Digital Discourse / SIPA / SIPA Con

SIPAlert Daily – Digital news study points us in actionable directions

October 1, 2013 By

Alan Mutter’s Reflections of a Newsosaur blog led me today to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2013: Tracking the Future of News. Core questions were asked in France, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Japan, Brazil, and the U.S., as well as the UK, to a nationally representative audience to provide an international comparison.

Here are some interesting notes:

1. Here comes mobile. Tablet usage has doubled in the 10 months since the last survey. In many countries, smartphone users are now in the majority, and most of them use these devices to access news every week. Across all the countries surveyed, 46% use a smartphone and 31% say they used the device for news at least once in the past week. (See the next Mobile Essentials webinar Oct. 24.)

2. Get to know your audience better. “In all countries we asked if people agreed that they preferred to get news from sites they know and trust. The figures were universally high, with 90% supporting the proposition in Brazil, 82% in the US, and 77% in the UK.”

3. Twitter, etc. may be as important as SEO. Social media is now rated more important than search among the ‘under 45s’. In the U.S. 47% of under 45s use social media to find news. (How’s your social media involvement?) In the U.K. it’s only 27%. (Hear a social media case study at the Las Vegas Marketing Conference.)

4. Encourage your audience to share. In the UK 18% had shared a news story in the last week by email or social network but among those actively interested in news the figures are much higher. Almost a third of those with a high interest in news share a news link at least once a week.

5. Publishing information daily (and maybe at various times of day) makes sense. Only older people are staying on any schedule for accessing news. Younger people tend to access news at all times, and “even the 35–44s seem to be losing the commitment for appointment-to-view news bulletins in the early and late evening.”

6. Americans like local. We have the highest interest of any country in news about our city or town (59%). (More women indicated that as an interest than men.) We are near the lowest to be interested in news about technology or science (26%). Wonder if that has anything to do with our students’ test scores in those areas.

7. Find tablet users. While smartphone users say the convenience not the experience draws them, tablet users like the experience more than PCs. Tablet users are also more likely to pay for news than smartphone users.

8. Americans consume video and audio. Are you using any? Only Brazil was higher (64%) for consuming news through video and audio than Americans (55%). (See a hands-on video session in Las Vegas.)

9. Check your analytics. People in the UK find news more by trusted brands, where in the U.S. people use more social and search. In both countries, the number of people who use search does not vary much by age. Of course, social does vary by age when it comes to search, but it again differs by country. In the UK, under 45s are three times as likely to use social for search; in the U.S., the numbers are much closer (38% to 23%).

10. Have you built your app yet? Those who use smartphones and tablets are more likely to go straight to a news brand. “The data also indicate that certain mechanisms – like social newsreading apps and ‘push’ news alerts – are disproportionately used on these devices to discover news content.”

11. Appeal to smartphone users to reach out. Of those who share news in the UK, 56% do so through Facebook, 40% through email and 26% through Twitter. In the U.S., Apple smartphone users are 41% more likely to share news than other digital news users.

Interesting stuff. Again access it here.

 To subscribe to SIPAlert Daily, go to the SIIA site.

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: Power shift in sales relationship calls for new rules

September 23, 2013 By

“There’s always been a debate – do you invest in the idea or the person?” said Tom Perkins, the legendary venture capitalist, at AOL’s TechCrunch show earlier this month. “I feel you invest in the idea because bad people don’t have good ideas,” Perkins said. “That’s a very simple formula. When I used to look at business plans, I would look at the back pages and if the numbers were big, I’d look at the front to see what kind of business it was. Pretty sophisticated.”

I thought of this quote reading an interview yesterday with Daniel Pink, the author of To Sell Is Human,” in The Washington Post. Asked what the hardest sell is, he responded, “It’s harder to sell a really bad idea than a really good idea. I think that’s always been true, but I think it’s become even harder to sell a really bad idea today because you’re so easily exposed.”

He said that we have gone from a world of “information asymmetry”—where the seller always had more information than the buyer—to information parity. So “you have to take the high road: be more honest, more direct, more transparent.” Customers’ ability to “talk back” and “do battle” has changed the landscape, Pink added.

