The Concept of Advertising exists on this planet from the beginning of human civilization. From the first caveman’s roar which announced his fellows cavemen about his prey, to mouth to mouth practice via storytellers, from stone tables exposed in the main market to printed flyers, to the most recent newspapers, magazines, radio, tv and the latest – digital. Spreading the word, hearing the news! People are now conscious about your presence, about what are you doing. Your very own existence as a business is bounded forever with the concept of being known by people – your potential clients.
Back to our modern times and speaking about digital for many of the business owners,CEOs or PRs is still unacceptable that they must pay to get featured in an independent e-magazine or blog. The misconception comes from the fact that most of them do not understand the digital publications as a business. Having a publication and writing something there is as easy for them as 1,2,3. For them , the publishers & their publications are some entities which are living on a distant planet, totally apart from the economic rules.
For those of you who think that a digital magazine is like a “perpetuum mobile” who works only with passion & air and nothing else, I will explain all the processes behind it. If you are asking for example 10.000 euros for your service or product, explaining me how many hours you spent in creating it and how your expertise behind it is one of a kind, please let me tell you in exchange about my hours of work and inspiration behind my products and services.
Of course, I must admit, that on the market there are plenty of so called “luxury websites” and all of the respectable publishers are facing with this danger – the “fake publications”. They drop the prices , they add everything in there for a few bucks…hoping for more in the future. Of course , sooner or later they will be no more on the market and I will explain to you why in the paragraphs below.
But, as in any other sector – how the fake luxury clothes or luxury watches exists together with the authentic ones – it is your job as a customer to see and choose the real ones. And it is not so hard to do that : ask about their background with proofs. Ask who is who and what they have done until you’ve contacted them. It is not so hard, and the result will show you if your choice will be the best one or not.I tell you, a trusted publisher – even a small one knows its price. Because we are living in a economy and the economic balance cannot lie.
As any other businesses, a digital magazine has it’s own running costs. The costs are pretty much the same for a printed publication – of course, putting aside the print process & paper which costs extra, and that’s why our prices (in the digital media) are below them. But being below, does not mean free, as you probably may think.
First is about the people and the team working for the e-magazine. Even if we speak about a single blogger or a team of specialists – the respectable ones are coming with a big legacy behind them. 70% of them were top specialists in their ex-domains. For them it is easy to write about something, because they can make a difference between different concepts of luxury on different sectors. With other words, the basement of every independent publication is the experience of the people behind it. They have an expertise, they have a history. They are familiar with your potential problems, they know the solution – and if they don’t know what is suitable for your business in that moment, they can easily document and find one.
The creation of a web platform costs; from the drawing of the design to the programming the whole structure. There are hundreds of hours behind all this process. Once the platform is ready, let’s move on what is going on it – the daily materials. To put online a platform is the easiest thing. The real provocation is to maintain it over the years. Because the “blood” of an e-magazine is its content.
For your own knowledge, the documentation and the creation of a new material, for example, a well documented analysis – requires 1 to 2 days. If I create a short article about a product/service can be ready in 3-4 hours plus all the extra information that I have in my mind about a specific domain, information which were gathered in years of work.
Every magazine is hosted somewhere on a server. That service costs. And it is a strict relationship with the traffic and the services offered additionally. If I had 50 visitors per day, the hosting is unimportant, but if I have 3000 visitors daily, I need a VPS service or a Dedicated Server. And those services cost. Speaking about the additional services, a simple newsletter means extra resources from my part and the examples can continue.
Moving forward , let me tell you about the challenges/changes which take place in this digital world – every six month, if not sooner. As a publisher, I must adapt the publication to be SEO-friendly, Mobile-friendly, Social media friendly, supervise the server for potential attacks, protect my users’ database and so on. The traffic (audience) costs too. Like in your case, the e-magazines ask money for their audience and awareness, any Search Engine or Social Media Platform or any other publication that I want to be featured in – they are treating me like any other client.
So, as you can see, All those above have their own price.
Besides all above, to keep a pace of 8-10 articles each day – that requires a team. That means hours or working hard. And that costs too.
Stepping aside from the “house”, there are another movements that I must do as a publisher, to keep my publication on the top.Travel to main exhibitions, meeting people, doing interviews, etc.
Now, My Dear CEO/Artisan/PR (whatever you are) – Don’t you think that I am justified to ask you money if you want to be featured in my digital magazine to get awareness for your own business since I am paying and working a lot for mine? I think I am.
So, next time when you are writing to me, THINK before and don’t try to explain me how your news can be interesting and can bring value to my readers. Since what you have is not something really innovative – your “news” is just advertising. And yes, that costs you.
And no, I am not asking you money. I am asking you respect.
