Digital Discourse / SIPA

SIPAlert Daily – What’s the one thing each of your subscribers will love today?

September 3, 2013 By

 

There’s an interesting post today on the Nieman Journalism Lab site by Adrienne LaFrance. It’s a bit of a throwback, if you excuse the pun (she focuses on a new digital baseball newsletter called The Slurve). She’s here to say that newsletters can be to the 2010s what blogs were to the 2000s.

Rather than creating an intensely focused blog, LaFrance wants publishers to deliver more quality, personalized information directly to a subscriber’s inbox. “Why settle for hyper-targeted coverage that caters to millennials nostalgic for Dawson’s Creek who may or may not see your work, for example, when you can deliver content to an audience of individuals who feel like you’re writing directly to them, right in their inbox?”—or in baseball terminology, their wheelhouse.

To be fair, this is more than just Everything Old Is New Again. The examples that LaFrance cites of quality “newsletters” are not called that by their creators. She points to Nieman which calls theirs Daily Email Updates; Ann Friedman who publishes the Ann Friedman Weekly. Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop is a “weekly publication.” The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake simply calls his Aaron Blake’s Mailing List. Regardless of what we call them, they engage and involve, target specific audiences and are sent to subscriber inboxes.

This is also what The Slurve does. Started by Michael Brendan Dougherty, formerly of the American Conservative and the Business Insider, it delivers baseball each morning to several hundred subscribers. It tries to distinguish itself by taking the time to be both original and a window to other excellent, original content. He charges $4 a month or $36 a year, “a rate that felt affordable enough to draw subscribers, but high enough to keep people interested each day,” he said. And it’s working.

“I find a newsletter personal—more personal than a blog,” Dougherty says. “It is addressed to you.”

Some elements Dougherty is capitalizing on:

* A hard paywall. Non-subscribers can only see a couple sample issues but nothing from today, no scores, no comments, no highlights. You have to pay to play.

* “Daily” is an engaging word. It scored an impressive 27% positive variance on open rates in a recent subject line survey—and even more in click-thrus.

* Differentiation is good. His daily stands out—people know what they’re getting each day.

* Social media. His Twitter following continues to grow—more than 2,200 followers including some big hitters with much larger followings

On the site Contently, Evan Randall wrote, “By creating original content and curating everyone else’s work into one place, Dougherty is part of a change in how we think about content. Alan Jacobs of The American Conservative asks for a ‘Slurve’-type newsletter for every topic—such as one that covers soccer, or the world of academia—and even suggests that this could have been the answer all along: ‘It may well be that we came closer to getting the problem of digital news delivery right fifteen years ago.’”

“A generalist fan may love just one thing a day,” Dougherty said. “I make sure The Slurve always finds that one thing.” After an original opening, he gives links to stories and highlights that he has found after hours of research. He does his part for gamification with a Trivia quiz, and then even gives us box scores, one of the last reasons true sports fans will give for subscribing to the print paper.

People “don’t have the time or inclination to sift through lots of junky or parochial content on the Internet to find the best writing,” Dougherty said.

Has Dougherty reinvented the wheel? Hardly. But he seems to be taking what’s best from the new and old schools—call it Moneyball meets the smell of shoe leather. Let’s face it—time is not on our side any more. There’s just not enough of it. The more you can do to create a one-stop shopping place for your niche subject, the better. Now play ball.

To subscribe to the SIPAlert Daily, create or update your SIIA User profile and select “SIPA interest.”

Ronn LevineRonn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 as managing editor. Follow Ronn on Twitter at @SIPAOnline

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SIPAlert Daily – Members leveraging content marketing tactics

August 29, 2013 By

I’m the chair for the Content Marketing track at SIPA’s annual Marketing Conference, Dec. 11-13 in Las Vegas. I’m just finalizing the session descriptions now, but the subjects we will cover include social media, video, blogging, IT, analytics and SEO. My goal is that these sessions will be hands-on, so that the video session will show you how to do a video, the analytics how to keep track of who’s reading your content, and so on.

There is some great content marketing going on in the industry now that I will point you to over the next couple months, and some of that proudly comes from SIPA members. Sharing strategies and tactics with your peers has always been part of SIPA, and that tradition will continue at the Marketing Conference. For example, Real Magnet has an impressive blog that gives you actionable information and detailed strategy. Recent posts, which seem to come about twice a week, are headlined, “Which emails should include a call to inaction?” “Marketing to mobile” and “If Nobody clicks, does nobody care?”

