Five Things Your Digital Staff Is Dying To Tell You

Digital media may have grown from basically zero to 8 to 15 percent of total revenue for most magazine publishers in recent years but the gulf between online staffers and traditional employees (particularly the executive level) remains large.

Below are five verbatims from a mix of e-media strategists, developers, project managers and digital marketers on what they would love for the rest of their colleagues to realize.

1. "Instead of designing a site around editorial or spending days fretting over what color to make a link, actually think about a business model. Too many times we are tasked with a huge design and programming effort only to have someone say, ‘Oh, we'll just sell ads on it.' And then they don't. There's money to be made online, but you actually need a product to sell."

2. "All the higher-ups are publishing people. You need C-level people who understand the technology and what it takes to market a successful web business. When they do hire someone with a digital background, it's almost never someone with any practical development or business experience. They prefer the types that like to sit around all day with overpriced agencies fantasizing about ‘user experience.'"

3. "Trust our advice. We're always happy to explain if you're willing to learn. Publishing people say they want to understand digital, but in practice they are stuck in their old ways, and keep going back to what they know."

4. "Don't launch a Web product without a serious marketing plan to drive traffic. And no, a few e-mails to our existing customer base and two Google ads don't cut it."

5. "I'm not in IT. I'm not here to fix your printer."

By Matt Kinsman --

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