• How to Choose the Best Sales Lead Management Software

When it comes to organic or paid content marketing, it’s about figuring out how to use data to enhance and optimize your digital strategy. Utilizing this data has never been easier, thanks to the king of search engine analytics: Google Analytics. Understanding Google Analytics helps you produce content that your target audience wants to see. The platform provides actionable insights, like click-through and bounce rates, time spent on page, and more.

• Ad Economy Rose 10.2% In September, Expansion Continues to Decelerate

U.S. ad spending rose 10.2% in September vs. the same month a year ago, according to a MediaPost analysis of an updated composite of actual ad spending from the major agency holding companies. The composite, an updated version of the U.S. Ad Market Tracker launched in partnership with Standard Media Index in 2015, represents a more comprehensive pool of data contributed by all of the holding companies and was necessary to provide a more accurate view of the marketplace.

• What Do We Mean by Innovation? And Why Is Implementing It So Darned Hard for News Organizations?

The pace of change in our industry means that even the biggest, most successful, companies need to continually innovate, refresh and reinvent what they do and how they do it. Those who don’t risk being left behind, overtaken by digital upstarts, or blown away by more established players with deeper pockets and a longer transformational runway. I asked 10 experts — leading media practitioners, researchers and scholars around the world — for their insights around what constitutes innovation, the barriers to implementing it, and how to overcome these roadblocks.

• What’s Your Mix of Six? Alternative Revenue Streams in Digital Publishing

Nowadays, no single revenue stream is enough to sustain, let alone grow, a digital publication. Instead, online publishers are relying on a combination of revenue streams to ensure they can bring in sufficient capital. And according to former head of Hearst magazines, David Carey, there just may be a magic number: “You need five or six revenue streams to make the business really successful.” While there are numerous potential revenue sources, most companies will find success by creating their own “mix of six” streams that are suited for their individual publications.

• Why Google Analytics Is Best For Data-Driven Content Marketing

When it comes to organic or paid content marketing, it’s about figuring out how to use data to enhance and optimize your digital strategy. Utilizing this data has never been easier, thanks to the king of search engine analytics: Google Analytics. Understanding Google Analytics helps you produce content that your target audience wants to see. The platform provides actionable insights, like click-through and bounce rates, time spent on page, and more.

• Dynamic Paywalls: The Latest Must-Have Tool For Publishers?

Over the past several years, subscription management and dynamic paywall providers have joined the ranks of must-have digital tools for media companies … Unlike a typical paywall that allows non-paying readers to access a set number of articles before walling off content for the rest of the month, a dynamic paywall is designed to help publishers monetize content through a number of methods. The methods used can range from audience segmentation to machine learning to depending on the paywall option you choose.

• System1 Plans to Roll Out Privacy Subscription Product as It Prepares to Go Public

The idea that companies can follow consumers around the internet based on data that someone else provides doesn’t seem like the best customer experience, according to Michael Blend, co-founder and chief executive officer of System1, a first-party data company. In fact, nearly all of its ad business is based on performance. “Google and Apple are making positive changes for the longevity of digital advertising and people, and the advertising ecosystem just needs to catch up with them,” he said.

• So Happy Together: The Must-Have Integrations Your CRM Needs

Publishing is an industry with a lot of moving parts. You have issues to create, articles to write, and above all, deadlines to meet. Not to mention, you have to keep readers engaged with your content. On top of this, if you’re looking to make a profit, you likely have to manage print and ad sales. One of the easiest ways to streamline these everyday tasks is by implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) software. If you’re in the publishing industry and looking to optimize your processes and boost profitability, read on. Here are the key qualities to seek in a publishing CRM.

• Deeper Intelligence: How an Analytical CRM Can Benefit Your Business

When it comes to managing relationships with your business’s prospects and existing customers, a customer relationship management software, or CRM, is a must-have. In this day and age, it’s no secret that data is the key to meeting your company’s goals efficiently and effectively. CRMs are at the heart of every growing business. In fact, CRM software is the biggest software market in the world, and the growth isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

• Where Publishers Stand In Their Pursuit of Third-Party Cookie Alternatives

When Google announced third-party cookie deprecation on Chrome, the programmatic ecosystem went into a frenzy. Addressability, targeting, measurement and attribution all faced significant new obstacles and, most importantly, billions of dollars in revenue hung in the balance. Publishers had to reprioritize their roadmaps to accelerate alternative revenue streams while finding new ways to engage with their users directly… The delay won’t immediately solve these challenges, but it does provide some breathing room.

• How Publishers Can Engage and Convert Casual Readers: Key Insights From INMA Report

The demand for trustworthy information during the pandemic drove record subscriptions growth for many publishers. 128 news publishers across the world gained an average of 58% new subscribers in a year, according to Piano data. The market is far from saturated though. 100M people worldwide are potential targets for English-language news subscriptions, according to research from The New York Times.

