Big Issue of the Publishing Industry #1

Advertising revenue in traditional print media is on the wane and for on-line - hasn't got off the ground yet. So, many publishers are finding ways to generate extra revenue and for many of those their focus falls on the reader and a paid subscription model.

But it's not a question of either/or a paid/free model - different levels of engagement can provide a different type of audience that satisfies advertiser and publisher alike.


Consider the three-tier strategy that allows for a free, registered and paid customer.

Free provides the audience numbers that your advertisers seek and the database numbers that you need.

Registered readers show a commitment and, at the same time, providing the quality data you need to maintain a healthy database.

Paid readers provides a finely tuned core audience that both you and your advertisers can develop into addition revenue streams.

It's very difficult, time consuming and expensive to try and persuade your existing audience to move up any of these tiers with the existing products. More likely your success will benefit from introducing new views, products, reports, specials etc etc.

Digital Publishing

Some very encouraging on-line advertising research results from Adobe http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/01/24/adobe_survey_finds_readers_engaged_with_ads_on_apples_ipad.html

The bottom line is that the publishing industry still is trying to understand what it needs to do to take advantage of new media and content delivery devices such as tablets. It can't be ignored, however, that they represent a new opportunity to reach the early adopter customer base – those that are highly engaged and influential in social media. These digital publications also allow companies to use interactive and creative digital content to bring new life to a story.

Even the most rigidly traditional publisher must be nosing around the digital industry and discovering potential new ways to deliver content.

Many publishers have incorporated digital in their publishing strategy but many more are teetering on the edge waiting to make a move.

There are many lessons to be learnt but maybe the most dangerous thing you can do is nothing. Somewhere, somehow and sometime soon the landscape is going to change radically and permanently.

Here are some of the issues you have to ask of your current business to at least give you the tools to make the decisions...

1) Know your readers? Are your readers' media consumption preferences changing? How many have I pads? How digital are they? You're going to have to know your customers a hell of a lot better than you do now.

2) Learn to think digitally. This is going to take a huge change in your culture and you're going to have to take your staff on a journey of changing thinking, skills and approach. Make sure you have someone on board who can lead this journey.

3) Educate your staff. They must be able to understand the future you're building in both strategic and technical terms. Encourage sharing of their experiences of working with different aspects of digital publishing - this goes through marketing , editorial, sales and IT.

4) Look at the IT systems you are going to need. You're going to have to have systems that can manage and measure your multi-channel world and deliver a more consistent customer experience that involves on- and off- line.

5) Everything is measurable n the digital world - what content is popular, where people arrived from, where they went to, where they entered your content etc etc. Keep it simple and keep it relevant.