Managing multiple providers for digital publishing services is a hassle that can be alleviated
You need a magazine consultant that acts as a general contractor, and a content management system that does, too.
In the past I’ve divulged what to look for in a magazine consultant, and we’ve written many posts lately about what to look for in a content management system. But how do you put this new information into practice?
Well, it might require firing some people, and firing some of your digital publishing services.
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As a magazine publisher, you understand that every completed issue is the result of effective communication between staff members. The success of one department directly influences and depends on the success of another. When you become a multiplatform publisher, the same principles apply, particularly when it comes to the various tech providers who run your digital publishing platforms. But managing these separate vendors is time consuming, ineffective, and expensive.
The solution for digital publishers is to re-review all of those different providers you use to run your business and find one single company that can do it all.
Unless you enjoy waking up at 3:00 am wondering if your email system is talking to your fulfillment system, which is hopefully talking to your social and CMS systems.
And are any of these being tracked by analytics? And whose job is it to make sure? The nightmarish anxieties go on and on and on.
Here’s the real question you should be asking yourself: Is this the best use of my time?
As a publisher, your focus should be on keeping your business profitable, not tinkering with your website late at night. Leave the management of digital publishing platforms to a single consultancy who will oversee and optimize the entire operation – email, social, CMS, and analytics – under one roof.
You don’t need seven architects to build a strong house
We’ve heard from several CEOs that almost 50 percent of their time goes into managing their digital publishing services.
They know it’s wrong; what they should be doing is managing their content, building relationships with sponsors, and focusing on marketing their products. Instead, they end up like Al Pacino in the Godfather: “every time I think I’m out, they pull me back in.”
When it comes to re-organizing, the only vendor that usually survives the purge is the fulfillment company. They’ll be properly integrated without much issue, so long as they do their job. Everything else, as they say, goes to the curb.
We’re not suggesting this because we’re mean.
Many of our clients have come to us with horror stories, so we’ve seen the pitfalls of having a house that’s built by seven different architects. What’s urgent suddenly gets in the way of what’s important–emails are going into junk boxes, fulfillment systems won’t connect to websites properly, one company closes without warning. Management of all these variables is a needless, futile effort.
A business road trip with a technology roadmap
At a recent event, we had more than 30 publishers tell us what they needed was a technology “road map” to match up with their “business road trip.” But the digital business landscape is changing all the time–what worked for you yesterday, might not work today.
At Mequoda, one of the first things we introduce our clients to is a comprehensive strategy plan for different (but directly related) multiplatform components called CAROTME. The system hits on everything from website development to economic planning.
- Content Strategy
- Audience Strategy
- Revenue Strategy
- Organizational Strategy
- Technology Strategy
- Measurement Strategy
- Economic Strategy
Mequoda is also the only provider in the market that specifically transforms magazines into multiplatform publishers. We have built our own Haven CXMS, a state-of-the-art SaaS tool built, owned and maintained by Mequoda to enable all the functionality that multi-platform publishing businesses need to be successful and profitable.
We provide these services under one roof, so publishers can focus on increasing revenues and executing on the strategic plan we devised together during the CAROTME business planning process. What’s more, we also come at a price significantly lower than outsourcing to another development team, or hiring a team of tech professionals in-house. Don’t think you can afford a Chief Technology Officer? Think again. That’s us.
Are you tired of managing your tech 50% of the day? Let’s talk strategy. Give us a call or post your thoughts in the comments section.
