There was a great deal of debate and soul searching before Installer finally took the decision to go completely digital in 2021. We had online channels – the website and our e-mail comms – and the user numbers for these were increasing month-on-month, but nevertheless, taking that final leap was nail-biting to say the least.
Now, almost 3 years later, I’m wondering why we hesitated, why we didn’t make the jump sooner. But hindsight is a great thing. There was no doubt that traditional communications channels like print were fighting for survival against their digital alternatives. The signs were plain to see, but it’s funny how blind we can become to things we feel safe and secure about.
There’s no escaping the fact that people communicate in a completely different way compared to even a few years ago. We thought, naively perhaps, that the traditional Installer readership wanted to read the magazine in their vans while having their lunch, but we also discovered that even more wanted to catch up on industry news on their smart devices while waiting in the builders’ merchant queue.
The ‘traditional installer reader’ had changed, we just didn’t notice as quickly as we should have – but when the penny dropped an exciting and more dynamic world opened up for all of us.
The immediacy of digital is unbeatable, there’s almost no such thing as ‘stale news’ since stories are updated in real time. Instead of communicating with our readers six times a year, we are now talking to them daily – in bite-sized, easy-to-digest chunks of information – most with links connecting the story to other pertinent pieces of information.
Installer has gone from a ‘good read’ to a valuable business resource – a multi-channel business engagement super force.
That is exciting, and I’m so proud that Installer continues to lead this industry comms transformation.
elemental – our sister channel for specifiers and decision-makers in heat, water, air and energy, has always been a digital comms channel. It now boasts the industry’s most comprehensive content streams with contributions from the industry’s leading thinkers, developers and manufacturers. Proof that digital channels, well produced, attract huge audiences and influencers.
I may, occasionally, long for the smell of newsprint, but the refresh button delivers so much more.
