1. Learn – how to grow your data business from the most respected and dynamic publishers, and media companies and data experts in the business such as IDC, BrightScope, BIZO, RetailNext, Content Analyst, PrivCo, Capital IQ, Buyers Lab, Information Evolution, Connotate and many more!

2. Connect - and do business with more than 130 executives already confirmed to attend from companies such as: Swets Information Services, Farm Journal Media, Leadership Directories, Inc., LexisNexis Group, Asset International, Inside Mortgage Finance Publications, FactSet, Blue Book Building & Construction Network, Meister Media Worldwide, Hoover’s, Inc., Dun & Bradstreet, Northstar Travel Media, Buyers Lab, Moody’s Analytics, Reed Business Information, CFO Publishing, Columbia Books & Information Services, and many more!

3. Models of Excellence – Meet the minds behind the Models of Excellence award recipients, Enigma, Equilar Atlas, Entelo, FindTheCompany, RepariPal, Relationship Science, Segmint, and Stella Service. These are the InfoCommerce Groups’ picks for the most well-executed, creative, enriching, and astonishing data information products of the year.

4. Network, Network, Network – Take advantage of all the networking opportunities–Speed Networking, Welcome Reception, Models of Excellence Networking Dinner, and several networking breaks–to connect with your next partner or customer.

5. Thought Leaders – Hear from Jeanette Horan, CIO, IBM talk in her keynote on Using Data to Drive Growth for your business.

6. Strategies for Success – Find out about cutting-edge success strategies you can implement and execute on BEFORE your competition does.

7. Boot Camp – Attend the Data Marketing Bootcamp to learn where data fits in your future, and get prepared for the rest of the conference!

8. Discover New Technologies - to develop and deliver smarter, deeper, and timely data strategies for your specific data and publishing business.

9. Roundtable Discussions – Brainstorm with key executives who lead the InfoCommerce Group and SIIA.

10. All About Data – Take part in the only industry event that delivers the ideas, contacts, strategies, and products that define YOUR world.

Whether you need ideas, intelligence or implementation, DataContent will deliver it to you.

Register now so you don’t miss out!

Many publishers are experimenting with online events and webinars, and know they want to expand this business but are unsure of the next steps. On Wed 2 Oct, at the latest SIIA London Issue Brief, we gathered together twenty publishers to hear from two organisations that are further ahead on the learning curve – the Economist and Melcrum –  and swap best practice with their peers.  If you missed it, here are the main takeaways of the session:

It’s not an event, it’s a content package

The Economist now plans a 3-6 month content package around a live event, with pre event articles from experts plus shareable content on a dedicated web destination, interaction and downloads during the event and a custom magazine style summary post event.  This brings together editorial and events teams.

Engagement is the publishers trump card

Brands can create content, and individuals can build targeted audiences on social media, but publishers know best how to engage audiences and this is how they can build valuable online events.  It’s hard to get more than 30-40% of registrants to attend a live event, but the Economist has seen up to 80% engaged in an event, ie commenting or downloading content.  Good engagement during an event depends on editorial teams investing the time to manage comments.

Choose the best business model

Online events span a range of business objectives, so choose the business model to match.  The majority are free to register and sponsored and this is a good place to start, as it is quicker to build an audience.  Content has to be compelling, a sales pitch won’t work, but sponsors can benefit from association with editorial content and get new leads.  Melcrum use online events to add value to high ticket memberships, and many publishers include them in a subs package.  The most successful category for pay per view events is training, and these require more interaction and smaller groups.  However, in scientific markets, pay per view works when content is clearly valuable.

Plan for an extended life cycle

The Economist have had good results from enlisting speakers and experts plus their editorial team to create articles and encourage conversations in the pre-event period.  This is also the best type of marketing (see next point).  Pressures of work mean that only 30-40% of registrants will attend live, but the on-demand period is also highly valuable, and can increase audience by 2-3x.  Investing in editorial/ expert input to keep the conversation going boosts post-event views.  Planning themes carefully will maximise the value of an archive for subscribers – and continue to generate leads for sponsors if appropriate.

Lead with content to market event

Traditional webinar marketing is email-led and copy heavy, but the Economist has found that creating relevant pre-event content which is easily shareable and linking events to dedicated LinkedIn groups has worked far better.  Registered attendees get access to bonus material before the event, incentivising early registration.  And shifting language from “registering” for an event to “following” a theme has helped.  Marketing material is more visual and design-led, with much shorter copy.

