Surviving the Technological Onslaught: Effective Print Media Tactics

The mere fact that people still like the feel of paper and print is not enough for print media to overcome the many advantages of Web media. This is true not just for regular publications like newspapers and magazines, but basically for any sort of print media, even marketing flyers and brochures.

With audiences becoming increasingly Internet-savvy, print media will do well to borrow some Web-based concepts that work for Netizens. Adopting ideal Internet standards for readability and scanability as well as using a modern approach to colors and graphics would improve print media’s appeal and reach to a modern audience.

Reader-Friendliness: Readability and Scanability

Even in researching something trivial, Internet readers have mountains of voluminous information to go through. They need to sort them out and browse through them as fast as possible. This means they can’t spend time reading every word of every article. The norm is they scan the text looking for usable info and stop to read more thoroughly when an interesting item is spotted.

What this means for print media is that all messages and texts in print need to be very readable, and especially scanable through:

-          Breaking long messages into paragraphs.
-          Using subheadings to highlight paragraph topics.
-          Using bullet points and lists to mention important points in a “per item” basis.
-          Writing in simpler terms that are easier to understand.