• Here Are 8 Key Qualities to Seek in a Publishing CRM

Publishing is an industry with a lot of moving parts. You have issues to create, articles to write, and above all, deadlines to meet. Not to mention, you have to keep readers engaged with your content. On top of this, if you’re looking to make a profit, you likely have to manage print and ad sales. One of the easiest ways to streamline these everyday tasks is by implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) software. If you’re in the publishing industry and looking to optimize your processes and boost profitability, read on. Here are the key qualities to seek in a publishing CRM.

• What Is Clean Your List From Mirabel Technologies?

Email marketing is vital to every digital marketing strategy, but the key to its success is verifying your email lists. To improve email deliverability, stack ROI, and actually reach your audience, you need to invest in an email verification tool. Clean Your List is a new affordable email verification software from Mirabel Technologies. Used as a standalone platform, Clean Your List is the latest addition to the suite of affordable SaaS products.

• MUM’s the Word: Google Search to Get 1,000 Times More Powerful

This week at Search On 2021, Google showed how Search will soon be able to not only better understand aspects of a topic the user is searching for, but also surface more insights and inspiration. The company showcased how they are using AI and new technologies to make information more helpful than ever before, while giving users new ways to search and explore in more natural and intuitive ways.

• Google Pushes FLoC Testing To Q1 2022

Testing of FLEDGE — the company’s remarketing solution designed to eliminate third-parties tracking of user behavior, along with the measurement of digital ads — is delayed until Q1 2022. As Google moves the industry toward the phasing out of third-party cookies, it needs to introduce APIs enabling options that depend on them, but without enabling cross-site tracking.

• How Publishers Can Take Full Advantage of Their CRM

According to one report, 43% of CRM users use less than half of the features that their CRM offers …  and I’d say that number is conservative. And no matter if that comes down to difficulty in understanding the system or ignorance as to all its capabilities, it’s an issue worth addressing if only because there’s so much potential on the other side.

• Why Social Media Marketing Is Important For Any Business

Social media has become a vital part of our everyday life with roughly 50% of the world’s population (over three billion individuals) using it… Regardless of your industry, social media is one of the most efficient and effective ways to elevate your brand’s marketing strategy. The benefits of social media marketing for business are limitless. From broadening target audiences to increasing awareness and boosting sales, we’re diving into the top reasons to invest in a social media marketing strategy.

• What Publishers Need to Know About the Latest Changes in Google Search

Journalists have known for a while the importance of using tools like Google Trends to help target our copy and spot opportunities to drive additional audience. But the pandemic, along with those Google updates, has really accelerated the focus on news SEO as an essential discipline. In short, if you are in the news publishing ‘game’ and you are not investing in news SEO, then your growth is likely to be severely stunted going forward.

• “You don’t want to put things that are commodity content behind a paywall”: How Publishers Are Growing Subscribers Via Free Content

Soft paywalls allow readers to experience the quality of your content and may over time inspire them to sign up for a paid subscription. Research done by American Press Institute’s Media Insights Project found that 47% of new subscribers signup after running out of free articles on a site they like and respect.

• 6 Ways to Perfect Your Territory and Account Management Strategy

The challenge is that if your rules are too strict, you won’t get the level of competition necessary to maximize your sales revenue, and if your rules are too relaxed, it turns into a free-for-all where sales reps are often pitted against each other. Then, frequent disputes arise, which wear thin on managers and impact your sales team’s morale. As any publisher knows, it’s not a small issue. In this blog, I’m going to share my two cents on account management based on my 25 years of publishing experience.

• 9 Quick Website Changes You Can Make to Increase Quality Leads

Since your website is often the first touchpoint a potential client has with your company, you want to do everything you can to ensure that it yields real results from visitors. There should be a clear path to follow and a set of actions to complete. Without a fine-tuned and efficient website, you’ll miss out on a pool of potential opportunities. So, how does one fine-tune? With these nine quick but effective tweaks.

• How to Create a Better User Experience to Convert Fly-By Users Into Loyal Subscribers 

Encouraging existing customers to make greater use of your website is easier than attracting completely new visitors, and publishers are looking for ways to deepen their relationships with visitors so they stay on their sites for longer and click through to other stories, pages, and videos. If they have visited once or twice, chances are they can be persuaded to come again.

• BFFs Once More, Advertisers and Publishers Rediscover Their Alliance Amid Tracking Turmoil

Direct deals between advertisers and publishers are back, but then again, they never really went away. They’re just being pitched harder and considered more carefully now as advertisers see publishers as a valuable source of audience data in the absence of third-party cookies.

