Hundreds of specialist publishers gathered in Washington DC in June to swap practical ideas on making more money in niche markets at the 37th annual SIPA conference. If you missed, it, here are my top 20 tips from the event.
- Watch analytics to identify new topics and audiences, such as Christian Science Monitor’s development of DC Decoder for politically engaged readers. And then encourage readers to suggest new topics. [Jonathan Wells/ John Yemma] More on CS Monitor here
- Adding human assistance to automated curation of external articles can add value to readers and subscribers: test tools like Rebel Mouse, Flipboard, Feedly and Delve. Become a resource in your own market to build an audience for your own stuff. [Barry Graubart, Connotate]
- Use a reversal or distortion of the usual process to help you come up with a new business idea, eg instead of renewals after purchase, what happens if renewals come before purchase, hence forced free trial. Or instead of customers deciding to attend an event, the organiser decides who attends – and asks for applications. [Dan Brown, Xponential]
- Vet ideas for new products by using pre-planned criteria on core values, core capabilities, brand promise and purpose. [Dan Brown, Xponential research]
- Try stupidly simple digital delivery of content – just a PDF attached to an email. There’s less illegal sharing than you might expect and you can test demand quickly. And provide instructions on how to add to a Kindle or e-reader. [Greg Krehbiel, Kiplinger]
- In niche markets, focus on ARPU (average revenue per user). BVR has 6000 in its audience but has driven ARPU to $5000 by developing data, training, books, guides, reports… [David Foster, BVR]
- Repurpose data and directories from free web content to create new paid-for products, eg Education guides for Parents [Jefferson Communications]
- Buyers of paid reports are far more likely to convert to subscriptions than people who download free guides. In one campaign BVR saw a 35% conversion from first-time buyers and zero for free-loaders. Make sure you can track where leads and conversions come from. [David Foster, BVR]
- Leave editors to create first-time content, publish to web, re-use for e-letter & social media then have a separate team who repurpose for new products such as special reports. [David Foster, BVR]
- Mobile products need to focus on convenience, connectivity & context [Yankee Group] More on mobile from Yankee Group.
- Pay your sales reps as much commission for renewing subscriptions as you do for a new subscription – they are equally valuable. [Denise Elliott]
- Pay attention to surprising attendees at your events – could they signal an adjacent market that is worth exploring? [Stefanie Edelman]
- Budgets are a quantitative expression of the business plan and help to weed out the “magical thinking” in it. Use your budget as an early warning system, and to identify capacity issues for the future. [Stefanie Edelman]
- Use your content to get new leads: eg discuss a story that’s behind the paywall on LinkedIn to generate interest and peer pressure and sell more subscriptions [Val Voci]
- Segment your customers (advertisers or subscribers) into A/B/C and then plan calls so A’s get called more frequently. Tag on CRM so staff taking incoming calls know what category a customer is in.
- Offer new member orientation/tours so they start to use your service, and offer refresher sessions to light users so they don’t lapse. Have a nurturing programme throughout lifecycle to support renewals.
- If you have multiple subs offers and bundles, help customers by highlighting which is the most popular or best value option. They don’t have to take it out but it reduces confusion. [Minal Bopaiah]
- When considering small acquisitions, steer clear of opportunistic or cheap buys. Instead look for good chemistry and cultural fit and a clear path to profit, without too much magical thinking.
- Customers are busy and want insights on how to generate revenue. Content must be more practical and actionable, how you can save money, make money, mitigate risk, avoid making a bad decision. So make sure your content is relevant and easier to navigate; on mobile it’s a much more visual experience. [Yankee Group] More on mobile from Yankee group
- Investigate all social channels as your vendors may be there even if your customers aren’t yet. Who would have expected underground storage tanks to be on Pinterest? [Luis Hernandez, Thomson] More on social media
If you found these tips helpful, just think how much you could gain from attending the SIIA Digital Content & Media Summit 23-25 Sept in London, with over 30 speakers, open panel Q&As, interactive workshops, roundtable discussions, and speed networking.
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Carolyn Morgan has launched, acquired, grown & sold specialist media businesses in print, web and events. She launched the Specialist Media Show in 2010 and grew a community of ambitious publishers keen to grow their digital activity. SIIA acquired the Specialist Media Show in 2013 and Carolyn is now Programme Director for SIIA UK. Follow Carolyn on twitter at @siiauk.