• Seeking Customer Reviews? Here’s How to Get Them the Right Way

On average, people read ten online reviews before trusting a business. What if you don’t have ten reviews or those ten reviews aren’t the best? How can you get more?

• Million Dollar Idea: 3 Strategies for More Revenue

Today we’ve got another Million Dollar Idea for you from our most recent CEO Summit in Denver. Kevin VanGundy shared his tips for focusing your revenue growth strategy no matter the size of your publication.

• Why publishers should optimize for loyalty: Loyal readers consume 5x more content, and stay subscribers

How often do you hear the line “I’m your regular/loyal reader”, after meeting someone and saying that you work for a certain newspaper? Probably a lot, right?

• ‘Newsletters as puzzle pieces’: How The Economist uses email to reduce subscriber churn

When it comes to content, The Economist takes the view that value trumps volume, a view that extends to its email newsletters.  That’s why it has honed design and content changes to its two flagship newsletters so they act as standalone editorial products that suit the readers’ needs, rather than launching additional email newsletters.

• What Publishers Can Learn from Influencer Marketing

Many legacy publishers are struggling for the same reasons that traditional, non-digitally native retailers did when DTC brands like Bonobos, Casper, and Warby Parker emerged.

• Not just one foundation, not just one newsroom: How the Colorado Media Project is trying to rebuild a local news ecosystem

This didn’t take a ton of capital. It just took a lot of willingness on the part of a lot of different folks to collectively figure out what we should do, where are the gaps, and how we can fill them.

• EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO START A MAGAZINE PODCAST

My grandparents love to reminisce about the days before the television where everyone would attentively gather around the stereo and listen to a show host entertain through storytelling.

• The Sales Ammo Your Customer is Giving You.

Sales. Selling. Not for everybody. Thick skin required. Every sales rep has their tricks – the little things they do that gives them an edge over others. But the big secret may actually be time, or more specifically, time to close. The faster you can get a yes, the higher your output, and the more money you make.

• How Magazine Publishers Are Cutting Print Costs to Improve Profits

When it comes to improving profits at print magazines, there’s a tendency to focus on new ways of driving revenue. But while keeping a close eye on expenses can also have a significant impact on the bottom line, today’s environment often calls for a balancing act.

• TV is still the most common way for Americans to get local news, but fewer people are watching

Local TV is trusted and is still the preferred method of getting news (thanks mostly to people 50 and up). But viewership for local TV news continues to decline, according to research released by Pew this week.

• WowYow, monetizing publisher videos using AI search

With its headquarters in California and sales office in New York, WowYow sits at the intersection of media, advertising and technology.

• Pico Aims to Help Publishers Shift to Reader Revenue

Media companies are increasingly turning to subscriptions and membership products to rely more on readers and less on advertising revenue.

• How publishers are turning brand extensions into a full-fledged revenue source

Licensing can be a source of substantial revenues for publishers. Several publishers have created a sustained revenue stream by entering into licensing relationships with manufacturers and retailers, and extending their brands across a variety of products.

• Developing a Successful Membership Program: Where to Start

Memberships are hot. And not just in publishing. According to an analysis of Google Trends data, memberships are 33% more popular today than they were just two years ago.

• CRASH COURSE ON CRM

Successful businesses know their customers. Customers’ tastes and preferences dictate the direction of the business in more ways than one. However, many businesses may unintentionally stray away from the requests of their customers simply because they have difficulty in organizing, analyzing and acting on the data customers provide.

• 5 Must-Send Emails for Niche Publishers

Email newsletters are one of the best tools you have at your disposal, but many publications just don’t recognize their potential. Newsletters are one of the top ways to keep your audience engaged with your brand. They drive attention to your website, your social pages, and your legacy platforms. In fact, newsletter readers spend 80% more time on your site.

• Congratulations to Slack, the now-public company that keeps thousands of newsrooms humming

Who said there’s no money in journalism? Sure, maybe the old ad model is decaying, and maybe hundreds of newspapers are on death watch — but the work-chat app Slack has been able to build a multi-billion-dollar business at least in some tiny part based on its remarkable uptake in newsrooms around the world.

• What Makes for a Successful Restaurateur

There’s an old Spanish saying – “the belly rules the mind” which is why you have so many business luncheons and corporate dinners! The restaurant business is all about making people happy.

 

• Benefits and challenges of different publishing business models

For publishers and newsrooms, figuring out how to stay trustworthy, respect your readers and preserve integrity, yet manage to earn enough money to keep the business afloat – remains a great challenge.