Last week they posted an interview with senior director of deliverability, John Bollinger. It’s a good primer on the state of email deliverability:

“There has been a focus change in the email world in the last year or so at the major ISPs. They have been focusing more on engagement as a factor of deliverability. All of the old rules still apply regarding content, complaint rates and things like that, but now they’re really looking…if someone is not opening a message or they’re deleting it before they’re opening it; if they’re opening and reading it and how long they’re reading it; if they’re clicking on a link; if they’re moving things from their junk mail folder into the inbox. These are all the positive things that ISPs now bring into play to distinguish between a valid sender and what they consider to be a spammer. The more marketers can be specific and relevant to that particular subscriber, the more likely they’ll be able to continue deliverability to that recipient.”

There’s more good stuff where that came from. Across the pond, Optimus Education, a division of Electric Word in the U.K., runs a Consult the Experts page where they list questions and the date they’re asked, such as “Could you please tell me where I could find precise, written information on funding for exchange students from other EU countries?” In order to get the answers, you have to either log in, take a trial or subscribe. The questions are substantive enough so that you do get a good idea of what you will find behind the paywall.

They have seven hubs, so the Consult the Experts looks impressive, especially because the questions are recent. There is also a “News” page that is not behind a paywall. If I’m in this field, then this is a pretty good font of information that I’m going to check on at least a weekly basis. You can look at the listings by date or hub. It’s also a nicely designed website, with clear listings, easy to read titles and calls to action in many places.

Modern Distribution Management posts weekly – sometimes even more – podcasts. They call one of their features Manufacturing Revival Radio and a typical subject, from last week, was Real-Time Data’s Effect on Production. They provide Show Notes and Highlights with three bullets – “Discover how real-time collection and analysis can have an immediate impact on your production” – in addition to a short bio of the speaker.

This is another well-designed website, with banner ads that don’t disrupt, good calls to action and easy-to-read buttons. Tom Gale, the president of Gale Media, MDM’s parent, is also a track chair for Las Vegas. I’m excited by the high quality of the Conference Chairs – Adam Goldstein and Bob Coleman - my fellow track chairs and the early list of speakers that have already been selected. I’ll soon have an interview with Joel Rothstein, the keynote speaker from Marriott, who will be speaking on gamification, one of the hottest topics in the industry right now.  That alone should entice many to attend.

To subscribe to the SIPAlert Daily, create or update your SIIA User profile and select “SIPA interest.”

Ronn LevineRonn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 as managing editor. Follow Ronn on Twitter at @SIPAOnline

 

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SIPAlert Daily – Proposed college digital curriculum has strong resonance for us

August 28, 2013 By

Up until now—or at least a short while ago—the talk for small businesses focused on adding digital into your product mix. This has to be rephrased, and Cindy Royal, an associate professor at Texas State University, has done just that.

Her article, on the PBS site, is titled We Need a Digital-First Curriculum to Teach Modern Journalism. It reflects the idea that the traditional journalism school isn’t teaching the kinds of skills that modern journalists need, like HTML coding, building an audience on social media and mobile delivery. But for me, what makes it so effective is that what she recommends for colleges applies to businesses as well—that our focus on digital must be resolute.

Royal writes that we must no longer approach “digital in a piecemeal fashion—injecting digital topics into existing courses…I think there is a better route, another way to conceptualize an entirely new curriculum around Digital and Data-Driven Communication.”

She is writing about a whole new way of thinking that must be adopted—not how an article will look in a print newsletter or magazine on a Tuesday morning or Thursday afternoon but how that article or webinar invitation or blog post will look on a tablet or smartphone at 5:30 a.m. on a weekday or 3 p.m. on a Saturday.

Let me interject here that this is what the new bloc of content providers that SIIA has assembled—SIPA, The Association of Business Information and Media Companies (ABM) and SIIA’s excellent Content Division—has set out to do. The new Mobile Essentials series got off to an amazing start a couple weeks ago and continues in September. The Content Division’s thought-leading Data Content Conference takes place in October in Philadelphia and then SIPA’s Marketing Conference visits Las Vegas in December.

The comparison of business to academia works here because most of us are to digital what students entering college are to journalism: novices. Royal has three guiding principles:
1. Flip the Curriculum;
2. New Concentrations;
3. Experience Learning.

