1.    B2B publishers are more successful at charging for online content.

46% of b2b publishers are already charging for online content and a further 23% plan to in the next 2 years.  Of those who are charging, 55% can charge £100-999 and 27% charge over £1000pa.  Consumer publishers are finding it harder to charge for online content.  22% are doing so now, and a further 31% are planning to, but rates are much lower; 70% are charging less than £50pa.

2.    Consumer pubs are pioneering mobile apps, but business publishers are catching up fast

Consumer publishers have been quick to adopt mobile app editons of their titles: 50% have mobile apps now compared to just 30% of b2b publishers.  In 2 years time, though, the playing field will be level, with around two-thirds of both consumer and B2B publishers planning to have mobile editions.  As with online subs, B2B are better at holding app prices in line with their print publications, with 64% charging the same as print, compared to just 37% of consumer publishers.

3.    Live events are still important to both, but B2B are far more interested in online and virtual events

48% of consumer publishers run live events, with 59% of B2B publishers running conferences and 38% exhibitions, plus 43% running face to face networking events.

However, B2B publishers are far more interested in online and virtual events, perhaps because their audience are under such time pressure and travel is costly.  31% already run webinars, and a further 39% plan to.  Just 10% run virtual events now, but a surprisingly high 44% are keen to investigate.

4.    Social media is now having a measurable impact on publishers’ business

Consumer and B2B publishers are agreed on the importance of social media, with half stating it is now very important for their business.  There are few surprises in the platforms they are using:  LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube predominate, although a pioneering 19% of consumer publishers are already experimenting with Pinterest!

Social media is a more significant traffic driver for consumer, with 32% of publishers saying it contributes over 20% of traffic.  Social Media is a small but growing channel for live event tickets; a pioneering 10% say they get over 30% of their attendees from social media promotion.  Advertising and sponsorship revenues are also embryonic;  although 15% say that they are able to charge a separate rate for their social media activity.

5.    Ecommerce is growing, but b2b and consumer have different strategies

Both already are involved in selling event tickets online.  Consumer publishers are more likely to sell physical goods online (37% hold stock, while 25% have commission arrangements with retailers). b2b publishers are more likely to be selling digital goods such as reports, with 39% already doing this and 24% planning to.

So B2B publishers still lead in online subscriptions, and have a greater interest in online and virtual events.  They are more successful in holding premium prices for digital content. Consumer publishers have pioneered mobile app editions of their titles, but B2B publishers are likely to catch up soon.    Social media is just starting to generate real results for both - and e-commerce is a growing source of revenues.

Jim Bilton, MD of Wessenden Marketing, will be presenting highlights from the research at the Specialist Media Show on 24 May 2012.  Register free now to attend the show for an inspiring day of free workshops, practical 1-1 advice and innovative new suppliers and services.

About the author: Carolyn Morgan works with niche media businesses on their digital publishing and marketing strategy, through consulting firm Penmaen Media.Carolyn regularly writes for media trade press and speaks at conferences on the challenges of digital publishing.  She also runs the Specialist Media Show, a conference, exhibition and workshop programme for niche publishers.  Carolyn moderates the Specialist Media Network on LinkedIn, a community of over 900 niche publishers who swap ideas and contacts. Request to join here.

From the 97 responses so far, which are evenly split between consumer and business publishers, 31% are publishing mobile b2c content, and 25% mobile b2b content.  34% are currently charging for online web content, with a further 25% planning to charge within the next two years.  Annual subs are beating one-off payments by a large margin.

62% either have mobile apps now or plan to within two years.  35% have at least one app live now, with 10% having over 5 already.  Within the next year, almost half will have at least one app, rising to 62% in the next two years.

Those who charge are increasingly resisting discounting.  43% of current apps are priced in line with print editions, and a further 25% are discounting by 25% or less.

The type of apps is gradually shifting.  While 57% of current apps are simple PDF replicas of print magazines, most planned apps will include links, video or web feeds.  Plus 40% are planning new apps that aren’t edition of magazines but have a specific function, such as listings or gallery.

