AIN

How a Small Publisher Used First-Party Data To Scale Its Reach 50x

by Media

Last month Penske Media, which owns Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and Vibe, announced a new data services division called Atlas Data Studio that creates first-party data segments for marketers to target ads to specific customers.

Unlike third-party data, which is information collected by an entity that does not have a direct relationship with the user, first-party data is information collected directly from your customers. The Atlas Studio takes data points like subscriptions, membership data and virtual event sign-ups to develop information around known users.

The tidal wave of data privacy regulation (CASL, GDPR, California Data Privacy and a slew of others) combined with major tech platforms like Apple and Google abandoning third-party cookies lead many to predict the decline of third-party data and power coming back to publishers who can use that first-party data to sell high-value audiences and scale their reach beyond their own websites and communities.

While Penske joins a list of heavy hitters such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes and Bloomberg in building out first-party data solutions, the opportunity is open to publishers of all sizes, provided they make the not-insurmountable investment in a tech stack that both organizes the data and makes it actionable.

“With the demise of the third-party cookie, resources are going to shrivel up and disappear,” says AnnMarie Wills, CEO and president at first-party data specialists Leverage Lab. “Organizations with deep, rich, organized and accessible first-party data will be in the catbird’s seat.”

Not Just Retargeting
Legal publisher ALM in 2019 introduced Audience First, an advertising platform that targets decision makers and influencers through first-party data and self-reported demographic data. They then use advanced ad technology to drive those messages to audience segments on both ALM channels and beyond, including social media and other websites.

ALM is quick to point out that this is different from retargeting. “Retargeting allows for an anonymous user to be followed based on cookies,’” says Matt Weiner, president of marketing services at ALM. “If I am identifying a specific individual and targeting that individual, you can see where the value starts to increase.”

How Aviation International News Scaled Its Reach 50X
Scale has always been a challenge for B2B media, which typically serves high value but niche audiences. Today’s digitally-focused marketers are demanding both scale and ROI without any wasted spending.

“First-party data is not new for B2B publishers,” says David Leach, COO of Aviation International News (AIN), which covers the aviation sector. “We’ve always tracked subscriptions and demographics with our print product. That is the same first-party data that we’re talking today but the tech stack and complexity have changed.”

With a traditional mix of print, websites and newsletters, AIN faces similar challenges to much of the B2B industry when it comes to serving digital marketers looking for reach and ROI.

“We could offer print but that includes many of the demographics they aren’t interested in specifically, and the ROI is difficult to show,” says Leach. “We could offer digital display or newsletter placement, and there is some demonstrable ROI but still a lot of unknown traffic. We could isolate our audience in CRM and target with direct email, but that could burn out our list. We could target content on our website but doing that at scale doesn’t work—it cuts our traffic and inventory too thin.”

Despite knowing more about its audience than ever before, AIN’s ability to productize this information at scale—the key part—was limited.

To jump that hurdle, AIN realized it needed to add a Customer Data Platform to the mix. Guided by Leverage Lab, AIN tapped Lytics as its CDP to an integrated tech stack that included HubSpot as digital CRM and Computer Fulfillment as print CRM.

“This brings together all our siloes of data,” says Leach. “Now what we can do is track that behavior pattern in our CRM—we have opens and clicks but also website behaviors like white paper downloads and webinar sign ups. It gives a much more robust look at our audience and brings all behaviors and activities into one profile.”

If AIN sold an advertiser on the magazines, it could target 5,600 names. With the addition of behavioral interest data, third-party lists and another 4,300 names from its other media brands, AIN can now offer a targeted audience on its own properties of more than 15,000.

AIN can then target its own readers and lookalike demographics with offsite display advertising on other websites and social media channels and drive those eyeballs back to its own brands. “We can increase our inventory by 50 times in terms of what we can offer a client,” says Leach.

