Email marketing is part of what we do at Advanced Publishing - via our Engage email platform.  We believe strongly in its power and effectiveness as a marketing tool.  I recently found a site that aggregates key market data about email marketing, called Email Stat Center.  It has a myriad of reports, case studies, and data from many different sources. 

A couple of the most interesting statistics for me are found within the ROI reports:

• Email is delivering sales at an average cost per order of less than $7, compared to $71.89 for banner ads, $26.75 for paid search and $17.47 for affiliate programs. - Shop.org, State of Retailing Online 2007 report (Sept. 2007)
  
• For every dollar spent on email marketing in 2007, marketers can expect an estimated $48.29 ROI. - DMA (2007)
  

While there continue to be challenges in delivering effective email marketing campaigns, the results are difficult to dispute.

Being an avid reader of all things media and publishing, I look forward each day to Bob Sacks commentaries and summaries of key news that affect the publishing industry.  I have also had the pleasure of listening to him speak at conferences about the future or publishing and the changes that need to occur in an evolving digital world.  He is always thought provoking and a true visionary. 

Today I came across news about the launching of a new research and advisory service that Bob Sacks is part of called mediaIDEAS.  Interestingly, they include a sample research paper brief (they call TH(ink) Notes) on the definition of print and digital magazines.  This is a question often asked and discussed.  They come up with 6 key characteristics of magazines that they believe define magazines today and into the future.  These include -  metered (ie divided into pages), edited, designed, date-stamped, permanent, and periodic. 

Digital editions of magazines fall squarely into this definition, and in fact mediaIDEAS stress how the pagination of a magazine "provides a certain tempo that promotes discovery: the reader is presented with a manageable set of new articles, images and, increasingly videos and sound."

Further, the research goes on to say how digital editions will reach 30% of the magazines market over the next 15 years, and 75% within 25 years. 

At Advanced Publishing, we certainly believe this to be true and are committed to continuing to evolve the digital magazine experience to help readers and publishers embrace the benefits that digital magazines provide, while retaining the tempo and experience that browsing print magazines allow. 

 A summary of a recent Deloitte study published by Mediapost's Center for Media Research (See below) provides some compelling statistics about emerging trends in media and publishing.  Despite the changes, however, consumers of all ages still enjoy reading magazines (72% consistently across all age groups) and still prefer and value print type ads, rather than Internet ads -

For us in the digital edition business, we marry the two worlds of print and Internet together providing the best of both.  As web technologies and rich Internet applications become more powerful, this experience will only continue to improve. 

Study Highlights

According to the just released Deloitte's study on Media & Entertainment practice, looking at how American consumers between 13 and 75 years of age are using media and technology today, Millennials (13-24) are leading the way, embracing new technologies, games, entertainment platforms, user-generated content and communication tools. Data from the survey show that user-generated content is in tremendous demand across the generations, with 51% of all consumers watching and/or reading content created by others.

Some key highlights of the findings include:

• 51% of all consumers are watching/reading personal content created by others; the number jumps to 71% for Millennials
• 55% of Millennials and 42% of Xers read blogs
• 62% of Millennials and 41% of Xers watch YouTube or other video streaming sites
• 40% of all consumers are creating their own entertainment, such as editing movies, music and photos.
• 56% Millennials are creating their own entertainment
• 25% of Matures report creating their own entertainment

While the Internet is surging in popularity, says the report, traditional media, including TV, magazines and books, remain deeply engaging to all generations.

• 79% of all consumers discuss their favorite TV shows with friends, family and colleagues, compared with 38% that discuss favorite websites
• Almost two-thirds (66%) state the best use of their DVR is the freedom to watch shows on their own schedule, with Xers leading the way at 73%
• 72% of all consumers enjoy reading print magazines, a proportion that's consistent across the generations
• 23% of all consumers expect to spend more time reading books this year. A slightly larger percentage expects to spend more time hanging out with family and friends.

Cell phones are surging as entertainment devices

• 46% of Millennials embrace their cell phones as an entertainment device
• 57% of all consumers text message on their cell phones compared with 84% of Millennials
• 56% of all consumers take photos with their phones, including 37% of Matures.
• 60% of Trailing Millennials (those ages 13-18) have someone else paying the cell phone bill
• 25% of "Leading Millennials" (19-24) are still getting financial support for their cell phones

When it comes to advertising, print prevails over the Internet. Search engines and word of mouth are most effective in driving traffic to an Internet site.

• Of the four generational groups, Xers are most responsive to online advertising
• 28% of consumers would pay for online content to avoid ad exposure
• 76% of all consumers find Internet ads more intrusive than print ads
• 64% pay more attention to print ads than those online
• 84% of all consumers visit a website after finding it through a search engine
• 82% do so because of a personal recommendation.
• 87% of all consumers continually frequent the same websites
• 56% are constantly in search of something new.

The report concludes that the Millennials are boldly embracing new technologies, entertainment platforms and communication tools, including integrated platforms, portable media and "all-in-one" devices.

• 64% of Millennials, 20% of Matures and 48% of all consumers want to easily connect their home TV to the Internet
• 57% of Millennials and 37% of Xers want an all-in-one device
• 60% of Millennials and 45% of Xers want to be able to easily move their TV shows, podcasts, movies and other media to any devices/platforms they own

For the complete PDF file on this report, please access this pdf.

Welcome to our new website and new product - RIDE.  It has been a hectic number of months here at Advanced Publishing as we worked to create a completely new system - using a brand new cross browser platform - Microsoft Silverlight. 

With the launch of Silverlight yesterday, we are excited about its prospects and widespread adoption already.  Websites such as Home Shopping Channel, WWE, Entertainment Tonight, Major League Baseball, and a number of others (check out the Silverlight site), have already created compelling web experiences using Silverlight.  We are sure that many will follow. 

Selecting a new platform such as Silverlight, instead of copying others and using more widely adopted technologies such as Flash, might be considered a risky move by some. 

We looked at the benefits we would be able to provide our readers and publishers with Silverlight, and made the easiest decision that we ever made. There are many benefits that Silverlight provides over current industry products that are based on Flash or HTML/JPEG.  For us, the key ones centered around:

• Silverlight's inherent abilities to interact with databases (allows us to manage and save personalized content and interactions in a completely portable way);
• Silverlight's full screen HD video capabilities (a good comparison of specific video features can be found here);
• XML native search capabilities;
• Speed and flexibility in providing customized experiences for our publishing customers;
• Increasing security issues and continuing ActiveX Control fears in both the corporate and mainstream market  - also led us away from Flash. 

The future of digital editions and web experiences in general are moving towards a richer, more customizable user experience.  There was no question about our desire to create a Rich Internet Application to keep pace and even help shape this movement.

Silverlight became the clear choice for us and we look forward to sharing the experience with our publishing customers - both current and new ones!