How semi-automated curation helps niche publishers stay relevant

Posted on May 29, 2011 by stephen bateman

idio have the means to supercharge content

idio have the means to supercharge content

Print publishing was built on specialist skills in editorial, design, production, reprography, print sourcing and buying, shipping, B2B relations, promotion, pricing and distribution. All these were high value specialist skills that publishers could charge a premium for. They gave access to the market and thy were the sole route to market. There was no other way to get un front of an audience.

But that scarcity has been removed by the Internet and replaced by tools that are free at the point of entry. So where does this disintermediation leave specialist publishing businesses that occupy intermediary roles?

In the past, brands relied on the skills of intermediaries such as custom publishing companies to connect them and their advertisers with their audiences. These providers of custom publishing services fulfilled a content marketing role and  designed, edited, produced, printed and distributed content on their behalf. They effectively managed the content and the relations and interactions around that content.

But I see more and more large non-publishing companies hiring editors, content strategists and community managers every day. I see an increasing number of brands thinking and acting like publishers. I see more and more non-publishing companies producing their own content and operating their own CMSs. I see an increasing number of non-publishing brands controlling their own personality through the media and doing it at lower cost. Having digital content expertise in-house is now critical to every non-publishing business. But that’s a big ask. It’s still a complex business.

Content still builds relationships for brands and more brands know that their content has to be relevant, helpful and at the heart of more of their brand interactions. They don’t want their content just to inform as it did in broadcast media; they want it to engage. And every business is seeing their competitors engage their audiences and customers. That’s why being an expert in this area, or working with a content provider that has the edge, will give non-publishing businesses a genuine competitive advantage.

The editorial skills that were once the value proposition of publishers are coming in house as a multitude of business functions face out to customers.

So, if content marketing was once your core value proposition and that skills is being brought in house, where does your business run to? And how does it reinvent itself to provide the critical success factors that mean clients continue to need your services and which allow you to attract new customers?

Faced with this situation, your business is going to have to become an even greater expert in digital media management. It will need to turbocharge the processes that build competitive advantage. And since it can’t provide competitive advantage in low-cost, non-scarce commoditised digital publishing skills, it will need to significantly improve its value by managing the editorial chain faster, more cheaply and with greater effect. If you work for PE, then you know this means more for less and jumping over an ever higher bar.

Well what if you could be better, smarter, quicker, more nimble and more effective at building the mass of relevant content, using community, external and internal sources, and then lead it with well-planned and executed premium content?

How about if this using a semi-automated process allowed you, the editor in chief to offer the brand a voice rather than just be its content creator?

How about if the content was other peoples’, curated, and some of it was original?

How about if the solution provided value to readers, and thereby built influence and authority in the market?

What if the process I’m describing using community-generated and syndicated content allowed for a much higher content volume and a much stronger voice? And what if the variety of content types and sources also helped meet the individual needs of the audience members, providing snippets, links away, full reporting, and varying opinions?

And what if the reduction in time taken to create new content lowered the average cost of an article dramatically? That would be good news for those trying to make a publishing P&L balance again.

This solution exists and it has been developed by idio platform. This semi-automated approach to content creation and curation in niches has been developed to integrate with the existing content management systems of a number of publishers and brands developing and maintaining niche audiences and communities in a variety of sectors, at considerably reduced cost and with all the above benefits.

To view their specialist publishing process in simple diagrammatical form and to discover the technology behind it, read on.

 

Posted in Business Models, Business Rewiring, Community, Community Engagement, digital marketing, Distribution, Marketing, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How specialist magazines can drive value from brand community

Posted on May 26, 2011 by stephen bateman

Brand extensions are a new revenue stream for magazines

Brand extensions are a new revenue stream for magazines

It was interesting to be a visitor at the Specialist Media Show.

On the journey to the show I swiped through the quotations on my iPhone to find this one: “No man is really happy or safe without a hobby, and precious little difference the outside interest may be – botany, beetles or butterflies; roses, tulips or irises; fishing, mountaineering or antiques – anything will do as long as he straddles a hobby and rides it hard.” I made a note of this quotation which resonated with me when I first saw it carved in wood in the reception of Krause Publications, Inc in the US.

From the moment I arrived at the show in Peterborough, I recognised the ossification I’ve experienced before when viewing production in the special interest publishing sector. Somehow the sector seems to suffer more than others and seems blinkered to the opportunities of digital innovation and partnership. Yet, with community at its heart, the special interest publishing sector ought to be reinventing itself and embracing digital. Why isn’t it?

