The March / April issue of InPublishing magazine was published this week. Here are some of my takeaways from it, one from each article:
- Info wars: Russia has been at war with us for years now, and we have just refused to accept it. Russia is engaged in hybrid warfare – tanks on the ground in Ukraine combined with domination of the information space in the West. (H/t Carole Cadwalladr)
- Key metric: ‘Engagement’ is by far and away the most important health indicator within a publishing business. Engagement is the perfect ‘leading’ data point in that it is predictive of acquisition, churn and customers taking desired actions. (H/t Joanna Levesque)
- UX: Publishers need to realise that the merchandising and functioning of their offline and online subscriptions need to meet the standards of Apple, Amazon, Spotify, not those of a small enterprise with limited infrastructure. Customisation and personalisation are not just expectations in principle. People assume exemplary implementation and retailing nous. (H/t Douglas McCabe)
- Respect: It’s crucial for magazine editors to be respectful of their audience, not just because they are parting with £5.99 a month, but because their opinions matter. Meeting them at events is one of the most important parts of the job, because, from those conversations you can understand what they want. (H/t Esther Newman)
- Disinformation: The challenge journalists face is that disproving the lies usually takes so much longer in resource and time than the initial assertion because untruths require no evidence. Proving that the Earth isn’t flat takes a lot longer than asserting that it is. (H/t Dickon Ross)
- Choosing a new supplier: When assessing a new supplier, one of the first questions should be, ‘who else like us uses you?’. There is a certain comfort in the knowledge that other like-minded publishers have made the same choice as you! (H/t Steven Renders)
- ESG: About a quarter of publishers are backsliding on their ESG commitments, proving an often-whispered suspicion to be accurate, that many ESG initiatives are mere performances that are abandoned once profits are on the line. (H/t Richard Reeves)
- Rebirth: Newspapers never really die; they occasionally take time out, like the Warminster Journal. Supposedly dead in December but joyously resurrected in March. (H/t Alan Geere)
- Subs promotions: It’s important to change your promotional messaging and design frequently – keeping your marketing campaigns fresh can help capture attention and drive conversions. (H/t Susanne Kinnaird)
- New product development: Publishers recognise that longer term growth may require them to develop new products aimed at specific audiences or at adjacent lifestyle areas. Of those planning to launch into adjacent areas, 29% are looking at ‘games’, 26% at ‘education’ and 13% at ‘food’. Much of this is inspired by the example of the New York Times which has created a portfolio that includes games, sport, recipes, and new product reviews, as well as audio. (H/t Nic Newman)
- Thinking time: In the not-too-distant past, ninety per cent of a foreign correspondent’s job was finding a way to get the story back. Now, you can file from anywhere, which isn’t always a good thing because you have less time to think about things. (H/t Christina Lamb)
- Financing local media: One route is developing an advertising model aimed at smaller and medium-sized local businesses with limited marketing budgets who can become members of local media outlets as organisations rather than readers. This membership will then offer them opportunities to promote their products or services. (H/t Tabitha Stapely)
- Planning: 67% of publishers are planning ahead (made up of 43% who have communicated the plan through the organisation in order to obtain company-wide buy-in and 24% who have a plan but still need to sell it internally). In contrast, 33% have no settled plan and are still at various stages of getting their act together. (H/t Jim Bilton)
If you want to read the full issue, then please register here. Once you’ve completed your registration, you’ll be provided with a link to the digital edition.
You can catch James Evelegh’s regular column in the InPubWeekly newsletter, which you can register to receive here.
