Earlier this year, Money-Media launched Health Payer Specialist, targeting health insurance carriers—many of whom are paying the bills for COVID-19 medical treatment. “On March 3, we announced that our free beta test was ending at the end of the month,” said Dan Fink, managing director of Money-Media. “The next week, everything seemed to change overnight and the pandemic was suddenly a real thing. We thought this was going to scupper our product launch, but we actually saw amazing results. We brought on 20+ corporate licenses during the month of March.”
Fink will be shedding brighter light on this on Tuesday, June 2, in a SIPA 2020 Virtual Conference session appropriately titled Growing Your Audience in the Time of Pandemic. Joining him will be Stephanie Williford, CEO of EB Medicine. When EB Medicine put COVID-19 content in front of the paywall, website traffic exploded (153% increase) and a modest increase in subscriptions (9%) followed. “We also think the goodwill and brand awareness we’re generating now will pay off in the long run,” she said.
That is just one session in an amazing two-day array that SIPA is presenting. Yes, it’s virtual, and you will not be able to talk in-person with friends and colleagues, but all the other advantages—learning, asking questions, hearing solutions, following up quickly—will be there, minus transportation, hotel and food costs—and the greater time away from the office.
Here are more takeaways:
Idea sharing. “The hallmarks of the SIPA community, to me, are community and idea-sharing,” said Elizabeth Petersen, product director for Simplify Compliance and chair of the conference. “And we’re doubling down on those themes with this year’s virtual event. You’ll find a lot of realness, rawness and hope with this year’s sessions. Our speakers will be discussing challenges that existed pre-pandemic and ones that have been introduced with COVID. Most importantly, these presentations are going to be solutions-focused, and attendees will walk away with ideas they can implement immediately.” Petersen will also present a session titled Mastering Memberships.
Revenue strategies. Industry Dive COO Meg Hargreaves will be co-presenting a session titled Content Licensing: Alternative Data 101. Alternative data is more than financial market-drive pricing data; it can include structured data that specialized publishers are already collecting. Here you will grasp the basics behind alternative data to learn if there may be licensing-related revenue opportunities within your own business and content assets.
Inspiration. “When it comes to innovating, it just doesn’t happen magically,” Day 1 keynote speaker Don Harkey told me. “It’s a creative process. You can’t do that on command. So you try to look for opportunities. What do you really know well? What do you do that’s unique? What do you do best? Remind yourself of who you really are. Don’t just talk to customers. Listen. Have conversations. And you can do that now. Collect information. Then if there’s a circle of what you do well and where they need help, see where they intersect.”
Platforms. If you’re like many businesses, LinkedIn is the go-to social media for your customers, and have they been in the news of late! Last week, LinkedIn launched a live streaming events platform that combines existing resources to help companies reconnect with their customers and communities. Steve Kearns, marketing leader, social media for LinkedIn, will co-present a session titled All Things LinkedIn: Sales, Marketing and Content Strategies. They are also launching a new Polls feature—something so many companies are doing now. Michelle Peña, senior editor, Business Management Daily, joins Kearns.
Business value. Every conference needs an all-star panel, and SIPA 2020 has at least one. The session is Hallmarks of Lasting Business, and the panel includes Stephanie Eidelman, president & CEO, insideARM and the iA Institute, insideARM LLC; John McGovern, CEO and owner, Grimes, McGovern & Associates; and Caysey Welton, content director, Folio:, Access Intelligence. Petersen will moderate. “Nothing takes the place of face-to-face,” Petersen said, “but I truly believe that this is the next best thing.”
See the full schedule and registration here.
