is the author of Nephilim Genesis of Evil, a paranormal thriller, The Reed Ferguson Mystery series, Take Five, a short story collection, and The Sallie House: Exposing the Breast Within, a non-fiction account of a haunted house investigation. She consults with authors and other entertainers, helping them learn how to effectively market their books or music.

Author: Renee Pawlish
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Digital Camera Information

In late 2005, my business partner and I discussed the prospect of creating and developing a publishing company from the ground up whose focus would be to deliver content exclusively in a digital format rather than the traditional print method. We chose to go this route because we recognized how significant the internet had become and with increased print and fulfillment costs, the writing appeared to be on the wall for print publications, including newspapers and magazines, to either fold financially or broaden their delivery modes to focus more on digital-centric delivery. Five years later, this foresight has proven true.

The publishing world has seen a tremendous change over the course of the past few years as consumers and readers of various content items look to the internet to get their fix on the world around them. From a publisher’s perspective, this utilization of the digital format to access content has literally changed business models and for many publishing companies, it has spelled doom for their bottom-line as digital dollars have gone to digital pennies – in terms of advertising revenue – and print costs have soared.

What has made this model a successful one for many companies is the significant reduction in overhead due to no print or delivery costs, and very limited G&A costs other than hosting, Flash conversion, and other general expenses. In addition, the demographic of enthusiasts throughout the world has helped us as a publication move forward as we have been able to reach readers globally that could not have been reached using a standard print method for publication.

So how can a company provide engaging content online and still be profitable? The key is to utilize viral growth and articulate to advertisers that transitioning into a digital business model for return on investment, and focusing on branding in a Flash delivery mode (i.e. digital Flash flipbooks) can provide substantial and immediate results that mutually benefit the publisher (added revenue), the advertiser (much broader branding/marketing with significantly reduced cost), and the consumer with “instant gratification” of content and accessibility to products within this content that just can’t be achieved from a print publication.

The future of publishing has come and if publishing companies are going to survive, the focus needs to be on digital content and efficiently sourcing the growth while adding value to companies who will propel the revenue stream for online publishers.

Frank Ledwell
Editor & Publisher
JPFreek Adventure Magazine
http://www.jpfreek.com

Author: Frank Ledwell
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Digital Camera News