As Joseph Schumpeter said when he observed the arrival of the railways in the UK in 1936, “it upsets all conditions of location, all cost calculations, all production functions within its radius of influence; and hardly any “ways of doing things” which have been optimal before remain so afterward”.

That’s how I feel about old media categories like special interest magazines, for which the business models, labels and cloistered culture no longer make sense. To think like the stereotypical specialist magazine is tantamount to suicide. It must be reinvented.

As I looked at the magazines in the racks, I thought of my boys. At 15 and 19 respectively, they’ve already consumed more media than I have in my lifetime. Yet they’ve achieved that without a single magazine subscription and despite growing up in France, where magazine readers are only second in number to the US!

What we’re seeing with digital media is a shift away from medium to content and audience.

Therefore, I question whether publishers of special interest magazines can any longer afford to believe that they work in an industry or a sector? Would it not be wiser for them to think of themselves as the doyens of community and to serve their community in every which way they can?

After all aren’t the new entrants and start ups already wooing the brand account managers and media planners who look after the advertising and sponsorship decisions for brands? Will savvy app developers not soon command larger communities of special interest than the magazines and aren’t the interactive advertising techniques available on mobile devices more appealing and more relevant to their audiences?

Let’s be frank, magazines are now competing with the brands they once hosted on their pages.

Rather than be protective of their audiences, publishers need to realise that future value lies in their brand communities, and that they need to experiment with new ways, marketing models and partnerships that leverage community.

Clever publishers in the special interest sector will reinvent themselves and see that their business is community not product and this new way of defining themselves will inform their investment decisions.

In the long run the winners in publishing will be those who understand they can build stronger, more dynamic communities by broadening the media experiences of their members beyond an approach that is cloistered and outmoded. To do this publishers must move fast to build savvy and exciting partnerships with digital innovators who share a passion for their communities but who have invented new models to align with changing times. Only by embracing a more collaborative approach to serving communities will publishers be able to hang on to their title of “doyen” of community. And only by retaining this title will they retain the sympathies of account managers, media planners and buyers.

 

Posted in Business Models, Business Rewiring, Community, Community Engagement, digital marketing, Marketing, New Product Development, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How to align sales, marketing, content and the customer journey

Posted on May 24, 2011 by stephen bateman

 

The B2B Customer Journey

Mapping the content stages along the customer journey - photo credit 31Volts Flickr

From my roots in traditional media, sales and marketing, I’m leading the business development for a B2B online digital publisher in the emerging sustainability sector.

Success in the role relies on flexing the commercial skills and acumen that I’ve developed over a varied career, but I find myself puzzling increasingly over the the extent to which the traditional B2B customer journey may have changed since the days when I was “on the road” doing 25 000 miles up and down the country, calling on clients and offering “new product training”. That was an expensive, resource-intensive method of selling which was very different from today’s customer journey where so much happens online.

The one big difference is a customer’s access to information.

The free access to digital information has disrupted every single traditional business operation and the seller no longer controls the message. Instead, the Internet, and its proliferation of user generated opinion and media, has put the buyer in the commanding seat.

Online, buyers will take all the time they need to consider a product or service and to ensure it meets their need. The vital stage of customer “consideration”, which once took place in the confines of a relatively secluded and safe environment, now takes place in the open, in full view of other businesses expressing similar challenges, and offering their opinion on the best solution.

The content challenge

The response from companies to this online shift has been to bolster their presence by investing in SEO and carefully managed digital content that increases their discoverability online and which pushes them higher up the search engine results.

But every solution has its downside and the volumes of content distributed are so overwhelming that, unless crafted carefully, deter a sale rather than help it.

Sales and marketing joined at the hip

That’s why sales and marketing teams need to join closer at the hip and get their approach to content marketing right. And that approach needs to align with the three traditional points along the customer journey.

The 3 stages along the customer journey

Stage 1. Awareness is the first stage in which buyers become conscious of the fact that they have a gap or a challenge they need to address. In this stage buyers come across issues online, in industry sector newsletters, events or magazines that act as a “wake up call”. They know the status quo is not sustainable and that change is inevitable.

Stage 2. Consideration is the point along the customer journey at which the buyer has accepted and committed to change and explored potential options. In this phase, the buyer is committed to a solution but not to a provider. And the solution needs to be calibrated using a cost/benefit analysis and other measures of ROI.

Stage 3. The Decision stage is the final stage during which a solution is justified and the provider is selected. In this final phase, the best overall value proposition is selected.