In Flip the Curriculum, she wants students to take courses in which “digital is the foundation, and the basic skills of writing, reporting and editing are injected into digitally focused courses, as opposed to inserting a digital lesson or two into traditional classes.” The courses include Multimedia/Mobile Writing and Reporting, Digital Media Law and The History and Culture of Digital Media.

Already, students in Advanced Online Media at Texas State University learn Web development, responsive design, data visualization, Web scraping and content management system customization. Think most of us couldn’t use those courses? Her point in knowing the history and culture of digital is that’s where innovation often comes from. “This approach offers a mindset that encourages students to think innovatively about what could or should come next.” Sign me up.

For New Concentrations, Royal would like to see a visual emphasis where graphic design would focus on Web and mobile delivery. “Courses would introduce more advanced programming concepts, Web [and] mobile development [etc.],” she writes. “This concentration could be supported by collaborations with other departments or with local professionals or organizations, with the goal of ultimately co-opting these skills with a communications context.”

And, of course, social media. She wants students focused on “engagement and “advanced social media implementations, like the use of analytics and the creation of comprehensive social media campaigns.” Again, I‘m there.

The third principle Royal puts out there is Experience Learning. The key here, she writes, might be getting a faculty that is more digitally clued in. Similarly, businesses need to find those people as well. At SIPA’s Las Vegas Conference, you will meet some of them. My fellow track chairs include digitally-oriented folks like Nancy Brand of Chartwell and Jenny Fukumoto of Ragan, in addition to Tom Gale who runs a company, MDM, that is ahead of the digital curve in almost all areas.

Here’s Royal’s last sentence: “It’s time that curriculum reflects the future of media, rather than its past, creating a comprehensive framework and courses that establish an innovative mindset amongst our students and ourselves.” Just substitute “our businesses” for curriculum, “atmosphere” for courses, and “colleagues” for students, and you have what should be our mantra moving forward.

Join us as we lead you down this intricate but necessary road. We can’t put you back in college unfortunately—sorry, we’re not that good—but we can help you put forth this digital-first mindset in everything you do.

 

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Talk, Don’t Run: First ‘Mobile Essentials’ webinar yields firm but guarded business case

August 28, 2013 By

You would expect “communication” to be the buzzword for a panel on relationships, public policy or workplace harmony. But mobile optimization?

Yet, talking meaningfully to your subscribers/members was one of the keys that came out of Making the Business Case, the first webinar in SIIA’s new Mobile Essentials series titled The Guide to Creating a Mobile Business.

“Talk to readers to see how they’re using your content,” advised Greg Krehbiel, director of marketing operations for The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc. “Communicate with your customer service rep to see what he or she is hearing. How are your readers accessing your information?”

The webinar laid the groundwork for content providers to get started with mobile. Although the majority of B2B websites are not optimized for mobile, a growing percentage of your audience is connecting with you via a mobile device. In addition, an ABM study found that 75% of respondents would engage more with a mobile-optimized version of your website.

But Matt Kinsman, vice president of content and programming for ABM, and the webinar’s first speaker, cautioned publishers to take that extra step. “Before you spend all that money on mobile, understand what your customers want and how they want it,” he advised.

Kinsman pointed to Farm Journal Pulse, a magazine that has enjoyed great success with targeted mobile messaging. “They are doing a lot with iPad apps and advanced mobile strategies,” Kinsman said. “They have developed one of the aggressive mobile platforms in B2B by understanding what their customers want and how they want it. Because 97% of farmers take their cell phones with them every morning, the company recently launched text-driven mobile solutions, including text message updates and coupons delivered through text.

Both Kinsman and Andy Swindler, president of Astek Consulting, spoke of the importance of business plans and talking to your subscribers—instead of trusting generic statistics. “There is a pressure to go mobile, a fear of being left behind” that motivates some publishers, Swindler said. Instead, there should be a business plan that tells exactly what you are attempting to accomplish. “It’s really easy to go in the wrong direction,” Kinsman added.

Greg’s 10 Rules of Thumb

“What’s the purpose of your mobile product?” asked Krehbiel. “What’s mobile about it?” Here are 10 rules he believes you should abide by in weighing your decision to go mobile:

1. Be careful with generic stats. They show us there’s movement in a certain direction, he said. But it may not be your direction. “You want to look at what your customers are doing in the mobile space. The average mobile behavior probably doesn’t have and never will have much to do with your business.”