That landscape will be explored further by SIPA at its Marketing Conference in Las Vegas, Dec. 11. Fortunately for attendees, Bobby Edgil, BLR’s director of sales, and Lexie Gross, BVR’s VP of sales, will return to lead what was a very well-received Pre-Conference Workshop last year in Miami titled, Sales Management for Online Publishers. This truly is a workshop. Gross and Edgil are not theorists; they are doers.

They believe that your best practices should be shared among all of your marketers and salespeople. Whether that happens during meetings or other in-house communications doesn’t matter as much as that it just happens. Edgil told how customer service and sales are now side by side at BLR—to “make sure the managers get along and communicate.” It’s not ideal if your customers make a purchase and then hit a roadblock on how to use it. Gross also emphasized the importance of communication vehicles, one being customer surveys which she uses as a tool for product development and referrals. Another being hand-written notes.

In his interview, Pink also talked about the value of good communication. He has three new ABCs to replace what he calls the outdated ones of Always Be Closing. “Attunement: Can you get out of your head and into someone else’s head, see their point of view? Buoyancy: Buoyancy is staying afloat in what one salesperson I interviewed called ‘an ocean of rejection.’ Clarity: being able to curate, distill, make sense of information, and identify problems people didn’t realize they have.”

Pink has strong feelings on who makes the best sales people. He believes that the idea of the extrovert naturally being best “is fundamentally not true. The best people are what researchers call ambiverts. Like ambidextrous, they’re in the middle: a little bit introverted, a little bit extroverted. Research shows that most of us are ambiverts. Some of us are very strong introverts, some of us are very strong extroverts—but very strong extroverts and very strong introverts aren’t good at sales.”

He also advises you to look for people who are confident. But while saying “I am awesome” and “I got this” is better than not doing anything at all, he would like to see more self-interrogative talk from sales people like, “Can I do this?”

“Questions elicit an active response.” Pink said. “In answering your question, you prepare yourself. You go over your game plan. You say, ‘Yeah, I can do this. Last time I did it, but I was a little nervous and talked a bit too fast, so I am going to slow down.’ You are preparing. You are like an athlete at batting practice before the game.”

And you look for good ideas to take a swing at.

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 – For Voci, analytics and engagement are team tasks

September 12, 2013 By

“Are you still interested in ‘Detroit’?” the subject line flashed on my screen. Detroit is a Pulitzer Prize-finalist play now in Washington, D.C. I had checked out ticket prices yesterday. “We noticed that you viewed ‘Detroit,’ but didn’t finish your purchase. The good news is, there are 8 dates available.”

Marketing of this type is pretty standard now, and it does make you look at your “destination” again. But in the current world of analytics and engagement—authentically voiced at SIPA’s recent Conference by Valerie Voci (pictured here), vice president, marketing, for CQ Roll Call—it’s just the beginning.

“We’re always looking to decrease the people who just leave,” she said. “We’re looking when they abandon, where they go when they abandon.”

Voci made clear that it is increasingly a team effort. “Some of the things the editorial team does [now] used to be on the marketing side. Editorial is looking every day on their most read stories. They’re looking at who’s referring [their readers] and where content is being shared. They’re learning from it and they’re making some changes.

“They’re certainly not going to change what they’re writing about. They have their goals as well. But they’re starting to see [that] this works a little bit better. They’re even going so far to look at placement on the site, how they’re creating images for their blogs, also looking at social measurement tools, so we have a lot of tweets from our Roll Call editors. [There’s a] Roll Call handle that our marketing manages; we’ll put some promotional things there. But mostly it’s about our content.”

Voci is happy to let the editorial people be the stars. Her job revolves around lead generation, so if social media can bring the audience closer to the reporters they follow, all the better. “We’re looking at our reporters and editors who are industry experts, to use them in different ways,” she said. “I didn’t know if this one great reporter would be good on TV and he’s amazing [in two-minute videos].”

CQ Roll Call has topic-specific Twitter handles, and reporters also have their own handles. “We’re looking at the activity—who’s following them, are they being retweeted, how many mentions?” Voci said. “Are they really engaging? So it’s changing from just looking at raw numbers to really analyzing it. You can see why that takes more than just a Webmaster and a marketing person.”

