It seems that during the depths of the recession in 2008-2009, the company’s information service was most often an “impulse buy” for credit pros who desperately needed to figure out credit-worthiness in a shifting world. But, as the economy stabilized in 2010, CreditRiskMonitor’s subscription sales slowed….
What to do? The company shifted its marketing messaging and retrained its sales reps to promote a benefit better suited for a stabler-but-still-sucky economy — corporate cost control data. After repositioning, subscription sales began to rise again, and are expected to continue rising.
Great lesson: never assume your site’s unique sales proposition (USP) will remain the same over time. As your market shifts, your USP has to shift as well.
Our latest Subscription Site Insider Case Study reveals how EBMedicine uses a clever email series to engage current and potential subscribers who are emergency medicine physicians and practitioners. But any subscription site can adopt this great marketing idea.
Once a month, the ““What’s Your Diagnosis?” challenge email email is sent with a patient presentation of symptoms but will stop short of a diagnosis, instead asking the audience of medical professionals to post their guess at the “What’s Your Diagnosis?” blog. Five winners are randomly chosen from the comments to receive a free copy of the latest issue of Emergency Medicine Practice.
The next week, a follow-up email includes the correct diagnosis and a list of the randomly chosen winners. Ivy says the “What’s Your Diagnosis?” email series is very popular with the EBMedicine audience. This is the kind of email engagement and marketing that almost any subscription site can try even with a simple trivia question that’s answered in the next email.
I’m told that next week the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA), the principal trade association for the software and digital content industries, will announce that it has settled copyright infringement claims it pursued against Harbison-Mahony-Higgins Builders, Inc. (HMH Builders) for purchasing one single subscription to a publication but distributing it to hundreds of employees.
This is big news for subscription sites who are intent on protecting their copyright and preventing piracy. It is also a warning to businesses that they need to purchase group subscriptions for their employees. (We will be publishing a group sales toolkit at our sister site Subscription Site Insider later this month.)
HMH builders admitted to purchasing a single subscription of the Cal-OSHA Reporter—a newsletter about California occupational health and safety— and, without a license, electronically copying and redistributing the newsletter to hundreds of employees over a period of years. The company claimed, though, that fewer than 10 employees read each edition.
“While we respect the good people at HMH Builders, we are happy that the others have been brought to heel,” said Dale Debber, President of Providence Publications. “Many good people simply don’t understand that the effective theft of premium quality specialized content is the same as stealing from a store or a bank.”
B-to-B publishing is alive and well, and publishing CEOs see the best opportunities in online publishing and events, according to a new survey of B-to-B CEOs from Folio Magazine. B-to-B publishers of all sizes can learn a few key lessons from the survey results, including why now is the time to launch a membership or subscription site:
E-media was the fastest growing revenue stream last year (cited by 68 percent of larger publishers and 52 percent of smaller publishers). This is where you need to put your money. If don’t already have a subscription site, learn how to run a membership site effectively. Repurpose your content into mobile apps; yes, there is a market for b-to-b apps. Keep an eye out for what’s next in the online space.
35 percent of larger publishers plan to launch an online publication compared to 20 percent who expect to launch a new print magazine in 2011. Meanwhile, 27 percent of smaller b-to-b publishers plan to launch online, while just 13 percent are planning a magazine startup. A third of publishers are launching an online startup this year. These days it is usually cheaper and less risky to launch online. My greatest fear in seeing these numbers is that another company might launch my idea before I do. Get out there and do it now and don’t use money as an excuse. Our recent Case Study on NeedATopic proved that a membership site can be launched in less than a week for less than $1,000.
Larger publishers said the events part of their business was their second-fastest growing revenue stream. No matter the size of your business, if you’re not doing events, you’re leaving business on the table. Start small if you have to with a half-day or full-day conference near your headquarters. Learn from the experience and grow. Don’t forget virtual events like trade shows and education.
The majority of both larger and smaller publishers say they expect a double-digit increase in revenues this year. Business is back. Ask yourself, where can you find double digit increases in your revenue streams?
This week’s exclusive Case Study at our sister site Subscription Site Indier goes behind-the-scenes at Beer Business Daily, a paid email newsletter that’s bought by a whopping 70% execs in its niche market. Here’s our #1 lesson learned:
Founder Harry Schuhmacher grows profits by launching paid sister newsletters which he markets to his current customer and prospect base. For example, he launched a very successful paid newsletter just for the craft beer industry.
Key: He picked the topic by watching which Beer Business Daily headlines about niche topics generated the most interest. (News about the fast-growing craft beer segment is in high demand by the newsletter’s subscribers from the beer distribution industry.)
While he continued to cover large craft breweries in Beer Business Daily, the new publication went much deeper and expanded coverage to thousands of smaller craft breweries, so readers had to buy a second subscription if they were passionate about the topic. So his customer-base is overlapping — but the content is not.
(If you’d like the entire Case Study, including details on how the company turned free email opt-ins into paying subscribers, here’s the link.)
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