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.

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Ronn 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

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.

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Ronn 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

“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 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

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

If you found these tips helpful, just think how much you could gain from attending the SIIA Digital Content & Media Summit 23-25 Sept in London, with over 30 speakers, open panel Q&As, interactive workshops, roundtable discussions, and speed networking.

More about the event here.

Enjoyed this article?  Sign up for the free SIIA UK e-newsletters with a digest of new digital publishing ideas worldwide, plus news of other online resources and live events for European publishing and media professionals.  And as a bonus, every new e-newsletter subscriber will receive access to a research report among 130 publishers and a webinar on profiting from online subscriptions.

Register free for SIIA UK e-newsletter and bonus downloads 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.

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

1^st Thought Broadcast, Steve Zisson, Carlat Publishing

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

3^rd Astek Blog, Rachel Yeomans, Astek

Best Daily Publication

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

2^nd CableFAX Daily, Michael Grebb, Access Intelligence

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

Best Editorial and Marketing Collaboration

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

2^nd Blarticles, Jenny Fukumoto, Ragan Communications

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

Best Instructional Reporting

1^st Dean & Provost, Joan Hope, Wiley

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

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

Best Interpretative or Analytical Reporting

1^st 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

1^st 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)

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

2^nd Leader to Leader, David Famiano, Wiley

3^rd Bell Labs Technical Group, David Famiano, Wiley

Best New or Relaunched Website

1^st (tie) Ragan Communications, Jenny Fukumoto

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

Best Newsletter – Public Sector/Government

1^st EcoAmericas, George Hatch, EcoAmericas

2^nd 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

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

2^nd Modern Distribution Management, Lindsay Konzak, Gale Media

3^rd Land Rig Newsletter, Ed Seifert, RigData

Best Newsletter – Financial/Investing

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

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

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

Best Newsletter – Health/Medical/Fitness

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

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

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

Best One-Topic Special Publication

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

2^nd The BioSimilars Game, Mari Serebrov, AHC Media

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

Best Sales Campaign

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

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

Best Scientific Writing or Technical Reporting

1^st BioWorld Today, Anette Breindl, AHC Media

2^nd 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

1^st Faculty Focus, Mary Bart, Magna Publications

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

3^rd PR News, Steve Goldstein, Access Intelligence

Best Spot News or Single News Story

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

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

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

Best Use of Video

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

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

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

Rising Star

1^st Brittany Carter, Columbia Books

2^nd Lindsey Harris, DecisionHealth, a division of UCG

The David Swit Award for Best Investigative Reporting

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

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

3^rd Communications Daily, Adam Bender, Warren Communications

The Margie Weiner Award for Best Marketing Campaign

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

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

3^rd Contexo Media, Kristine Keller, Access Intelligence

Ronn 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

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.

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.

A new member, Wilkinson Publishing in Melbourne, Australia, sends a very interesting daily ezine featuring well-written stories that often plug books they are selling. For instance, a story this week on the retirement of Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson led to a discussion of leaders. “Management theory is it is best to make a clean break. Don’t let an old master hover over the new leader. According to Nicholas Barnett and his team at Insync Surveys…‘A 100 per cent rigid rule is not always best these days.’…Alan Hargreaves, author of the new book, 60 Second Recharge [offered by Wilkinson], sees the good, the bad and the ugly transitions as he consults [internationally]. ‘There are leaders and there are leaders. Call it the Recharge factor. The best have an amazing ability to stay young, innovative and passionate.’”

Here’s information about members who are coming to SIPA 2013, June 5-7, in Washington, D.C.:

You might want to talk about video to someone from Editorial Projects in Education, publishers of Education Week. They have an excellent feature called Leaders to Learn From with 2-3 minute videos of school superintendents from across the nation. (And catch today’s SIPA webinar on video if you can.) Look for Ryan Lanier, digital content sales & marketing manager.

eLearning is definitely one of the next big things in our industry, and PaperClip Communications will be a member to talk to in Washington. They have jumped into it with The Residence Life eLearning Training program and done a great job with the landing page, giving plenty of information and providing both a short and full demo for customers. Look for Andy McLaughlin, president, or Katherine Bitgood.