The overwhelming majority of survey respondents were UK based, but 60% were seeing over 20% of their downloads from outside the UK, with 35% of paid apps seeing over 40% of sales from outside the UK.  So the app store is proving a potent channel for reaching a global audience.

E-readers are still a bit of a minority sport, with only 11% publishing for Kindle or other e-reader platforms, but half the respondents plan to publish to e-readers, so this might change rapidly.

The sample so far is biased to smaller publishers, with 67% having turnover under £5m, but this doesn’t seem to be constraining their plans to experiment with digital publishing.

The Specialist Media Insights survey is live for two more weeks, and covers pricing of online subs and digital magazines, plans for online events, the impact of social media on publishers’ business and observations for the future.

All who take part in the survey will receive a summary of the results, providing a useful benchmark for planning their digital publishing strategy.

Click here to take part in Specialist Media Insights 2012

Specialist Media Insights 2012 is supported by InPublishing Magazine and the Specialist Media Show, and sponsored by Brad Insight.

Jim Bilton will present highlights of the research at the Specialist Media Show on 24 May 2012 at ThinkTank Birmingham.

All responses are confidential and held by Demographix , who power the survey, according to MRS guidelines.  If you provide your email address you will receive a copy of the summary results.  This information is held by Demographix and is not connected to your answers.

About the author: Carolyn Morgan works with niche media businesses on their digital publishing and marketing strategy, through consulting firm Penmaen Media. Carolyn regularly writes for media trade press and speaks at conferences on the challenges of digital publishing.  She also runs the Specialist Media Show, a conference, exhibition and workshop programme for niche publishers.  Carolyn moderates the Specialist Media Network on LinkedIn, a community of over 900 niche publishers who swap ideas and contacts. Request to join here.

In the last year, a wide range of publishers have been experimenting with paid content, and the old image of an impenetrable barrier with unseen goodies on the far side, has been replaced by an enticing open gate with a glimpse of the content beyond – or even a few tasty morsels laid out for passers by to sample.

At the Paywalls Strategies conference organized by the Media Briefing, newspapers, b2b and consumer publishers shared their triumphs and disasters with pay walls, pay gateways, metered access and subscription options, building more of a roadmap for other content owners to follow.  Here are my top 10 insights from the day:

1. Create a pay gateway not a pay wall

Many publishers are adopting a metered approach, where readers can sample their content, either discovering it via search using first click free, or through a trial subscription.  The Economist charges for its core weekly content, but allows free access to 5 articles via the weekly Editors highlights, encourages social sharing, runs blogs, polls, comments and editor discussions for free.

2. Paid services are more complex than just content

In B2B markets, paid services have to offer more than just content.  Lloyds list offers subscribers infographics backed by deep data-sets, real-time email alerts, and ipad edition.  Its premium service, Lloyds List Intelligence, includes ownership analysis, credit reports, and a phone line to their analysts. Autosport Plus, the subscription option for keen motorsport fans, includes images, infographics and an ad-free environment as well as exclusive features.

3. Focus on fans not flybys

Enhanced analysis tools are revealing a split between passing trade and hard core readers.  Incisive discovered that on FX week, customers viewed 7 pages and spent 8 mins, while visitors viewed just 2 pages.  When Professional Pensions put up a paywall, only 25% of traffic was lost and just 15% of page views.  Autosport Plus costs £5.50 a month. Only 1% of web users subscribe, but they account for 11% of traffic. 15% of Autosport susbcribers upgraded to pay for a digital facsimile edition of the magazine.

4. The value is in the audience not (just) the content

Quality content attracts a targeted community that will spend on additional services. Advanstar have developed a subscription-based e-learning service for the worldwide readership of their chromatography publications. Pulse (recently acquired by Briefing Media) can charge pharma companies more for face to face access to a dozen influential GPs than a larger, generic audience.

5. Offer both subscriptions and micropayments

Publishers favour subscriptions for the guaranteed income, and more data on buyers.  But some people don’t want the commitment of a subscription, even if there is a financial advantage.  A Danish tabloid newspaper offered online subscriptions at 4€ a month, and single content purchases at 4€ to 20€ and saw a 2.5x growth in micropayments alongside a 3x growth in subscriptions. Autosport discovered that more people would pay 88p for a single article than 89p for a week’s subscription.

