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| Better Homes and Garden Magazine |
Better Homes and Garden Magazine (BHG), founded in 1922, has been giving women ideas and resources on how to ultimately make their home and garden better than someone elses. The magazine typically boasts about it's budget friendly decorating ideas and new spins on traditional, boring recipes for the entire family. To keep up with the mobile, on the go family, BHG released an online, interactive edition of their magazine. As of 2012, there are over 7 million print subscribers worldwide. Which edition works better, online or print?
I do not subscribe to this magazine on a monthly basis. Occasionally during the holiday months, a festive cover will catch my eye at the checkout counter at the grocery store. Usually, a pumpkin recipe or how to decorate my front door for Christmas will entice me to purchase a copy. BHG focuses on the middle class, budget friendly mom or woman looking for ways to "better" their home, without spending enormous amounts of money and not to the extent of keeping up with the "Joneses". In the August 2013 edition, the catch line is "Great style for less" which is exactly what I think the entire series of BHG is. In the home goods section of the August edition, there are "Kitchen Wise Buys" that give relatively inexpensive ideas to give your kitchen a boost. The user friendly aspect is that they tell you exactly how much each item is and where you can buy it, and the retail stores are popular, in every town kind of places.
The magazine is organized in sections based on home categories such as home, garden, personal style, food, health etc., which makes it easy to find exactly what you are looking to accomplish in your home. Through browsing, most of the stories tell you "how to" for less. In August's edition, budget "how to's" include making your own wall art, which drug store beauty supplies get the most bang for your buck, and homemade lemonade recipes. BHG uses large, colorful photos on each page that show explicit detail, probably for the how to'er to follow along while trying to emulate the idea. The print is relatively small on each page in comparison to the photos.
There are many products advertised in the print edition from Oscar Meyer bacon, Ritz crackers, ADHD medicine for children, Centrum vitamins, Sleep Number mattresses, and Aetna health insurance. All of these advertisements are family brand products.
What sets this magazine apart from competitors like O Magazine, is the ability to appeal to the lower budget consumers that still enjoy a nice environment. It also gives a little bit of everything in one issue, such as party planning or beauty tips, and renovating a kitchen. There is a little something for everyone. The magazine doesn't seem to just cater to one type of person.
Print vs. Online
The most obvious difference for me is the way the advertisements are displayed. In the print edition, the product advertisements are full page ads almost every other page. The online edition displays many smaller advertisements on each page. Occasionally when click on a link, an ad to purchase a subscription to the magazine will pop up and you physically have to say no to continue to your next destination. The online version has the ability to display many more ads, which is much of the reason BHG can display their magazine online for free. The online ads are not overwhelming and easy to bypass. The print ads are much larger and seem more frequent because they are so large.
Everything that is offered in the magazine is not offered on the online edition, which is a good incentive for consumers to physically subscribe to the magazine for more BHG articles.
The online edition is much easier to browse through since it is easier to pick and choose what you want to look at. You can choose topics, like recipes and select from a list, rather than flipping through page numbers to find that you are looking for. Also, the online edition archives so even if you throw your magazine out, you can still find what you are looking for on the online edition.
Social Media:
Better Homes and Gardens is available through social media. You can find many aspects of the magazine on Pinterest. They are available to follow through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. These outlets are a great way to grasp readers that are just browsing through the internet.
https://www.facebook.com/mybhg
http://pinterest.com/bhg/
https://twitter.com/bhg
Researching the differences between online and print versions of magazines seems very beneficial to me. I believe that now instead of spending $3.99 on a magazine in a grocery store, I would prefer to use the magazine's free online version which is more user friendly when searching for something in particular.
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