Interested in getting more advertising for your website? Talk to Dawn Sweeney, Donna Jefferson and Heather Grant from Jefferson Communications. A quick look at their Chesapeake Family website shows ads for the state of Maryland, an orthopaedic center and a water park. Click to a blog page and see more ads, for a health center, summer camp and music festival.

Barry Graubart has joined Connotate as VP, Product Strategy. Connotate is a market leader in web content extraction. They enable pricing intelligence, job posting aggregation, automated background checks, financial data aggregation and lots more—all done at scale.

Jack Farrell & Associates, an executive search firm, is a new SIPA member that will be represented at the Conference. They are dedicated to recruiting the top talent for clients in publishing, media and digital health information.

If you’re looking for a company that has been successful in social media, check with David Burns, VP/publisher and Katie Christianson, senior marketing planner, of Magna Publications. At the start of 2012, Magna created new groups on LinkedIn and worked to establish a more consistent and visible presence on their existing Twitter and Facebook accounts. As their social communities grew, the multiplier effect helped amplify each like, share and retweet.

Want to get on the airwaves? Guy Cecala of Inside Mortgage Finance Publications and Bob Coleman of Coleman Publishing would be good people to ask. Both have frequently appeared as industry experts on national news shows. You might have to be prepared to put an occasional dinner on hold, however. They would be happy to speak with you about the plusses and minuses of their relative stardom.

If you have a copyright question, be sure to attend the session of—or corner—Lesley Ellen Harris of copyrightlaws.com on Wednesday.  She is a popular speaker and has another conference in San Diego to head to on Thursday.

Almost every person attending SIPA 2013—all 300-plus—probably has something to tell you that can be valuable to your business. But there’s only one way to get that information—come to Washington, D.C., June 5-7 and join the crowd.

Ronn 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

1. “Perception of value is extremely important with webinars…” said Leslie Davidson, a top webinar consultant. Webinars help not only to drive revenue but also establish your thought leadership to members and customers. But how can you take those webinars to the next level? The expert panel will share best-practice techniques as well as creative new approaches to event development, pricing and marketing. Learn how to resell your webinar content, increase price points and profits and build your marketing value proposition. “I’ve had at least two clients who insisted we lower the pricing on their webinars and in both cases, it suppressed response,” Davidson said. “Make the regular price higher, then discount down from there. That way you show the true value but can still offer lower early-bird pricing. And it also makes it much easier to charge more over time…”
Davidson, Novella Green, director of learning, Thompson Media Group LLC, and Lindsay Konzak, vice president, Gale Media will present Make Even MORE Money With Webinars, Friday, June 7, at 10:20 a.m.

2. “Is content marketing another kick in the stomach for publishers?” asks Joe McCambley, co-founder, The Wonderfactory. Everyone’s talking about “brand journalism,” “content marketing” and “native advertising.” But in a world where advertisers create, aggregate, curate and syndicate their own content, he wonders, is there still a role for publishers? Will advertisers compete with publishers for consumer attention, or will the bonds between publishers and advertisers grow stronger than ever? McCambley will discuss the path that led Coca-Cola to become one of the world’s newest specialty publishers. He’ll also give a glimpse of what advertising might look like when advertisers think like publishers and publishers think like advertisers.
Joe McCambley of The Wonderfactory, will deliver a keynote address on Thursday, June 6 at 8:30 a.m.

3. Both Andrew Elston, CEO of iCopyright, and Andrea Broadbent, director, eBusiness development and licensing for McGraw Hill Financial, used the phrase “content gone wild” in a recent webcast. “[Because of this,] there are new types of licensing agreements that we need to understand,” Elston said. “The web spawns new business models and license types. Licensing professionals need to stay on top of it. [Things are] changing from cut-and-dried agreements to limited agreements. Now licensing professionals need to be ready for anything—no more one size fits all agreements.” This session will cover the full landscape of revenue opportunities in publishing and republishing in aftermarkets, and what key risks exist in the publishing life cycle. You’ll also get advice on how to protect your company from the risk of losing control of your content in the aftermarket process. “How do you keep up with all the new products?” asked Broadbent. “I go to all the SIIA Conferences.”
Elston and Broadbent – along with Angus Robertson, will present Stretch Your Content to the Limit: Rules, Risks and ROI in Content Licensing, Thursday, June 6, 9:30 a.m.