7.  Create multi-platform subs: web, mobile, print…

Consumers are using a wide range of devices during the day to access content.  Many publishers see a peak of iPad access in the early morning and late evening, with web usage highest in the morning, and smartphones during commutes.  So it is no surprise to see growth in multi-channel digital subscriptions.  Economist subscribers get access on iPad, web and print for one price.

7. Use analysis to develop product

Access to enhanced statistics on the behaviour of different categories of registered users and subscribers allows publishers to tailor content to specific audiences.  UBM’s built environment titles looked at conversion rates, discovering that investors and surveyors showed 7% conversions to paid, while architects were just 3-4%

8. Sell the true value of your audience to advertisers

As display ad yields continue to fall, publishers need to focus on sponsorship and integration packages.  Duncan Tickell advised publishers to offer good content, good tech and good design to ad clients.  Their Heinz/Made for Mums feeding channel and Top Gear microsite for Nissan both delivered quantifiable results for the clients and each earned the publisher a six-figure sum. UBM’s built environment titles have developed their own weekly audience measure aggregating email, digital and print plus tracking demographics and seniority.

9. Replace journalists with analysts

In B2B markets, news is often on the free part of the site, and premium content is built around analysis, statistics and insights.  This affects the composition of editorial teams.  Lloyds List now replace journalists who leave the team with analysts, and the growth of infographics in their subs package raises the requirement for good graphic designers.

10. B2B and B2C can learn from each other

Business and consumer publishers face different challenges.  Subscription packages for consumer markets can be boxed in by competitive offers and artificial anchors such as print cover price.  Business publishers can offer a range of different tiers and packages for different subgroups, and justify higher prices by creating value or limiting risk.  Yet consumer publishers can learn from their b2b peers by offering metered access or pay gateways and analyzing audience subgroups.  And as all business people are also consumers of digital content in their leisure time, habits they develop there will be carried into the workplace.

So overall, there are good grounds for optimism on the ability of publishers to charge for online content.  The black and white argument of free access vs paywall lockdown of a year ago has evolved into a far more subtle patchwork of free sample content open to search and social media, a trade of reader data for partial access, and a more tailored set of subscription options, and even one-off content sales.  More flexible pay gateways could even help publishers escape from the tyranny of low display CPMs by demonstrating the true value of their audiences to advertisers.

This selection of thirty practical tips has been gleaned from the experiences of innovative niche consumer and b2b publishers.

The full presentation is being given at Publishing Expo at 3pm on 28 February 2012 in a panel session led by me, Carolyn Morgan, MD Specialist Media Show, with Andy Marshall, MD Immediate Media Bristol and Rob Chambers, MD Total Telecom.

Do come along and listen to the full session, and ask your questions of the panel.  We’re in the Audience/Data Theatre, and it’s free to attend.

1. Test tablets
2. Repackage and recycle
3. Value free
4. Hold your nerve on prices
5. Test short term promotions
6. Go global
7. Don’t forget e-readers
8. Streamline content production
9. Consider content curation
10. Be search friendly
11. Unearth your archive
12. Get your audience talking
13. Socialise your own site
14. Sell tickets on twitter
15. Test facebook mags
16. Cross promote exhaustively
17. Automate your emails
18. Try video for email marketing
19. Become a data geek
20. Partner with advertisers
21. Get enewsletters sponsored
22. Establish a value for social
23. Test out transactions
24. Be a video magpie
25. Connect your audience
26. Create content from events
27. Build an exclusive network
28. Make print special
29. Work closely with Apple
30. Select suppliers strategically

1. Structure your accounts carefully

If your audience are clearly segmented, or your organisation generates different streams of news and information, consider structuring your accounts so followers don’t get swamped with irrelevant content and lose the valuable nuggets.   Plan the editorial guidelines and responsibilities for each account, and build up frequency of posts gradually.  Far better to start small and build up than embark with ambitious targets and then peter out.  A mix of “brand” and “individual” accounts works well, and manages the risk if key staff leave and take their twitter following with them

2. Use all your owned media to promote

Never miss a trick to promote your twitter feed: add to your website, email newsletters, personal email signatures, all printed promotional material, business cards, live events, retail outlets et al.  Add accounts to linked-in profiles, and blogs, and quote the “@account” on facebook.

