Why Resurgent is Print’s New Buzz Word

steve-jobs-digitalEverything old is new again as the bloom drops off the digital rose.

It’s a word that’s been popping up quite a bit lately when people talk about print magazines. The word is “resurgence,” and it’s a great way to describe what’s going on in the industry.

Just the other day we reported on the welcome resurgence in custom publishing. And today we read this, from Imagination founder James Meyers, who speaks about the backlash that’s happening from the cheaper/faster/easier mentality of digital publishing:

“What’s happened is a resurgence that has the pundits agog,” Meyers writes. “Print is making a comeback! Who would have thought? In an era when blogging, social media, web articles and short-form digital blasts are the standard — actually becoming traditional — marketers are starting to see the value of print as today’s non-traditional vehicle for content delivery.”

To be sure, it hasn’t been a piece of cake for brands and publishers to get this to point and adjust their business models successfully, as Meyers notes.

“While publishers, for example, struggle with paywalls and pageviews and ways to convince advertisers that their audiences (if not their platforms) are worth ‘buying,’ they also are struggling to create better, more effective ways to re-monetize their product.

“Newsweek’s new owners last year shocked everyone by reintroducing its print edition — less than a year after its old owners abandoned print for digital — and shifting its focus away from advertisers to paying customers. The belief — one that’s gained traction in this resurgence — is that fans will happily pay for content that dives deeper into the week’s headlines than a 70-character Tweet or a short-form recap,” he continues.

We could give any number of examples of brands that are leveraging print in non-traditional ways…we write about them often. As Meyers notes, it all comes down to the one thing we harp on all the time: providing outstanding content.

“Even as the movement to digital content delivery continues, we see more brands utilizing print magazines as way of distinguishing themselves from that crowd of digital sameness to embrace a vehicle that has great presence and the capacity to deliver a high quality differentiated experience. And that’s what great creative content, whether in the traditional mode or not, should always try to achieve.”