Aligning content to the customer journey

Content has many forms online and includes emails, video, webcasts, white papers, case studies and audio podcasts. To be effective and avoid the problems of redundancy, the content needs to be designed by marketing to help sales teams connect and sell more effectively to buyers. The more aligned the content is with the buyer, the more likely a sale will be.

Aligning the content with the journey

Smart evergreen content that can be shared, such as guides and practical information tips works across the entire journey.

But each stage requires a different focus in the content.

- In the initial Awareness stage, white papers and webcasts that provoke and offer tools for assessment work well. These should be easy to read, concise, relevant, graphic, well designed.

- In the consideration stage buyers want to explore options so written case studies and videos that testify to success work well. Videos should be short and easy to stream. Any content that is fronted by someone in authority figure will be very effective in moving the customer toward the end goal. Case studies from research and study institutes that support the business case are the best.

- In the final decision stage when the customer is seeking to select a single service or product provider, the best content will offer tables of comparisons that demonstrate the comparative benefits and value for money.

It’s only by taking a smart and rational approach to content marketing that companies can work harder to support the sales effort with relevant content and to influence the customer’s decision be it online or offline. Which are the companies in your sector that manage this process effectively and which companies fail at it?

 

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The future of publishing: will books disappear?

Posted on May 7, 2011 by stephen bateman
The old rules of book publishing (Credit Flickr Phoenix Dark-Knight)

The old rules of book publishing (Credit Flickr Phoenix Dark-Knight)

Books won’t disappear. We’ll cherish our favourite novels and pass our children’s picture books on to subsequent generations. But we’ll also throw out many types of books: travel guides, reference books, maps, business guides etc…

Disposing of books is a new phenomenon and books were previously not disposable items but permanent fixtures in the house. Like old music albums, they said something about a person. Like albums our favourite books will stay with us, in ever decreasing numbers, as memorabilia that we get out for a nostalgic moment of intimacy.

Some books will disappear in printed form because digital technology is teaching us to read differently and think of content differently. We pay to consume some content via the tap, from a common source rather than think we need to own our own: it’s cheaper, les wasteful, makes more sense, is more convenient and saves space. We pay for faster Internet and mobile access but we own fewer books. Books will sell as print on demand for those that want an entire printed copy.

Traditional barriers that existed between books, magazines, newspapers and video (broadcast) are blurring. We’ve grown to enjoy media that is discoverable, searchable, interactive, sharable, and that’s a far cry from the static experience of printed books.

New social pleasure and new conveniences in the digital reading experience are also driving change. We are social by nature and we like to read what other people have to say about the stuff we read. We like to feel part of a global community of interest, which is made possible by the Internet. Technology is changing the way we read and our relationship to content and to each other.

Buying books suddenly feels slow, inconvenient and expensive. We’re conscious that buying a book to look at once and to put on the shelf is not suited to modern day living. Ownership is somehow odd in this new era of post digital media.

Penguin said in their interim statement on 28 April: “we continue to adapt the business to significant industry change driven by the growth of both digital sales channels and digital books and by the resulting pressures on physical bookstores.”

Reading between the lines (so as not to sound alarmist) one can can see that what Penguin is describing is a new physics of business that is driven by digital change and consumer behaviour. Like the railways, digital media “upsets all conditions of location, all cost calculations, all production functions within its radius of influence and hardly any ways of doing things which have been optimal before remain so afterwards.” This was said about the railways in 1936 and borrowed from a recent book called Creative Disruption*.

In the UK printed books are fighting a losing battle with downward spiraling sales of UK fiction, decreasing by 8.8% in the first 3 month of 2011 with sales of Non-Fiction in similar decline with only food and drink books showing any resilience (largely because these sales are linked to premium TV or celebrity brands)

Waterstones, our biggest book selling chain (part of HMV) is struggling to keep book shops open and has announced the closure of 60 stores.

Our British Bookshops and Stationers chain is in receivership.

Where does publishing go from here? Do you believe it reinvents itself? I firmly believe that online communities need to flourish within every media business if they are to continue trading and justifying their existence into the future. Here’s how.

The quote I used above about the railways came from a book called Creative Disruption by Simon Waldman. I recommend all publishers read it.

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How To Choose An eMedia Conference

Posted on May 6, 2011 by stephen bateman

eMedia Conference. What value will the conference provide?

Another eMedia Conference? What value is there in this one?

Are you dazed and confused by the proliferation of ePub, eCommerce, SocialMedia, eMedia and eMarketing conferences?