2. Pay close attention to what you do. What’s your behavior on mobile? Look at how you use different devices and what you use them for.

3. Data is not the plural form of anecdote.  Do not confuse the two. Learn from your own experience and listen to other people.

4. Get your own stats. How many of your people are reading your emails on a mobile device? Look at time of day.  Measure your traffic from mobile devices vs. paid subscription.

5. Going mobile doesn’t happen overnight.  It happens in stages. Are your marketing emails or product delivey being opened on mobile?

6. How and when do your customers use your content?  What’s particularly mobile about farmers? “That was genius what Farm Journal did,” Krehbiel said. That’s meeting your customers where they are.”

7. Distinguish mobile web vs. apps. Apps give readers a better experience, but you have to jump thru Apple’s hoops. And it’s not just about the experience; it has to fit in with your business model.

8. Tablet vs phone-sized screens. Know how they’re consuming your content. An iPad allows more engagement. Are you on an open-source platform that has mobile plug-ins?

9. Don’t listen to the geniuses. Remember the paperless office, the flying car.

10. Where are you earning your revenue?  Don’t major in minors. Make sure you do a cost-benefit analysis. Increase that revenue to serve your customers better.

A case study

Swindler then presented a case study that Astek undertook for SIPA member EB Medicine. The goals were to get in touch with EB Medicine’s readers, understand what the true value proposition of mobile would be for them, and finally separate the mobile buzz from reader reality.

“Overall, they showed good growth in mobile traffic,” Swindler said. But he questioned if that was enough to justify a huge financial outlay. “Don’t let fear guide a critical decision. Anecdotes, buzz, a couple survey responses, is that enough to say this is a direction? They had done quantitative research.” But Swindler decided that they needed some qualitative research as well.

Astek spoke in-depth with five emergency room physicians—the EB Medicine audience—to truly understand what they needed, “rather than just get answers to survey questions.” They wanted to know “how they think, how they are using this technology. How are they using their iPhones in the emergency room? Would a quick reference guide help them do their jobs better?”

The findings were critical in guiding EB Medicine’s next steps. It made them think about their content differently. It helped them understand that they had more than one kind of reader. “It’s not enough to just say this is our readers,” Swindler said. “We needed a deeper understanding of that core value of EB Medicine.” They found that the best way to spread the word about their app would be one doctor telling another—and, if possible, hooking the residents, even if they couldn’t pay yet.

Engagement gets better

The final presenter was Jeffrey S. Litvack, senior VP & chief digital officer for American Lawyer Media. He said that with sales of smartphones overtaking PCs in 2012, 2013 would be the “tipping point” for mobile.

‘How did we approach mobile? We looked at what our users are doing,” Litvack said. “How are they interacting with us? Is it through the mobile Web, e-newsletters, mobile apps, digital editions for mobile devices?” He spoke of the decision to go either with responsive design—a scaling down of your site—or native—an all new-for-mobile site. ALM chose native. They were able to launch from Day 1 with a positive ROI by selling the ad rights to a sponsor.

Litvack said that with more readers opening email on their smartphones, the importance of optimization increases. That view may determine if the reader saves or deletes. Since the launch of ALM’s mobile optimized websites, click thrus have increased 120%. “That’s hockey-stick growth,” he said. “Very rare. We’ve had 144% more traffic coming from mobile and 40% in average click-thru rates for advertisers.” The mobile breakdown has been 2/3 smartphone and 1/3 tablet.

Though valuable, Litvack said that apps can be very expensive to build and maintain. He warned of going the Apple route, where you have to abide by their timing for both launch and updates. Apps can be effective, he added, but with almost a million apps in the app store, “getting noticed is very hard.”

He believes that engagement and the number of times people come back will always be higher through an app than on the desktop. “The users will be more interactive with that content. People will look at more pages, because it will download the information [easier] and make [the process] more a seamless.”

Lastly, Litvack stressed the opportunities that mobile offers for attracting print advertisers. “Digital editions resonate with print advertisers. They allow interactivity. You can sell them at print rate. Smaller screen sizes mean less content,” but less can be more. He also spoke of the importance of taking a different approach with mobile—from headlines to delivery. “Organizational and process changes are needed,” Litvack said. “Mobile is not a standalone channel; it’s part of the entire customer experience. And it’s becoming the predominant way for accessing your sites.”

