Online Focus: Subscribers vs. Prospects
Posted on Wednesday, October 30, 2019 at 11:18 PM
Editors discuss how they balance the unique needs of existing and new
readers.
By William Dunkerley
Unless all your
content is behind a firewall, you likely have more than one audience
online. There are your regular subscribers and readers. In addition,
people searching or following a link may wind up viewing your content.
Some you'll never see again. Others may be good prospects for becoming
committed readers.
How do you adapt your content for each
circumstance? Articles aimed at your steady audience can assume a level
of familiarity with your subject area, but newcomers may need some
background orientation. The needs and interests of the two groups may
differ.
We asked a sample of Editors Only readers how they
react to this dilemma. The responses show a variety of approaches
designed to suit the needs of each particular publication.
What
did they say? How are editors deciding how best to focus content? One
editor put it simply: "Our criterion is literary excellence. Period."
--For
Erin Hallstrom, director of digital strategy at Food Processing,
the situation is more complex. She explains, "Close to 55 percent of our
website traffic finds us organically. As such, we continue to offer a
variety of content types, formats, and topics. Our existing readers
utilize our news postings most often. Because of that we keep our news
content fresh and updated constantly."
Hallstrom adds, "Most
of our content, other than news, is derived from our print magazine and
is driven by the magazine's editor-in-chief. News and blogs, however,
are strictly digital and are focused to engage both new and existing
audiences." She ascribes equal importance to existing traffic and new
traffic.
--At CSC Publishing, editor Jan Brenny says all content
is intended for both purposes, too. But she admits that it's the
interests of existing readers that really drives the content.
--University
of Kentucky journal on astroanalytical chemistry and astrobiology
editor-in-chief Rob Lodder sees it similarly. His focus is 90 percent on
existing readers, 10 percent on new ones.
--Paul Fanlund, editor
and publisher of The Capital Times, explains his situation: "Our
online content is intended to both serve existing readers and attract
new ones. We do a lot of coverage around our communities of color and
the arts, and look for enterprise angles to our traditional stories,
trying to regularly provide context. We do nothing with what I call
‘stickup, rollover, weather front news.’ In that way, we resemble a
magazine in some respects. We aspire to provide an intensely local and
distinctive focus on Madison, expecting that our readers will get their
national news elsewhere. We have a young staff of digital-native
reporters who naturally are drawn to writing topically and stylistically
for new audiences, which we encourage."
--Jenn Fiedler is
editor of another publication with a geographic focus. Indeed, it's
called Township Focus, published by the Michigan Townships
Association. Fiedler tells us, "Our content is geared solely toward our
current members, with tips, topics, and trends on how they can
successfully lead their local government. We do find that other
audiences, including lawmakers, other municipal officials/employees,
vendors who serve townships, etc., also benefit and learn from our
content as well, though township officials are -- and will always be --
our primary audience."
--Jill Tyrer, executive editor of Arthritis
Today, on the other hand, has a specific subject focus. She reports,
"Our content serves people with arthritis and related conditions, so our
main objective is to deliver content that informs and helps existing
patients. However, we certainly want to reach those who are not aware of
us and those who are newly diagnosed, so we also provide content geared
to people who are new to arthritis." As to which audience segment
receives the greatest focus, Tyrer says it's 75 percent to serve
existing readers, 25 percent to attract new readers.
--At IFT
Scientific Journals, E. Allen Foegeding is editor-in-chief of three
publications. He comments, "All our journals are intended for existing
and new readers. We also publish editorials that are intended for both.
The content is driven by the Aims and Scope for each journal; with the
desire to publish research and reviews of the highest quality. Our
assumption is that excellent science and reviewing of the literature
will attract more readers."
--Universal attraction is the
interest of Matthew Stoss, associate editor of GW Magazine. Stoss
elaborates, "In general, we just look for good general interest stories
that could appeal to anyone and everyone. We don't differentiate between
existing and potential readers. Basically, we like to think that if you
found our magazine in a dentist's waiting room, you could read it, even
if you have no connection to the university."
--For
Haymarket Media Group, product lead Matt Whipp states, "In short, we
don't create different content just to attract new users." He explains,
"Our job is to be a business tool and help our audiences make informed
business decisions. We know who our highest-value users are, and it's
these people we are working for. Equally there are users and users. We
are very clear about who our key audience groups are, and we are not
interested in new users for the sake of numbers, although we do take
great pains to ensure our content is indexed well to keep the top of the
funnel open."
The foregoing editors divide their focus to
differing extents. Others, particularly at association publications,
focus more narrowly.
--Donald Tepper, editor of PT in Motion,
says his focus is 100 percent to serve existing readers. "Our magazine
is published by a membership association, and the primary mission of the
association is to serve and represent its members. Therefore our
magazine is written to serve members of the American Physical Therapy
Association. We do have some non-member readers, but any attempt to
persuade them to join (or to subscribe) is minimal. Currently, our
policy regarding online copy is to post some (it varies from issue to
issue) online, but to retain much/most for member and subscriber
consumption. APTA does have an active membership development program,
but online content from PT in Motion is designed more to confirm
the benefits of membership (or subscribership) to those who are already
members or subscribers."
--Similarly, Margaret Hunt, editor
of association newsletters, says, "Basically all of our content, 100
percent, is directed to members of ASM International."
--Likewise
for Rebecca Stauffer, managing editor of PDA Letter: "I work for
an association publication. I would say the majority of our content (99
percent) is aimed at existing readers. Our magazine is a member benefit
sent to all members."
--Tricia Bisoux, co-editor of BizEd,
however, recognizes a secondary audience beyond association members.
"Because our publication goes out to an association's membership, its
primary purpose is to serve existing readers who are a part of the
business education industry, including administrators and faculty.
However, we have a secondary purpose of creating content that has
relevance or will be informative to those outside our industry -- for
example, many deans pass our publication's content to the business
leaders who are a part of their business school advisory boards. That's
not our primary audience, but it is still an important audience for us."
--And
finally, at QST magazine, Zack Lau explains the evolution that
influenced the focus of its online content: "Our site has a lot of
archival and legacy content. All the articles can be downloaded from our
website. There is a lot of content on our site that used to be in the
print magazine that's now been moved to the Web. There just isn't enough
print advertising revenue to support all that content. But, due to
association political considerations, it wasn't possible to just make it
go away. As a result, online content intended to attract new readers is
less than 5 percent."
William Dunkerley is principal of
William Dunkerley Publishing Consultants, www.publishinghelp.com.
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