Take bold action and lead with courage. That was the key message from the Vendasta Media Summit 2023, which brought together leaders in publishing for a discussion on how the media industry can adapt and thrive in the digital era.
Traditionally, the publishing industry has been known for its conservative approach, often resisting change and defending the status quo. However, this approach is unsustainable, as falling readership and revenues for print continue to be a reality.
With audiences rapidly shifting to digital platforms, it is crucial for publishing leaders to take risks and adapt to changing reader and advertising preferences. The good news is that it doesn't have to be expensive or complicated.
By taking a staged approach, mastheads, magazines and other print publications can incorporate digital revenues into their current strategies without investing in expensive systems or hiring large teams of digital talent. The goal is not to replace traditional revenues, but rather to augment it with cost-effective, high-margin digital services to create a stronger overall revenue mix.
Read on to discover actionable steps from each of the thought leaders who presented at the conference to help your publishing business thrive in the digital era.
Peter Lamb, founder of Lamb Consulting, highlights the need for leaders in the publishing industry to take action and shift their revenue focus from print to digital.
According to Lamb, only 15-20 percent of organizations have successfully adapted to the digital age, while the vast majority struggle with issues such as lack of digital skills and knowledge, lack of alignment and budget constraints. In this regard, he calls on publishing leaders to step up to the plate.
“What are you doing to create a digital mindset in your company? You cannot control the pace of technology but you can control what you do inside your organization,” he says.
To tackle these issues, Lamb suggests empowering employees to think like customers and come up with new digital products. He recommends forming a separate digital portion of a publisher, hiring people from outside the industry for fresh perspectives, and implementing new incentive structures such as double commissions for selling digital.
Lamb says that the days of relying on full page run of paper (ROP) advertising are “over” and advertisers today want a mix of traditional and digital solutions to reach their target markets.
“It’s all about making riches from niches. First it was the kids’ Happy Meal, and now McDonald’s has introduced the Adult Happy Meal. It combines different concepts and makes it easy for the customer, so I challenge your organizations to ensure you package print and digital,” Lamb says.
According to Mike Blinder, publisher of Editor & Publisher, the days of sales representatives simply selling ads in transaction-based settings are over.
Instead, publishers must focus on content marketing as part of their overall digital mix and embrace solutions-based selling to help advertisers cut through the clutter.
He emphasizes the importance of "borrowed trust" by highlighting the advertiser's customers and using testimonials to promote their products or services. To achieve this, marketing teams should blend the brand of the publication and the advertiser to create articles that showcase the advertiser's business and how it helps their customers.
Blinder recommends two revenue-generating initiatives:
"I'm surprised more companies don't do this. The advertiser gets a list of engaged prospects from the webinar, it’s lead generation on steroids. The top categories to target right now are health, home improvement, financial services and real estate,” he says.
Weighing in on their climb to becoming leaders in digital transformation, President of Madison Media Partners Ross McDuffie and Senior Vice President of Broadcast Digital for Salem Media Group Jamie Cohen also joined for the inaugural event.
Part-owned by Lee Enterprises, Madison Media Media Partners’ publications draw in more than 21 million page views per month, reaching 76 percent of the adult audience in their market.
“We have to act with urgency. We have to understand the media consumption habits of the readers and our audience as they change because they change quickly. We have to be able to pivot and respond to those changing media consumption behaviors,” McDuffie says.
“We also have to ensure that our tech is best-in-class, that the platforms we are using are reliable and friendly. Because of the transformational nature of this industry, we don’t have the luxury of getting transformation wrong.”
Salem Media Group owns and operates 101 radio stations across the United States with their digital footprint drawing 170 million page views per month on average.
“Our audience has never been bigger. People have never been consuming more news, they just do it in different ways,” Cohen says.
“There is a benefit of being on the tail end in a broadcaster or publisher who is looking at [digital transformation] today. Don’t hit the same traps or landmines that we’ve hit. Be smart enough to know that the icebergs are out there, and navigate around them to make up for your time lost.”
With more than 40 years of combined experience in the field, these pioneers aligned on three key themes:
See the full interviews with Peter, Mike, Jamie and Ross at the Vendasta Media Summit 2023 web page.
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Vishal Teckchandani is a senior writer with Vendasta.
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