The next big thing, Litvack pondered. “How mobile will be connected to cars.”

The second webinar, The Guide to Creating a Mobile Business, will take place Sept. 19.  Sign up here.

Ronn LevineRonn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 as managing editor. Follow Ronn on Twitter at @SIPAOnline

 

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Digital Content & Media Summit will Address Trends in Mobile Magazines, Multiplatform Publishing, Content Paywalls, and More

August 27, 2013 By

SIIA will hold its Digital Content & Media Summit – the premier conference for digital media and publishing executives – on September 23-25 at One Wimpole Street in London. The Digital Content & Media Summit will feature presentations from leading media pioneers who are tackling digital content in innovative ways and will examine how major media businesses are creating digital content for international audiences.

The conference will bring together industry-leading executives, prominent analysts, publishers, media owners, and members of the media to discuss key trends and practical tools to survive in the rapidly changing world of digital content.  Topics will include adapting content for multiple platforms, using free content to extend market reach and convert users to paid services, and more.

Keynote speakers at the Digital Content & Media Summit:

  • Natasha Christie-Miller, CEO, EMAP
  • Benedict Evans, consultant, Enders Analysis
  • Julie Harris, CEO, WGSN & Planet Retail

Other speakers of note include:

  • Adrian Barrick, Chief Content Officer, UBM
  • Tim Brooks, CEO BMJ Group
  • Ben Heald, CEO, Sift
  • Paul Lomax, CTO, Dennis
  • 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

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

Read more about the SIIA Previews companies here.

For a complete schedule of events, visit: http://siia.net/london/2013/schedule.asp

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.

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SIPAlert Daily – Increase webinar revenue with these tips

August 27, 2013 By

Here are some tips for expanding your webinar reach. The first five come from consultant Leslie Davidson (pictured here) of Davidson Direct.

1. Your speakers! Ask them to get the social media word out to their customers and prospects. Have them write a blog post for you. Ask for a brief video interview that you can post on your YouTube channel and then on your blog.

2. List exchanges. Do an exchange of lists with a competitor or other company that targets the same or similar audience.

3. Trade associations. Strike a deal with an association whose members you want to reach with your message.

4. Incentivize. Give your speakers an incentive to spread the word by providing an affiliate link for registrants they refer.

5. Social networking. Join LinkedIn groups whose members belong to your target audience and let them know each time you offer a new webinar.

6. Higher price points. One SIPA member increased their webinar prices from $190 to $290 about 18 months ago and never looked back. They’re actually getting more attendance now. They also offer an unlimited site license for about $400 which is also doing well. This way you can also show the true value but still offer lower early-bird pricing. And it also makes it much easier to charge more over time.

7. Panel discussions. SIPA member Bulldog Reporter uses a moderator and panels for many of their webinars. In an upcoming webinar on pitching business and financial media, they have panelists from the Los Angeles Times, Fortune Magazine, Barron’s and San Jose News plus a former Huffington Post reporter. For a half-day webinar on measuring PR ROI, they have “practitioners” from National Wildlife Foundation, Hill & Knowlton, Research Data Insight, University of Miami, Dlvr.it and PRIME Research, among others.

8. Discounts (10-20%) for premium subscribers. If your system can recognize them upon registration and give them the discount automatically, all the better. You will be showing them the value of paying for the publication subscriptions.

9. Bundling. Instead of selling just your webinar, sell an annual or monthly membership to your site that includes the webinar. It’s good road to renewal to be able to start off a membership with that benefit.

10. Know your audience! One audience may like short pauses to have group discussions, another may need more time for Q&As—especially if you have a lawyer speaking. Be sure to survey your registrants to know that you are giving them what they want.

11. Be prepared. Have a good system in place to handle those last-minute desperate calls from people who don’t look at any of your information until the last minute.

12. Recordings. Decide whether the recording is important to your business. A recording link the day after the webinar can often boost sales significantly because you catch all of the people who can’t make it live.

 

To subscribe to the SIPAlert Daily, create or update your SIIA User profile and select “SIPA interest.”

Ronn LevineRonn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 as managing editor. Follow Ronn on Twitter at @SIPAOnline

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SIPAlert Daily – Member Profile: Thomas Parmalee, Kates-Boylston Publications

August 26, 2013 By

Thomas Parmalee, Executive Director, Kates-Boylston Publications (a division of UCG), Wall, N.J.

