Print vs Web - What's Better?
Ideally, doing both will give you the maximum amount of
benefits. But if that's not possible, which one will do the most for
you?
Let's start with the reality that probably less than 1% of muscle
models will ever do a shoot that will result in a published image. If you do get
published, you're more likely to end up with a small photo in print than a major
feature. Magazines simply don't have a great deal of real estate
available.
The champions of print will wax eloquent about the benefits that
will befall your career once you're a published model. The great myth that
somehow print will do more for you than the web will be trotted out as a truth,
although I've never heard anything remotely close to facts to back up this
story.
I've yet to hear any type of real life results when the print
team echoes this mantra. It's more like an urban myth: Repeat the story enough
times and people will believe it's true.
Having been in a position to see the print vs. web debate play out in real life, I believe my pedigree more than
qualifies me to weigh in with a heavy dose of reality. I've yet to meet someone
from the print camp that can say the same.
One of the most popular models to come out of this genre is Jaime Koeppe. Among her numerous accomplishments she
holds the distinction of winning the inaugural WWF Diva Search. I worked with
her for a number of years, including running the Jaime Koeppe member site,
JaimeOnline.net.
Jaime appeared in numerous fitness magazines and enjoyed a
strong web presence at the same time. My work with her included a couple of
print pieces and numerous web pieces. I had a firsthand look at the results
produced from my work with her as well as the other work she did. Some of
Jaime's magazine appearances included Oxygen, American Curves, Lowrider, Double
XL, MuscleMag International and WWF Raw.
With each appearance in print,
JaimeOnline.net would see a corresponding spike in traffic. Along with the
traffic spike came an influx of new members joining the site which of course
translated to more money for Jaime. At the end of the magazine's shelf life -
perhaps 30 to 60 days - traffic would return to normal.
Now contrast the
print appearances with the web appearances. Jaime's biggest web feature was on
Andy's Muscle Goddesses at www.amg-lite.com. Comparatively speaking, it
was a slaughter in favor of Andy's. The results weren't even close. Just a
couple of weeks on Andy's brought in more traffic and more new members to
JaimeOnline.net than all the print appearances combined!
The bonus feature
on the web side is that you're not dealing with an extinction of your publicity
when the magazine disappears from the shelves in a month or two. Continuing with
Andy's as our example, the traffic continued to roll in month after month,
morphing into years of PR until Jaime retired from the business. Had Jaime's
profile remained, traffic would still be coming in to the site while the
magazines have long since faded into obscurity.
I've witnessed this
scenario play out with other models that I've worked with where I've been
involved with their sites and they have done both print and web work. Print
simply can't match the power of the web.
In summation, print is the ideal
medium if you want to impress friends and family. It makes for a great memory to
show to your grandkids.
On the other hand, if you want to make some
money to pay rent or defray competition costs, the web is the wiser choice. If
you want PR that doesn't die in a month and keeps you in front of fans for
potentially years, shoot for the web.