Quartz’s take on email newsletter publishing makes it a pivotal part of operation; plus, events key resurgence for B2B magazines
Email newsletter publishing might seem like an antiquated part of multiplatform publishing, but as we’ve shown – and told – time and time again, that notion could not be farther from the truth. Emails give you reach, a way to repurpose content, a place to experiment, and a chance to funnel and convert consumers whose loyalty has been earned with a free quality product.
We’re not the only ones who feel this way, of course. FolioMag.com covers Quartz’s dedication to email newsletter publishing, along with stories on HMP’s pivot to events production and the latest mergers & acquisitions. Let’s get started this week!
Quartz’s Philosophy on Email Newsletter Publishing
Quartz’s email newsletter publishing at the Cannes Lions 2016 shows that the multiplatform publishing tool is still a major contributor for media companies when done right, FolioMag.com reports.
“To me, it’s the best kind of media partnership. We’re three and a half years old, and for a growing global brand, exposure at such a premiere event provides great value for us. But I think what we’ll also be able to do is provide great value to the attendees and the event itself by doing what we do really well, keeping them informed in intelligent ways. We thought that an email product shouldn’t just be headlines to drive you back to the website. Rather, we asked, ‘What would we want from an email product? How could an email we receive every morning make us smarter?'” Quartz President and Publisher Jay Lauf told Greg Dool.
“It’s very deliberately user-first. A lot of publishers give lip service to that, but don’t really deliver on it. We put ourselves in the shoes of the busy reader that we serve, who may not want an app or a newsletter that’s just another marketing vehicle to keep people inside the walled garden. It’s about making our readers smarter. If that means linking out to other sources, we believe that will come back to us in terms of loyalty. … It comes to them. Our readers are often busy, they might often be distracted, they can often be regimented in their schedules, so the fact that you’ve got something you can rely on, that comes in at 6 a.m. every day. It’s at a time that it allows you to get smart before your day gets going.”
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“One of the things we felt was an innovation was actually having human beings write and edit and curate the Daily Brief. Rather than have it be sort of an automated scrape of headlines that you throw into an email, our writers and editors would put a lot of thought into things like the synopses – how do I make somebody really smart on this subject without them having to click through if they don’t want to?”
HMP Goes From Print to Digital + Publisher Events
Highly recommended interview with a publishing executive making the kind of moves required to redefine magazine brands looking to generate more revenue.
“In 2010, we made a strong decision to pivot toward live events. We wanted to diversify revenue. The print business has been relatively stable, but we wanted to reduce it as a percentage of our revenue. We had a core competency in events. For example, we are the organizers of the largest wound care meeting in the world, the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care, the spring edition of which will mark its 30th year in 2017,” HMP Chairman and CEO Jeff Hennessy told FolioMag.com.
“We knew that was an area in which we could survive and thrive. The event business is a wonderful business. It’s proven, well-established, and it’s got its own ecosystem. It’s wonderfully diversified when you think about attendee revenue, sponsorship revenue, advertising revenue, exhibitor revenue — and, in the education business, you also have grant support. Overall, it fit very well with our core competency. We made a strong pivot towards an events-first focus. In 2010, we were probably somewhere in the neighborhood of about 60 percent print. Today, we’re more in the range of 30 percent print. Fifty percent of our business is live events, 30 percent is print and about 20 percent is digital, so that’s been a major shift for us.”
Mergers & Acquisitions: Traders Magazine, Harris Publications
Markets Media has bought Traders Magazine from Source Media, FolioMag.com reports. In addition, Athlon Media Group/Parade has acquired niche publisher Harris Publications, according to Folio.
Do your email newsletter publishing efforts contribute meaningfully to your magazine revenue? Tell us about it in the comments!
To read more about email newsletter publishing and other industry news, visit FolioMag.com.