Are you overwhelmed by the choice and trying to work out how you can justify the cost?

As a response to the vast numbers of eMedia conferences being promoted, I found it useful to create a checklist to help me choose between so many conferences and ensure my money and time are well spent.

Here are 7 Questions I ask before signing up for an event:

  1. What are my motivations for attending? To network? Stay abreast of new trends? Perhaps I want to learn about some techniques or best practice? Is the attendee list available so that I can assess the networking value?
  2. What of the events reputation, organisers? Who in my network has or might have attended the conference in the past? What was the value they got? Is there any feedback on Linked In groups or industry leading blogs?
  3. Who is speaking? What about? Will the speakers / topics engage me. How many are commercial sponsors or advertisers? I attended a conference recently (digital media) where a significant number of the speakers were sponsors. Their talks were not engaging. A quick search online will help me figure out which speakers are commercial and which aren’t and what their level of accomplishment is.
  4. Who is putting the conference together and do they practice what they preach? Do they demonstrate best practice and if so what stories do they have to share about best practice? Do they have a blog and do they help the industry develop a better understanding of the issues, not just during the conference but on an ongoing basis?
  5. What’s the conference focus? Conferences tend to offer wide appeal (scatter gun approach) to attract wide audiences. Too often conferences fill their programs, try to cater for all tastes and satisfy none properly, achieving zero value.
  6. How much is it? If I spent the money on training, what would I get? Can I afford not to go? Can I follow the conference online? Is it being streamed tweeted, SlideShared? Does it have a Twitter hashtag?
  7. Finally, perhaps the goal of a good eMedia ePub conference should be to focus on idea execution rather than idea generation. At this mid term stage in our shift to digital, a good conference is one that doesn’t provide more ideas but one that empowers us to make good the ideas we’ve already got.

What are your thoughts? Please share your thoughts, I’d love to hear from you. If you’d like to hear me talk about a conference I thought was very special, click here to see a videoblog I made about Like Minds, an excellent conference on the theme of  Creation and Curation in Digital Media.

 

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Creeping Normalcy: Fact Not Fiction.

Posted on May 2, 2011 by stephen bateman

Boiled Frog. Creeping Normalcy. The Future of Book Publishing. Concentricdots

Boiled Frog. Creeping Normalcy. The Future of Book Publishing.

If you’ve read the boiling frog story you’ll know it’s a widespread anecdote describing a frog slowly being boiled alive.

The premise is that when a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water, then slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death.

The story is often used to demonstrate how a major change, if it happens slowly, in unnoticed increments, can be accepted as the normal situation.

I first came across the metaphor when reading Charles Handy’s The Age of Unreason (1988). Of course, despite the theme of change leadership, there is no mention of the internet as the disruptor, since it wasn’t envisaged when the book was written.

I suppose the modern equivalent of Charles Handy’s book would be Simon Waldman’s Creative Disruption (2010).

The Reality: Penguin A Victim of Trade Publishing

How many of you noticed the comments about Trade Publishing in Pearson’s latest interim management statement on 28 April 2011?

It said:

“After a particularly strong 2010, we expect Penguin to perform in line with the overall consumer publishing industry this year, while we continue to adapt the business to significant industry change driven by the growth of both digital sales channels and digital books and by the resulting pressures on physical bookstores.”

Penguin is a well managed company which can afford the best brains and the best advisors. But is the company adapting fast enough to change? The leadership team would, I believe, say “no” to that question. That’s because, like most other publishers, they didn’t move fast enough early enough. They thought about it. But, like the frog in the slowly heating pan of water, they were the casualties of creeping normalcy.

Elsewhere, The View is Grey and Ashen

If you’re a book publisher (especially if you’re an under-resourced, slow-to-get-it, stuck-in-the-mud publisher), the landscape outside looks ghastly and, depending on your strategy, it’s potentially as dismal as the one in Cormack McCarthy’s The Road: Grey, Ashen and Terrifying.

Things In Your Field Of Vision

This is what you see:

1. Downward spiraling sales of UK fiction, decreasing by 8.8% in the first 3 month of 2011 with sales of Non-Fiction in similar decline with only food and drink books showing any resilience (largely because these sales are linked to premium TV or celebrity brands)

2. Waterstones (HMV) struggling to keep book shops open.

3. British Bookshops and Stationers in receivership.

4. Further on the horizon and across the pond, you will have spotted Borders, the second largest bricks ‘n mortar book retailer in the US, going into bankruptcy.