It takes an audience engagement team, collected from various departments. Listening to Voci—and you need to be attentive to do so; she talks qualitatively and fast—leaves you feeling that the ball is in your court. “We know who’s on our site,” she said. “We know what device they’re using. Mobile early, then desktop, then iPad usage around 10 o’clock at night—really people! 10 o’clock? But that’s what happening.”

She said they even know that people are illegally sharing passwords. “We’re not trying to be cops but trying to understand how people use our data and our content and their subscriptions so we can be better informed and we can better inform our sales team when it comes time for renewal. We’re looking at all the referrals.”

Speaking about renewals, Voci said, “We’re looking at critical points in the subscription cycle, 30 days [in], 60 days, 90 days and we’re starting to map now when people don’t renew. And seeing what their traffic was. We’re using a couple pieces of software for that and creating retention programs that kick in automatically when we reach these critical points. I like to fail fast and learn quicker… When they reach a threshold [of contact points], we’re scoring them. [Maybe they] filled out a survey, read a special report, read stories.”

She said that her team’s main job is to “nurture, nurture, nurture”—meaning that the leads they give to sales should be strong. “That forces the marketing team to think differently, a little more logically. [But you] have to put a lot of stuff in to get a lot of stuff out.

“You know how your prospects find you,” she said. All the information is there to track their behavior on your site. If you need more information, she suggested sending something out that you know your audience will value and respond to. CQ Roll Call is a thought leader when it comes to Congress, so when they sent out a survey based on their knowledge, it got a 71.7% open rate. And that gets them clean data.

They have gone as far as creating personas based on how people use their site. “Sometimes the mythology is that the person who reads free stuff will never buy paid stuff,” Voci said. “And in marketing we’re all about measuring. I want to prove that true or false. Because that will change what I do [and] will also help with product development—you need to constantly be developing.”

 

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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20 great tips for publishers from SIPA Conference 2013 Washington DC

June 30, 2013 By

Hundreds of specialist publishers gathered in Washington DC in June to swap practical ideas on making more money in niche markets at the 37th annual SIPA conference. If you missed, it, here are my top 20 tips from the event.

SIPA Conference 2013

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SIPAlert Daily: Winners Named in the 2013 SIPAwards Competition

June 11, 2013 By

The Specialized Information Publishers Association named 21 first-place winners and 59 winners overall in its annual SIPAwards competition for excellence in editorial-writing and marketing at an evening reception in downtown Washington, D.C. on Thursday, June 6.

Many of the winners were on hand at the Capital Hilton to accept their awards. The subjects of the winning editorial pieces ranged from funeral direction to psychiatry to nuclear weapons—the latter is the Investigative Reporting Award named for the late, respected industry leader David Swit. The other award named for a person is the Margie Weiner Award for Best Marketing Team of the Year, named for another industry leader and dynamic, creative marketer.

The range of subjects reflects the incredible range of topics covered by SIPA members.  Winning a 2013 SIPAward is an especially impressive achievement given that there were 203 entries, and more than 20 judges—all esteemed industry veterans—took part.

Below is the full list of 2013 SIPAwards winners:

2013 SIPAward Winners

Best Blog or Commentary

1st Thought Broadcast, Steve Zisson, Carlat Publishing

2nd BioWorld Perspectives and Hospital Report, The Staff, AHC Media

3rd Astek Blog, Rachel Yeomans, Astek

Best Daily Publication

1st BioWorld Today and Medical Device Daily, The Staff, AHC Media

2nd CableFAX Daily, Michael Grebb, Access Intelligence

3rd Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, Martin Schneider, Exchange Monitor Publications

Best Editorial and Marketing Collaboration

1st 10th Annual Home Health Coding, Lesley Parthree and Maria Tsigas, DecisionHealth, a division of UCG

2nd Blarticles, Jenny Fukumoto, Ragan Communications

3rd Fokus Digital Services, George Straton, Rentrop & Straton

Best Instructional Reporting

1st Dean & Provost, Joan Hope, Wiley

2nd Funeral Service Insider, Thomas A. Parmalee, Kates-Boylston, a division of UCG

3rd Part B News, Karen Long, DecisionHealth, a division of UCG

Best Interpretative or Analytical Reporting

1st Orthopedic Coder’s Pink Sheet, Laura Evans, DecisionHealth, a division of UCG