Build custom metrics for sponsors

Sponsors are usually more interested in quality of audience and levels of engagement than they are in sheer volume. Some events have an online networking element, but attendees always need the option to opt out of sponsor approaches.

Experiment with hybrid events

Live events can also benefit from an online element if this is planned upfront.  The “Good Bank” event included a live event with 40 VIPs who had a dinner with speakers afterwards, and the discussion was also broadcast live (free, sponsor-funded).  Longer live conferences may benefit from only having one or two sessions broadcast – and promoted to targeted segments of the audience.  For awards events, get the judges involved as online experts pre and post event creating more of a conversation.

Make sure the tech doesn’t let you down

Expectations of audiences are high, so use a managed platform for larger events, rehearse and test sound thoroughly in advance.  Pick the right platform for the type of event and the level of interaction – for example Melcrum use Goto meeting for 1-1s, Workcast for large scale events and Kulu Valley for training events.

Get your team ready for online events

Have a studio area with good lighting and sound, and train your editorial team on video presenting skills. Accept you need to match clients’ time zones and deliver live events when it suits them.  The best time of day for a global audience is about 3pm GMT.  Break down the barriers between editorial and events teams to get the best value from longer term themed “content programmes”

Our speakers were Victoria Mellor, CEO of Melcrum, and Jonathan Dewe, consultant to the Economist and formerly Head of Marketing, Events & Thought Leadership.

SIIA Issue Briefs take a different topic each month and bring together expert speakers and a group of publishers to share experiences, pick up new ideas and network.  Free to members, the Issue Briefs are also open to non members for a small fee.

The next Issue Brief is on 6 November, on “Successful Selling in Today’s Media Market” with speakers from Lloyds List (Informa) and Flume Training.  More details and how to register here

SIIA members can also benefit from savings on training from partners Press Association and Flume Training, and get preferential rates on SIIA larger conferences.  Plus they can access all the online resources from SIIA internationally – including training and best practice webinars. More about membership here.

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.

DataContent will spotlight the Models of Excellence throughout the conference. CEOs of the companies will provide candid insights on what has made the products successful, and will host a private dinner for high-level networking.

This year’s Models of Excellence presenting companies are:

Enigma
Enigma has created consolidated access to over 100,000 public domain databases to provide unparalleled access to data that is often valuable, nominally free, but difficult to source and use effectively. Think of Enigma as a search engine for public data, and the enigma here is why no one has done this before.
MOE Profile | Website

Equilar – Atlas
Equilar takes public domain data and normalizes and enhances it so that it can become premium-value content. Equilar Atlas takes this data and flips it into a variety of new applications and markets, something not many publishers do successfully.
MOE Profile | Website

FindTheCompany
FindTheCompany represents an impressive step-up in the arms race to use a mosaic-style strategy to build out deep company dossiers by aggregating data from a wide variety of sources. By aggressively mixing harvested, public and licensed data, it is an excellent showcase both for what’s possible and where things are heading.
MOE Profile | Website

Relationship Science
Relationship Science is all about networking for business development and fund-raising, using an innovative relationship mapping approach and backed by a huge research team to build and maintain deep, structured profiles on over 2.5 million influential individuals. While its concept is  “sort of like” what other data companies are already doing, it’s approach is distinctive, and it’s huge commitment to editorial research puts the company’s emphasis right where it should be: quality data.
MOE Profile | Website

Segmint
Segmint is real life example of Big Data at work, with real-time analytics and predictive models. It is executing on the fundamental goal of every marketer: to make customer data actionable by creating and delivering targeted, relevant messages customers want to see, remember and act upon.
MOE Profile | Website

Stella Service
STELLAService  provides customer service ratings to companies based on its independent analysis of over 200 customer service metrics and random customer service calls to companies by its analysts. It provides a clean, intuitive and powerful tool to retailers focused on an area – customer service – that increasingly drives online success and failure, and its neutral market positioning gives its trustmark program added weight and value.
MOE Profile | Website

Infocommerce Group continually scans the data landscape to identify products that are pioneering or perfecting business models, exhibit best practices or offer technological innovation. Those that are re-setting the standards for the industry are named each year as Models of Excellence, based on content, utility, functionality, revenue, viability, ambition, and market readiness. It will discuss what distinguishes each of this year’s winners in a webcast at noon on Oct. 2.

Kathy Greenler Sexton is Vice President and General Manager for the SIIA Content Division. Follow the Content Division team on Twitter at @SIIAContent

Here’s the storify of what delegates and speakers said on the day so you can catch up on what you missed..