5. More terrifying still, you will notice the leading chain, Barnes & Noble, switching to non-book product and merchandise that is more resilient to digital alternatives.

6. Here at home, you can feel the unabated downward pressure on book prices as frugal, cash-poor households turn to their local libraries and charity shops for their children’s books, novels, gardening titles and travel guides.  The charity shops in Exeter, incidentally, are creating some excellent window displays from the increasing numbers of books donated by families who see no value in keeping books for a the next generation who prefer to read on electronic devices.

7. Wherever you look you see Apple, Google and Amazon driving change (read Simon Waldman’s book to understand this better). These digital heavyweights have first mover advantage in eCommerce, customer relations management (CRM), digital marketing, one click-purchase and they manufacture and sell their own bespoke reading devices. They are the platform for self-published authors.

8. Once again, looking out over the pond, you see the first signs of bestselling self- authors without any previous or current affiliation to a publishing house leading communities of their own.

9. YOU SEE DISINTERMEDIATION. YOU SEE THE LANDSCAPE BEING REDRAWN.

What you fail to see is how fast a new breed of digital consumer’s are opting for convenience and simplicity and flocking in droves to Smart Phones, Tablets and eBooks.

Publishing is cooked.

The Future.

Many new players will be quicker at identifying the gap and responding. Barriers between magazines, books and video will blur and community will be the new Commercial Opportunity. Publishers will need to turn their businesses inside out, occupy niches, develop communities, embrace new digital skills, new methods of creating, curating and managing content and new styles of sales and marketing practices, with community at the centre point.

In my next post I will explain where I see the opportunity for the future of publishing. In the meantime, leave a comment or a look at the posts I’ve written in the category Business Models or Community about how best to adjust to the change, align with the digital online market to future proof your business.

 

Posted in Business Models, Business Rewiring, Community, eBooks, Marketing, Print, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

iGlimpse: Eight Reasons to Love Apple iPhone & iPad

Posted on March 27, 2011 by stephen bateman
iGlimpse Makes IOS Apps for Apple iPad and iPhone

iGlimpse Makes IOS Apps for Apple iPad and iPhone

At iGlimpse our clients and partners frequently ask us why we’re so keen on Apple.

This is largely because our focus on IOS helps us hone the categories we publish into as well as select the brand partners we work with.

But there are also 7  strong commercial reasons for choosing to love Apple IOS:

 

1. Kids love ‘em

Kids love Apple

Kids love Apple - credit Paul Mayne Flickr

Kids worship Macs, iPods, iPhones and the iPad. We’re witnessing a generation shift to Macs.

Not just kids; all age groups including silver surfers are switching to the sleek silver aluminium cased objects at school and at home and as they discover the wonderfully intuitive software that lives on them and allows them to be digital wizards.

The hardware and applications are the drivers of such rapid growth in Mac users. The last quarter saw Apple set a new record of 3.47 million macs sold in the quarter with a growth rate of 33% over the prior year’s quarter.

The next-generation of Mac buyers are also iPhone and iPad users because everything that is Mac is researched and integrates so intuitively.

2. The App Store

Apple has the largest direct-to-consumer customer base in the world. And although the payment processing channels are still controlled by the credit cards and PayPal, changes are afoot with the arrival of Near Field Communication (NFC) which will allow Apple to build yet closer relations with its customers. We like businesses that build proximity with their customers and Apple has proven their attention to customer service throughout time.

3. The iPad

The photo below was taken in Exeter Shopping Centre, a sleepy town in South Devon, UK, on Friday 25 March 2011 which wad iPad 2 global launch day. When I Tweeted the photo, a local businessman responded by saying half his workforce was in the queue!

People queue for iPad 2 outside Exeter Apple Store Friday 25 March 2011

People queue for iPad 2 outside Exeter Apple Store Friday 25 March 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The desire and kudos of iPads is already famed, both on a personal and institutional level.  Last Spring the market predicted Apple would sell 1 to 4 million iPads in 2010.  Actual sales registered 15 million iPads making it the fastest growing consumer product of all time!

iPad Sales Momentum vs other Consumer Electronic Product Launches

iPad Sales Momentum vs other Consumer Electronic Product Launches

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year, the market expects Apple to sell 30 million iPad 2s rising to 60 million in 2014.

Apple will sell 60 Million iPads over the next 3 years

Apple will sell 60 Million iPads over the next 3 years

 

 

 

 

 

 

All this is good news for iGlimpse because people are spending money on iPhone and iPad Apps. In fact,  the average top-25 iPad app ($5.03) costs 3X more than an iPhone app ($1.55) and there are 65,000 iPad apps on the App Store.