• Pay Attention, Publishers: Outsiders Are Redefining What a Magazine Can Be

Software mogul, golf equipment manufacturer, movie-streaming service, mattress maker, actress, social media behemoth: It seems everyone wants to get into the magazine-publishing business these days. Everyone, that is, except for “real” magazine-media publishers.

• Publishers Finally Find Their Voice in Podcasting

As adoption rates continue to increase, so do the number of effective strategies for audio platforms.

• Print + Digital = Highest ROI

I often encounter advertisers who think digital advertising is less expensive than print. Then I spend some time explaining how it’s not an “either-or” mindset.

• Cannes Briefing: The storylines that will dominate the conversation at Cannes this year

Welcome to the Digiday Cannes Briefing. Each morning this week, we will bring you the highlights, lowlights and oddities of the Cannes Lions. The Digiday version of the Cannes lion will make his own journey.

• Game industry TV ad spend craters in May

There was a huge decrease in gaming industry TV ad spend from April to May, down to an estimated $9.3 million from the previous $29.4 million. Nintendo led with 45.6% of spend, while previous chart-topper PlayStation had 26.8%.

• How newsletter innovations are driving publisher revenue

If you were to travel back in time about a half decade and inform news publishers that, within a few short years, they’d be pouring significant resources into growing their email newsletters, many wouldn’t believe you.

• The Dos and Don’ts of an Email Migration

Migrating to a new email service provider (ESP) can be one of the most tedious, frustrating, and unappealing pursuits a publisher or email marketer can undertake.

• 3 Audience Trends to Watch

Media companies have figured out that in order to sustain a healthy business model, it’s all about distributing their unique, niched-out content through various channels.

• Approaching Paid Subscription Growth Like It’s 2019

We have reached a point at which paid subscription growth, for many media companies, feels unattainable. I both vehemently disagree and, sadly, agree.

• Newspapers are Navigating into Advertising Dollars with Determination and Success

Years ago, a great portion of readers sought out newspapers because they were filled with coupons, job listings and apartment ads. Now, a majority of readers are searching online for those needs.

• Ahead of ‘shop’ button for publishers, Snapchat launches in-app stores for Snap influencers

While some influencers, publishers and brands have access to a feature where users can swipe-up on snaps to buy products directly within the app, this new tool allows select accounts to have a store within Snapchat.

 

• Rise of the publishing alliances: Joining hands for a reach bigger than Facebook’s

Germany’s biggest publishing houses including, Axel Springer, Funke Mediengruppe, RTL Groupe and Gruner+Jahr have come together to form an advertising alliance, reports Digiday.

• B2B Media Is Leading with First-Party Data – and Unlocking New Revenue

For the longest time I resisted calling website visitors anything but readers. After decades as an editor and publisher, I pushed back on calling them “users.” I still don’t like the sound of it, but resistance is futile.

• Bucking the Trend: Print Magazines Still Work for (Some) Publishers

A slew of publishers, both new and established, are investing in print magazine launches. We asked three of them why.

• Newspapers are Navigating into Advertising Dollars with Determination and Success

Years ago, a great portion of readers sought out newspapers because they were filled with coupons, job listings and apartment ads. Now, a majority of readers are searching online for those needs.

• How Time Out is using food halls to diversify its revenue base

Five years ago, Time Out Group launched a Time Out-branded food hall in Lisbon, Portugal to further diversify away from advertising revenue. Starting this month and through the rest of 2019, the events and culture news publisher will be putting that market concept at the center of its business.

• Promoting content to Instagram’s 1 billion monthly users: 4 publisher strategies

Social media teams who focus on content and content distribution have found themselves a little stymied by Instagram, at least if our data is any indication.

• How publishers are innovating in digital advertising, to “actually add value to the reader’s experience”

In recent years an increasing number of publishers have been focusing on driving revenue from subscriptions. The most recent one to make the plunge being Quartz which recently announced that it would be putting up a paywall.

• Digital Revenue: Let’s Do the Math!

Hey Niche Publishers! Who would like to add $378K to their annual revenue?
Rachel Winner-Eberhardt, Advertising Director of Pittsburgh Magazine, posed just this question to attendees at our Super Niche event in Nashville in March. She shared tips on how her magazine maximizes their digital space. (These ideas can easily work for B2B and Associations too.)

• How Publishers Can Start Monetizing Smart Speakers

If you ask an Amazon Echo how to monetize a voice assistant or smart speaker, it will tell you, “Sorry, I don’t know that one.” Many publishers are in the same boat.

