You may be asking yourself, why am I soliciting print advice from a digital marketing resource center? Well, we at Get Busy Media find value in content that helps small businesses solve problems and grow; regardless of how and in what format this content is packaged. Today we?re going to take you through our five favorite periodicals and why you, as a small business owner need to be consulting these resources.
Here are our top 5 magazines (and their tablet companions):
1. Inc.
Inc. is the veritable bible for small business owners. If you were stuck on a desert island selling widgets and had only one magazine to consult from, I would recommend Inc hands down. This magazine is chock-full of amazing statistics, case studies, interviews and reviews about small business owners and startups who have found success and why. Too many young readers today are inundated with stories of successful tech startups. Rest assured that Inc. will provide you with a wide variety of successful small business stories. They will provide you with stories of why learning to tell jokes is good for business to a who?s who of crowdfunding platforms and which ones small businesses should leverage depending on their specific needs.
Favorite columns:
-?Get Real by Jason Fried ? co-founder of 37 Signals (software company that created Basecamp) and author of Rework pens this column that normally appears between pages 35 and 40
-?Crunching the Numbers ? I love the charts and graphs that are included in this section. For instance, did you know that the cities that experienced the greatest increase in the number of jobs at companies with fewer than 100 employees were Orlando, Atlanta and Greensboro, North Carolina (who would have guessed those cities?)
-?Tech Trends?? ? John Brandon does a great job with this column. He reviews all the latest gadgets and new technology that makes your life as a small business owner easier.
iPad app: Appears that as of February, 2012 Inc. does not have an iPad app based on my extensive searches in the App. store that returned no results for this magazine.
2. Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur magazine is a must have for anyone looking to start a business. Entrepreneur?s target is more narrowly focused than Inc?s but that?s what makes it so great. Within this magazine you will find every pain point imaginable to starting and running a profitable business (economy, work/life balance issues, co-founder discord, death of a co-founder, production issues, supply chain problems, to name just a few). You will find articles ranging from how a 14-year old kid started his own candle company based on manly scents (fresh cut grass, steak and wood chips, to name a few) to how two guys pivoted and turned their failing lifestyle website into a flash deals site and made a profit in the first month.
Favorite Columns:
-?Lead Gen ?? Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs.com and Co-Author of Content Rules authors this column that speaks to the power of great content and how to reach your customers through online content.
-?Linked ? Chris Brogan, Founder of Human Business Works and co-author of Trust Agents is one of the preeminent experts in relationship and digital marketing. If you have enough time to read only one column in this magazine each month, read his.
iPad app: This app needs some work. When you zoom in to read on the iPad, the text becomes difficult to read. The abundance of ads on this app is also bothersome and takes away from the overall experience.
Cost: Free (comes with Entrepreneur print subscription)
?3.?Fast Company
Of these three magazines we have reviewed thus far, Fast Company is certainly the edgiest and hippest. To be honest, there?s a reason why this publication is #3 on the list behind Inc and Entrepreneur. A salient example for those who like sports, is that Fast Company is to ESPN The Magazine what Inc. is to Sports Illustrated. SI is the preeminent resource in sports journalism in the United States, much as Inc. is widely regarded as the benchmark for publications for small businesses and startups. ESPN the Magazine on the other hand is flashy, heavy on images and graphics and appeals to a hipper, younger generation than Sports Illustrated. By no means is this a bad thing, but I felt that I should use this example to illustrate the difference between Fast Company and their approach versus Inc.?s approach.
One aspect of Fast Company that I enjoy much more than the previous two publications on this list is their long form feature stories. Fast Company?s featured stories tend to be much more content-rich and just plain longer in general than its counterparts. I love that I can sit down and read one of these stories and am captivated for 20 minutes.
Favorite Columns:
-?Tech Edge? ? authored by Farhad Manjoo, this column is very similar to Tech Trends in Inc. just with a little more irreverence.
iPad app: Appears that as of February, 2012 Fast Company does not have an iPad app based on my extensive searches in the App. store that returned no results for this magazine.
4. Wired
Wired is an incredible magazine. I don?t care who you are, this magazine is always, always visually stunning and filled with incredible content about science and technology. There is no doubt in my mind that Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Wired, sits down with all departments within the company to ensure that design, content and layout all flow and play nice together. While this magazine tends to be very science and tech heavy, there are amazing pieces of information here that are applicable to small businesses, especially those who are progressive and technology-oriented.
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Favorite Columns:
-?Dear Mr. Know-it-all ? this is an awesome column where Mr. Know it All fields questions from those looking to navigate their issues in the 21st century. Some questions may surprise you, but you?ll find the answers even more interesting.
-?Test ? they test everything from Universal remotes to solar charges to ultrabooks ? very neat column.
iPad app ? amazing layout (which is par for the course for Wired) but loading the iPad edition by my count takes between 6 and 8 minutes (depending on the length of the issue), which in my opinion is tired not wired.
Cost: Free (comes with Wired print subscription)
5. Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek is obviously a behemoth in the business and financial news sector. While this periodical isn?t tailored specifically for small businesses and startups, there?s a ton of information you can cull from Bloomberg. The great thing about Bloomberg is that it?s laid out in a format that is easy-to-read and digestible. A few sections I particularly enjoy are the Technology and Companies and Industries sections. Both contain information that is pertinent for small businesses.
iPad app ? I haven?t played around much with the app on my iPad but from my limited experience, this seems like another great app for the iPad
Cost: Free (comes with Bloomberg print subscription)
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What do you think of my list of top magazines for small businesses and startups? Who did I miss? Do you disagree with any of my choices? We would love to hear your thoughts. Please leave your thoughts in the Comments section below.
Source: http://www.getbusymedia.com/5-magazines-for-your-small-business/
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