Selling Audience, Not Product
AIN has shifted to selling audience, not just selling product. “That can be a hard thing for our sales staff to get their heads around but it’s incredibly powerful, especially with what marketers are asking for,” says Leach.  “This allows us to target audience at scale. In the old days, our ability to reach this audience on our own channels at scale would have been nearly impossible.”

Like ALM, Leach stresses that this approach is not retargeting or programmatic advertising.

“These are folks that we’ve identified with first-party data that we’ve collected forever—they’re a pilot for this company, flying out of this location, flying this type of aircraft and one day they might be interested in retrofitting that aircraft with a $500,000 avionics overhaul,” he adds.  “That’s who our advertisers want to reach. We’re just starting on this journey, but the results so far are very encouraging. Some of our clients are all about this while others are still doing all print. Either way, it’s still a great story to tell.”

Group of business people teamwork. Businessman and businesswoman. Business team

Associations Council Seeking Advisory Board Candidates

by MediaPress Release

Are you looking to make an impact within the association media community? Would you like to broaden your network while being recognized as a leader who helps to guide and grow the AM&P Network?

AM&P Network is seeking candidates to join the Associations Council Advisory Board (what you’ve known as AM&P is now the Associations Council), and this strategic group helps set the tone for the programming and initiatives that focus on association publishing. As part of the AM&P Network, a division of SIIA, the Associations Council offers programming, support and community to media professionals who work in associations. In addition, the broader AM&P Network serves media professionals across several sectors.

The ideal candidate to join the Associations Council Advisory Board:

  • Is strategically minded yet also ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work
  • Has a unique point of view toward the work of associations media professionals, across any discipline
  • Fosters inclusivity and community through information sharing and peer support
  • Is a champion for the media professional within the unique context of association publishing
  • Has a track record of volunteering to help shape our community by working on the annual conference, EXCEL awards, Lunch & Learns, or other Associations Council/legacy AM&P programs or publications.

The ACAB Nominating Committee is seeking candidates for five open seats—four seats for nonprofit association members, and one for an Industry Service Partner (ISP) member. Each seat serves a two-year term that will begin in June 2021 and end in June 2023.

We’re looking for leaders who are passionate about AM&P Network and making a difference in the media and publishing industry for associations. If that’s you, we hope you’ll apply for this exciting opportunity by April 12, 2021.

Questions? Don’t hesitate to contact Christina Folz, AM&P Immediate Past President and Nominating Committee Chair, at folzc@aauw.org or 703.785.0254.

We hope you will apply!

SIIA-amp-network-feature-photo

Introducing SIIA’s AM&P Network Equity Award!

by MediaPress Release

SIIA and the AM&P Network’s Associations Council are committed to anti-racism and elevating equity across the organization as well as the associations and industries we represent. We are proud to introduce a new award to highlight the outstanding work of our members who share this commitment.

Here are a few ideas to help spark your thinking—we can’t wait to hear what Association Council members have been working on!

  • Anti-racism. Did you launch an organization-wide statement committing to anti-racism?
  • Elevating equity. Maybe you initiated an equity webinar or podcast series.
  • Serving your members in the area of DEI. Are you utilizing your organization’s blog to share knowledge on DEI with your members?
  • Making regular progressive change toward DEI. Do you have a new member council that addresses DEI?
  • Improving diversity and inclusion performance within your staff and volunteer leaders. How is your own organization demonstrating that a DEI commitment is essential?

The inaugural Equity Award will honor an individual or team demonstrating significant progress and identifiable achievement toward efforts related to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Consistent, progressive change is essential when making an ongoing commitment to DEI.

Nominate yourself, a colleague, or a team of colleagues making strides to elevate equity within your organization or in the community that your organization serves.

Applications are open until May 3. Learn more and nominate here. There is no fee to enter, and the winner will be announced at the June 16-17 AM&P Annual Meeting: Reset, Reinvent, Revenue.

Questions?  Reach out to excelawards@siia.net.

