An unavoidable reality of marketing communications today that all too few in the advertising industry understand, much less will admit, is this: Sometimes an ad just isn't enough.
Ads today have never been more entertaining. Their concept, design and execution are superb. For entertainment value, some are superior to the television programming they support. All that is obvious, and we take great pride in having participated in every aspect of advertising as it is exists today.
COMPLEXITY AND SOPHISTICATION
But ads alone almost never offer the depth and substance that a serious marketing message requires. To convey a message of complexity and sophistication requires a different medium altogether-and a communications partner with genuine expertise in publishing. Whether in print or online, the Bergman Group possesses just that publishing expertise.
The Bergman Group's experience in publishing goes back almost 30 years. Our founder, president and CEO Bill Bergman brings vast experience to the publishing challenges our clients face, having served as circulation director and director of marketing and communications for Newsweek. On the strength of this experience alone, we have provided circulation-consulting services to OK! and Audubon Magazines. We have also performed sales-promotion services for The American.
But like all astute media professionals, Bill and the staff he has assembled at the Bergman Group have seen the worlds of marketing communications change dramatically in the last 15 years. His staff has participated fully in all of those changes.
One thing has not changed, however. For all the difficulties mass media has encountered, and for all the attention new media has received, custom publishing has never faced a more promising future. For the right clients, it has never presented greater opportunities.
PUBLICATIONS: ONLINE AND PRINT
Whether it takes the form of a simple brochure or a glossy, full-color magazine, custom publishing can achieve-for the right client-goals that are otherwise unattainable. And we have helped many of our clients reach these goals. We have created, for example, an online publication for the American Enterprise Institute. But we have also designed, written, edited, published and provided circulation services for Martha Jefferson Hospital, Beth Sholom, Marts and Lundy, Henrico Magazine, and the William and Mary Business Journal.
WORLD-CLASS EDITORIAL CONTENT
Our ability to produce content for such publications should come as no surprise. In addition to our expertise in design, production, promotion and circulation, we possess strong editorial skills. Our staff writers have published in a range of national and international newspapers and magazines, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Vogue, The Nation and National Review. Our works have been published in Great Britain, Singapore and New Zealand. We even have on our staff authors of published books of adult nonfiction, sales motivation and teen entertainment.
To succeed in any high-quality publishing venture, however, four conditions must be met.
The product or service to be publicized requires some depth of explanation. The audience to be reached with this message is small and definable-and often relatively sophisticated. The client recognizes the value of published communications and is committed over the long haul to a project that can be time-consuming and complicated. The marketing partner possesses the experience and expertise in several disciplines to conceptualize, design, write, edit, illustrate, print and distribute the publication itself. (A partner, that is, like the Bergman Group.)
Working with a range of clients whose publishing needs vary widely, but which understand the significance and complexity of such projects, we have helped our clients achieve great success.
THE DEATH OF MASS MEDIA
Some claim that print is dead. But if so, as Mark Twain observed upon reading his own obituaries, its death has been greatly exaggerated. Daily newspapers, it is true, have fallen on hard times. Magazines aimed at mass audience are struggling to reinvent themselves, and many hobbyist publications have discovered that it is vastly cheaper, via the Internet, to reach the communities they served.
Still and all, there are occasions-especially in marketing-when there is no substitute for print. Most salespersons to this day need “leave behinds” in the form of timely, expertly designed, and attractively packaged folders and brochures. (We've created direct mail packages, fliers, brochures and other stand-alone publications for many clients, including People Magazine, Audubon, OK!, DCI, Capital One, Bank of America, Exxon Mobil, AT&T and Wells Fargo.)
THE AUTHORITY OF THE PRINTED WORD
And yet some audiences are of sufficient sophistication, dealing in matters of considerable professional complexity, that the most effective way of reaching them is through a magazine. This can be true even if that magazine is published only once a year, for them alone. In such cases, the printed word carries authority and weight that Web sites, much less ads, simply cannot match.
If. as many clients do, you recognize the inherent limitations of traditional consumer or business-to-business advertising-when TV commercials, print ads and banners simply do not do justice to the information you must communicate-please consider custom publishing. In the hands of an experienced marketing firm, it is less expensive than one might imagine. Considering its power, it is vastly more cost effective.
And consider the Bergman Group to help you reap the benefits.