3. Ask questions around your articles; be contentious!

If you run a blog or regularly publish relevant articles on your website, that provides a low effort source of tweets.  Use a URL shortener like bit.ly or the built in shorteners in free tools like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck to save characters.  Keep it simple by repeating the article headline, or turn it into a question or make a little more contentious.  You can measure the success of your tweets by the number of retweets, and also log the referral traffic to that site using Google Analytics.  You’ll quickly learn what interests your audience.  At first you may be despondent that your follower numbers are low, but your past tweets are part of the reason for others to start following, so they are a useful investment.

4. Run offers and competitions

Offer a free trial, a free download or a competition to twitter followers.  Promote this on your own media ie website and email.  Encourage suggestions and ideas.  B2B publisher Research posted codes for trial subscriptions on twitter and also ran a competition to name a grant funding programme.

5. Join in relevant conversations

Use event hashtags to comment on speakers and debates, and provide a summary for your followers.  Join in relevant discussions.  Thank people who retweet or mention you.  Praise your suppliers and business partners.  Most b2b communities are quite small and incestuous, so word gets round and that raises your organisation’s profile.

Worth reading the full article on Research’s twitter growth here. They are the latest addition to the 2012  shortlist for the Media Pioneer Awards, which recognise innovation in specialist publishing markets.

About the author: Carolyn Morgan works with niche media businesses on their digital publishing and marketing strategy, through consulting firm Penmaen Media. Carolyn regularly writes for media trade press and speaks at conferences on the challenges of digital publishing.  She also runs the Specialist Media Show, a conferenc e, exhibition and workshop programme for niche publishers.  Carolyn moderates the Specialist Media Network on LinkedIn, a community of over 800 niche publishers who swap ideas and contacts.  Request to join here.

If you’d like a bespoke session for your business on how to use twitter more strategically to build influence and generate leads, please get in touch.

And the development of low-cost services, revenue share agreements and cloud based software are making new channels accessible to smaller media owners. Plus the good news is that niche audiences are far more loyal, want to connect with each other, and are willing to spend on their personal or professional interests.

This creates a fabulous opportunity for nimble, innovative media businesses to experiment and reach new audiences, long before the media leviathans have got round to calling a board meeting.

I’ve been lucky enough to meet some very inspiring specialist publishers this year, as clients, members of the Specialist Media Network I run on LinkedIn, or speakers at the Specialist Media Conference. I recently published a version of this article on the Specialist Media Show site: my twelve tips for budding Media Pioneers in 2012.

1. Try Tablets

There will be four times as many tablets in a couple of years, and Amazon and other android devices are giving Apple a run for its money. Newsstand has helped publishers multiply downloads up to ten times. Basic replica app services allow small titles to test this channel at low risk, before they work out a longer term plan.

2. Streamline content production

Publishing to print, tablet and web puts content management under the spotlight. New services are providing integrated CMS that save editorial teams time and allow copy, images and video to be used across multiple platforms.

3. Repackage and recycle

Specialist content has a longer shelf-life than the tyranny of the 30 day on-sale period, as many publishers are finding on iPad and Kindle. Simple repackaging of sections, columns, reviews into specials and themed issues are generating good revenues. Breakeven bookazines transported to tablet are becoming big contributors.

4. Socialise your own site

Building up communities on third party sites is all very well, and is great for generating traffic, but publishers now need to focus on adding social options to their own site, with blog comments and proprietary online communities.

5. Value free

Free sample issues on new channels such as iPad allow readers the equivalent of print magazine browsing time.  Publishers can showcase their excellent content, and create interesting opportunities for advertisers seeking a niche audience.

6. Connect your audience

Enthusiast consumer groups or niche professional or industry communities love to get together online or face to face. Many niche b2b publishers now find that conferences, breakfast briefings and networking events are a major contributor to revenues, eg shortlisted Media Pioneer Total Telecom.

