advertising

Spoilt for choice: What it’s like working with marketing experts

We don’t all sit in an office filled with creatives, but I do, and sometimes I forget how lucky I am to just be able to have something produced to help get my message across. The other day we were talking about how helpful a video would be to explain how speed networking works at our conferences. I put some ideas together and mocked up something that was, in all honesty, pretty terrible, then asked my video expert to take over. Next minute we’ve got an instructional video complete with moving graphics, smooth transitions and a professional voiceover. This kind of stuff happens all the time as my newly designed business cards will show you. We’re pitching for a new client? The design team turn my somewhat boring text into a colourful, easy-to-read, well laid out masterpiece. Need to [...]

More than just magazines

Monkey Media, the publisher behind some of Australia’s biggest trade magazines does more than just print mags. The growth from creating magazines into full service marketing for businesses within the industry was a natural one. Utility Publisher, Chris Bland, said the marketing services branch of the business grew organically as advertisers began to ask if more could be done to help their brand. “I’d always known our journalists and editors had a unique set of skills, in that they could speak the language of the industry as well as craft this into interesting articles. The businesses who were advertising with us also realised this combination of skills is rare and demand for the marketing services grew from that,” said Chris. How did a magazine publisher become a marketing agency? Initially just doing some content writing for smaller clients, the agency side of Monkey Media has [...]

How to reach the right audience

In business, there’s a big difference in the value between being seen by a lot of people, and being seen by the right people. You should have a clear description of who your ideal customer is, then you need to work out where they are and how you can access them. Reaching fewer people, but people who are actually your target audience, is far more valuable than advertising to a huge number of people who have little interest in your products or services. If you can find a publication or a way to reach you target audience on a large scale then you’ve hit the jackpot. It’s not easy, but it is possible to get your message in front of the right people. You just need to do your homework. Before you decide where and how to spend your marketing budget, take the time to [...]

Words or pictures? How to make the most of print space

Buying space in a magazine is exciting. Knowing that your brand, image or story will hold pride of place in a physical publication means something. There’s a prestige associated with appearing in print; a kind of shine that digital has never truly been able to capture. Once you’ve decided on buying space in a print magazine, you should put some thought into what you want to achieve from that space, and your goals will then direct how to make the most of the space. Advertisements help build your brand If brand recognition and familiarity are your goals, a good looking print advertisement can help you stick in the mind of current and potential customers. You can highlight the key features of your business, product or services, but it’s not the forum for an in-depth description of everything you offer. Advertisements that try to tell the [...]

How print and digital marketing can be friends

Digital marketing is often seen as the cool younger cousin of traditional print advertising, but that doesn’t mean there’s no place for some good old ink on paper in your marketing efforts. Whether it’s a display ad or some editorial content, combining the forces of digital with print is often a winning formula. You know the taco ad where the family are arguing about whether they should have hard or soft tacos and the little girl cleverly points out they could have both? Working across print and digital marketing sometimes feels like you’re dealing with that crazy family steadfastly arguing for their own preferred medium. Like the happy family who settle on a mix of soft and hard tacos, successful marketing campaigns often utilise both print and digital ads to get their message out there. There is no ‘best way’ when it comes to marketing [...]