In 2012, the publishing industry will continue to shift manufacturing and distribution costs to the consumer, causing unit pricing to fall and publishers to introduce more premium editions
In a free market, economics is a predictable science. Over the next few years, consumers will snap up more than 300 million tablet computers. These network devices will link to media cloud servers via wireless connections that will also be paid for by the consumer. The ubiquitous Internet will also continue to flatten the media world, empowering users to shop for digital magazines, books and videos in a global marketplace.
These three market forces will place strong market pressure on publishers to reduce unit prices for digital magazines, books, videos and other information products. At a recent conference, one publisher referred to the upcoming decade as “Mr. Toad’s wild ride for publishers.” As I thought about his description, it occurred to me that the ride had the potential to be both fun and terrifying. Personally, I prefer fun. To avoid the terrifying experience that unexpected change often brings, might I suggest a five-year plan founded on economic reality?
Three keys to digital publishing fun
Embrace new channels: in a market where the cost of serving one more copy is near zero and there is downward pressure on unit price, increased volume is the key to having fun in the digital future. Now is the time to embrace the new digital channels being offered by retailers like Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and so many more to come. For the moment, consumers are embracing digital replicas the way you should be embracing digital channels. Both are key transitional strategies important to the long-term health of your media brands.
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Build subscription websites: perhaps the easiest way to combat downward unit pricing pressure, is to create premium editions of your best selling information products. A robust subscription website is a quick and easy way to offer your best customers added value via a searchable archive, bonus content, software tools, user interaction and other features and functions they find valuable. A subscription website also provides a media brand with a nexus for consumer interaction. The website is a place where those who purchase your magazines, books, and videos via a third-party retailer, can gather to build a relationship directly with your brand and brand community.
Build customer databases: if you find yourself selling more units to more people at lower prices, you should also build a database of customers that allows you to sell more products more efficiently to the people who already know and trust your media brand. Today, an open website community, e-mail newsletters, and social media represent the three best strategies for creating and maintaining positive relationships with a vast number of customers and prospects. The cost of building and maintaining these database marketing channels is remarkably low compared with the postal channels which are rapidly becoming relics of a paper centric world.
Trying to out run the Internet
A few years ago, a close colleague of mine told me he expected to retire before the age of tablet computing, digital product delivery, and global marketing took hold. It didn’t work out that way. Like many publishers who successfully make digital marketing a core competency, digital product distribution is now the biggest strategic challenge on the horizon. Unless you’re retiring in 2012, it would seem prudent to prepare now to have fun in the world where both digital marketing and digital publishing are the new normal.
If you have discovered additional ways to prepare your organization and its magazines, books, and videos for the realities of digital distribution, please share your story with me and other members of our community by posting a comment below.