7. Go global

Digital channels allow even small independents to tap into a worldwide audience. Niche publishers are often surprised by the appetite of global readers for English language publications. P1 aviation has changed its business model, focussing on the iPad, and is now developing Chinese and Russian editions.

8. Partner with advertisers

Ad rates continue to decline, so smart publishers must develop bespoke campaigns with their best advertisers that are focussed on helping them generate the right type of leads.

9. Make print special

Print still has to be part of the mix; only a small number of mostly b2b publications are now digital only. But print has to work harder, be more tactile and visually luscious, provide a special ad environment and connect readers to extra digital content. For Boat International, the print magazine is still the core of their ad proposition to luxury yacht suppliers.

10. Test transactions

In consumer markets, ad revenues are tough, so publishers need to find ways to take a bigger slice of the revenue their reviews generate. Factory Media has developed an online gear site around MPORA. Other niche publishers are selling specials, instruction, and event tickets online.

11. Become a data geek

Websites, mobile devices, social channels all provide stats on how content is consumed. Email providers track who is reading what. CRM systems monitor all interactions with a customer. Publishers need to find a way to bring all this info together to learn more about what their readers want and to provide an individualised service.

12. Select suppliers strategically

Small publishers can’t develop websites, apps and subscription systems in-house, so have to outsource. But these can be long term relationships, and it is important to ensure that content and reader data can be aggregated easily across different systems. So a careful approach is needed in selecting suppliers and ensuring they can work together.   Suppliers who make it easy to integrate their systems with complementary services will have a great advantage.

About the author:  Carolyn Morgan works with independent publishers to develop a practical digital strategy, through her consultancy business Penmaen Media.  We’re always happy to chat to publishers over the phone about their issues:  please contact us.  Carolyn also runs the Specialist Media Show: a conference, workshop programme and exhibition for niche consumer and b2b media owners, taking place on 24 May 2012 at Think Tank, Birmingham.   Online free registration available now.  And if you want to swap ideas with other specialist media businesses, join the 800+ members of the Specialist Media Network on Linked In.  Request to join here.

1. Five tips for editing a digital magazine

What I’ve learnt from creating the digital magazine for the Specialist Media Show on planning editorial and the readers journey.

2. Top tips for ambitious media businesses

Practical tips from my consulting work with publishers.

3. Ten new specialist publishing models

New ways to think about the business formerly known as publishing and generate revenues from surprising directions.

4. Creating online subscription content: 5 ideas for niche publishers

How to create content online that people will pay for?  Ideas for consumer and b2b specialist publishers.

5. Practicalities of publisher paywalls

Five steps to consider when planning a paywall for your content

6. Five reasons specialist publishers should experiment with Kindle

While Apple iPad dominates, many publishers are doing well on Amazon’s Kindle as well: here’s some reasons why you should consider it.

7.  Media Pioneers: how Factory Media grew app revenues 26%

Factory Media publish action sports magazines; they were an early adopter of the iphone/ipad for their publications and quickly built paid circulation.

8. Paid content: new research on what publishers can charge

Insights from the Specialist Media Show’s research among 200 publishers on what digital content they are charging for.

9. Specialist publishers lead the way in digital media; still bullish on print

Another article from the Specialist Media Show research: niche publishers are experimenting with digital but still feel there is a role for print

10. The digital divide: business vs consumer publishers

How digital strategies for consumer and business publishers are diverging, from the Specialist Media Show research.

The popularity of these articles show that media owners are still seeking guidance on exactly how to grow their revenues from digital content, and are keen to pick up tips from pioneering publishers.  I’ll keep documenting my experiences and stories of innovative specialist media owners in this blog in 2012.

About the author:  Carolyn Morgan works with niche publishers to develop their digital strategy through her consultancy business Penmaen Media.  She also runs the Specialist Media Show, an annual event for niche publishers to learn about new innovations, and moderates the Specialist Media Network on LinkedIn, a community of over 750 consumer and b2b publishers.  Carolyn regularly speaks and writes on digital publishing strategy.  If you’d like an initial discussion about how you can make more money from your content and select the right mix of digital channels please get in touch.

