Located within Silver Lakes Golf Estate in Pretoria, the monthly magazine, Intra Muros, adapted to Covid-19 and its challenges, through opting to publish digitally when lockdown struck.
This is according to Nicole Hermanson, who has been the editor-in-chief of Intra Muros since 2018.
Intra Muros has a monthly readership of 5000 people, which did not decline when the publication had to begin uploading editions digitally. PHOTO: Supplied/Intra Muros
The publication began in 2003 and specifically caters to the residents of Silver Lakes, with an average monthly readership of 5 000 people. This is according to Martin Fourie, the sales manager of Intra Muros.
“[The magazine] caters to a prestigious, exclusive estate lifestyle,” said Fourie.
Experience in lockdown
The publication employs seven staff members. Fourie explained that almost half of this team already worked from home before lockdown.
“The rest of the team quickly got used to the fact that the closest thing to a face-to-face meeting would be a Zoom or [Microsoft] Teams meeting. However, thanks to our IT guys, they got our virtual offices up and running quickly,” said Fourie.
The magazine is free to residents, as the business model is based on advertising sales. “Covid-19 was tough on the advertisers, but 90% still opted to advertise in the magazine throughout lockdown. [The advertisers] were very uncertain on how long they could sit it out,” said Fourie.
While 10% of the previous advertisers decided not to continue with the move to digital publishing, new ones came along to take advantage of the situation.
Residents are sent a digital copy of the Intra Muros monthly, with hard copies available at the clubhouse. PHOTO: Supplied/Intra Muros
“New advertisers came to us, looking to target customers who were spending time at home due to lockdown,” said Fourie.
Readers did not have to miss out
During lockdown, Intra Muros was unable to print their monthly editions. “We immediately began offering digital issues until we could print again,” said Fourie.
Before lockdown, the publication dropped magazines off at each resident’s home, but now it is sent digitally to registered homeowners, with hard-copies available at the clubhouse, according to resident Sally Bentley.
“I missed having the monthly issue in my hands, which I would read whenever it landed on the driveway, but my iPad worked just fine with the digital copy,” stated Bentley.
90% of Intra Muros’ advertisers opted to continue advertising in the digital editions, allowing it to remain free to residents, as it has since 2003. PHOTO: Supplied/Silver Lakes Golf Estate Facebook
Fourie’s advice to other publications was that they should “start scaling down on office space, start working remotely sooner and invest in digital options as soon as possible.”
“Every year typically has a few defining moments, and 2020 was certainly no exception,” said Hermanson.