Why Magazines Make Amazing Content Marketing

Quality print pieces are increasingly rare in our digital world, where so much is content is consumed on a six-inch screen. You squint as you scroll through post after article after video after post. How refreshing is it to actually take some time with your content and hold something in your hands besides a mobile device?

That’s because magazines remain very powerful platforms for content marketing. It’s something that demands attention by its very nature. It’s not a link or a page that gets scanned for a few seconds.

This treasured medium of communication has long been a content marketing staple – even long before the term “content” was even a thing. In 1895, John Deere started publishing The Furrow as a resource for farmers. That purpose and content remains intact – and in print today.

Magazines have enjoyed a renaissance over recent years as well. Dollar Shave Club debuted in 2015, Airbnb named for the dating app, hit newsstands in 2019. And even though they ultimately serve a marketing purpose, people actually pay to subscribe.

That’s because magazines are predisposed to be the purest form of content marketing. All magazines share the same basic purpose: to inform and entertain. You can do both and further establish your brand when you produce a true resource for readers.

Print’s not dead. If it were, why would tech companies like Airbnb be interested in producing a physical product? Why would Chevy send its vehicle owners  every few months? Because it’s something that lasts. And it’s a regular reminder you’re a part of a community.

Magazines are cool. When you become a reader, you enter into a “club” of sorts that only you, the authors and fellow readers know about. Engagement is key in content marketing and this kind of connection is priceless.

So, all the effort it takes to get written content onto a printed page tends to be worth it, even during our primarily digital times. And of course that content can be converted for the web and social media, where you get even more mileage and reach out of it.

If there’s any takeaway from magazines, it’s that mission to inform and entertain should permeate all the media we use. Make your content marketing mission to be a resource and not a rag.