Now consider this: there are over 100 million books referenced on Amazon. So you can see the growth potential.

4. Soon everyone who wants an iPhone will own one

Apple has just launched a series of TV ads in the US that are aimed at people who’ve never owned an iPhone. The ads explain how users can use their iPod on their phone. They are selling the $49 version of the iPhone 3GS at AT&T (T).

Apple’s future pricing strategy can only go one way and this will be a major threat to Android because unlike Apple, Android users have little brand loyalty and will quickly upgrade to an iPhone when they can afford one. Watch this space as the Apple competitive pricing battle gets underway.

5. More Apple mobile devices means more Apple iPhone / iPad Apps

In January 2010 Apple announced that 3 billion apps had been downloaded in the 18 months following the launch of the AppStore. ABI Research predicts growth in App downloads is set to continue over the next 4-5 years:

IOS Downloads will grow

IOS Downloads will grow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Each IOS mobile device has an average 60 Apps on it

In January Asymco.com calculated that 60 apps have been downloaded for every iOS device. This means that IOS Apps reached 10 billion downloads in less than half the time it took songs to reach the same number on iTunes (31 vs 67 months.)

Perhaps more amazing still is the same study shows apps to be running at above 30 million downloads per day with downloads increasing in line with the growth in the installed base of devices which is increasing at the same rate.

7. iPhone and iPad users love Sport and The Great Outdoors

Sport is a healthy category as this app category graph from Nielsen shows.

Sport: a healthy category with iPhone / iPad users

Sport: a healthy category with iPhone / iPad users

The data justifies our decision to start developing apps for the leisure marine sector where we found few good apps being offered and where we now have 3 water sport apps in development and ready for sponsorship ahead of the UK Olympic Games in 2012.

 

 

 

 

8. Chinese consumers love Apple

At iGlimpse, we’re also focused on geographic territories, something our international sales and marketing experience taught us whilst working at Dorling Kindersley.

China has huge potential for IOS apps in the categories we’re developing such as Golf.

We’re confident Chinese people will adopt iPhones and iPads because Apple’s four Chinese stores have the highest traffic and highest revenue of any stores across the entire company including New York, London, Paris and Tokyo. The future for Apple, IOS, iGlimpse and its brand partners looks bright.

We’re interested in hearing from brands with a stake in the outdoor leisure sector seeking ways to enhance their customer experience and capitalise on mobile app marketing.

Get in touch by visiting our website or, if you’d like to read the business case to publishing iPhone and iPad apps click here.

 

 

 

Posted in App Development, Apple IOS, Marketing, New Product Development, Technology, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The new rules of digital publishing

Posted on March 3, 2011 by stephen bateman

Perspectives for authors in the post digital age- welcome to disruption – a talk I gave to an international audience of cross-media professionals in March 2011. Inspirations for this talk were Simon Waldman, Seth Godin, Forrester and the talented entrepreneurs breaking with old models and pioneering the new rules of digital publishing.

Perspectives for authors in the post digital age
View more presentations from stepbate.

Posted in Business Models, Business Rewiring, Community, Community Engagement, eBooks, Leadership, Social Media, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Less is more: how a tighter focus can improve business bottom line in 2011

Posted on January 9, 2011 by stephen bateman
Less is more: a strategy for sustainable growth

A focus on core, not more

A recent post by Julie Urlaub, Founder and Managing Partner of Taiga Company, entitled “What is the Best Top Growth Strategy for 2011?”, got me thinking hard about what constitutes a viable growth strategy for businesses in 2011.

And, based on my own experience of combining efficiencies, cost reductions and rapid, tangible results, the most effective growth strategy I can see for business in 2011 is a an even greater focus on achieving “more from less”.

This might seem like an oxymoron but its not. Growth in tough times can only reasonably be achieved by divesting poor performing activity and focusing harder on core activity. So, for instance, if you’re a book publisher publishing into a multitude of categories (say gardening, cookery, art, motoring and several others), it’s vital you recognise the categories in which you make and can sustain the biggest growth. Viewed from this lens, a publisher’s core activity is not publishing but being profitable in verticals.

Focusing in this way makes sense because in tough economic times consumers make better informed purchases, push aside mediocrity and only spend scarce cash on the most essential, best value products. That means fewer pounds chasing an oversupplied market. Hence, every business must reduce waste and focus on core activity, to be leaner, meaner less wasteful and more profitable organisations. That’s an economic, social and environmental reality. Any business leader who fails to drive this change is negligent.

