Technology is driving rapid change in reader behaviour, and allowing new competitors to emerge, so publishing and media businesses have to innovate to meet quickly evolving customer needs and generate new revenues. This means thinking more broadly about the products and services your audience require, and how your content can be repackaged and developed. But sometimes it's hard to work out where to start.
The shortlist for the 2014 Media Innovation Awards provides some useful inspiration: these publishing and media businesses are already stretching their content and products to find new ways to connect with their audiences.
The Media Innovation Awards were launched in 2010 as the Media Pioneer Awards, to celebrate innovation and entrepreneurial spirit in media and publishing. Here's ten ideas from this year’s shortlist that could just provide the inspiration to extend your publishing business.
1. Add extra value for digital subscribers
MotorSport has developed unique subscriber content for its tablet app editions, including F1 Grand Prix reviews and also a pictorial review of the month in MotorSport. These subscriber exclusives have driven revenue growth by 39% year-on-year and also boosted in-app downloads by 43%. In addition, they have opened up new advertiser revenue, with Ferrari requesting a one-off special edition to the same spec as the Grand Prix Reviews.
Adding value for digital subscribers so they feel special is a great way to boost renewals and also create new advertising opportunities.
2. Sell publishing expertise to customers
Centaur's publication The Lawyer has always been controlled circulation, with revenues deriving from advertisers. But they have recently developed a product for law firms (their readers) to promote themselves. Called Acumen, this provides a content marketing platform hosted as a section within thelawyer.com for individual law firms that combines a selection of relevant news articles from The Lawyer with the firm's own briefings and publications. This has proved highly successful, with over 16,000 leads being generated for law firms, and a new revenue stream being created for The Lawyer. The platform is now being applied to other professional services markets within the Centaur Group.
Centaur's approach shows that publishers can make their content expertise and online reach available to new segments of their audience and drive incremental revenues.
3. Design dedicated content for smartphones
Content on smartphones is read differently to that on tablets and needs to be specifically designed for the device. British Journal of Photography, which already had a monthly tablet edition, launched a dedicated weekly iPhone edition intended for handheld reading, reaching a mass market, international audience more frequently. Publishers of BJP, Apptitude Media, have also launched a weekly stand-alone iPhone magazine, FLTR, for enthusiast and professional smartphone photographers.
A single media brand can have different incarnations for tablet and iPhone, and use the combination to maximise reach and connect with the audience more frequently.
4. Provide editorial teams with tools to spot trends
Niche B2B publisher The Pharma Letter developed a process for curating relevant content from around the web, allowing editorial teams to identify emerging stories and add value to their own original content, plus easily optimise new articles for search. This approach helped The Pharma Letter to double traffic and grow conversions to subscriptions 24%.
Smart automation of content curation and optimisation can help editorial teams create relevant content and build an audience for their content.
5. Bring your brand to life at an event
Future, publishers of Digital Camera, Photography Week and techradar.com, launched an ambitious new consumer event at the NEC, The Photography Show. They created a wide range of interactive features at the event, promoted using their extensive reach, and attracted 30,000 visitors to the 4-day show. They also achieved an impressive 86% rebook rate from exhibitors.
B2B publishers have long known that live events are a lucrative extension of their media brands - and B2C publishers can also exploit their marketing reach and access to key commercial partners.
6. Take readers and advertisers with you on the print to digital journey
After almost 300 years of print publishing, Lloyd's List became a totally digital service on 20 December 2013. As part of this transformation, they launched a new Daily Briefing service for subscribers, filtering the top news articles and selected archive content. This is a fully responsive design that can be displayed as a list or grid on mobile devices and shared by email or on social media. The shift to online meant that content creation became continuous around the globe. Subscriber renewals reached 100% during the fourth quarter of 2013! The commercial teams have worked closely with advertisers to help them migrate from print to digital, achieving 140% year-on-year growth in digital ad revenue.
The real achievement of Lloyd's List in this digital journey is working closely with subscribers and advertisers to help them in the digital migration. The service levels the advertising team provide to all their customers are highly impressive.
7. Turn a static product into a continuous service
Two years ago, Datamonitor's business was built on long form print / PDF reports. As customers wanted quick and easy access to data and insight plus continuously updated analysis, Datamonitor developed a brand new, completely digital offering, allowing customers to quickly find the data they need to plan for their own business. Datamonitor's analysts reengineered their workflow, with a new authoring process allowing continuous direct-to-web publishing. Renewal rates have remained strong, some contract values have grown by 15% and new clients have been signed up.
One-off reports can be replaced by a continuous intelligence service, delivered online to desktop and mobile. This means a big change in workflow for editors and analysts, but creates significant value for customers.
8. Do your research on a new market and hire an expert
Niche UK publisher Green Star Media had ambitious plans to launch a basketball coaching title in the US. Publishing director Kevin Barrow made a fact-finding trip to the US and hired an experienced basketball editor. Green Star then applied its tried and tested e-marketing approach to launch the new title, Basketball Coach Weekly. 80% of subscribers are US based, and the title is expected to make a profit contribution eighteen months after launch.
With the right research, proven e-marketing approaches can cross borders and allow niche players to internationalise.
9. Bring your audience to your advertisers
Youth media brand Student Beans connects with over three million 18-24s each month, and had discovered that more and more visits to their website were coming via mobile. They developed in-house a digital student ID card - Student Beans ID - which allows students to access discounts at over 7,000 venues. The app has an average of 700 active users daily, and is already attracting new commercial partners to the flagship website. The company has plans to expand to 20,000+ listings across the UK and then extend to other English-speaking countries worldwide.
The localisation available on mobile allows influential media brands the opportunity to prove their ability to drive readers / users to commercial partners - while also adding value to readers.
10. Focus on key brands and build an ecosystem
Carnyx Group took a brave decision to divest peripheral brands and focus on marketing title The Drum. They have diversified away from print advertising revenues by creating an "ecosystem" of complementary products and services. They run more than 25 awards and conferences. The Recommended Agency Register (RAR) has developed membership and consultancy revenues and launched its own awards event. The Drum Network, a subscription based membership organisation, provides local meetings, newsletters, training and on demand advice. This cross-platform approach has driven revenue growth of 37% year-on-year - and profits growth of 152%.
Carnyx divested other brands and focused on building a series of useful and highly valuable services for the community that The Drum magazine and website serve.
At the Media Innovation Awards on 8 April, Green Star Media and Centaur's The Lawyer were commended by the judges, and Student Beans ID and The Drum were named as winners. But all the shortlist demonstrate impressive innovation in their markets.
This group of smart media innovators show that there are many ways to reinvent a publishing business. I believe there is plenty of inspiration to copy here whether your markets are business or consumer, and for both small independents and established publishers.
The core approach is to thoroughly understand how your media brands can add value to your customers, and then develop new ways to package content, especially for mobile, that more closely meets developing needs. Plus identifying new services, from events, to training, to industry registers, that can be developed as subscription or membership driven businesses. Core publishing skills can be made available to commercial clients, and digital brands can find an international audience.
