Our Customers are the Phelps and Bolt of the Digital Magazine World…

True, the Olympics are in the rear view windows, but hopefully you’ll forgive the analogy. Two Nxtbook Media customers were just named as winners in the 2008 ASBPE Awards for General Excellence in the Digital Magazine Category.

Congratulations to  LCGC – the Peak for taking the Gold Award (If memory serves, they won last year, too!) and to Veterinary Medicine for winning the Silver!

Nxtbook Customer Nominated For Digital Media Innovation Award!

We just received word that Nxtbook customer Bodas USA La Revista digital magazine was nominated for the Top Hispanic Digital Media Innovation Award, to be given out the Second Annual Hispanic Digital and Print Media Conference and Networking/Awards Dinner in NYC, Altman Building on Oct. 9. 

Congratulations on the nomination and good luck! You can view the Summer 2008 issue of the magazine (with a great intro video) here. 

The Screen-Optimized Digital Magazine…

In the early days of digital magazines, readers used to complain a lot more about zooming in and out. I’d say the blame lay a little bit in the hands of the readers, but was mostly the fault of our less than intuitive interfaces.

Fortunately, people have gotten more clever and our interface has gotten more slicker and those complaints are much fewer and far between. Still, some publishers like the idea of a digital magazine that doesn’t rely on zooming in, but instead gives the reader a seamless experience. Not surprising, these publications tend to have higher engagement times, simply because the publishers are working harder to delight their readers.

Boat U.S. is the latest publisher to come out with a screen-optimized digital magazine. You can check out the first "zoom-less" issue here.

The Fantastic Growth of Nxtbook Media

When you start a company, you don’t plan on being one of the 500 Fastest Growing Companies in the U.S. 

No you plan on working hard, being smart, growing your business, seizing opportunities, getting the best people to be part of the organization, listen to your customers, know your markets, and have fun doing it because it is your passion!

Really, how could you possibly worry with being one of the fastest growing companies in the U.S.? You are much too busy being engaged with all of the things I said above, not to mention all of the things that I didn’t bother to mention even though they are important, too. You really are just too busy trying to be the company you know you are capable of being.

Then one day you find out that WOW, all that hard work puts you on a very prestigious list. A list you weren’t working to be on but it sure is nice to find out you made it.

There isn’t much public recognition you get for doing the right thing in your business life.  A company grows, you work harder, it grows more, you work even harder, etc.  But here you have recognition, recognition those companies like Microsoft, Oracle and Timberland have also received as they moved up the long path of business life.  It is really awe inspiring to be held in that same company. 

You realize that there are a lot of businesses that start every day.  According to USA today, 85 percent of which fail in the first year, then heap on another 70 percent fail in the second year.  When you look at those daunting statistics you realize how fortunate you are, but in many ways you feel that “Yeah, but that doesn’t apply to me." “Those are companies that don’t have their act together, I never had a doubt." (It’s nice because I really never did.)

I think it is part of the entrepreneurial mind, it allows you to believe in what you do so much that you know it will be a great business , you see it, feel it, taste it with all of your being but yet you have the ability to see problems and know what will work and what won’t. (Usually)

The great thing in looking at this recognition is you quickly realize you couldn’t do this without your customers.  They believe in you and what you have told them.  They understand that you are a growing company that is completely immersed in their marketplace.  You will show them how to be successful in their endeavors; you will be there to help them and their customers.  Whatever it takes.  Thank you customers for the role you play in our success every day.

The people of Nxtbook Media, without all of you there is no Nxtbook Media.  You are the heart and soul of the organization.  You have the vision, you bring the daily excitement to do a wonderful thing, you work hard but you also have great fun at work as well.  Your concern for our customers, buyers and readers alike is just incredible.  Your commitment to customer service is unparalleled.  Thank you for all you do, every day!

To my partners in the business, without each of you being there day in and day out Nxtbook Media would not be the place it is today.  Well done!

Finally, I think when you are writing your own personal business history, each event happens, you mentally write it down.  Then you turn the page and you are off to the next subject.  However, I think this page is pretty special so I’m going to stay right here and enjoy it for an extra minute.

Thanks again to all!

Michael

 

links for 2008-08-25

• Farnborough Show News – July 14, 2008 – Page 1
  Example of advertisers using the loader, toolbar and video on sponsorship page.
  (tags: sponsorship)
• Incentive – July 2008 – Page CoverTip
  Example of Publishing leveraging areas in Nxtbook for their magazine title, also used sponsorship section to promote webinar
  (tags: sponsorship-magazine)
• Family Practice Management – July/August 2008 – Page 14
  Sample of a digital blow-in card
  (tags: blow-in subscribe-blow-in-card)

links for 2008-08-22

• @ The Office – September 2008
  Green screen video. Watch the characters "walk" in front of the cover.
  (tags: video green+screen)
• Sandia Annual Report 2008 [12 - 13]
  The new rescalable video player. At no additional charge!
  (tags: video)

Mr. Magazine, Matt Kinsman and Some Other Dude on the Big Screen…

The magazine industry was covered on Fox today… Good coverage all around.

