#90 — Launching a membership program

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💯 Top picks

Launching a membership program: Lessons from the frontline

“Launching a membership plan is a difficult task, with landmines placed in the form of challenges and skills gaps that few news organisations are equipped to handle. And once you wade through the marathon of finally launching the plan to your superfans, you then have to growth hack the world out of every marketing resource available to you.”

💸 Business models

Building better calls to action

“A well-told story can inspire people to engage with social and environmental issues, but how do nonprofits channel that energy into behaviors that make a difference? Behavioral science can help point the way.”

How publishers are using member-exclusive conversations to add value and originate stories

A growing trend amongst publishers with modern reader revenue strategies is introducing group calls or meetups as additional perks for their members. WNIP explore how three publishers are finding value from member-only meetups as a way to connect with their readers and source new stories.

The loss of tracking cookies is fuelling the importance of email newsletters

“Publishers have moved to the acceptance phase of the grieving process over the loss of third-party cookies. The question now is how to move on, and increasingly that means collecting first-party data through registration data. Enter the email newsletter.”

Key learnings from INMA's Subscription Summit 2020

In order to succeed with subscriptions you’ll need to adopt product thinking, and heavily focus on customer lifetime value in your organisation! Find out more about the state of subscriptions from the latest INMA event in New York that hosted over 200 news executives.

8 ways to grow digital reader revenue

“The successes of news outlets in the U.K. and Spain provides valuable lessons, according to a new publication from the Reuters Institute”.

Don’t tell me you miss me: 3 better approaches to user retention

“Customers generally stop using (or cease to repurchase) products when they don’t get enough value out of your product to justify the price, not out of forgetfulness or disloyalty.”Check out these tips from the SaaS industry about building more genuine retention campaigns for your business.

Why local news outlets struggle with digital subscriptions

“Comparing the economic health of national news outlets to their local counterparts almost feels like you’re comparing two entirely different industries.”

✍️ Modern journalism

Audio articles are helping news outlets gain loyal audiences

“How Harvard Business Review, The New Yorker, and The Economist use audio to boost reach and retention”.

How engagement reporting is helping ProPublica journalists find their next big story

“There are many more questionnaires on the ProPublica site, including one for general leads that don’t fall into any preexisting category, and they form the bedrock of what the publication calls engagement reporting.”

Why journalism should be unhooked from commercial funding models

“What happens when ad revenues dry up and subscriptions are not enough to cover the basic cost of your journalism?”

👩‍💻 Technology

Key trends driving mobile advertising growth - what publishers need to know

More than 2billion people will watch videos on mobile this year, and mobile video is projected to account for almost 80% of all mobile data by 2022. Here’s everything you need to know about mobile video ads.

Twitter is testing disappearing tweets!

Following the example of competitors like Facebook and Snap, Twitter is piloting a new ephemeral feature it calls “fleets,” for “your fleeting thoughts.”

Meanwhile at LinkedIn... Stories

LinkedIn are also using ideas from other social platforms and introducing stories.

🤷 WTF?

A guide to doxxing yourself on the internet

A step-by-step guide to finding and removing your personal information from the internet from NYT Open.