4. You want to charge for access to your online content, but there are many ways to do that. Do you charge by the drink, after some pre-determined number of views, or do you only wall off certain content? Do you give people a preview of your for-pay content? (Even an entity as big as The New York Times seems unsure of their paywall—they’re now making videos available free to everyone.) How do you integrate the paywall with your fulfillment system? Can you bundle the paywall with print subscriptions? What are the best pricing strategies? This session will cover the waterfront on successful strategies for paywall sites both with and without advertising.
Minal Bopaiah, editor, Subscription Site Insider, will speak on Strategies for Successful Paywalls, Thursday, June 6 at 2:15 p.m.

5. “We offer the why of the story and solutions, and then tailor that for a specialized audience that cares about a higher level of knowledge,” said John Yemma, editor of The Christian Science Monitor. “So we took our human relations people and other brainy people in the company and turned them to web first. We learned web practices and search optimization, developed quizzes. We’ve been able to increase unique visitors tenfold.”
John Yemma, editor, and Jonathan Wells, managing publisher, The Christian Science Monitor, Luncheon keynotes, Thursday, June 6, 21, 12:15 p.m.

Ronn 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

According to an article in The Washington Post, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the American Express Foundation are bringing a $1 million “American Idol”-inspired contest to Washington this spring. The historical properties with the most tweets, friends and votes can win as much as $100,000. The National Cathedral is apparently in the lead. “The organization taped a YouTube video featuring mason foreman Joe Alonso to make a pitch for the 106-year-old building, which still has safety netting in place to protect against crumbling mortar.”

This may be the most clear-cut social media ROI we’ve seen: get the most traffic, win $100,000. The mix of old and new reminds me a little of my conversation with Lisa Anthony, publisher of InFaith Publishing Group. “We’re trying to help [the priests with tweeting],” she said. “They don’t know how to use LinkedIn, and they’re intimidated by Facebook. That’s more for the parents and parishioners and takes more commitment than Twitter. Sixty-three is the average age of a Catholic priest, so you can see there is some educating to do…We’ll try things on social media to test the market. We put a saints piece on Facebook and it went over really well…For Twitter we’ll post surveys and links to promotions or content we’re running. We’ve even done force-free trials on Twitter.”

Anthony uses SocialOomph.com to help her with social media. “It helps me schedule my tweets throughout the day, so I’m not overdoing it,” she said.

The upcoming SIPA 2013 Conference, June 5-7, in Washington, D.C., will feature both a session and a roundtable on social media—and many networking conversations. Social Media: The Big Picture for Marketers will be led by Rachel Yeomans, vice president of marketing at Astek and proprietor of The Working Wardrobe website.

Lesley Ellen Harris, who was profiled in this space on Monday and will be speaking on copyright at the Conference, is also hooked on social media. Her advice: “Go on Twitter, see who’s retweeting what. Go into LinkedIn and contribute to discussions and dialogue. Social media is fine but it’s not the first thing I would do every day. It’s a way to share what you’re doing. But you can’t get carried away. If you have an addictive personality, stay away. Be very realistic. My friend says that at the end of every workday, she spends 15 minutes on LinkedIn. That’s okay if you can keep to that. I love blogging, but it takes a lot of time [whereas] I can do Twitter while eating lunch or in a carpool line.”

There is also a method to the madness of supporting your local historical monument this way. “Voting online, posting photos and tweets after visits all score points and—ideally—increases the buildings’ exposure to visitors and the organizations’ capacity for marketing through social media,” the Post wrote.

It’s an interesting concept, almost teetering towards gamification. Have a contest, draw people to your site. The key might be that once they’re there, you need to take full advantage and engage. Sure enough, there it is on the National Museum of Women in the Arts site: “We broke the glass ceiling—now we need a new roof! These funds will support vital roof repairs that will ensure the continued integrity of NMWA’s building—and a place for women artists.”

Clear and clever. Social media may require some out-of-the-box thinking—and may not always lead so directly to monetization—but its upside is very high. Try things.

Ronn 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