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.

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.

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

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.

If you are looking for new ideas and inspiration for your digital content & publishing strategy, a great place to start is with your peers.

The roundtable discussions at next week’s Digital Content & Media Summit are designed to make this easy. With twenty sessions across the two days, just pick the topic that interests you and join a small group for an open and informal discussion with other delegates, led by an expert in the field.

At past events these have been highly popular, enabling delegates to easily swap best practice and make new connections across the publishing & media industry.

Here’s a guide to the roundtable discussions at the Summit:

Email Marketing Expert Clinic

Whether you are concerned about sourcing data, improving deliverability, raising open rates, adapting to mobile, creating tailored campaigns, automating your emails, integrating with social media or maximising sales & conversions, get expert answers to your trickiest strategic questions from the experts at Adestra in this round table discussion.  Plus learn from the experiences of your peers.

Facilitator:  Parry Malm, Account Director, Adestra

Running a Successful B2B Community

At this roundtable we will be discussing the ins and outs of nurturing a B2B community. Focusing on the practicalities of continued engagement, reward and ownership – this will be a chance to share and discuss ways to build up an audience who will keep coming back for more.

Facilitator: Saul Sherry, Senior Content and Community Manager of Big Data Republic, UBM

Successful Live Events

Content rich media owners are well positioned to leverage new event profits from your existing relationships.  At this round table we’ll explore some of the opportunities faced by you and your peers: how to enter a competitive market place; structuring your event business; your compelling proposition… It’s your round table, so come prepared to share your successes and lessons learned as well as the challenges you currently face.

Facilitator: Graham Lock, Managing Director, Cogent Events

Making Money from Webinars

How can you drive revenues from webinars?  Successful US niche publisher Bob Coleman shares his best practice tips

Facilitator: Bob Coleman, Editor, Coleman Report

European Publisher Round Table

If you are a continental European publisher and want to connect with other Europeans at the Summit to swap experiences or build relationships, join this round table to meet your fellow delegates.  Open to UK or North American publishers who wish to connect with their continental European peers as well.

Facilitator: Nicolas Bombourg, Co-Founder & Managing Director, Reportlinker

Maximise ROI from Online Marketing

Do you want to gain more revenue for your business? Are you challenged to get better conversions within your existing budget? At this roundtable Lead Forensics share 5 top tips on lead generation and increasing ROI from online marketing.

Facilitator: Peter Jakob, Managing Director, Purple Salix Limited

Building High Performing Sales Teams in Todays Market-Place

What clients want from sales people has changed dramatically, yet many media businesses are still building teams with the traditional sales mould in mind. This round-table discussion explores the personality and skills required for today’s sales teams. Flume will be sharing their own benchmark data on media sales teams as well as their views on what makes a successful modern-day sales person.

Facilitator: Raoul Monks, Founder & Director, Flume Training

Publishing Opportunities in India & South Asia

The Indian media market is growing fast and there are great opportunities for publishing businesses.  But how can you discover the best way to enter it?  Peter Phippen  will share the latest trends in publishing in India and advise on how to approach this expanding market.

Facilitator: Peter Phippen, Deputy Chairman, Immediate Media Co.

Repackaging Content Assets to Grow Revenues

What’s involved in repackaging your content assets?  Get the inside story of recent publisher digital content projects and pick up some best practice tips.

Facilitator:  David Wormald, Senior Account Executive, MarkLogic

Telemarketing for subscriptions & events

Higher ticket subscriptions and paid events can be hard to sell via direct marketing alone.  Learn about the most efficient ways to add telemarketing into the mix, with examples from a range of publishers

Facilitator:  Jordan Adams, MD , Love Media Sales

Email best practice for marketing events

How can you use email most effectively to promote your live events, whether free reg or paid-for?  At what point in the event cycle do emails work the best?  When should you use email to promote early birds?  What calls-to-action are most effective? How can you build up your target lists?

Facilitator: Parry Malm, Account Director, Adestra

Specialist Publisher Roundtable

If you’d like to meet other niche and specialist publishers at the event to swap ideas and tips on digital publishing in small markets, join this discussion chaired by Carolyn Morgan, founder of the Specialist Media Show.

