First Issue Completed

The first issue of the Caribbean Business Digest has been completed, edited and sent to print. While I wait for the printing process to be completed, I can look back with satisfaction at having gotten to this point. True, the inaugural issue is a little bit later than I had planned but the lessons along the way have been duly noted. However, in this post I want to address a different issue and save the lessons for a future blog entry. Today, I will give my thoughts on the whole print versus online debate that I faced (and still face).

In the not so distant past, print media carried a lot of weight even throughout the introduction of television. Newspapers were quite the behemoth but now may appear to be of dinosaur proportions in the internet age. Most companies are now spending more and more of advertising dollars on web advertising. One reason that they are so attracted to this form of advertising is that its effectiveness can be measured (fraudulent clicks notwithstanding). Banner ads appearing on websites invite web surfers with the “Click Here” invitation and each surfer that “clicks through” can be tracked and counted. The same is not true of print advertising. It is a little more difficult to gauge the effect that the print publications have.

So much so that most if not all large newspapers now have an online version since advertisers are pushing more dollars into their online budget. Even more telling is that a few of these are considering dropping certain content from the print version (such as stock price information). After all, up to the minute stock information can be viewed quickly online in virtually real time. (I believe The New York Times is considering such a move provided that they have not done so already). Business magazines too (Forbes, BusinessWeek etc) all have online versions of their publications.

So why was the decision taken to have the Caribbean Business Digest be print as opposed to an online magazine? Well as was pointed out to me, the print versus online debate is one that all print media publishers have to consider whether they are giants (Forbes, Sun Sentinel) or just starting out (The Caribbean Business Digest) or serving a niche market (Caribbean Today, CN Weekly). Now all the examples that I have quoted thus far still has the print version. BusinessWeek for example, has not abandoned the print version when it launched businessweekonline.com. So there is still value to the print publication. I believe the print publications remain as a staple and back bone to the field of communication.

I do also believe that there is a shift in the purpose of print with the introduction of the internet. No longer is the print publications relied upon for news. No; there is the internet and television for that. Or even your cell phone! But leisure reading and commentary still are more effective in print format. And given that the Caribbean Business Digest is more commentary rather than news reporting, I believe that print is the way to go in order to build a foundation for the magazine. If longevity is to be achieved, the acceptance within the Caribbean American community must occur. And that acceptance will come from targeting the places that Caribbean Americans frequent and at least in the initial stages that is best accomplished by the print version.

The online version no doubt would have been much cheaper to produce but a lot of the work would still remain (editing, formatting etc). (More on that experience in a future post). Nevertheless, I fully intend to launch a Caribbean Business Digest web site in the near future since it is a necessity. But for now I have made the strategic decision to go with the print version in order for the idea to take root and gain acceptance.