WHERE DO WE FIT IN?
Firstly, the magazine is not a website. Secondly, it is not internet based. Each magazine is a self-contained programme that can run independently of the internet.  What we do, is to use websites and the internet as communication vehicles to speed up the sales and marketing process of tourism products. In addition, we can increase our readership without printing additional magazines – either for back issues or current issues.

INDUSTRY TRENDS:
Using print along with electronic methods of advertising. We do believe that we are on the forefront of some big changes in the print industry. We have taken the route with our clients of combining electronic media, print media, the web and internet. The African Travel Experiences Travel Guide Magazine serves as an advertising and marketing medium which acts as a ”glue” with all these different components and is not a medium which replaces any of them.
 
Some excerpts by Louise Marsland -  www.biz-community.com. Full copies are available if you are interested or visit the site.
What do the print pro’s say?

The future for print is electronic
By: Louise Marsland

Magazines and newspapers are fighting an invasion of alternative media that is threatening the very survival and consumption of print in the future. This was the view of Thomaz Souto Correa, Editorial Vice President, Abril Group, and a board member of the Federation of International Print Publications (FIPP). Correa was speaking at the World Print Congress (WPC8) in Cape Town, where diverse views were presented on the survival of print publishing and the printing industry.

"I would love to be able to stand up here and say print will be with us forever. But the future of print depends on the future of reading," said Correa bluntly.

He said despite all the predictions and research, consumers decide for themselves... "The mobile phone was a case in point. None of us could have predicted the rise of its versatility and multi-media usage," said Correa.

Does print stand a chance in a wired world?
By: Louise Marsland

Print's future in a wired age was the subject of the presentation on 'The Power of Print - Keys to Profitability' by Michael Makin, President and CEO of the Printing Industries of America and the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, at the World Print Congress (WPC8) in Cape Town, Wednesday.

Since 1998 in North America, 7000 printers have gone out of business and 110 000 people in the industry have lost their jobs.

But despite this, there has been a recovery in the print industry since 2003 in the US - "this is a positive story", Makin assured the almost 700 delegates, dominated by

international visitors from the Asian block.

"There is no escaping the fact that we are a mature industry that faces tough competition, not from other graphic service providers, but other media - particularly the internet.
 

TARGET MARKET:
Travel trade:
Use the Travel Guide Magazine as an educational and reference tool. The magazine is presented in a Travel Guide style. Trade can use the magazine to further educate themselves about new tourism products as well as updates on tourism products that they have been promoting. The magazine can also be used in-house to promote products – hence we make use of impact creating image to sell tourism products. Each issue of the magazine can be collected  and used for reference purposes. Relevant pages can be printed, product owners can be contacted directly from the magazine.

Tourists themselves:
The African Travel Experiences Travel Guide magazine serves to empower both trade and tourists. Currently, trade controls the market. The tourists get given limited options as to where they can visit and how much it will cost. We aim to give the tourist more options, thereby driving the market from both sides. Research indicates that clients still use Travel agents and Tour operators, regardless of their choice or cost of destination.

It is at times like these ( when the Rand strengthens) , that we need to expand our markets to cater for more people. One way in which we can achieve this, is by giving the tourist more options at better prices.

We can also make sure that more people know what our Special Offers are. The African Travel Experiences Travel Guide Magazine has a section that specifically promotes Special Offers. It is with the special offer option that the downloadable format is very useful. If you should send printed matter to international destinations, it can take 6-8 weeks to reach its destination – when Special offers are no longer valid. There are of course ways to get the magazine there in 10 days, but at a cost greater than the magazine. With the download option, your client has the special offers available within minutes – at no extra cost

About marketing your tourism product
Tourism products are no different from other products. You can’t buy it if you can’t see it!  You can’t make a choice, if you have no choices. If you don’t package your product properly or your service is bad, you also will not be successful

Here are a few ways in which the African Travel Guide Magazine can help you market your tourism product better:
We market our advertisers – not African Travel Experiences. You will notice during our presentations that we seldom make reference to African Travel Experiences. We are in the business of creating  space for our clients to run their marketing initiatives within the magazine, in keeping with their own brand and marketing. Here we rely completely on customers and ad/pr agencies and take direction from the agencies to achieve this.

We also have extensive electronic tourism marketing experience, so our clients are also welcome to ask us for assistance.

The industry is currently changing and moving in all directions, with print still being a major player, but various electronic markets such a our electronic magazine are making huge changes as to how people are receiving their information.


Not only is this a very acceptable, exciting medium, but it offers many advantages for advertisers and marketers over printed media.

1. Pages turn as if reading a magazine
This is a feature that all can identify with. It is also a feature that causes great excitement and fascination for the reader, even though this is familiar territory. Any page/s can be printed. All links link directly from the page.

2. Use image to sell your product
It has long been the understanding in the printed media that image sells your product. It is also a known fact that this is a very expensive exercise. Having a professional take the photos, and then putting them a full page at a time in a magazine costs a fortune. Colour advertising is expensive. - But not in the African Travel Experiences magazine.

One might then argue that it is expensive compared with websites and the internet. Our magazine is not an internet product and not a website for a very specific reason. The internet and websites are not the place to have your best, high resolution images. It simply cannot be done. 

Use powerful, impact-creating images. Use the whole page if you can. Image cuts across all language and cultural barriers. Sell your tourism product to the whole world…you don’t even have to say much if you have some good images.



 3. Yes we can do whiz bang…..but we don’t
We are in the business of marketing tourism products. Technically we can make all sorts of things jump around your advertorial…..but whiz bang takes all the attention away from your tourism product, and you become a techies’ dream instead of a successful business owner. The techie gets all the credit – and your business suffers for it. This is also one of the fatal marketing mistakes people make on their websites! Think only of your product…nothing else

4. Advertorial type advertising:
We focus largely on advertorial type advertising. Many will probably argue about this, but through our years of research to find ways to market tourism products and ways to increase bed nights, we have come up with what we believe is a formula which can greatly assist tourism product owners, tourists and trade alike.

These are some of the components for an advertorial. Always ask the question. How will this make your client stay longer?
a. Great images
b. Activities offered or using your establishment as a base
c. Attractions offered or using your establishment as a base
d. Special Offers
e. Packaged deals – make it easy for the tourist to book a number of accommodation or activity options that you can offer
f. What experiences do you offer – spa, cuisine, photography, birding etc
g. Special Offers
h. Promotions and events
i. Conferences etc

5. Link Panel – Connectivity and marketing
You can have the best tourism product in the world, but if someone can’t contact you, you will not sell your product. Surprisingly, this happens all the time. All too often, you dial the telephone number on an advertisement and the number is wrong, or the email address does not work. This should be part of your service – COMMUNICATION


Our link panel option offers some great communication and marketing options. You simply click on the link and you are in business
Telephone Number
Fax Number
Email Address
Website Address
Link to reservations
Link to Enquiries
Link to a monthly newsletter
Link to a promotion
Link to a competition

6. Downloadable format
The format we use allows the magazine to be distributed free of charge on CD. The Magazine can be copied many times over and downloaded onto many PC’s and future reading devices

The magazine can be downloaded from the internet many times over – with good networking, the downloads can run into thousands before too long