1. Mobile devices are growing rapidly and tablets are mainly used for consuming content

Worldwide smartphones are growing at 20% pa and there will be at least 370m tablet users by 2015. Consumers use tablets at home and on the move principally for reading content rather than creating documents: 31% prefer to read magazines and newspapers on the iPad vs 24% in print.  However publishing to tablet is so easy it now brings the risk of new entrants: such as brands, retailers or online communities, so publishers must be vigilant.

2. Social media expands editorial networks and builds audience relationships but ROI still elusive

Publishers can use social media channels to publish their content outside their own site, but shared links have a half life of just 3 hours, so timing is everything and editors need to keep generating new content. Just 1% of your community are likely to be active on social media; these influencers need to be identified and nurtured.  Editors must be in control of the social media voice, and should be encouraged to build their own personal social networks for research.   However publishers need a brand presence too as when staff leave they take their network with them.  Facebook has helped enthusiast car magazine Evo drive traffic and engage with readers, but it is still hard to attribute revenue.  Econsultancy has analysed its sources of revenue and discovered that natural search and email still trump social media. Social media tends to drive  more flighty traffic, converts to low revenues and is primarily used by existing customers not new people.

3. Beware of investing in third party platforms: socialise your own site

It’s dangerous to invest too much in building communities on third party platforms such as Facebook and Linked in, warned Ashley Friedlein, CEO of online publisher Econsultancy.  Publishers should aim to balance this by socialising their own websites, building up blog commenting and proprietary forums.

4. Print innovations linking to digital content prove effectiveness of magazine ad campaigns

QR codes and watermarking allow magazine publishers to convert the engagement of their readers into measurable interaction, by connecting them to bespoke digital content.  This provides the measurability that has been so elusive for magazine ad campaigns.  Publishers need to control the analytics and offer readers exclusive content.  FHM Collections ran a very successful campaign with watermarking linking to product information.  While costs are currently high, there may be room for smaller titles to negotiate trial rates with suppliers.  Classic Rock tested another print technique, a lenticular cover, and obtained a 25% newsstand sales uplift.

5. A “porous” paywall allows ad revenues and social content sharing

The Times has 110,000 digital subs, but these are just replacing losses in print circulation, said journalist Pete Kirwan. Its policy of total lockdown limits its ad potential, and articles can’t be found on search or shared on social media.  A better model is that of the Wall Street Journal, where readers can view a certain number of articles before having to pay.  Paid subs alone are unlikely to generate enough revenue.

A version of this article has been published on the Specialist Media Show site.

Full report on this conference available to download now on the Specialist Media Network membership pages.

Sign up for free now.

About the author:  Carolyn Morgan works with niche publishers to develop their digital strategy through her consultancy business Penmaen Media.  She also runs the Specialist Media Show, an annual event for niche publishers to learn about new innovations, and moderates the Specialist Media Network on LinkedIn, a community of over 750 consumer and b2b publishers.  Carolyn regularly speaks and writes on digital publishing strategy.  If you’d like an initial discussion about how you can make more money from your content and select the right mix of digital channels please get in touch.

1. Start with the web and then publish to print & mobile

Print publishers have an established print workflow, usually based on Indesign, and then set up separate web CMS to manage the web version of their features and news stories.  Many tablet platforms are now integrating with Indesign so editorial teams can create a tablet edition alongside print.  A cheaper option is to take PDFs and convert them to page turners. But a more radical approach is to upload content first to the web CMS, and then use that to create print PDFs and tablets.  The eZ publish platform for example has the ability to create an Indesign template for print and then populate it with text and images from the content repository in the web CMS, ready to be tweaked for print.

2. Integrate print, online and tablet subscribers

Readers are using all their devices during the day, and expect to be able to access their subscription-only content on their smartphone, tablet and laptop seamlessly.  Many print publishers are providing free access codes to tablet editions for print subscribers as a retention strategy.  But it can be complex to set up.  The story of Insurance Times, which managed to integrate print subscription records to provide automatic online logins in just two days, with the help of Circdata and eZpublish, is an impressive example.

