Nothing is more important to the brave new world of building subscriptions than the relatively old world of email. An email address gives publishers ways to target and connect with potential subscribers that are much more effective than metrics like “unique visitors,” a potentially misleading number due to the fact that the same person may […]

Becoming a reader-focused organization is not about technology or data. This report provides a framework for building those tools, but they are just tools. Growing engagement and shifting to reader revenue requires actions across the organization that authentically support an audience-focused mission. Truly pivoting to readers is a cultural transformation, not a development project. A […]

As you build reader data and marketing efforts, questions about organizational goals and structure will inevitably arise. Your IT, audience, marketing, product, or technology groups may control different pieces of the solution. But as new systems and processes are developed and new skills are added, who is in charge? There is no single answer, but […]

The key cycle for audience and revenue growth is “analyze, experiment and iterate.” Your investment in business intelligence and marketing tools will pay off as you understand reader needs and behaviors, and make decisions and create processes that are data-driven, testable, and support organizational learning and staffing decisions. Many of these tactics are possible even […]

“Marketing” includes a broad range of decisions: what services to offer, what to charge, how to talk to your audience, and where to deliver your services. Marketers describe this as the “4 Ps” of Product, Price, Promotion, Place. To focus on readers, grow engagement and sell subscriptions, you must act upon all four of the […]

To improve our websites, boost reader engagement and grow subscriptions, we don’t want “more data.” We want deep insights leading to a better understanding of visitors’ needs and how they interact with our journalism. The actual data (web metrics, advertising impressions, and newsletter subscriptions to name a few) are just the raw materials. It is […]

Launching a paywall is easy. Pivoting a whole business from an advertising-centric mindset to one focused on reader revenue is not. Despite 10 years of experimentation and increasing attention, the news industry still needs to develop some of the attitudes, technology and skills needed to sustain exceptional membership and subscription programs. To succeed with reader […]

Amedia, Norway’s largest media company, has developed a common log-in system to use across its 62 titles — and that system is encouraging subscribers build digital habits. The system is part of a three-step plan for Amedia: The first stage is converting print subscribers to digital subscribers, the second stage is encouraging non-subscribers to register […]

When WhatsApp was bought by Facebook in 2014, users worried what the acquisition would mean for privacy on the platform. At the time, WhatsApp said the sale wouldn’t change anything: “We don’t know your birthday. We don’t know your home address. None of that data has ever been collected and stored by WhatsApp, and we […]

You don’t have to be a Pokemon Go enthusiast to learn something from the game, Melody Kramer writes. Kramer proposes some ideas and lessons journalists can learn from the augmented reality game, including: Could newsrooms give their readers information based on the geographic places they visit, and could they use that data to report on […]