Source: Pixabay
As the curator of the INSIDER Guide to New Product Development, I’m constantly keeping an eye out for bite-size information that will help you develop and scale better subscription products. Here’s my “Five on Friday” compilation for August 19, featuring the five best trends, tips, quotes or stats from my reading this week.
1. App Factory, GameSalad Great App Builders for Subscription Businesses
Getting your app on this summer? Check out this article from Business News Daily, which offers insights and recommendations into the best apps for small businesses. No time? Here are the ones from the list that I think are the fit best for smaller/new-to-app-building subscription businesses:
App Factory – This app builder automatically pulls your content directly from your website so you can create an app in as little as 5 minutes. A straightforward, no-fuss app-making process that allows you to deliver content directly to your audience’s mobile devices as the app goes live.
GameSalad – GameSalad lets anyone build a robust gaming app quickly and without any coding skills. According to GameSalad, you can build a game in hours instead of weeks and months. You can build your game using its drag-and-drop interface and library of behaviors and game elements. Using its In-App Previewer, users can test game logics and behavior sets on their desktop or mobile devices for a full, real-life gaming experience.
BuildFire – Business News Daily’s top pick for the best app maker for beginners, BuildFire lets you create a professional-looking mobile app in just a few minutes. It offers a user-friendly interface that simplifies the app-building process – no coding skills needed. It also comes with customization options, so you’re not stuck with generic apps that are common with similar app makers. Professional services available for a fee.
2. How to Innovate Inside Large Corporations
We spend a lot of time in Five on Friday focused on helping the small and startup subscription business develop and launch new products. But, what about those trying to make things happen in a larger, legacy corporate world? Worth a read is this post on hbr.com (requires registration, free access to 4 articles/month only). Here’s a great quote by the author:
“Corporate hackers are resilient – they don’t give up. They are social – they draw others to their cause. And they are frugal – they leverage existing resources and use lean approaches to scale their ideas.” Simone Ahuja, founder of Blood Orange, an innovation and strategy consultancy
Are you in a position to mentor innovation within your large company? Think of offering rewards for innovative product ideas (that generate revenue), or setting aside time for your product leaders to do strategic research, market evaluation, or simply contemplate opportunities.
3. U.K.’s Sky News is Using Snapchat for Breaking News
Source: Syn News from Snapchat
Investigating Snapchat as a possible outlet to reach a younger audience with serious news? Then take a look at this article from Digiday about how Sky News has been cultivating Snapchat Discover (news channels embedded in the social media app) as a standalone editorial channel for breaking news. Sky News was among the first publisher partners to launch last February, and its strategy has evolved fast.
“Sky News on Snapchat is arguably one of the biggest, if not the biggest millennial news desk in the U.K.,” says Alan Strange Sky News output editor. “When you look at the numbers, they’re big enough that they compete with our other platforms.”
How did they do it?
Embedding Snapchat in the news room. Sky News put Snapchat Discover on equal footing with other social platforms. In the daily news meetings, editors discuss how stories will be developed for the platform, alongside Sky News TV channels, websites and apps.
Dedicated team. At first, Sky News had four people dedicated to creating Snapchat content, but there are now 10 people who create content specifically for the platform.
Purpose-built content. Sky News tries to create widescreen and vertical versions for all video created.
Faster-loading editions. For publishers, page-load speed has become a competitive advantage. On Snapchat Discover, speed is just as important, and Sky News tweaked the design and flow of content to ensure heavier content like video only runs later in the snaps, not at the start, which is now reserved for lighter snaps.
4. Don’t Believe These Product Innovation Misconceptions
Source: Pixabay
This is a good article from entrepreneur.com for any organization building new products, but in case you’re short on time, here are the key points:
Don’t get so enamored of your idea you forget that it needs to make money. Sometimes, we’re so passionate about an idea that we believe its value is so self-evident that it will sell itself. It won’t. Design with price in mind.
Being first doesn’t guarantee success. Innovators draw innovators, but what about the mainstream audience that provides that much-needed revenue? Be sure to create a product, not just a concept.
Listen to outside voices. Market data, customers’ perspectives and financial considerations, and your finance, marketing and product development gurus — can help bring an innovative product to market. Building in response to an urgent, pervasive market need – one that the subscribers are willing to pay to obtain – helps ensure success.
5. Native Advertising Continues its Forward March
Native advertising is expected to continue its forward march for the next few years. A study released on Monday by Facebook and IHS Markit projects that revenue from native advertising through Facebook’s Audience Network will amount to $53.4 billion by 2020 -roughly two thirds of all mobile display advertising revenue.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Diane