Woman connecting with her computer at home and following online courses, distance learning concept

‘A Good Time to Try New Things’; Audio and Other New Content Can Build Value

by Media

How many of us thought that, before all this, working from home would yield less production? Guilty. But as we’ve adapted, the opposite has been true, raising the question: How do you turn off the work valve? Similarly, innovation has not suffered either. Recognition programs, new audio and virtual event content have all stayed strong, with exciting wrinkles added in.

“A crisis is no reason to stop innovation,” wrote Gideon Spanier, UK editor-in-chief of Haymarket Media’s Campaign, in an excellent post last week titled, “What We Have Learned at Campaign in a Year Since Lockdown.”

“In fact, it’s a good time to try new things: from a vertical, scrolling digital version of the monthly magazine (we tried it in June and July) to the launch of The Knowledge, our new, premium subscription service with in-depth forecasts about advertising trends and columns, and Advertising Intelligence, a data tracker for agency new business performance.”

Spanier also emphasized our humanity. “Kindness and collaboration matter,” he wrote. “A crisis brings a team closer and encourages collaboration, including between the editorial and commercial teams of Campaign”—always a good thing in our dispense-with-silos times.

Here are three other good ideas that I’ve seen lately—effective and replicable.

Use a recognition program to create ongoing relationships. The 2020 Emerging Leaders Class for ACSD (pictured), an association of educators at all levels, bursts with esteemed superintendents, teachers, founders (one for the Minorities Achieving College Success) and senior administrators. “Elevating educational leadership is the heart of what we do at ASCD, and our emerging leaders exemplify leadership at its best,” ASCD CEO and Executive Director Ranjit Sidhu said in a September 2020 press release.

“These educators strengthen our community and our organization. We are excited to welcome our new class and look forward to working together in the years to come.” What stands out here is that this is a partnership that will continue. ASCD Emerging Leaders are enrolled in the program for two years and invited to participate in multiple opportunities, including, when circumstances allow, attending the invitation-only Leader to Leader convening, writing for ASCD publications, and hosting the ASCD podcast. There are also avenues for leadership opportunities in the association. ASCD adds that “alumni from the program have become ASCD authors, faculty members and board members.” It’s a good way to increase diversity of all types.

Let your event sessions live on! Business Valuation Resources put on a very successful Virtual Divorce Conference in the fall. To add even more value to their event and keep within a reasonable daily view time, they added bonus sessions weeks before and after the main event. And then, at the end of the year, they posted a blog titled, “Top 10 Tips From the 2020 AAML/BV Virtual Divorce Conference.” (Apparently, judging by number 8, the cat that we all think is so cute to see in our staff meetings isn’t that great when testifying online.) “If you weren’t able to attend the virtual conference, you’re in luck! You can get the training pack of the entire 2020 AAML/BVR Virtual Divorce Conference here,” they write. We had two people ask about getting our BIMS 2020 conference sessions yesterday, so it’s worth the continued shout outs.

Develop audio content just for subscribers/members. The New Yorker has started a new show just for subscribers called New Yorker Live at 6-7 pm on certain evenings. Attendees don’t need to reserve tickets or register; they just sign in to newyorker.com/live before each event to view the live stream and participate in Q&A sessions. As someone who signs up for a lot of events, I appreciate how easy they make it. Initial guests this week include poet, activist, and author Amanda Gorman, Jeremy O. Harris, a celebrated playwright and producer, and tonight Rep. Joaquin Castro and the author Karla Cornejo Villavicencio. Of course, this is consumer, but 6-7 pm or 5-6 pm can be interesting times for B2B audio as well. I see so much audio and video content taking place during the day that I don’t have the time to access.

Spanier’s ending lines really hit home. “One final measure of this last, weird 12 months. I have not seen a single member of the Campaign editorial or commercial team face to face since the start of that first lockdown. It is exciting to think what all of us can achieve when we meet again.”

Very true. Our awesome IT guy Dan met me at the old office one day in January to help load me up for home. And I met another friend/colleague for pizza on a cold outdoor terrace at our favorite restaurant. That’s it for me. Hopefully, better—and more social—days lie ahead.

