Having your own corporate magazine captures the imagination. Yet for many companies, it remains nothing more than a good intention. Is that the case for you too? Perhaps because you’re unsure about what should go into such a magazine. Because it might be expensive. Because it’s a process you can’t quite get a handle on. It’s time to change that: how do you go from an idea to a printed copy?
No idea what to talk about in your own corporate magazine? Or do you have a thousand and one ideas, but not a thousand and one pages?
Whatever your scenario: take a few steps back. Why do you want to publish that magazine? What do you want to achieve with it?
Five typical goals:
By the way, there’s no reason why you should limit yourself to just one goal. But it is important to sharpen that goal or those goals. Because your target audience follows from there.
Once you have your goal and target audience, you’re one step closer to the right answer to the question: What do I put in a corporate magazine? Because that answer is driven by your reader.
Goals sharpened. A clear view of your readership.
Now imagine that reader flipping through your magazine. Which articles catch their attention? Which pages do they read in detail?
Don’t just think about What do I want to tell? Put your reader first: What do they want to know? Look for the overlap between those two questions.
An example: a customer will simply skip that long article about your application procedure. They probably aren’t interested in an overview of all your vacancies or photos from your last staff party. A job applicant, however, is.
It also goes beyond what you tell. It’s also about how you tell it.
Suppose you’re creating a corporate magazine with the goal of attracting more applicants.
Even though it’s never black and white and clichés are often oversimplifications: can we agree that these are two different types of people? Who look at the world around them in different ways? Can we agree that the interior designer will be more sensitive to beautiful imagery, while the engineer will be more fact-oriented?
Both are future applicants. Yet they require two totally different magazines. In terms of both content and design.
A corporate magazine costs money. But it doesn’t have to be expensive. Especially not if you’re smart and look at the big picture.
You now have an initial idea of the content for your corporate magazine. Time to see what material is already available.
Had a great product photoshoot last year? Or a behind-the-scenes report? Reuse it. Had some cool infographics made? Recycle them. Written or commissioned a few nice blogs? Turn them into copy that works on paper.
By repurposing available content, you win three times over:
That new content can, in turn, also work twice as hard. That customer story you’re having written specifically for your magazine? Post it on your website afterwards. The photoshoot of your employees? Perfect as visual material for your next social media posts.
Bonus tip: make the digital version of your magazine downloadable in exchange for an email address. This way, your corporate magazine also becomes a conversion point.
So, a magazine doesn’t have to be as expensive as you might think. And it doesn’t have to be that much work either. Perhaps you’re dreading all the logistics and stress. Or you’re worried it will swallow up too many hours.
Make an honest assessment for yourself between the hours and effort of doing it yourself versus the cost of hiring a marketing agency.
Then make clear agreements with that agency: who does what? What do you expect them to take off your hands? What do you want to do yourself?
We work with our clients in various ways. Some have an existing structure for their magazine. They provide the texts and arrange the photography; we handle the final editing and layout.
For others, we truly do everything. From defining the format and suggesting topics to conducting interviews, handling the layout, and managing the printer.
One last tip to wrap up. Since this is specifically about your first corporate magazine: choose an agency with experience in launching magazines. Because that’s a different craft than building on what’s already there…
Looking for even more tips and tricks? Then check out the Explivisie below. Or make an appointment now. We’ll take that first step together.