I've had the pleasure of speaking with many subscription based and non-profit organizations that have a focus on providing unique content to their constituents. In particular Unleashed Technologies, LLC has had the opportunity to focus on several different forms of publications groups. These groups include non-profits/associations that supply periodicals on a monthly basis to their members and "paid for" subscriptions that don't provide a member based structure.

First and foremost, while there is much that separates these types of organizations there is more than a monthly magazine that bonds them together. They all need to provide continued value through "thought leadership", and they need to do that through an online model that helps fulfill the mission of the organization or company.

The truth is that each organization presents a unique model and while it would be easy to put a blanket on the best way for sharing information and inspiring community engagement, it really isn't that simple. There are some base questions that need to be asked.

1. Does the unique content my organization provides require a cost to be viewed? Why?
2. Should the content provided on the website be organized in the same fashion as the magazine or follow a different structure?
3. What new opportunities are made available by putting my content on the web?
4. What are the benefits and repercussions of offering content both in the magazine and in an easy-interface digital format?

Breaking down each of these questions is an arduous task to say the least and won't be decided in a 10 minute meeting with your trusted colleague. Since the questions are more mission/business driven they serve to dictate the understanding of your future path. However, there are a couple key points that I think need to be made and should make your internal discussions of these questions easier.

1. If you truly have terrific content that's completely original and in demand you should have financial compensation in place for that content. Forcing an advertisement driven model requires a substantial amount of work way beyond the business or technology deployment of the project. It also makes you more vulnerable to the instability of the United States economy when the primary income for on-going support, hosting, maintenance, upgrades, and of course, profit comes from an opt-in program from industry supporting organizations.
2. Posting PDF's on the web is not "online" content and the expectation from the coming generations is completely different. If your industry hasn't moved in this direction and still prefers printed materials over reading on the internet, what I see is an opportunity to be a thought leader in your field and get to the next iteration in focusing on the distribution of content and not the vessel on which it's delivered.
3. I am a proponent for leveraging a hybrid model of offering print with online access and for those more hip an online only membership/subscription. As wierd as this may sound coming from an internet guy I still like to have magazines for the coffee table in my office or in the lobby. With continuing expansion in "Print On Demand" technologies there is no reason why your customer or member can't have the best of both worlds. As the famous saying goes, "Give the Lady What She Wants".
4. The largest fear I hear is the cannabilization of their advertising network and not being able to sell print ads in leiu of expanding internet capabilities. I fathom to guess you're already getting pinged for this anyway, so why not offer a premium vessel for those that have invested with you for years? There is a common misconception that internet advertising needs to be "cheap" when comparing it to print. Perhaps the opposite is true when the value proposition is reviewed in trackable data and increased exposure. Makes sense to me? Make your advertisers a combo package for both so that you can maintain the strong interest in both print and online.

It truly is best to work with a professional firm that has extensive experience in understanding the level of effort required to bring you sucess and the general business model of the industry if you know that you're behind or need to get ahead when provided socially engaging websites with original content. I can't tell you the number of projects we've bumped into that are in a status "disaster" because those that don't understand the publications and periodicals world are at the helm developing technologies without understanding the business process or the end user expectations.

As always we're here to help and you can reach me at any time if you need general guidance in learning more about this direction.