Consumers will respond to memberships over subscriptions and publishers will thrive with more integrated publishing systems
The one thing you can count on as a magazine publisher is that there will always be subscribers. Except that in 2016, they’d prefer you stop calling them that, because they’d prefer to be members who subscribe to your magazine. Surely there will be dramatic change in web standards over the next year, but our three predictions focus specifically on how to sell your magazine content online.
1. Consumers will prefer memberships over subscriptions.
Based on search trends, we’re finding that two years ago there were significantly more people searching for subscription websites than memberships, whereas those numbers have completely flipped. What this tells us is that consumers refer to the sites where they subscribe, view, and download their content as memberships.
As we evolve with the trends at Mequoda, we’re adapting our own collection of content models over 2016 with a new collection of membership websites:
- The Mequoda Portal Website
- The Mequoda Directory Website
- The Mequoda Freebie Website
- The Mequoda Community Website
- The Mequoda Multiplatform Magazine
- The Mequoda Multiplatform Newsletter
- The Mequoda Multiplatform Book
- The Mequoda Multiplatform Course
- The Mequoda Multiplatform Event
2. Publishers will offer more event memberships.
Because consumers are increasingly looking to be members, indicating they hold membership in high regard and enjoy being part of a club, we think event memberships will be more common. For example, attendees to our Mequoda CEO Institute become members once they graduate — with perpetual access to our team and resources. Attendees become members of the CEO Institute.
Robbie Kellman Baxter’s The Membership Economy supports this notion that people don’t want to subscribe to this one-time thing, or buy a one-time thing, they want to be part of a club. “Membership is a mindset,” she says. With publishers now offering webinars, events, forums, training, and certification, a membership mentality—and pricing—may make more sense than ever.”
3. Publishers will invest in dynamic content management systems.
On Monday Don based his 2016 predictions on the forward movement toward integration between all the systems publishers use. We think a smart content management system that integrates everything from content management, to email management to social media management, customer management, lead management, community management and everything else you need to be a successful publisher requires the work of a general contractor like Mequoda, however many publishers have not-so-successfully run off and tried to be Dr. Frankenstein with their content systems.
We think the best bet for publishers in 2016 is to invest in an all-inclusive, turn-key content, marketing, relationship, and analytics system. Learn more about the 17 benefits of upgrading to Mequoda’s fully integrated Haven Nexus Mequoda System. Haven Nexus includes 19 modules and more than 250 task managers, message templates, action trackers, marketing programs and analytic reports. It is fully integrated, documented and customized for every client, and fully maintained by an engineering team that understands the business goals supported by the system.
What are your predictions for membership and subscription publishing in 2016?