 

Case Study: Psion Teklogix — Keeping abreast of ever-changing products

Psion Teklogix is a 40-year-old company and a leading global provider of mobile computing solutions designed to improve business efficiency and productivity for major enterprises around the world. The company’s solutions are built around a range of high-quality, innovative mobile computers designed for harsh and demanding environments. The company manufactures a multitude of products including, but not limited to PDAs, vehicle mount computers, mobile printers and wireless infrastructures.

Toni Condi is the director of marketing at Americas Psion Teklogix Corporation and has more than a decade of experience. Condi has directed marketing campaigns for more than 20 million prospects and has had record success.

 The Challenge

America’s Psion Teklogix Corporation produces a catalog of services and products rolled into one book. The company has many spec sheets and makes it difficult for customers to beep abreast of the ever-changing products it carries. The Nxbook option gave the company a way to update the sections as necessary.

The company decided to convert the printed guide to Nxtbook because it allows the company to print fewer guides and this, in turn, saved money on hard printing.

This was critical because the products are constantly changing and the company didn’t want to have to constantly reprint the guides for reference.

Since the company is global, print distribution is a challenge due to printing nuances and problems with the postal service.

America’s Psion Teklogix Corporation considered other options including prior to using Nxtbook.

First, the company looked into alternative digital formats but found it wasn’t user friendly.

Next, the company considered short run digital printing but found it wasn’t cost effective and the quality wasn’t good.

The company also considered Microsites but learned the sites wouldn’t go into enough details and found the process cost prohibitive.

Then, the company looked into creating individual product sheets but ultimately decided the digital solutions would a better option.

America’s Psion Teklogix Corporation’s internal design team put the copy together in about 12 weeks. The internal deisn team made the product exactly what they wanted it to be. Then the company uploaded the guide to Nxtbook.

Nxtbook returned the product in about a week.

America’s Psion Teklogix Corporation deployed the solutions guide by the Web site and Web distribution through several rental e-mail campaigns. The company also implemented a general distribution through Google. The company also put together e-signatures that have the flipping pages from Nxtbook and draws the eye through any e-mail. The company crated dedicated e-mail blasts that it sends out with the e-newsletter and the company also does field sales and partner distribution.

• Company tracked statistics through Nxtbook and Google Analytics and learned which client clicks on what particular part of the publication. The company found the statistics are robust and concise.
• America’s Psion Teklogix Corporation looks at the pages to get a quick summary.
• Condi said viewers have a tendency to look through more pages on the Nxtbook than on the Web site.

• Nxtbook created customized opening pages with our logo so it appears as if they’re staying with the company for the entire time.
• In the future the company hopes to continue to expand the digital solutions guide and perhaps include video embedded on the book to describe products.
• Company found the product has been critical to lead generations.
• Company learned Nxtbook is an easy way to get the products distributed.
• Condi said the company can hit way more marketing channels online, and
• Product cost effective and it’s also a resource for the sales team.

• After researching at least four other options, Psion Teklogix Corporation found Nxtbook to be the most cost effective option to reprint guides. These guides, in turn, have been critical for lead generations because the guides provide an easy way for the information to be distributed worldwide since the company can hit many more marketing channels online.
• The decision to go digital caused potential buyers look through more pages on the Nxtbook than on the Web site while providing a way to update the ever-changing content.  

Note: This study was excerpted from a 2008 Webinar. Click here to view the Webinar.

Rescalable and Green Screen Videos – INSIDE the Nxtbook

What will our customers (partnered with our developers) think of next?? Here are two cool ideas:

1) Green Screen video — have a host walk onto the cover of your digital edition promoting the content. Simply too cool.

2) The Rescalable video — Video’s great, but fitting the player nicely within a page layout can be tough. But it’s no problem with our new rescalable player. Just drag the lower right corner to see as much of the video as you’d like to. Best of all? This is the latest product enhancement to be made available at NO EXTRA CHARGE!

Nxtbooks on Twitter…

You’ve probably heard of Twitter — the "micro-blogging" service that enables people to tell you what’s going on in their life 144 characters at a time. Due to our page-specific permalinks, it’s for people to "tweet" their favorite Nxtbook content. You can check out two examples here.

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