Today is National Paperclip Day
As the curator of the INSIDER Guide to New Product Development (NPD), I’m constantly keeping an eye out for bite-size information that will help you develop and scale better subscription products. Here is my “Five on Friday” list for May 29th, featuring the five best trends, tips, quotes or stats from my reading this week.
1. Remasters of the Universe
Product-line expansion is often the best way to grow a subscription business. Food for thought on the general topic from Gartner: The “Remaster” of old products and services.
“A good example is from the automotive industry where cars are evolving into a “connected platform” that will bring together a vast range of technologies and services enabling autonomous driving, shopping and in-car entertainment.”
Our industry has gone through both forced and voluntary remastering; digitization, online-only retailing lowered the barriers to entry that enabled many of our success stories.
Reading itself has been remastered – I can tap a word and see its definition. I can see what others liked via highlights and comments, and I can share or comment myself. How else can we remaster our subscription offerings?
Send me your best subscription-business remastering idea and receive a $10 Amazon gift card!
2. Really?
“I check Google Analytics about four or five times a day, but I don’t obsess over it.” Jim Roberts, Content Chief, Mashable
3. Gee Wizdo
Loved Forrester’s Lori Wizdo’s blog on the buyer journey!
Her advice? Use this model to discover and map your own subscribers’ journeys. My advice? Take her advice.
4. Everything Old is Brand New Again
“A brand is a result, not a tactic.” Lucas Conley, Fast Company
Subscription Insider CEO Kathy Greenler-Sexton and I are producing a webinar on acquisition branding (more on that in June . . .), but now, more than ever, our branding tactics should focus less on marketing and more on enhancing subscriber interaction points. Whether you have deep pockets or pocket change; build your customer service, after-sale care and non-marketing content to embody what your organization stands for.
5. Let’s Talk About Text, Baby . . . Text Mining, That Is
What exactly is text mining and is it a threat or opportunity for scholarly publishers? The guest post in The Scholarly Kitchen: CCC’s Roy Kaufman– “A Text Mining Primer for Journal Publishers,” is a good place to start. Here’s his definition of Text and Data Mining (TDM):
“TDM involves using complex software to read and digest digital information . . . breaking it down into raw data and text, analyzing it and coming up with new connections. For example, [there may] be an unexpected pattern in protein interactions that eventually leads to the development of a new drug, or maybe a subtle shift in weather patterns that predicts a downturn in the price of wheat. In many cases, the knowledge . . . is spread across a number of sources.”
If you’re thinking about your role in the text-mining ecosphere, read the entire article here.
A note to my fellow Texans; I hope you came through the bad weather unscathed, and are able to turn your thoughts to the great boating we’ll have now that Lake Travis is on the rise. For those of you looking to help out Texas flood victims, here’s a great site to get ideas.
Diane
Diane Pierson, our INSIDER Guide to New Product Development, is a leader in product management and marketing, having delivered results to companies including Dun & Bradstreet, LexisNexis, American Lawyer Media and Copyright Clearance Center. She has built products & services that have delivered over $100 million in revenue and knows what works, and what doesn’t, when executing product plans and strategies. (Read Diane’s full Bio)
