Reading, listening and enjoying - it's the right mix that counts
Never before has the range of communication channels been greater than it is today. Consequently, companies face significant challenges in delivering the right content through the right medium to the right target audience. What matters, then, is finding the right mix. Integrating the chosen channels into a consistent brand experience is just as crucial as engaging with the audience through interactive applications.
E ne of the most popular examples in Switzerland is SBB's customer magazine Via. With a circulation of 250,000, this public magazine is published ten times a year. Via is also available as an app. And on www. via.ch, the magazine enjoys a strong dialog presence: it is of course possible to read Via online as an e-paper and download it as a pdf. And the "Most important topics" are already teased on the web.
Interactive and dialog-oriented
But Via is also interactive. A simple navigation prompts us to write a letter to the editor. It is also possible to send in a reader photo via an input mask. And just one click further is the reader crossword puzzle with a corresponding competition. It is possible to enter into an almost playful dialog with Via or SBB.
Via does online and offline what makes a strong customer magazine: it establishes a dialog between the company and its customers. Magazines with a strong dialog enjoy stronger reader loyalty than monological media. And stronger reader loyalty increases the audience's loyalty to the company.
"At SBB, we attach great importance to a lively dialog with our customers, not just at the counter and on the trains," says Reto Kormann, SBB Group Spokesman. "Our Via is therefore another door opener to the company. This makes SBB transparent and approachable for the public."
Via in the audio version
The audio version is another cross-media extension of Via. It is the result of an initiative by the SBS Swiss Library for the Blind, Visually Impaired and Reading Impaired. The audio version is easy to find and makes the text acoustically accessible. "We are doing everything we can to give visually impaired and reading disabled people as much access to important print and online media as possible. We are very pleased about the cooperation with SBB," says Ursula Vogt from SBS. In fact, SBB is considering making the audio version available as a podcast in the coming weeks. Via is thus making use of four channels: the printed magazine, the website, the app and the audio text.
Go! and Export, Osec's cross-media mix
Go!, Osec's foreign trade magazine, is published four times a year in German and French with a circulation of 19,000. The last eight issues can be downloaded from the website as pdf files. Osec is currently evaluating the possibility of making Go! available as an e-zine, enriched with rich media. Go! is flanked by the online magazine Export. While the print magazine Go! provides in-depth background reports on Swiss foreign trade topics, Export primarily highlights Osec's range of services. It informs around 8,000 subscribers about current developments in the export markets and about Osec's customer-oriented events and trade fairs.
Every two weeks, SMEs that either already export or want to do so receive a free update on relevant topics. The news is easy to subscribe to via an RSS feed. Georeferencing of the information on the website is also about to be implemented. This means that each geographical area in which Osec is active will provide asynchronously updated country-specific content. "We always deliver fresh content directly to our members' mailboxes via our online magazine. We are also looking into expanding Go! into an online magazine, with additional content in the form of films, photo galleries and animations," says Sibylle Zumstein, Content and Public Relations Manager.
Martin Fritsche