• How to Start A Magazine in 2021

Thanks to both their centuries-long resilience and progressive nature to adapt, magazines continue to be a worthwhile project to embark on.  If you’re looking to start a magazine or pivot to digital editions, read on. We’re outlining the basic steps of how to start a magazine in 2021.

• 7 Email Marketing Tips You Should Adopt Immediately

Every single second, 2.4 billion emails are sent all around the world. With your target audience’s inboxes constantly being flooded, it’s important to recognize that your business’s emails are competing for attention at all times…Embarking on your company’s next booming campaign takes time, consideration, and a lot of prep work. Before you hit send, read through these seven tips to help you ensure that your business is putting its best foot forward when that campaign email lands in your audiences’ inboxes.

• How to Make Subscription Models a Long-Term Success

The media landscape has transformed beyond all recognition. Now, some of the largest companies in the world – such as Apple and Twitter – are relying less on advertisers as their primary source of revenue and instead, leaning on customers, with paid memberships and subscriptions taking precedence.

• Publishers Rethink Their Value to Stave Off Subscription Fatigue Among New Paying Readers

In 2020, subscription revenue for publishers grew 16%, according to a study by subscription management platform Zuora; around a fifth (21%) of American adults now pay for at least one online news outlet in the U.S., according to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2021. The majority of those paying have an average of two subscriptions. But how many subscriptions can one reader pay for? And how many will they keep, especially without the rollercoaster of 2020 to keep them locked into the news cycle?

• The Top 5 CRMs for Magazine Publishers

A CRM for magazine publishers takes the specific needs of publishers into account. They include industry-specific features, like subscription management, ad invoicing, and even flat-planning, to separate themselves from generic CRM software…Are you ready to leverage the power that comes with a magazine CRM software?

• Here Are the Best Ways to Get Leads on LinkedIn in 2021

If you’re looking to attract interested bottom-of-the-funnel leads, LinkedIn is a great asset. In fact, audiences on LinkedIn have twice the buying power of the average web audience. The platform offers a variety of free and paid features to maximize your lead generation efforts on both your personal and business pages, but as with most things, you can’t dive in without some preparation.

• Apple Offers News Publishers a Commission Break… If They Join New Partner Program

In a move that also coincides with Apple’s just-announced, $100-million settlement of an antitrust lawsuit brought by developers — Apple is offering all publishers the 15% commission rate on first-year subscriptions… if they’re willing to agree to participate in a new Apple News Partner Program that has some advantages for Apple, and potential disadvantages for publishers.

• “The evidence is clear”: Headline Testing Continues to Drive Higher Engagement for Publishers

Headline experimentation has become an increasingly popular tool among publishers. Editorial teams often test several title variations for the same article, in order to find out which one performs the best. Testing identifies not only the headlines that are being clicked on, but also the ones that lead to engagement with the content. This is particularly significant for the global publishers that need to ensure they’re allocating time to optimizations with the highest reader impact.

• Your Guide to the Best Magazine Software for Publishers

When it comes to magazine media and digital publications, reliable software tools are a necessity. From publishing CRM and magazine design, to circulation and subscription management, this ultimate guide to magazine software is an overview of the most popular software tools in the publishing industry.

• How Website Visitor Tracking Can Help Your Marketing and Sales

Did you know that it takes about less than a second for a website visitor to form an opinion about your company? Whether they click around or contribute to your exit rate, you can use that data to your advantage. Based on these analytics, you can determine if your website and content strategy are effective.

• Digiday Research: Publishers Are Much Less Worried About the Coming Cookie Changes Than Brands and Agencies

Several months of preparation for the coming cookie-pocalypse appear to have brought publishers some peace of mind. They have not had quite the same effect on brands and agencies, according to Digiday+ research. As of the beginning of the third quarter of 2021, less than 50% of the publisher professionals Digiday surveyed said they were worried about their ability to target ads or measure their effectiveness without third-party cookies.

• The Ending of Third-Party Cookies: Big Tech Developments

Although Google claims its privacy sandbox solution, FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts), will produce 95% of the per-dollar conversions that third-party cookies previously achieved, so far it has met with widespread resistance. Although a number of companies are either testing the sandbox this year (AdThrive, CafeMedia), or working with Google on their proposals (PubMatic), the criticism is certainly gathering momentum. This is significant, as ostensibly, Google is designing FLoC to become a fundamental part of the web, not just Chrome.

• What’s Your Mix of Six? Alternative Revenue Streams in Digital Publishing

Nowadays, no single revenue stream is enough to sustain, let alone grow, a digital publication. Instead, online publishers are relying on a combination of revenue streams to ensure they can bring in sufficient capital… While most companies’ monetization strategies will include a combination of some, if not all of, these revenue streams, it’s important to have an understanding of each opportunity and current revenue trends to know which combination will work best for your publication — what’s your mix of six?