Month: August 2021

The Media Minute 8.24.2021

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.

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.

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.

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?

The Media Minute 8.17.2021

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.

As a key part of the report, we have interviewed many of the leading tech vendors offering cookie-less solutions, and enquired into the latest thinking and innovations behind them. The purpose is to provide an all-encompassing report that publishers can use as a guide and reference point.

Fundamentally, access journalism occurs when reporters value landing a source more than the information gleaned from that source. But what do readers, viewers, or other members of the public mean when they use the term as criticism? Is it simply expedient and pithy, just a new way to disparage the press?

In this blog, we’ll look at some of the modern, more common tracking practices, the takeaway if these techniques are ultimately taken away, and what those working in the publishing industry can do to craft and execute even more effective outreach plans in their wake.

The Media Minute 8.11.2021

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.

“In our continued efforts to improve the quality of the search results, we’re launching a new link spam fighting change,” said Google’s Duy Nguyen, “the link spam update.” This algo change specifically targets “spammy links”, and is a global update that seems to affect links that are manipulative and unnatural…The search giant cautions that changes in rankings may be imminent for some site owners.

The ensuing global pandemic has impacted every publisher differently, but a few common challenges have generally emerged: the immediate shelving of long-planned initiatives or new launches, a total pause on live events—an increasingly vital extension for many, in normal times—and frustratingly, a dramatic yet difficult-to-monetize rush of web traffic and social media engagement.

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 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?

 

Media Minute 8.3.2021

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.

Email has been around for a while. Many smart “digital media people” believe it will survive for a while longer. There’s no debating it – this is the new golden age for newsletters… In the past few years, wherever I have looked for insights on building sustainable reader revenue, emails and newsletters have almost always been in the top three things to focus on.

When it comes to improving profits at print magazines, there’s a tendency to focus on new ways of driving revenue. But while keeping a close eye on expenses can also have a significant impact on the bottom line, today’s environment often calls for a balancing act.

We’ve come a long way since the very first American publication in 1741. Who knows if Benjamin Franklin and his chronicling competitors had any idea that their budding industry would blossom into something that, just last year, had an annual global revenue of approximately $67.56 billion?  Thanks to both their centuries-long resilience and progressive nature to adapt, magazines continue to be a worthwhile project to embark on.