Facilitator:  Carolyn Morgan, Programme Director, SIIA UK

North American Publisher Round Table

If you are a North American publisher and want to connect with other North Americans at the Summit to swap experiences or build relationships, join this round table to meet your fellow delegates.  Open to UK and continental European publishers who wish to connect with their North American peers as well.

Facilitator:  Luis Hernandez, Vice President, Specialized Information Publishers Association, SIIA

How to Stop Content from Becoming the new C Word

Media entrepreneur Tyler Brûlé recently said, “Content — don’t you hate it? It’s the new c-word. Once upon a time, content would have been shorthand for editorial. Now it’s just filler,” How can you stop your staff seeing digital content as meaningless chore and get them to embrace the opportunity to engage their audiences across multiple platforms?

Facilitator: Peter Houston, Founder, Flipping Pages Media

Growing Your Events Business

Niche b2b publisher Faversham House shares what they’ve learned in rapidly expanding their live events business.

Facilitator:  Amanda Barnes, Chief Executive, Faversham House

Best Practice in Collaborative Advertising

Advertising clients want publishers to create bespoke content as part of multi-channel campaigns, but how can you put together compelling campaigns that engage your audiences and how can you ensure they deliver for the client?  Learn how Archant London and the Economist are creating innovative campaigns and get the chance to ask your questions.

Facilitators: Paul Hood, Digital Director, Archant London, Audra Martin, VP, Advertising & Operations, The Economist Group

How to Drive Audiences & Revenue with Online Video

BrightTALK, an emerging B2B media company with over 1.5 million registered professional users, has built a video and webinar destination with 20,000 pieces of content and an average viewing time of over 25 minutes.  How are they building professional audiences and how are they monetizing video traffic through advertising? Join this roundtable to find out and you’ll also learn how they’re removing the barrier between marketing and sales by pushing integrated engagement data directly into CRM and marketing automation systems.

Facilitator:  Charlie Blackburn, Co-Founder, BrightTALK

B2B Subscriptions – Getting the Mix Right

A good, high ticket B2B subscription service needs the right subtle combination of content, topic structure, digital distribution and (likely as not) some face-to-face events as well. How on earth do you get the mix right, and how do you promote your service to draw new subscribers in? Join this roundtable for an open discussion to share your experiences and learn from StrategyEye’s work powering B2B services for publishers worldwide.

Facilitator:  Jeremy Phillips, Co-Founder and COO, StrategyEye

How Marketing & Sales Teams can Work Closer to Drive Revenue Growth

Does your marketing team have the technology tools and embedded process to drive sales performance? Or does the baton sometimes get dropped between marketing and sales? No closed loop for feedback on lead quality, poor reporting and sales collateral that’s full of benefits but doesn’t tell you what the product or service is? Find out how savvy marketers are bridging the gap and effectively partnering with sales teams for improved results. Best practice tips from Robin Crumby, Exec Director at Melcrum.

Facilitator:  Robin Crumby, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Melcrum Ltd.

See the full schedule here

Join us at the SIIA Digital Content & Media Summit for two days of keynotes, panel Q&As, workshops, networking and roundtable discussions.

23-25 September, One Wimpole Street, London

How hard is your website working for you, and are the right people reading the content? When you don’t have a registration paywall, how do you know who is viewing it and whether they are good prospective customers? And which of your marketing campaigns are driving the quality traffic?

Lead Forensics, who are a silver sponsor of the SIIA Digital Content & Media Summit, have developed some clever techniques that are valuable to publishers selling subscriptions and event organisers selling tickets.  Here they explain more about the science of smarter lead generation.

Much of the hype around digital marketing has been about establishing an online presence and growing it – making sure a business generates as much traffic as possible to the website through a range of online channels. Today, of course, the volume of traffic is still important – more visitors, more enquiries – but is that actually the case? Research shows that as little as 2% of website visitors actually make an enquiry, whether that’s completing a registration form, signing up to a newsletter or making an online purchase, and there is a real need to identify those anonymous visitors.