• ‘Digital has its limitations’: DTC brands are testing direct mail

DTC marketers, looking for a more diversified marketing mix, are focusing on direct mail. But for these digitally native brands that have grown up on a diet of Instagram and Facebook, adjusting to a medium with far fewer analytics is proving to be difficult.

• Digital Publishing: Being Transparent Will Help Newspapers Gain the Trust of Readers

It’s hard to go a month these days without seeing yet another report decrying the lack of trust readers have in everyday journalism.
There is no question that the relationship between journalists and the public is on shaky ground.

• Will you buy the new Walmart Tablets?

Walmart has released two very affordable 8 and 10 inch Android tablets, which fall under Walmart’s consumer electronics private brand, Onn. The new tablets rolled out in stores last week and will be available soon on Walmart.com.

• How publishers are generating revenues and deepening reader relationships through events

Events are one of the many sources of revenue that publishers can tap to create a sustainable business. John Wilpers, Senior Director of Innovation Media Consulting writes in the FIPP Innovation in Media 2019-2020 World Report that most publishers have almost everything required to run a successful event.

• Why Paper Prices Are Likely to Remain High for Publishers

Decades of historical precedent suggest that, now that the shortages and price increases of 2018 have ended, publishers should soon benefit from lower paper costs. But don’t hold your breath waiting for history to repeat itself.

• No More Wimpy Ad Sales Calls!

Are you being as assertive as you need to be on sales calls? Hmmm, do any of these approaches sound familiar?

“Did you get the media kit?”
“Hi, I’m just calling to check in……”
“Is this a good time to talk?”

• ‘More clients are moving scatter money upfront’: Omnicom’s Catherine Sullivan

Traditional TV viewership may be in decline, but TV ad dollars are not necessarily going away. TV remains a pretty efficient way for advertisers to reach a lot of people.

• Meredith Claims Improved Ad Results, Strong Circ Business in Q3

Meredith Corp. execs touted what they saw as encouraging signs for both print and digital advertising as well as a significant uptick in consumer-driven revenue on an earnings call Friday reporting the company’s performance in the third quarter of 2019 (Meredith’s fiscal years start in July and end in June).

• Publishers that closed their comments sections made a colossal mistake

With layoffs, bankruptcies, and fire sales emanating from the digital publishing industry on an almost daily basis, there’s constant debate about whether online media outlets deserve the blame for being out-maneuvered by the tech platforms that destroyed their business models.

• Making an impact with 360-degree content

Creating a high-value proposition means revolutionising content. Mary Hogarth explains why her 360-degree approach will add value and engagement.

• How subscription models can boost ad revenue

Top publishers experimenting with their paywall approaches are making headlines. In February, after six months of testing, the Economist tightened its metered paywall to five free articles per month.

• Less Tech Hassle, More Tech Revenue!

CRM? ESP? CMS? CDP? The bigger question: Do you really need all these platforms to be successful? Sure, technology tools are essential to your media company operation.

• Why Your Ad Campaigns Aren’t Working & How to Fix Them (Part 2): Effective Ad Design

Is your website underperforming for your advertisers? Are they pulling dollars from you to run more with your competitors or to spend on inbound marketing and programmatic ads?

• 5 challenges for journalists covering Trump in 2020

We are now 18 months from the United States presidential election, but the challenges facing reporters and fact-checkers assigned to cover Donald Trump’s re-election bid are already clear.

• Palm Coast Data Sold to Irish Magazine Publisher for $1 Million, Plus Rent

The Florida-based fulfillment provider is purchased by a client as former owner AMREP exits the media services business after 50 years.

• Publishers can use real-time data to help their bottom line, here’s how

Advertisers are keenly aware of the power of personalisation, an especially important issue in the time of consent.

• Consider the Audacious Audit

Are you doing everything necessary to ensure the future growth of your business? It starts with taking a 360-degree view of every single product in your line-up, and then evaluating how those products will fit within your future plans.

• ‘It’s an arms race’: Publishers prepare for an anti-tracking-dominant future

Publishers can’t seem to catch a break. With the continuous stream of anti-ad-tracking updates from Apple, and reports that Google is developing its own version for Chrome, many are feeling frazzled.

• 5 Keys to HousingWire’s Double-Digit Revenue Growth in 2018

Put your readers first, and your web traffic and revenue will follow. At least that’s what B2B media company HousingWire has learned since expanding and refocusing editorial coverage in 2018.

• How Publishers are Creating the Right Membership Model for Their Readers

Today’s news publishers are facing difficult situations, among them selecting the best membership model suited for their consumers.

• How publishers can make the leap from data insights to artificial intelligence

There isn’t a company leader out there today who doesn’t realize that their ability to harness and interpret data will make or break their business.