Travel industry site Skift is the next in a long line of digital media companies to release print magazines.
As we recently wrote, the concept of a digital-only company turning to print may seem a bit counterintuitive, but Skift joins other companies including Airbnb, Pitchfork and CNET in seeing a place for print in their marketing efforts.
Skift founder and CEO Rafat Ali says the new print magazine will be an extension of the site’s annual travel trend forecast, which is the most popular portion of the site every year.
“We sort of took the next logical step and said we should create something even more permanent than that, which is a print magazine that sort of encapsulates what we’re trying to do in terms of making a definite document in trends in travel,” he told Capital.
The magazine will be released at launch party January 13, and also will be sent to a list of targeted recipients. Ali also says it will be used to add a new revenue stream for the company.
“I do think that print still has a value used strategically with a … digital-only company,” he said, adding that “advertisers still love print magazines, and they love seeing themselves in [them].”
A Future with Both Digital & Print
Clearly, many digital brands see the promise in print marketing as a marketing tool, and though some are already reporting positive results it is still too early to see the long-term impact print will have on a digital brand.
Ali’s recognition of the fact that brands still like to see their ads in print falls in line with research showing consumers respond better to print ads than digital ads. It’s no wonder that media spending on print is expected to level off for the foreseeable future after the recent decline.
The new trend also illustrates how effective marketing collateral is increasingly becoming a mixture of print and digital. To see more about what kind of print materials we have and how we can help print work for your business, drop us a line on our contact page and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.