Using a B2B lead generation tool such as Lead Forensics can provide more detailed information on the anonymous website visitors, where they came from, and what information they were looking at, in order to move that prospect from online researcher to a paying customer. Here’s how:

Who am I?

In B2B, prospects use websites throughout the buying cycle and often visit a few times, fact finding, before formally engaging. These visits will show up in your website statistics but not in your sales pipeline. The Lead Forensics software gives anonymous visitors an identity, providing their full contact information so that sales have access to new leads, and can feed them into the pipeline. The tool also tells you the size of the business through employee numbers and turnover and the sector they are in so that clients can prioritise valuable, relevant leads.

Driving traffic

With such a range of channels being used to drive traffic to a website, it’s more important than ever to identify which ones are working hardest for you (or costing you the most of your marketing budget). The Lead Forensics tool tells you the online journey a visitor took to get to your website, including social channels and any key search terms they may have used in search engines. This is important as it tells you what the visitor was looking for when they found your business and then helps measure channel effectiveness.

Capturing interest

The source of the visitor and any search terms they used might give a clear indication of what they were looking for, however the Lead Forensics tool will show you the specific website pages they viewed and for how long. This is valuable information that sales and marketing can both be armed with to create more targeted follow up communications, particularly when upselling to a paid service like a subscription. Marketing can use the Lead Forensics software to profile new leads, identifying if particular sources are generating certain types of prospects, and feed this information to sales to target accordingly. The intelligent software shows repeat visits from prospects, which could indicate where they are in the buying cycle.

Return On Investment

The Lead Forensics solution helps businesses to get more qualified leads from online marketing and increase ROI. The tool uncovers hot leads for sales teams and provides qualitative information to target them more effectively.

Lead Forensics are running two roundtables on lead generation at the SIIA Digital Content & Media Summit 23-25 September in London, and will be able to provide individual advice and demos on the day.

Interested to find out more now? Call Lead Forensics today on +44 (0)203 131 0163 to set up a demo, or visit Lead Forensics.

As traditional publishing transitions to digital content, whether web, mobile, social, video, data, events or communities, so the rules of the game are changing. Publishers need to look outside their own experience and industry and learn new skills from technology and entertainment businesses.

In the last two weeks, I have spoken to twenty media and technology innovators, who are all speaking at the forthcoming  SIIA Digital Content & Media Summit, taking place 23-25 Sept in London.

These are ten digital media trends that they are already exploiting and that publishers cannot ignore.

1. Freemium is taking over the world.  Technology businesses from Skype and Spotify to Reddit and LinkedIn – plus most online games – operate on a freemium business model. The core service is free, and then users are enticed to upgrade for enhanced functionality and privileged access.  Publishers need to abandon the hard paywall and allow a wider audience to sample their content for free, while building a careful conversion strategy.  Clever exponents of this new art include The Economist and OECD.
2. All new products will be technology-led.  Media brands must move on from content delivery to working out how they fit into a purchase process and how they can deliver a service to a defined audience, according to Tony Macklin of Immediate Media.  And as all new products involve developing software, publishers must acquire new skills including analytics, usability and managing the interface between editors and developers.  In this they can learn from the experiences of tech firms.
3. All businesses are global.  Digital content rapidly reaches an international audience.  Publishers like Future have 80% of their digital magazine sales outside the UK.  So they are now actively building a presence with websites in US, Australia, France and Italy, following up with local content and teams.  BMJ are taking their content into emerging markets like Brazil & India and now are 70% outside the UK.
4. Data can be repackaged to drive revenues.  Data-sets developed for one industry sector can be repurposed for a new audience – as CABI rethought their academic database into new paid-for services.  Plus more data can be collected from an audience to repackage to new customers looking for insights – CABI and WGSN are good examples.
5. Communities provide insight and new revenues.  Publishers and event organisers alike are developing ways to communicate with their audiences all year round.  Businesses like Sift and UBM gain valuable insight on what their communities value, and can also monetize these communities through advertiser solutions and bespoke events.
6. Audience analytics uncover more than intuition.  Hard data on the profile and behaviour of readers provides publishers like Incisive and Shortlist with intelligence on how to evolve content in unexpected directions, and the evidence to pitch to new advertisers.
7. Subscriptions are becoming bespoke.  Customers expect more tailored content packages, so Emap is offering subscriptions to different combinations of platforms, and Strategy Eye and Springer charge subscribers a premium for the ability to customize content.
8. Subscribers can be traded up to premium memberships. By adding extra services to a basic content subscription, from live events to tailored consultancy, and setting up an account management team, businesses like Sigaria and Business Monitor can grow their revenue per customer up to tenfold, and secure high renewal rates.
9. Native advertising puts emphasis on engagement.  Collaborative advertising solutions leverage editorial teams’ understanding of what content engages their audience, and allows tailored, multi-channel campaigns to drive measurable results for clients.  Archant and the Economist believe this engagement delivers more value than total reach.
10. People expect content to be mobile.  Busy consumers and business people assume they can access their favourite content on whichever device they have to hand, so publishers have to devise editorial workflow that allows them to “create once, publish everywhere” as Dennis have impressively developed.

