Here are the most creative e-edition strategies

There’s so much opportunity with e-editions

Are e-editions still popular and important for media companies to offer?

The answer is a hard yes but getting beyond just putting an interactive PDF out to your audience matters today.

E-editions work because they provide a familiar format for loyal readers but there are some pretty interesting techniques you can use beyond just expecting your readers to flip from page to page that lead to more subscribers and help build happy reading experiences.

I’m going to spend some time in today’s newsletter outlining creative ways of thinking about your e-edition.

1. Send social media readers to e-edition articles

Opposed to just promoting your entire e-edition through a newsletter, select certain articles that are in that edition and use a social media campaign to drive audience to them.

The idea is that a reader sees a headline in their social media feed like they would any other post, but when they click on the article they land on the e-edition article.

I love this idea because it’s a great way to get readers into your e-edition through an article that interests them and then the likelihood of them exploring more pages is high. You have to make sure your tool allows for a nice mobile display, but most do today.

• Tip: Check to make sure that your mobile version of the specific article also shows the ad that was part of that page.

2. Take themes and make e-edition guides

If you have great special sections in your newspaper or magazine, don’t just bury those on page 48 of your e-edition, break those out and promote them to your audience as separate e-editions.

That could be anything from a progress edition to a graduation section. Apply that same idea above on sending the stories in those sections through social media to your e-edition.

Themed sections though don’t always have to literally be a special section that you create for your publication. Let’s say that you have a great pillar page on things to do in the summer.

Take the best of that content (new content and previous content that is still relevant), build a 12-16 page guide and promote it. This could create more revenue — without having the pressure of printing costs —  through utilizing content you’re planning to write and what you already have on your site.

This approach also creates more advertising flexibility where maybe you just offer half page and full page ads.

3. Create a historical archive and offer perks

Anything that you have a page for from the past could become an e-edition. Think of all of the possibilities based on the archive you already have:

• The biggest local stories (all time, that year)
• Showcasing the history of a single local story (feature numerous stories and pages)
• The biggest sports stories
• Memorial Day parades over the years

You’d create an avenue through your e-editions to access this content where you would curate the pages into special themes and sections.

Could there be advertisers who would find it valuable to sponsor something like this?

• Here’s an additional idea: Give early access to your Sunday e-edition (before print hits doorsteps) for digital or all-access subscribers. This sort of reminds me when there would be an early run of the Sunday newspaper you could get in the grocery store on Saturday.

Let’s work together on your e-edition strategy

There are so many opportunities to get more out of your e-edition. We’d love to help you improve and maximize your e edition. Reach me at David@davidarkinconsulting.com or call me at 832-407-0188.