Can’t see the storify? Try this direct link: http://storify.com/siiauk/siia-digital-content-and-media-summit

The Digital Content & Media Summit is the premier event for digital media and publishing executives. The three-day conference will provide a global perspective on the 10 most pressing digital content and media challenges and trends.  Topics include new ways to charge for digital content, turning free users into paying customers, developing compelling mobile products, expanding media brands internationally, successful collaborative advertising, and more.

The SIIA Previews Program selects and then spotlights the next generation of the most innovative new content creators, aggregators and technology vendors. During sessions held throughout the Digital Content & Media Summit, company CEOs will highlight the innovations that have made them successful.

The following companies were selected as SIIA Previews Companies:

• Antidot
  As a software vendor providing advanced data management solutions, Antidot helps various organizations create value with data.  Including such products as data enrichment, search engines, and semantic analysis, Antidot provides AFS@Store for powering search and navigation at e-commerce and catalogue sites, Antidot Semantic Platform for content publishers and Fluid Topics for publishing technical documentation online and reducing support costs.

• InWebo Technologies
  InWebo is a software company that specializes in two-step authentication software solutions.  It provides digital content providers with a secure identity verification system that is user-friendly and helpful in monetizing clients’ assets on all devices.

• Kulu Valley Ltd.
  The Kulu platform allows users to create sophisticated, interactive visual messages or “Kulus” – by combining video with such graphics as presentations, web links, and other documents.  These video-rich online presentations can help users communicate with colleagues, customers, prospects, and suppliers on a regular basis across different locations and time zones.  Users can record from nearly any source or upload media to quickly and securely present it to specific audiences. Users can also measure the results of their content.

• Mondeca
  The leading European provider of technology for the management of advanced knowledge structures, Mondeca creates products that help enterprises integrate and link all types of information and also produces consistent, precise, and relevant metadata.  Mondeca offers a Smart Content Factory (SFC) to help publishers aggregate relevant domain data models and vocabularies and input them into generic systems to increase the productivity of content management delivery processes.

• Novius
  Providing ad services that enable communications professionals to execute digital strategies, Novius offers numerous solutions to its clients.  Novius also leverages innovative features such as its “Create Once, Publish Everywhere” capabilities that make it easy to publish content on multiple platforms.

• Red Fox Media Ltd.
  Red Fox Media’s core business is commercializing digital communication through its patented system, AdAppTive.  This uses big data techniques to identify digital media subscribers by their willingness to buy an advertiser’s products.  Advertisers can then use the information to place relevant ads for their target audience.  Publishers can also charge more for ad space since they can better quantify the added value to advertisers.

As a result of taking part in the SIIA Previews Program, alumni have received investments, have been acquired, or created partnerships with SIIA member companies. Over the past six years, more than 100 companies have been featured at SIIA events.  Read more about the SIIA Previews companies here.

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.

• Equilar is based on public domain data, and will describe what’s involved in normalizing and enhancing it so that it can become premium-value content.
  Equilar MOE Profile
• Segmint will  highlight the power and value of this real life example of Big Data at work, with near-real-time analytics and predictive models (and how this technology can be applied to other markets and databases). Segmint MOE Profile
• Enigma provides consolidated access to thousands of public domain databases whose owners generates immense amounts of high-value data at little or no cost, but have no real incentive to make it easily accessible. Enigma MOE Profile
• FindTheCompany mixes public domain,licensed and harvested data, yielding deep profiles and insights that many publishers have talked about but few have delivered.

Register Now

Get a sneak preview of what some very smart media and publishing innovators will be saying this week at the SIIA Digital Content & Media Summit in London. The event opens on Monday evening with a networking reception, followed by two days of panel Q&As, workshops, roundtables, with over 40 speakers and moderators sharing what they know about succeeding in digital content across web, mobile, social, video, online communities and events.  With 170 media and technology attendees, it’s also great networking.