3. Offer personalised content

Many online publishers are already asking their email newsletter subscribers to select topic preferences, so that articles and offers can be tailored to their specific interests and therefore be much more relevant.   The next step is adapting online content to reflect preferred topics, either overtly selected or captured through visitors browsing behaviour.  This may have been considered to be out of the reach of smaller publishers,  but the eZpublish recommend module can do just this.

4. Keep a fluid channel mix

Smaller, niche publishers can feel paralysed by the number of digital publishing channels, and the difficulty of tailoring content to suit each one.  Every market is different: some audiences are early adopters of Apple iPads, such as photography or aviation, so their priorities are iOS; others are keen Kindle users or prefer web-based content.  It’s important not to make too many assumptions, as ownership and usage are changing fast.  One publisher I worked with has just 4% of audience with iPads now, but 20% expected in 2 years time.  Other markets are staunch print supporters and will remain so for some years to come. There’s no substitute for regular reader surveys, and a fluid approach to your mix of digital channels, so greater resource and effort can be devoted to the fastest growing media platforms.

5. Be ready to become a retailer

Consumer publishers are struggling to charge for online content or make much money from web advertising.  Many are turning to transactions - such as Factory’s MPORA or Time OUt’s ticketing - to capture more of the value of their engaged readers’ spend.   And b2b publishers are making more profits from conferences, events, research reports and data-based subscriptions which are sold online.  So integrating commerce into a publisher website is going to be crucial in future.  eZ publish have a plug-in shopping module, and I’m sure other web-CMS for publishers will start to make this easier.

About the author:  Carolyn Morgan works with niche publishers to develop their digital strategy through her consultancy business Penmaen Media.  She also runs the Specialist Media Show, an annual event for niche publishers to learn about new innovations, and moderates the Specialist Media Network on LinkedIn, a community of over 700 consumer and b2b publishers.  Carolyn regularly speaks and writes on digital publishing strategy.  If you’d like an initial discussion about how you can make more money from your content and select the right mix of digital channels please get in touch.

1. Reader usage of devices and channels

A great first step is to survey your audience, both current print subscriber and email newsletter recipients, and also social media followers and web visitors.  Find out what devices they are using and how they are using them.  You might get some surprising results.  Remember to use this exercise to check out the competition and don’t neglect the international potential audience for your content: this has been a surprise benefit for many niche publishers

2. What content readers value

Use the survey, plus your own insight from Google Analytics on top-rated content and search terms, click patterns on emails and any face to face contact with your readers, to work out what topics they are most interested in.  General trends are that news isn’t considered worth paying for, but data, insider information, buyers guides and exclusive access are.  B2B audiences are more willing to pay for online content if it helps them save money or time in their job.  Consumer audiences are prepared to pay for magazine editions on tablet or e-reader.

3. Content creation costs

Review the content you already have available or can repackage at low cost.  Archive material, or timeless articles that can be repurposed in a “special” or as a “guide” can provide valuable content for testing out new digital channels without significant editorial investment.  But watch out for copyright on images and text.

4. Revenue options

Each platform has its own pricing levels, commissions and distribution costs, and development costs to take into account.  Some work well for one-off payments, others are great for subs.  Some have great ad options: eg it is easier to create bespoke ads on tablet editions than on a Kindle version.  Again check out competitor pricing and assess how much net revenue there is for your content in each channel.

The answer for each publisher is different, as audiences adopt new digital channels at different rates,and some have opportunities to repackage content at a very low cost.  But this should provide a starting point to assess your priorities.

If you feel you do need a whole day to talk this through in a small group, and discuss the learning from a wide range of publisher case studies, plus pick up some tips on how to choose suppliers and get the best out of each channel, then I’m running the next Digital Publishing Masterclass on 7 February 2012 in London.  Contact me for more information.

About the author: Carolyn Morgan works with niche publishers to develop their digital strategy.  She also runs the Specialist Media Show, an annual exhibition and conference for niche publishers.  Carolyn frequently writes and speaks on the challenges of digital publishing.  More at Penmaen Media.