6 New Tools for Audience Development

When I was in high school, I cleaned and maintained a health-care facility. I was a janitor. But I called myself a “maintenance engineer,” because it sounded a lot better when I talked to girls. You’ve probably noticed that circulation people throughout the publishing industry are now all referring to their positions as “audience development.” Are they just trying to sweeten vinegar, or does this signify some larger change in the industry? Probably a little of both, but there is no denying that some big changes are happening in the circulation … um … audience-development world. In fact, no other area of strategic media operations is experiencing the same kind of important and sustained change. This is especially true for business-to-business, controlled-circulation companies. Once merely a direct-marketing operation pushing out cover wraps, e-mail blasts and direct mail, audience development now encompasses webcast recruitment, online-traffic generation, co-registration, lead generation, conference and trade-show recruitment, as well as managing integrated audience databases. It used to be that a decent audit statement was good enough, but now the audience-development group must juggle their efforts between multitudes of distinctive products. The changes are even more profound than that because marketing has changed. Now, the quality and quantity of their audience are the crucial elements of success for every media company.Changes in the MarketThe Internet is spoiling marketers. The performance metrics for online campaigns are available almost instantaneously. I can buy a half-dozen keywords on a search engine this morning, and by this afternoon, I’ll know which performed the best and how many sales I’ve made. Based on the cost of the words and number of clicks, I can calculate a return on my marketing investment. Similar instantaneous results are available from online banner campaigns as well. Marketers want these kinds of ROI metrics from all media products. They want to know how many products they have sold because of the ad they ran in your magazine or the booth they bought at your conference. They want you to tell them who is ready to buy their products, so they can present them with an offer. They want sales leads.Attracted by quality content that helps them make intelligent buying decisions, those leads are visiting your Web sites, coming to your events and reading your magazines. They are your audience, and the relationship is explicit. You give them valuable content that informs them of the relevant changes in the industry, and they give you information about themselves, their company and their purchasing plans. It is audience development’s job to collect that information and find its value. In this way, media companies can adapt to the changing marketplace and become marketing-solutions companies that connect buyers with sellers.As marketers are looking for performance metrics for their campaigns, media leaders are looking for fresh ways to interact with their audiences. Subscribers and attendees have always been the lifeblood of any publishing company, but they are even more so today because advertising customers are demanding it. What’s the Difference Between Circulation and Audience Development?Circulation is a direct-marketing function aimed at attracting subscribers to a print product; rate-base targets and audit statements measure success. Audience development is holistic; it incorporates event recruitment, online-traffic generation and lead generation. The essential component of audience recruitment is no longer direct marketing; it is audience interaction. Publishers must capitalize on every audience interaction, but they must do so carefully and thoughtfully without damaging the relationship. This means being sensitive to spam and privacy issues, and being respectful of each audience member. Once you know valuable information about them, you must not bombard them with hundreds of offers; you must use that information to help them solve problems. Treat them like good friends; their trust in your brands is your biggest asset.The Integrated DatabaseThe most important tool for a successful audience-focused media company is a centralized and integrated audience database that unites the entire audience in a single place. This database should include magazine and newsletter subscribers, Web registrants, as well as online and face-to-face event attendees. Ideally, media companies should collect three types of data to populate these integrated databases: behavioral, transactional and demographic. Behavioral data is the click-trail of where a registered visitor goes on your Web sites. What articles are they reading? What ads are they clicking on? And what offers do they respond to? You will need to register and cookie your visitors to accomplish this. Transactional data tracks the products the audience member interacts with: John Smith is a magazine subscriber, an e-newsletter subscriber, and he attended four webcasts. And, finally, demographic data includes the basics: name, title, company, address, industry, purchasing power, etc.Combining data from a myriad of disparate sources is not easy, but that is what you need to do to build this database. Many fulfillment houses are beginning to understand this need and service the industry, but it takes technical knowledge and collaborative skills to make it happen. These skills are much different than what used to be needed in circulation.Once you’ve built a companywide, integrated audience database, what are you going to do with it? Target offers to relevant people, of course. But more broadly, it should inform every interaction you have with an audience member. An effort should be made to segment and score the audience by value, and treat them accordingly. You can score an audience any number of ways: by whom your advertisers most want to reach; by who has fulfilled the most transactions, or by who lives closest to your next event. Your most valuable audience members may be in the C-suite, or in charge of a huge purchasing budget. You should treat them a lot better than the junior manager or wannabe consultant.What Are the New Tools of Audience Development?All this theory is wonderful to think about, but what specific things can media companies do to begin moving toward becoming an audience-focused marketing solutions company? Here are the new tools of audience development.1. Dynamic FormsThe migration from paper to online qualification forms is complete, but most online forms are just a replication of the paper form on a Web site. This is a critical mistake. Once you have enticed a potential audience member to come to the qual form, you must make the most of that interaction. This is best done with dynamic, decision-tree forms. These forms are created on the fly, as they generate relevant questions based on the previous answers. So, when someone tells you they work for the U.S. Government, don’t ask them how many employees are in their company. Instead, ask them what agency they are part of. Dynamic forms are smart, and they have the power to describe the individual in a more precise way.2. Intelligent Cross-PromotesIs that webcast viewer interested in the e-newsletter? Is the magazine subscriber interested in attending the conference? Each time an audience member accepts an offer, another relevant product should immediately be offered. You have them engaged, now offer them something else—and make sure it is relevant. Cross-promotions are a fundamental way to capitalize on every audience interaction. Based on what you know about the individual, every effort should be made to keep them engaged and offer them products that are relevant to them.3. Co-RegistrationCo-registration is the act of offering new products to existing visitors to the qual form. The ability to quickly add new questions and offers to an online form is crucial. Commonly, publishers will offer e-newsletter subscriptions to magazine subscribers. But remember, this is valuable real estate. It can be sold to advertisers at a premium, and is a prime area for lead generation. For example, offer a sponsored white-paper download, and all those who accept could be considered a lead for the sponsor.4. Gradual Data CollectionTraditional circulation asks subscribers to update their information once a year, and often it takes more than 10 minutes to fill out the qualification form. Gradual data collection is the process of asking one or two questions with each interaction. One day, someone might want to download a white paper. First, ask a couple questions. A few weeks later, they want access to premium content; just a few more questions, and, before you know it, you have a profile.5. Intelligent TelemarketingPhone communications have the greatest opportunity to ruin an audience relationship. But they are also the most powerful way to strengthen and solidify it. We all know about receiving annoying telemarketing calls, but imagine if the editor-in-chief called the 50 most valuable audience members twice a year to talk about their current challenges, renew their subscriptions or invite them to the conference.6. E-NewslettersAre they editorial or marketing? They are both, and they represent some of your most engaged audience customers. Testing and tracking promotions on e-newsletters is critical. All these tools are heading toward something I call the Holy Grail. But, really, it’s more like an audience concierge service. Media companies should soon be able to suggest and provide personal content to audience members based on their individual profiles. I’m not sure when audience development will get there, but when we do, we will have earned our new name.Bill Amstutz is an audience development and strategic media operations contractual engineer. (He’s a consultant.) He is also the Chair of the 2008 Publishing Business Conference and Expo.

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6 New Tools for Audience Development

Bill Amstutz

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