There’s still time to join us to get the full story…

1. Use online debates, social engagement, print samplers and free ipad selections to get your content talked about by the right people – then monitor carefully what converts to paid subscriptions – Audra Martin, VP, The Economist
2. Focus on the problem you are trying to solve for your users, and how your content assets can provide a better solution – think like a tech firm, not a publisher – Tony Macklin, Director of Strategy & Product Development, Immediate Media
3. Data flows in two ways: aggregate info to create new content products, and then harvest data from users to provide intelligence – Phil Abrahams, Strategic Development Director, CABI
4. Add the maths of big data to the magic of content insight to provide the best intelligence system for subscribers – Julie Harris, CEO WGSN Group
5. Use a hub website like Musicradar to expand internationally, and then add local content and commercial partners – Andy Rice, MD Music & Sport, Future
6. Readers visit a weekly digital mag four times during its shelf life but only read 75% of its pages – Rob Grainger, CEO Stonewash
7. Use your brand authority and marketing reach to launch live events to maximize revenues and strengthen the brand – Natasha Christie-Miller, CEO EMAP
8. Research your community and innovate to fill their unmet needs – John Welsh, MD Digital & Content, UBM Live
9. Smart direct sales is key to success with corporate digital subscriptions – Richard Londesborough, CEO Business Monitor International
10. Collect first party data to really understand who are the qualified buyers – Jon Bentley, Digital Commercial Director, Incisive media
11. Watch audience analytics to find out who your readers are and what content they value – it beats editorial gut feel – Tim Ewington, Strategy Director, Shortlist Media
12. Collaborative advertising projects are hard work for publishers – but deliver hard results for clients, who will come back – Audra Martin, VP Economist

The SIIA Digital Content & Media Summit takes place 23-25 September at One Wimpole Street, London.

See the full schedule

Read about the speakers

See who’s attending

Readers of the SIIA UK blog can save £200 on the full delegate rate using the code DCMNEWS.  Register now

• BrightScope took public domain data, but rather than simply selling it as sales leads like so many others, it flipped this data to make a useful and valuable benchmarking product that helps companies and their employees compare the quality and performance of their 401(k) plans.
• DemandBase was billed the “iTunes store of business contacts,” aggregating data from a number of reputable data providers, adding several layers of value including prospect scoring, and allowing user to buy just the number of records they needed – no need to buy access to the entire database.
• WAND sold a database publishing platform but with two unique twists: clients add listings and sell enhancements in their own markets, creating a vertical market online directory that also becomes part of WAND’s global directory. And to add a further level of value, all companies were coded against a sophisticated product/service taxonomy developed by WAND.

 What this session has come to underscore is the pace of change and innovation. It is also known as our “open the kimono” session, where the top executives from past InfoCommerce Model of Excellence companies review both the intervening years since they received their recognition, and their entire company history to answer some of these burning questions:

• Is the product you initially came to market with the same one you are offering now and if not, what changed and why?
• Just how easy or hard is it for an online start-up to compete with legacy print publishers and/or create entirely new product categories?
• How has your mix of revenue sources changed over the years?  Is it much the same as at launch or have you found the mix is dramatically different from first envisioned?
• As you built your business, did you discover unexpected revenue opportunities? If yes, did you pursue them, are they material to your revenues now, and what are the trade-offs involved in being opportunistic? 
• What kinds of curveballs did you encounter along the way, and how did you deal with them?
• What are the most important “lessons learned” you can draw out of your years at this venture?
• What were the easiest aspects of launching your business and what were the hardest?
• Could you start the same business you have now from scratch in 2013, or are things too competitive, too developed, too risky, etc.?
• What’s your advice to both start-up entrepreneurs and established companies looking to launch new products in the near future?

What we’re interested in bringing out in this session is not just “what went right” but what went wrong, what didn’t pan out, what turned out surprisingly (either good or bad), how your business has evolved since it was started. Our goal is to leave the audience with useful insights and lessons they can apply to their businesses and new product launches.

During DataContent 2013, you will also have a chance to meet the 2013 class of the Models of Excellence program, network and have some fun at our annual Models of Excellence Networking dinner held at Cuba Libre.

Register Now

As a publisher, how can you grab the opportunities in digital content and avoid the pitfalls? Don’t struggle alone; join this group of digital-savvy media innovators next week and learn from their experiences in profiting from digital subscriptions, data publishing, mobile platforms, social media, advertising & events.

Here’s 17 reasons to join us at the SIIA Digital Content & Media Summit, 23-25 September, One Wimpole Street London:

