Best practice marketing
27 June 2009Because most publishers now have an Internet presence, direct marketing has moved to the forefront of publishing.
Once, marketing was kept as a side-show to the editorial and advertising departments of most publishers – because copy and advertisement sales pulled in most of the revenue. The marketing function – prices, circulation, editorial direction and promotional budgets – was carried out by the publisher, who rarely had any marketing training or experience.
That old-style publishing model is changing fast. These days, without an effective and profitable Online and subscriptions marketing strategy, most publishers will find three nasty things happening:
- Newstrade sales falling to below the current average of 45%
- Advertising revenue dropping fast, and at the mercy of cash-poor agencies and clients
- Subscriptions marketing too underdeveloped to replace falling revenue
The solution is, of course, to sweep away the old style publishers and bring in effective business managers who understand how direct marketing – and the Internet – works.
But that should already have happened, years ago when Internet marketing became effective and changed the way so many of us bring in new customers and upgrade current ones. So what will happen instead is that hard-nosed financial decision makers will cut hundreds of jobs, close departments and sell whole divisions.
A wholesale, damaging response — and the result of poor leadership.
To help ease the passage of necessary change for you and your team, we have launched a sister website: Marketing Best Practice
Marketing advice for you and your team
Visit Marketing Best Practice for access to international case studies of the very best marketing practice for Internet, magazine, newsletter and book publishers.
You’ll find back issues of the Subscriptions Strategy newsletter, eye-opening reports and examples of how successful publishers save money and increase revenue. We have investigated hundreds of publishing models and promotions to identify those few that have valuable strategies you can apply directly to your business. We have a 7-day risk-free trial for new subscribers.
Trial members gain immediate access to:
- Subscriptions Strategy newsletter archive
- Hundreds of case studies
- How-to marketing workshop
- Subscriptions Strategy newsletter every two months
- Books
- Marketing training material
- One-on-one advice and support
Click here to go to the Marketing Best Practice website

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