Education in San Antonio

The debate may be new to the education marketing world but not so in the world of Business to Business or consumer magazines. Think of most any big UK or US brand and you will find that they are now producing a digital magazine. So just why has the digital magazine arrived and why is it becoming so popular? That’s because faster internet speeds are now the norm at home and in the office making so many more things possible. We, as a society now spend more time on the internet than reading magazines or watching TV.

So what are Digital Magazines – after all they’re not websites and they’re not print. Is it a lazy way to get online without investing in a really good website? You may have been led to think so by the proliferation of PDF / Flash whatever replicas of print where you take your Viewbook and simply turn it into a page turning edition. Some simply convert their Viewbook into a PDF file, which loads at a snail’s pace, even on the fastest computers. Others convert their printed Viewbook into page turning online magazines using Flash based software – simple and low cost and many schools & universities have them. However many of these printed online replica’s are clunky to use, slow to load and have type so small that you have to constantly zoom in and out.

So what’s a REAL Digital Magazine? Well firstly they are formatted fit the computer screen, secondly the good digital magazines offer fantastic visual quality and thirdly they make clever use of video, audio and animation. The Viewbooks created as true digital Viewbooks rather than printed Viewbooks also offer clickable tables of contents, clickable links for example “Contact Admissions” and and reader statistics which no printed Viewbook, PDF or simple page turning printed Viewbook can ever achieve.

You may be asking yourself why have an online Viewbook when you have a website? The two have different functions. The website is designed to be highly navigable and offer information in brief, easily digestible pieces to all your different audiences whether prospective, current or alumni. Some education websites boost of having over 500 pages for the viewer to look at. The key thing is you have no control in what order the Prospective viewer sees the information. For example, they may decide to go from the home page to the admissions page to the school news page to the fees page in 3 jumps. There is no ordered “sales funnel” as they jump to different pages. So websites are fantastic information repositories for parents, prospective families, alumni and the community where all the info, the small print, the bullying policies and the news about the school or university are held. But your Prospective Families don’t always want infinite and constantly changing, and they usually don’t have the time or desire to explore all your web pages. The digital Viewbook however takes your readers by the hand and takes them through the best features and benefits at your school or university in a linear fashion in exactly the way you want them to view your School. So readers enjoy the same, familiar experience as thumbing through a print magazine, following the flow of why they should visit you from the engaging path of text, animation, images and video.

So unlike print, true digital magazines provide a rich, immerse environment with video, animation and interactive features that provide much more depth. Rather than being neither a good Web site, nor a good print publication – digital magazines can and should be the best of both worlds. They can be fantastic publications that provide a defined, engaging experience for readers, and a much cheaper, and more environmentally friendly message by the schools themselves.

So readers who read Digital Magazines love them. As a school, you will make huge savings on print and postage. Perhaps the best thing of all is that unlike the printed Viewbook you can analyze the readership statistics over every page to see what works and what does not. So that next year without worrying about the cost of reprinting you can decide to redo page 3 or 4 or 5 with very little headache at all.

If you are interested in knowing more about Viewbook design, then visit www.ViewBookDesign.com to find the best advice on creating digital Viewbooks.