2nd Disability Compliance in Higher Education, Cynthia Gomez, Wiley

3rd Hospital Care Management, Mary Booth Thomas and Russ Underwood, AHC Media

Best Marketing Launch for a New Product

1st Kiplinger’s Investing for Income, Denise Elliott, Kiplinger

2nd Cynopsis: Kids!, Jenn Ocampo and Trish Pihonak, Cynopsis Media

3rd Agroromania, George Straton, Rentrop & Straton

Best Mobile Smartphone App (Native)

1st RigData Mobile, Ed Seifert, Pat Seifert, John Yurkanin, RigData

2nd Leader to Leader, David Famiano, Wiley

3rd Bell Labs Technical Group, David Famiano, Wiley

Best New or Relaunched Website

1st (tie) Ragan Communications, Jenny Fukumoto

1st (tie) XpertHR.com, Reed Business Information, David Shepherd

Best Newsletter – Public Sector/Government

1st EcoAmericas, George Hatch, EcoAmericas

2nd Alternatives to the High Cost of Education, Russ Bleemer, Wiley

3rd Weapons Complex Monitor, Mike Nartker, Kenneth Fletcher, Sarah Herness, ExchangeMonitor Publications

Best Newsletter – Business/Marketing

1st XpertHR Editor’s Choice Newsletter, Michael Cardman, Alicia Smith, Ché Blackwood, Brad Schmidt, Peggy Carter-Ward, Reed Business Information

2nd Modern Distribution Management, Lindsay Konzak, Gale Media

3rd Land Rig Newsletter, Ed Seifert, RigData

Best Newsletter – Financial/Investing

1st The Complete Investor, Dr. Stephen Leeb, Leeb Group

2nd Bruce R. Hopkins Nonprofit Counsel, Isabelle Cohen, Wiley

3rd Inside Mortgage Finance, Guy Cecala, Inside Mortgage Finance Publications

Best Newsletter – Health/Medical/Fitness

1st Home Health Line, Tina Irgang, DecisionHealth, a division of UCG

2nd Orthopedic Coder’s Pink Sheet, Laura Evans, DecisionHealth, a division of UCG

3rd Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, Karienne Stovall, Wiley

Best One-Topic Special Publication

1st Campus Threat Assessment Teams, Vanessa L. Phelan, Katherine Bitgood and Julie Phillips, PaperClip Communications

2nd The BioSimilars Game, Mari Serebrov, AHC Media

3rd Pediatric Trauma Care, Ann Dietrich, MD, Leslie Coplin and Neill Kimball, AHC Media

Best Sales Campaign

1st Free Trial Text Messaging Campaign, The Sales and Marketing Team, Pro Farmer

2nd Home Health Coding Center, Kim Castaneda, DecisionHealth (UCG)

Best Scientific Writing or Technical Reporting

1st BioWorld Today, Anette Breindl, AHC Media

2nd SAPexperts.com, Jonathan Haun, Chris Hickman, Don Loden, Andrea Haynes and Scott Wallask, Wellesley Information Services, a division of UCG

Best Social Media Success Story

1st Faculty Focus, Mary Bart, Magna Publications

2nd Think-n-Drink, Rachel Yeomans, Astek

3rd PR News, Steve Goldstein, Access Intelligence

Best Spot News or Single News Story

1st American Funeral Director, Patti Martin Bartsche, Kates-Boylston, a division of UCG

2nd OPIS News, Tom Kloza, OPIS, a division of UCG

3rd Modern Distribution Management, Jenel Stelton-Holtmeier, Gale Media

Best Use of Video

1st ICD-10 CM Coding Pro Cards, Lindsey Harris and Kim Castaneda, DecisionHealth (UCG)

2nd Confined Spaces, Kevin Thompson, Robbie Lynn, Nick Hurley, Cameron Congdon, Providence Publications

3rd The Ayes Have It, Bess Shapiro, Robbie Lynn, Nick Hurley, Cameron Congdon, Providence Publications

Rising Star

1st Brittany Carter, Columbia Books

2nd Lindsey Harris, DecisionHealth, a division of UCG

The David Swit Award for Best Investigative Reporting

1st Nuclear Weapons and Material Monitor, Todd Jacobson, Exchange Monitor Publications

2nd Funeral Service Insider, Thomas A. Parmalee, Kates-Boylston, a division of UCG