While this new digital media environment may sound daunting, there are plenty of publishing and media businesses who are already successfully tackling these trends.  At the SIIA Digital Content & Media Summit on 23-25 September at One Wimpole Street in London, over forty speakers from publishing, media and technology will share with delegates what they have learnt.

See the full programme here

Read about the speakers here

Join us for two days of fresh ideas, new approaches to publishing digital content successfully and plenty of opportunities to question innovative media and technology speakers and experts.

Plus you can connect with other digitally-savvy, like-minded publishers.

See who’s already booked to attend here

Readers of the SIIA UK blog can save £200 on their ticket using the promotion code DCMNEWS to register online here

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The Digital Content & Media Summit will be the premier event for digital media and publishing executives held at One Wimpole Street in London. The three-day conference will provide a global perspective on the 10 most pressing digital content and media challenges and trends. Topics will 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 conference will feature keynote presentations from the following industry leaders:

Natasha Christie-Miller, CEO, EMAP
As CEO of a traditional print B2B publisher with long established brands such as Architects Journal and Retail Week, Ms. Christie-Miller will explain how EMAP is transitioning to digital subscriptions and building a growth-driven business. Ms. Christie-Miller will also illustrate how EMAP has increased overall revenue and also introduce EMAP’s latest product developments.

Benedict Evans, Analyst, Enders Analysis
Enders Analysis provides a subscription research service covering the media, entertainment, mobile and fixed telecommunications industries in Europe with a focus on new technologies. Mr. Evans covers mobile platforms, digital media and electronic publishing as analyst for Enders Analysis. At the conference, Mr. Evans will discuss the revolutionary trends in media and examine how mobile and social are rapidly changing the media landscape.

Julie Harris, CEO, WGSN & Planet Retail
An extremely successful global data business, WGSN is driven by premium corporate subscriptions. Many publishers aspire to achieve that business model and Ms. Harris will draw on share WGSN’s strategy of growing the business in Asia and provide relevant lessons.

Other speakers scheduled to present include:
• Adrian Barrick, Chief Content Officer, UBM
• Tim Brooks, CEO BMJ Group
• Ben Heald, CEO, Sift
• Richard Londesborough, CEO, Business Monitor International
• Tony Macklin, Director of Product Development, Immediate Media
• Audra Martin, VP, Advertising & operations, The Economist
• Alex Martinez, CEO, Sigaria
• Colin Morrison, Non-Exec Director, Centaur, Travel Weekly
• Peter Phippen, Deputy Chairman, Immediate Media
• Andy Rice, MD Sport & Music, Future
• Julian Turner, CEO, Electric Word
• Martin Belson, MD Enterprise, Dennis Publishing

The Digital Content & Media Summit will also feature SIIA’s Previews Program, which showcases the next generation of digital content innovators. Several companies selected for the Previews Program will present throughout the conference.

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.