The most successful publishers we know have identified five major goals that will bring their media business to the next stage of success. Naturally, they probably have hundreds of goals across their organization, but these big-picture goals have the end result of increasing revenues, building bigger teams, and improving the quality of any publishing and media company.
If you are in a stage of decline or stagnant growth with your publication, here are the five major goals you might consider setting for yourself over the next five years.
- Increase the number of platforms you publish on from web and magazine, to web, magazine, digital magazine, to video and more.
- Increase the number of digital products you publish, to create more passive income for your organization.
- Increase the amount of traffic to your site through search engine optimization, to get your publication, products and assets in front of a wider audience.
- Grow your email list by giving away free information, and build a loyal audience that wants to buy your products.
- Increase revenues in increments from 10% to 25% to 50% and even double or triple your revenues using all the strategies above.
I wouldn’t recommend waiting to start accomplishing these goals. There are other publishers out there who are already on the ball, and who may be your competitors.
For example, there once was a flagging publishing operation run by the nonprofit American Ceramic Society. Circulation of their two print magazines, whose revenues were intended to promote the society’s educational mission, had stagnated. The internet seemed to hold promise for shoring up and maybe even improving the operations revenues, but the publisher just wasn’t sure how to get started. They came to us for help and with the five goals above in mind, and we helped them:
- Increase the number of publishing platforms from one, the existing print magazines, to seven, including app editions of the legacy magazines, a web portal, a free email newsletter, free reports, DVDs and books
- Increase the number of products from 20 to more than 100
- Grow their site to 150,000 unique visitors per month
- Increase internet visibility from nothing to 26%
- Increase annual revenues from $2 million to $3.5 million today
- Transform their stagnant growth to niche dominance!
Best of all, this transformation happened almost immediately after the launch of their Mequoda System website. Says former Managing Director Sherman Hall of the early days: “We saw our product sales double in the first year because of the email list growth and online visibility we didn’t even know we were missing. We had the mistaken perception that everyone in our field already knew about us. Sometimes it’s good to be wrong.”
If you like what you’ve read so far, allow me to explain how it all works, and how you can become the next multiplatform publishing rock star.
When you become a Mequoda Gold Member, you begin a transformational journey to multiplatform publishing success with your own custom content management and marketing system. It all starts with Mequoda’s experienced planning team working with you to create a detailed, bulletproof five-year business plan – a comprehensive map that takes you successfully into the 21st century.
We have a very specific method for leveraging content to drive website traffic, engage an audience, and monetize that content. We will serve as your coach as we teach you the Mequoda Method; give you the tools, analytics, and best practices you need to succeed; and cheer as the profits roll in.
The complete business plan and 5-year financial model that we build for you will leave you with much less doubt about your future. From there, we can turn your plan into reality by building a customized Mequoda System which includes strategic training for you and your whole team. Schedule a 30-minute call with our consulting team to ask your most pressing questions.