Woman connecting with her computer at home and following online courses, distance learning concept

COVID Coverage May Have Brought Them; What Else Will Retain Them?

by COVID 19Media

“You need to think, ‘What is it about the relationship that felt important?’” That came from Jeremy Gilbert, director of strategic initiatives for The Washington Post, when he spoke to my colleague Matt Kinsman back in May. It was in response to the new audience the Post was getting from their COVID coverage last year—and how to keep them. Here are some ideas we’ve come across.

“Many of the people taking our subscription offers today are taking them on annual plan,” Gilbert said in May. “So by April of next year, we would have had to make the case to them that their subscription is still valuable, even if we are in a happier, healthier position by then. So how do we transition people? If you are one of the almost a million people who subscribed to our COVID-19 email newsletter, what are the other newsletters that may be valuable to you? What kinds of coverage did you click through from the email newsletter and how can we use those interactions with our site or native apps to get you to stay?”

The American Press Institute just came out with a report on subscriber/customer retention. Let’s take some of their suggestions and others that I’ve come across for some updated best practices.

Identify subscribers who are at risk and act on it. The Arizona Republic found that almost half of its paid digital subscribers were not visiting their website—and that group accounted for 50% of subscription stops each month. They used analytics to guide content changes that cut the share of unengaged subscribers from 42% to 26%, increasing retention as a result. “We began providing reporters with data on which stories were catching the interest of our ‘zombies,’” two editors wrote in API’s Better News. “We have to start thinking outside the box with platforms and storytelling techniques… [Instagram keeps coming up.] What initially grabbed a zombie isn’t what will bring them back. We have to prove to them that we are worth their money.” That echoes what Gilbert said.

Promote your top writers/editors on social media. Rick Berke, executive editor of Stat, the health and life sciences publication launched by The Boston Globe in 2015, credits much of their subscriber success of the last year to infectious disease reporter Helen Branswell “who’s become something of a Twitter celebrity thanks to her salty experience and deft ability to parse wonky data points into plain English,” reports NiemanLab this week. Her Twitter following went from 43,000 to 200,000 by year’s end. As Gilbert suggested, Stat will try to transition readers as it (slowly) returns to writing about cancer, neuroscience and genomics, because 8 of their top 10 stories are still COVID-related.

Improve your welcome package. Almost everyone (90%) encourages subscribers to sign up for their newsletters and 78% send a welcome email. However, only some publishers send educational information about how to use their products (46%) or send personal notes from a person in the newsroom (43%). Even fewer send subscribers personalized messages telling them more about the content and services they’re using. “It is especially important for new subscribers who start on a short-term trial and will soon have a decision to make,” API writes.

Teach, celebrate and respond. Show your newsroom/editorial people how they can track the content metrics themselves so they can focus on the most popular interests. Then celebrate weekly retention wins to give concrete examples of how those metrics are helping. Also respond to any concerns/complaints on social media.

Provide volunteer leadership and other involvement opportunities. This is especially for younger members. “When it comes to building a sense of connectivity to an [organization] among next generation leaders, incorporating volunteer opportunities into the governance of your younger member groups is crucial,” ASAE writes.

Offer quizzes or puzzles, a question of the day or some sort of gamification. With Project Habit, The Wall Street Journal studied how different reader habits affected subscriber churn. It looked into how various products and subscriber actions affected customer retention during the first 100 days after a reader had signed up. They found that “playing a puzzle had a more dramatic impact on reader retention than other actions the team had been promoting.”

Keep your newsletters strong. “The newsletter is one of those things that is going to bump [up your retention rate],” said Ed Malthouse, Spiegel’s research director. “The way someone running a newsroom should think is as follows: ‘I’m going to need to devote a reporter to create that newsletter. What’s that worth?’ There are costs associated with having that reporter. Everybody who subscribes to the newsletter—let’s say they go from having 25 to 40 future payments. You can then do the math to determine whether it is a smart thing to do.’“