Magazine publisher Time Inc. may have found a solution to positioning media brands for the future: developing affinity groups and portals around each vertical title.

As reported last week in this publication, Time Inc. is turning Golf.com, a Sports Illustrated Group property, into a mobile site with tools, community, resources, news and advertising (see story). It's a matter of time before several Time Inc. publications follow the same model.

As has been documented here and in other publications, the media business as we know it is on the ropes. Advertisers aren't sponsoring content the way they used to, and readers have shown a marked reluctance to pay for anything read on a computer screen.

Which is why thinking out of the box for players such as Time Inc. may pay off in the end.

What consumer publishers such as Time Inc., Conde Nast, Hearst and Meredith have is brands with a reputation for excellence in the fields they cover. That's why, up until the Internet cannibalized readership and advertising, advertisers paid for the privilege of running ads next to trusted content.

The key word is trusted.

Gateway to future
Unlike other content owners, publishers are duty-bound to deliver news and information that's fair and balanced. And even if the information panders to a certain segment, it is not outright cheerleading. That is what charms readers into reading magazines online or in print.

Take a publisher such as Time Inc. The Time Warner Inc.-owned company classifies its titles into five consumer categories: style and entertainment, lifestyle, luxury, news/business/sports and international.

The style and entertainment category includes InStyle, Essence, Entertainment Weekly and People magazines and their companion Web sites.

Now it's not a stretch to imagine each and every one of these titles becoming distinctly defined portals of style and entertainment content, news, tools and commerce. They already have a big list of hand-raisers -- subscribers -- who have pre-identified their interest levels.

So just as Golf.com is becoming on mobile all that you need to know about the golfing experience, the same model can work for People, Entertainment Weekly, InStyle and Essence. Fashion that information into a mobile site, application, search engine, paid SMS alert service, directory, game and store with links to retail partners.

In essence, turn that into a portal for all things related to that title's affinity specialty. Copy Yahoo and Google and become the gateway to such content and commerce. And monetize the experience through download and subscription fees where applicable as well as advertiser sponsorships and cobranded deals.

Take the same model to Time Inc.'s lifestyle segment. Imagine how easy it would be to overlay that mobile model onto Real Simple and Southern Living magazines. Both have clearly defined niches and unique selling propositions.

The question often asked is why take this trouble to move to mobile what can so easily be done on the wired Internet. It's not a question of ease; it's a question of eyeballs.

Just as magazines and newspapers suffered the migration of readers to online due to lack of preparation and forward planning, they may face the same fate on mobile.

Publishers have got to be prepared. If they thought the wired-Internet cannibalization of print was bad, wait till mobile cannibalizes the wired Internet and everything else. Also, advertisers fleeing print aren't going straight into the arms of online or mobile sites to pay the bills, either.

A Conde Nast or a Hearst can't burrow its head in the sand and hope that the Internet, wired and mobile, will go away.

The trick for large and midsized publishers is to ensure that their mobile presence becomes the gateway for consumers interested in a particular topic. Not cute bits and pieces, but a serious content consumption experience that requires all three channels to complement -- print, online and mobile.

Put simply, a Vogue must have the best mobile portal with paid and free areas to fashion content, news and commerce.

Vogue must become the No. 1 style resource for its target audience on mobile. Its mobile site and application must enable consumers to click-through to call an advertiser's store or call center and even buy directly on mobile.

To make this a reality, Vogue will have to train its readers and advertisers. It will take time, but it will add life and value to the Vogue brand.

Conde Nast can replicate the same Vogue model across Vanity Fair -- the No. 1 mobile portal on all things related to the rich, glamorous and infamous. Ditto for Town&Country, W and Glamour magazines.

Lifecycle marketing
Publishers have to change their mindset. It makes no sense to run bits and pieces of the magazine content on the wired or mobile Internet sites. It makes sense to use the print magazine as the starting point and then add value in that continuum online and on mobile.

In other words, take a page out of automaker and consumer packaged goods marketers' approach to product lifecycle. Start them early on one sub-brand and then upgrade them in the family with another brand as the same consumers grow older.

While automakers don't make an attractive example in this economy, they have mastered lifecycle marketing to an art -- Toyota Camry to Lexus or BMW 3 Series to 5 and then 7 or Mercedes C Class to E and then S.

So have credit card companies excelled at understanding the lifecycle funnel. No reason why media companies can't do the same.

Also, media should start targeting the young with what is appropriate for them -- access to intelligent content.

A Time for Kids site and application should be actively pushed both in mobile and online stores, through wireless carrier decks and in conjunction with school boards. Reach the kids through their parents, who only wish the best for them as worries over the future compound.

Kids are already bringing mobile phones to school. Might as well put the devices to good use with educational tools on them -- and then anchor the loyalty early on. Cobranded phones with manufacturers and carriers will help further cement loyalty.

That Time for Kids mobile and online reader will graduate to Time magazine if he or she continues to see value in the content and tools. Once in the business world, that young adult may add a Fortune or Money magazine subscription along with dues-paid access to online and mobile resources and tools for better decision-making.

A bloody rout is inevitable in media in the next few years. Those left standing will either be lucky, smart or deep-pocketed. But there will always be room for smart content, be it in the pocket, desktop or magazine rack.