SIPA: First of all, congratulations on the SIPAwards that you and your team have won. Your audience is funeral and cemetery professionals. Did you know much about them when you joined the company?
THOMAS: I wasn’t an expert, although strangely enough, my first real job was on the obituary desk of The Times of Trenton and my boss there—a great journalist by the name of Peter Callas—would always jokingly call me “Dr. Death.” I did learn about funeral directors and death while on the obituary desk and later as a police reporter covering crime and the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. I sometimes think it’s a bit odd that I’m right back where I started—on the death beat, so to speak.

Does the subject bring specific challenges?
The biggest challenge for me personally is that it’s such a defined beat. After seven years, it can be challenging to find new angles, new stories—but that makes the job interesting. Once your work becomes too easy, there’s something wrong, and this position has managed to maintain my interest. I come to work every day looking forward to doing my best, knowing our readers need us to confront business challenges.

What is your role as executive director?
I mainly manage our editorial operations as well as on-site conferences. And of course, I contribute to the other aspects of our business however I can.

Are you presenting information differently now?
We’re doing more webinars, more social networking. We just launched an app for our Funerals of the Famous series; people can subscribe to the app for $2.99 per month and read about the lives and deaths of some of the world’s most important people. Our first issue features Steve Jobs, Whitney Houston and George Washington. We are very excited about the app because in addition to serving our audience of funeral professionals, we’re hoping to generate interest from the general public. This will be a new challenge for us, but we’re excited about the possibilities. We’re also redesigning our website to improve and add to the ways we deliver content. In the end, however, I’m a big believer that if you produce great content that can’t be found anywhere else, then a lot of things end up taking care of themselves.

Do you still use print?
We print both of our magazines, American Funeral Director and American Cemetery. We also have a weekly newsletter, Funeral Service Insider, which is delivered in print as well as by email as a PDF. Our new website, which we’re in the process of working on, will allow us to deliver our award-winning content online in addition to print.

Any particular reason print is still so heavy?
Much of our audience is pretty conservative and traditional. They’re gravitating online, but at a pace slower than a lot of industries. That’s a factor. We also believe print has a lot of benefits, and there’s nothing like holding a magazine in your hands, marking it up and passing it around. That’s also good for our advertisers, too, and our readers are really vested in our printed products. The challenge for us is to add to the ways we deliver our content—not eliminate print, which we believe in.

Did you consider a digital magazine?
We’ve done demos of those in the past, but I’m not sure that the flip-book format that many magazines use is the best option. However, we’re committed to delivering content to our readers in new and innovative ways while also providing our advertisers with real value.

You mentioned social media?
Yes, we have Facebook fan pages for Kates-Boylston Publications and our flagship brands. We focus mainly on those, but we are also on Twitter, LinkedIn and will likely experiment on other sites such as Pinterest. Cemeteries have beautiful landscapes, and that’s where Pinterest would most likely come in.

Just curious—are there many women in the industry?
Yes, more and more. In fact, there are now more women in mortuary college than men, and there are many women who own funeral homes and hold leadership positions in the business. For instance, the CEO of the National Funeral Directors Association is Christine Pepper. The president of Batesville Casket Co. is Kim Ryan. The owner of Kelco Supply Co. is Alicia Carr. I could go on and on…women are a force to be reckoned with in funeral service.

Mortuary college?
Educational requirements to be in funeral service vary from state to state, but virtually all states require some type of mortuary education. In some states, you need to go through training as an embalmer. Other states have a split licensure where you can become a funeral director without knowing how to embalm. There’s a decreasing emphasis on embalming—for better or worse—because of the rising cremation rate.

Why the rise in cremation?
That’s based on a variety of factors. The Catholic Church and other religions have become more accepting of the practice. Some people just do not want to be buried in the ground. And there is also the perception that cremation costs less. That’s true to a certain extent in that it eliminates the need for a casket, but most of our customers would argue that cremating a loved one does not eliminate the need to hold some type of service to deal with the loss and pay tribute to their memory.

Unfortunately, I had to deal with a funeral home not too long ago. But they were very easy and fair to deal with.
Yes, 99% of the time funeral directors are trying to do the right thing and the best that they can to help families. Most consider it a calling and have a strong desire to serve others.

Good stuff. Thanks.

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