3 Benefits of Creating a Company Magazine

Updated 09/01/2023

Have you ever seen a really good company magazine and thought “Why can’t my business do that?”  

You have the power to direct the conversation in your own magazine. A hard copy of a company magazine unifies a brand for companies large and small.

Print Magazines vs. Digital Magazine

A print business magazine can be eye-catching and a great way to get your name in front of a wider audience. However, companies shouldn’t forget that online magazines are also a possibility. Digital options may be more cost-effective and easier to share and distribute than physical copies. In this way, the type of magazine you choose can have implications on your success, even if both options are high-quality.

Business owners can choose digital publishing instead of a traditional route or pair digital publications with traditional ones. No matter what’s in your business plan, a company magazine will communicate your brand identity via design elements like fonts, colors, templates, and typography.

3 Benefits of Starting a Company Magazine

Magazine publishing may sound overwhelming and unnecessary, but it’s a great way for a small business or startup to communicate its value in a distinct way that differentiates it from competitors. You should create a company magazine if you want to:

1. Unify your brand
2. Promote products and services
3. Engage audiences in a new unique way

1. Magazines Unify a Brand

Magazines can act as a tangible, unified vision of your company or brand. They are an opportunity to position your brand and message in print. Print publications can inform employees – and the world – about your business and its offerings.

Magazines position brands by:

• Providing a focal point for the organization
• Acting as the “voice of the industry” 

By creating a magazine, you create a concrete representation of how you want your business to be recognized and what you want it to be associated with. 

Even aesthetic elements like the magazine layout, animation, or other aspects of the magazine design are key to showing your audience what your brand is all about. From their first issue onward, entrepreneurs should be cognizant of their audience demographics and aim to create content that aligns with audience subscriptions and readership.  

Magazines Are a Company’s Focal Point

Writing about your company keeps your mission real and teammates on track. Organizations with their own publications use these magazines to inform employees and other stakeholders about company-wide plans and other essential information. 

Company publications can also build a sense of solidarity by including content that shows off employee accomplishments.

Magazines Are an Industry Voice

Some companies start a magazine to become an industry authority. Publishing regular content on a particular industry helps establish your reputation as a thought leader, adding legitimacy to your brand and content.

If you choose this tactic, keep in mind that your industry magazine will require its own “mini-organization” – writers, editors, graphic designers, and publishers – as well as funding. 

You will also need to separate this new industry publication from your brand to avoid confusion about endorsements. A consortium of your core business partners might be the best official publishers for this model.

Use a company magazine to build authority for your brand by creating an industry publication or an internal messaging resource.

2. Promote Products and Services

Company magazines are an inventive place to showcase your products and services. One effective way to help audiences engage with your products is to create a combination of catalog and lifestyle content. 

This magazine cover is an example of how businesses can integrate lifestyle content into their magazine.

The stylized cover shows a well-dressed man walking under the title, Top 5 to Stay Cool in the City.

Many companies have a catalog but lack a “lifestyle” approach for showing off the products or services. Fashion magazines are just one example of this commercial-friendly, “lifestyle catalog” strategy. They provide context for various products and services sponsored by brands.

“Lifestyle catalogs” offer a rich context to help reach an indecisive customer who is, for example, an avid mountain climber looking to purchase a new pair of climbing shoes. Successful “lifestyle catalogs” don’t just show a picture of appropriate shoes, but make an argument for a specific pair of shoes through context. 

Company magazines are an opportunity to promote products and services in an engaging format that provides context for audiences.

3. Engage Audiences

Magazines are made for communication. If you’re looking for an inventive way to reach a target audience, a company magazine might be for you.

With a company magazine, you can:

• Welcome prospects, clients, and partners
• Communicate important company reports
• Onboard new employees

Magazines help businesses communicate across teams in a dynamic and in-depth way. 

Welcome Prospects, Clients, and Partners

Wouldn’t it be great if all companies came with a guide for potential customers? Your company magazine can show prospective clients what your company can do for them or their end users. 

Magazines are also a great opportunity to highlight case studies of your own successful projects, such as NCCDP magazine. 

A company magazine can also highlight your partnership programs. Your magazine content can educate prospective partners about partnership opportunities. Contact information leads them to inquire directly to your business development team.

Communicate Important Company Reports

Most public companies publish an annual report for shareholders and other stakeholders. These reports help manage the company’s image and share progress on organizational goals. 

Company magazines are an appropriate format for detailed, data-driven content like annual shareholder reports. Magazines are also a chance to signal mergers and new acquisitions, or to outline the reasoning behind big moves to department heads. 

Onboard New Employees

Some talent and human resources teams at Fortune 500 companies are too busy to properly onboard employees. A regular company publication can help new employees understand the company culture and expectations.

Companies can signal new directions, impressive accomplishments, safety initiatives, and even publish model behaviors via employee appreciation awards.

Magazines make your brand tangible for different audiences and provide a different format for engagement. 

Case Study: Skydiving Company Magazine

My own agency, Flip180 Media, started a new magazine for a skydiving company, shown below.

The cover of the GoJump America magazine shows skydivers on the cover which gives readers an idea of what to expect on their jumps.

The skydiving company realized the magazine would serve many core business functions, but would primarily act as a resource for new skydivers waiting to jump. 

“My main goal with the magazine is not necessarily that it sits on a table,” the client said. “I would give it away when visitors check in so they can read while they wait. That extra value is my main goal.”

The skydiving company wanted to create a magazine that added value for people as they wait to jump, giving them valuable information that they might be too overwhelmed to absorb after they jump.

In this company’s situation, the magazine serves as a printed preparation tool. It calms clients’ nerves by redirecting their focus while learning about the company’s wider range of services. 

It also paves the way for interaction after adrenaline from the jump has subsided. In many ways, the magazine acts as a calming coach. After the experience, they feel they have jumped with knowledge and can better appreciate the experience as a result.

Why You Need a Company Magazine

If you are looking for a new way to refine your brand, communicate with stakeholders, and promote your products, a company magazine can achieve those goals.

Company magazines establish legitimacy for your company. By outlining your mission in print, you’ve created a resource for anyone interested in your offerings.