Niche Publishing: What CEOs Are Talking About

Andrew Davis, global motivational speaker and lunch keynote, recently challenged Niche CEO Summit publishers in the room: “Can you move your market? What trends can you inspire within your niche? More importantly, as a publisher, YOU do have the power to move your market and sell the value of your niche audience.”

In case you missed out on the 2018 Niche CEO Summit this January in Ft. Lauderdale, here are some highlights on what CEOs of niche media companies are talking about:

2018 is the Year of Video!

Whether it’s how-to’s, problem-solving, or “ask the expert,” videos provide the opportunity to deep dive into your niche. So take it one step further in 2018 and think about how to “atomize” your videos on Facebook and YouTube. Breaking videos down into smaller parts means they can be measured better for ROI and you can improve your targeting of viewers. For example, do you want to capture 25,000, super-targeted, unique views across multiple micro-videos for your advertiser or 200,000 views for just one video?

Most importantly, it all comes down to conversion. According to new research from Wyzowl,  (a worldwide survey of marketers in Dec. 2017), they found that YouTube and Facebook were considered the first- and second-most effective video platforms for marketing—in that order. So how are you raising the bar with your magazine’s video strategy for this year?

Where the heck do I find good salespeople?

It’s one of the biggest questions on most publishers minds and always a hot, hot topic at our roundtable discussions. What are some top ways to find good salespeople? Some advice:

• Incentivize your sales manager to recruit potential candidates.
• Don’t have the budget for a recruiter? Consider partnering with another publisher to hire a recruiter.
• Also look at some of your vendors who know your business. There might be a potential sales candidate working for them.
• Best places to find top salespeople? LinkedIn.
• Pro tip: Don’t call your salespeople, “salespeople.” Change the mindset instantly with the words you use. Some publishers now call sales reps “solutions managers” or “publishing solution managers.”

Let’s talk digital strategy.

The question is never whether to cannibalize your print for digital. It’s about delivering your unique brand and content to your niched-out audience. And at our roundtables for publishers large and small, plenty of great ideas to generate digital revenue were discussed. Here are some top insights:

• For managing your digital ads across screens, formats and sales channels, many publishers find Google’s “DoubleClick for Publishers” very helpful. Broadstreet Ads is another recommended source.
• Do daily newsletters overwhelm your audience? Heck no! Every publisher at the table said that they have found the opposite to be true. In fact, open rates go up.
• Check out Parse.ly for audience engagement and how to do cool things with your data.
• Polls & quizzes increase conversion by 2-3%
• Is your bounce rate too high? Analyze your SEO and navigation of your site for clues.
• Offer exclusive, total digital packages to your advertisers–do not give anything away! As a matter of fact, don’t even use the terms, “digital” and “print.” Talk about ALL the different content distribution channels you offer instead.
• Do not have your salespeople hand out media kits–have them focus on solving problems for your advertisers with digital solutions.

So if you did indeed miss out on this year’s CEO Summit, don’t despair. You can still attend (and bring your team) to the 2018 Super Niche event, the ultimate event for niche publishers, March 5th-7th. Check out our Publisher Track: Comprehensive strategies to build your publishing business and generate new revenue, in print and online!