So, how and where do you start? Here is a framework that has served me well:

  1. Figure our what works best, use internal and external data to identify your best drivers: best categories, communities, brands
  2. Crunch the numbers, figure out where a category or community focus will beget fastest/ best growth, do the same for the divest categories
  3. The devil’s in the detail. Getting more from less is brave; it means unifying and concentrating resources around best communities, brands, channels, platforms, markets, teams. If not planned from the market opportunity up, it can result in chaos and loss.
  4. When you’ve figured out the plan, be ready to tell a story that rallies the troops behind a clearly articulated vision which shows where the growth will come from and how this future-proofs the business.
  5. Communicate, communicate, communicate, again and again, across every level of the business. Meet people collectively, individually, in teams to drive the message home and get the vision understood, shared, advocated.
  6. Put your best people on your biggest opportunities. This process is an aggressive reshuffle that puts the strongest people in the most influential roles.
  7. Everyone must be ready to stretch like elastic bands as the business adjusts and transitions. Night and day jobs will be the norm as teams start to implement the change. It’s leaderships role to ensure the resources are managed and the elastic fibre in the business does not overstretch and break. This is the hardest part and success relies on every individual person knowing exactly what is required of them. This relies on everyone having a granular understanding of their individual goals dovetail and join up with the bigger collective and team goals. The people closest to the customer groups need to be given autonomy and control to push and pull the levers of growth. Leadership must distribute leadership that cuts across departmental boundaries. People must be empowered to make business decisions.
  8. The plan needs to deliver on the planned “quick wins” which reward, empower and build successful teams.

Getting more from less in a world in which resources are scarce and globalisation is intensifying the need for sustainability is a very special achievement and it requires very special people to drive it. When performed properly, a focus on more from less benefits three bottom lines of Profit, Planet and People. Unfortunately, any rightsizing will result in lost positions and casualties, but this strategy that puts the interests of community and business first, re-energises those fortunate enough to stay in the organisation with a renewed sense of purpose and focus.

These are challenging times and I empathise with those leading transformational change in 2011.

About the author: Stephen Bateman advises a number of special interest publishers on their digital strategy. He is Director of Interactive Marketing for the 60 Mile Publishing Company and co-founder of iGlimpse Limited, a digital media startup serving the needs of outdoor enthusiasts. If you’d like to discuss how your special interest publishing business could improve its profitability, please contact us for an initial chat.

Posted in Business Models, Business Rewiring, Community, Leadership, Marketing | Leave a comment

2010 year in review – 9 things that made it special despite recession and austerity

Posted on December 29, 2010 by stephen bateman
Concentricdots Stephen Bateman A Capstone Year

2010: A Capstone Year

A whizz through my 2010 calendar has reminded me just how busy 2010 was: a year of change; a creative year; a fulfilling year but, above all, a year of transition.

2010 was shaped by four things: curiosity, independence, connection and reinvention. So here, in reverse order, and with no further ado, are the 9 capstone elements that, despite the austerity of recession, made 2010 a very rewarding year for me.

1. GreenWise®

In December I joined GreenWise, a specialist online publisher that focuses on helping UK SMEs “green” their operations and reduce their carbon footprint. The business, founded by Louise and Mark Fewell, serves the needs of four distinct business segments and has established itself as a premiere destination for “green” content, providing trustworthy information and resources to a growing tribe of subscribers and advertisers.

GreenWise is a pure digital player that relies on an integrated mix of online digital media to grow and sustain its online customer communities. The challenge in 2011 will be to diversify the revenue streams, leveraging its Audience, Brand, Content and Data revenues by further engaging and sustaining its community of users.

2. iGlimpse™

The decision in November to start iGlimpse came from the conviction that a proven segment of lifelong learners in the outdoor leisure and pursuit sectors could be served with better media. Hence, the content we will create at iGlimpse will inspire, instruct and interface with outdoor enthusiasts providing them with an entertaining experience on their handheld devices.

The overall aim is to quicken an enthusiast’s ability to master their chosen outdoor recreational activity wherever they are and whenever they need quality instruction. iGlimpse will combine new media technologies with the wisdom of leading outdoor experts to create rich bundles of convergent media that instruct, entertain and make a tangible difference to the lives of those seeking progression and proficiency. Making all this happen for time-poor and mobile enthusiasts will be a key focus for me and my business partner, Simon Jollands, in 2011. Website under construction.