3rd Communications Daily, Adam Bender, Warren Communications

The Margie Weiner Award for Best Marketing Campaign

1st IA Watch, Andrew, Umhoefer, Argosy Group, a division of UCG

2nd Part B News, Kathleen Updegraff, DecisionHealth, a division of UCG

3rd Contexo Media, Kristine Keller, Access Intelligence

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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SIPA 2013 Publishing Conference to Feature Former White House Staffers Joshua Bolten & Michael McCurry

June 4, 2013 By

SIPA 2013, a premier event for content industry executives, will feature a candid policy, politics and White House operations discussion between Joshua Bolten, former White House chief of staff under President George W. Bush, and Michael McCurry, former White House press secretary to President Bill Clinton. SIPA 2013 will be held June 5-7 in Washington, D.C., and this special event, entitled “Inside the White House – A Candid Conversation” will take place on Friday, June 7 at 8:45 a.m.

Bolten and McCurry are expected to discuss the current state of partisan gridlock in Washington and the need for greater civility in government, how technology has changed White House operations and the presidential decision-making process and the 2014 midterm and 2016 Presidential elections.   They will be joined by CQ Roll Call Senior Editor David Hawkings.

Other panels and presentations at SIPA 2013 will focus on emerging technologies, dynamic social media realities and evolving business models that are changing the publishing industry.  The theme of “Pathways to Publishing for Profit” will drive the remaining keynote presentations at SIPA 2013, including the following:

  • John Yemma and Jonathan Wells, editor and managing publisher, respectively, of The Christian Science Monitor, will speak about their journey towards becoming the world’s first “digital first” news organization and their successes in leveraging editorial assets to develop new premium products.
  • Joe McCambley, co-founder and creative director of The Wonderfactory, will share his vision about the future of digital publishing in a world where advertisers are increasingly becoming content creators .
  • Terry Waters, CEO of Yankee Group – a market research firm focused on digital mobility – will present his firm’s latest findings about mobile trends and how those trends are changing content consumption.

Other highlights of the conference include over 30 breakout sessions across five topical tracks, the annual SIPAwards honoring the year’s best publishing performances and products, and the BrainSlam, an opportunity for teams to brainstorm solutions to real-world publishing problems and pitch their solutions to a panel of publishing experts.

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA.

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White House Veterans Bolten and McCurry and Mobile/Digital Media Leaders to Keynote SIPA 2013 Publishing Conference

May 30, 2013 By

Five high-profile keynote events will form the centerpiece of the 37th annual SIPA conference, to be held June 5-7 in Washington, D.C. The three-day event is an important gathering for information industry leaders who are reinventing their business models in a time of significant change.

Emerging technologies, dynamic social media realities and evolving business models are changing the publishing industry. The theme of “Pathways to Publishing for Profit” will drive all of the keynote presentations at SIPA 2013, where the following government and industry leaders will discuss opportunities to grow and innovate:

Former White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten and former White House Press Secretary Michael D. McCurry will be joined by CQ Roll Call Senior Editor David Hawkings for a candid discussion about the state of the economy, pressing issues on Capitol Hill and expectations for President Obama’s second term.

  • John Yemma and Jonathan Wells, editor and managing publisher, respectively, of The Christian Science Monitor, will speak about their successful journey towards becoming the world’s first “digital first” news organization and their efforts to leverage editorial assets to develop new products.
  • Joe McCambley, co-founder and creative director of The Wonderfactory, will share his vision about the future of digital publishing.
  • Terry Waters, CEO of Yankee Group – a market research firm focused on digital mobility – will present his firm’s latest findings about mobile trends.

These top-notch industry leaders and public policy experts will shed light on digital, mobile, and political and economic trends that will impact every aspect of the publishing industry. SIPA 2013 attendees will also hear from industry rising stars and veterans alike about what’s working in their companies, how they’re making money, and how they can put their ideas to work right away.

Other highlights of the conference include more than 30 breakout sessions across five topical tracks, the annual SIPAwards honoring the year’s best editorial performances and products, and the BrainSlam, an opportunity for teams to brainstorm solutions to real-world publishing problems and pitch their solutions to a panel of publishing experts.

View the complete conference schedule.

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA. Follow the SIIA Public Policy team at @SIIAPolicy.

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