1. Connecting with 120 digital savvy publishing and media professionals from UK, Europe and the US – with speed networking plus two drinks receptions
2. Smart insights from 50 media and technology speakers, panelists and roundtable hosts
3. New inspiration from EMAP CEO Natasha Christie Miller on their digital content strategy
4. Tips on how to think like a tech firm and reinvent your product development from Immediate Media, Dennis, and Microsoft
5. Fresh ideas on converting free users to paid customers from the Economist, OECD, plus the gaming and digital sectors
6. Latest insights on how mobile and social are revolutionising media from Benedict Evans of Enders Analysis
7. Insider advice on generating revenues from online communitiesfrom Sift and UBM
8. Innovative ideas on adding value for corporate subscribers from Julie Harris, CEO of global data business WGSN
9. Twenty small group roundtable discussions with experts on topics from online events to video, media sales to subscriptions.
10. Practical workshop on producing content for multiple platformsfrom innovative publisher Dennis
11. New research on how mobile magazines are read from Stonewash
12. Real-life advice on launching publishing businesses into new territories from BMJ Group, Future and CABI
13. First look at six digital content innovators in the Previews finalists showcase
14. Practical tips on new ways to charge for content from Springer, Strategy Eye and Business Monitor International
15. Latest ideas on how to create bespoke, content-rich campaigns for advertisers from The Economist, Archant and Maxus.
16. New knowhow on using audience analytics to enhance content and pitch new advertisers from Incisive and Shortlist
17. Actionable tips on how to grow your revenue per subscriber from £’00s to £’000s from Incisive, Electric Word and Sigaria.

See who’s already booked to attend

Take a look at the schedule here

Read speaker profiles here

Use the code DCMNEWS and save £200 on your ticket

Register now

We look forward to seeing you next week!

A decade ago WGSN was already a model digital media business, providing in depth trend forecasting at a global level to its corporate retail subscribers, powered by a worldwide network of fashion and style experts. But recently they have taken a major step to launch a data-driven business, which enables them to serve new groups in their subscriber organisations, and combine the magic of editorial intuition with the maths of big data.

I met with Julie Harris, Global CEO, who is delivering a keynote at the SIIA Digital Content & Media Summit on 24 September, to learn more…

“WGSN’s trend forecasting service was always essential for designers in large fashion retailers, but we wanted to provide crucial business information to retail strategists, buyers and merchandisers in our core retail clients,” explains Julie.

WGSN have built up their advisory business for retail strategists, and added more workflow tools for designers, but their big move recently has been reaching the buyers and merchandisers who had always been aware of WGSN but didn’t use the forecasts as intensively.

WGSN INstock, which was launched last month, is a data-driven retail analytics product.  It aggregates publicly available data from online retailers, applies a custom taxonomy, and provides merchandisers with a tool they can use to make instant promotional and merchandising decisions, plus an extensive data-set for longer term planning.

Whilst the data is publicly available, the taxonomy is designed by the content team, drawing on their insight into how the market works, so is unique to WGSN.  This is where the maths of big data combines with the magic of trend experts.

“It has been a big culture shift for the content team”, explains Julie, “as we have launched a product where they have no direct involvement in the day to day creation of the content”.

But the real value for WGSN is in the combination of this new data-set and the expert intuition and insight of their content teams gained over 15 years of being the world’s leading trend forecaster.  Armed with long-run data, they can prove to new customers that their forecasts result in increased sales; and also check the accuracy of their content team’s forecasts.  Plus for their advisory work, they can draw on detailed analytics as well as expert views.

With products for retail strategists, buyers & merchandisers as well as designers, WGSN Group can now strengthen its relationships with its subscribers, driving more value and increasing renewal rates.  A smart strategy for any B2B business.

WGSN has also been expanding into adjacent retail markets.  Its core trend forecasting services are now available in the homewares market with homebuildlife.  And sister brand Planet Retail provides an intelligence service for grocery retailers,  suppliers and retail technology businesses.  This is more “hard” data driven than the trend forecasting of WGSN, but helps retailers forecast sales and build international expansion strategies; suppliers understand retail trends and helps technology suppliers understand their retail customers’ needs better.

WGSN’s customers have always expected a global view of trends.  But the business has recently invested in local teams and local content, with content hubs in London, New York, LA, São Paulo, Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong.  China in particular has been growing its domestic market rapidly, so now has bespoke content, helping retailers and brands design local products.

Julie is convinced that WGSN’s new mix of maths and magic is providing far greater value for their retailer subscribers, extending the range of services they provide and securing the long term relationship with their core clients.

There is much that can be learnt by B2B publishers in other sectors about identifying new sub groups in client organisations who could be served with new products.  And mixing the maths of big data products with the magic of expert editorial insight feels like a powerful combination.

Julie is giving a keynote address at the SIIA Digital Content & Media Summit on 24 September, so delegates will get a further insight into how the new WGSN INstock product evolved, and the challenges of running a global media business.

More information about WGSN:

www.wgsn.com

www.wgsninstock.com

homebuildlife.wgsn.com

www1.planetretail.net
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.