3. Like Minds

Like Minds is an international community of business leaders, entrepreneurs and creative thinkers which emphasises innovation, learning, connecting and engagement on subject digital. There’s an annual conference in Exeter in the autumn. This year the conference theme was “creation and curation”.

The workshops and plenaries were blistering, the participants were tropical and the gathering of like minded people was thermogenic.

The founders Scott Gould and Drew Ellis have built a community with attitude. And, just as it did in 2010, Like Minds promises to float my boat again in 2011. Follow #likeminds on Twitter and see what I had to say about the 6 magic ingredients of the 2010 autumn event in a video blog here.

4. CAM / CIM Diploma in Managing Digital Media

The best way to learn about digital media is to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in. But I’m a great believer in structure and discipline, which is why, in September, I enrolled on the CAM diploma course in digital media management as a postgrad professional student to undertake four modules covering digital campaigns, branding, online advertising and public relations. The course provides a solid framework and objectives to underpin strategic and operational work undertaken in the field. Studying the course and working on assignments whilst managing and implementing digital media campaigns will help me consolidate and strengthen my digital marketing and media competencies in 2011. All essential to doing battle in the ensuing digital media landscape.

5. Idio

I can’t talk about 2010 without mentioning Andrew Davies, Ed Barrow and the great team I’ve had the pleasure of working with at idio. This is a truly passionate and talented team of young semantic experts. They develop some great semantic software and they’ve been an inspiration to work with. We’ve got some exciting publishing projects in development and I’m really looking forward to my collaboration with Andrew, Ed and the rest of the idio team in 2011.

6. Micro-blogging

Twitter has undoubtedly been a major focal point for me in 2010. Whilst only starting to gain popularity in the UK, the micro-blogging platform has allowed me to connect to +250 of the most influential thought-leaders in my industry. It’s been like drinking from a fire-hose and I can genuinely say that without Twitter I wouldn’t have discovered nor assimilated 30% of what I’ve learned in the last six months, since June. Twitter has not just allowed me to connect with people in the virtual online world but to meet extraordinary people “irl” (tweet speak for “in real life.”)

My use of Twitter has been professionally focused and this has allowed me to build a tribe of  just under 250 followers without distraction. Combined with this blog and my professional LinkedIn groups, Twitter has been a force unlike any other. In 2011 I will align my use of Twitter to ensure my content remains relevant and authoritative.

7. Professional Networking

I joined LinkedIn over 3 years ago and I have consistently updated and embellished my profile. And I’m so glad I maintained my profile because no other social networking platform has been more valuable in helping me connect with my primary network and extend my reach into my secondary and tertiary networks than LinkedIn.

I’ve discovered numorous specialist LinkedIn groups that have been powerful and engaging platforms to bring me into contact with people who share the same interests but who have different perspectives. The quality of interaction has varied widely from group to group with the best groups hosting open-ended posts to stimulate discussion and give users room to add their perspective. The best moderators have also thanked people for their participation to the group.

8. Blogging

Joe Pulizzi (Junta42 and CMI) famously said “you can’t be taken seriously in social media unless you have a robust, consistent blog”. I’ve loved blogging and whilst my Google analytics won’t break olympic records, the results I’ve achieved across different metrics (unique visitors, individual page views, average time on site, new and repeat visitors) have all made my blogging activity worthwhile, providing me with a hub toward which I can point my readers whenever I discuss a subject dear to me.

I’ll admit I’ve sometimes struggled with the time and frequency of blogging but, through perseverance, I’ve found my voice and built my authority independently of any publishing corporation. Having my blog has forced me to be analytical and to ask questions about the changing nature of publishing. I know from direct feedback that my recommendations haven’t been in vain and that I’ve helped others make sense of sometimes complex challenges.

Above all blogging has given me a platform to engage in meaningful conversations with industry colleagues, prospects and customers, establishing my credibility and authority whilst having fun.

In 2011 I’ll be committing to blogging better and, dare I say, more often.

9. Family and Friends

Other highlights (non-professional) of 2010 include Louis, my eldest son, achieving the “A” Level examination grades he needed to read International Politics at Aberystwyth University (August), My mother’s 70th birthday on the Isle of Wight (March), A touring holiday with my wife and boys on the Basque Riviera (August), two magnificent stage performances managed by my daughter at the Bath Ustinov Theatre and my gruelling GR20 high altitude trek across the Corsican Alps (June). Oh, and the iPhone and iPad weren’t bad either ;-)

Happy New Year All

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