CRM For Newspapers

Source: www.flickr.com, www.wikipedia.com

It will come as no surprise when I say the Newspaper Industry has been in turmoil for some time now. Despite having joined the Internet bandwagon, Newspaper publishers have had to deal with distributed readership, fluctuating subscription and circulation figures, uncertain advertising revenues and ambiguity in internet adoption.

The struggle has continued with multiple attempts being made to retain readership and increasing revenues… most with some effectiveness but not enough to sail through. Is it that they have done nothing right? No. Chicago Tribune’s Metromix was a sell out, so was New York Times foray into the blogosphere. There are many such examples to go by but the question still remains- Is that enough? Once again the answer is No.

There is a lot that Newspapers can do and one of the options is using CRM more effectively.

With the integration of print and online, there needs to be a centralized CRM. Having a single source of truth as far as the customer goes has become quite pertinent to stay ahead of the game. Where a centralized CRM helps is:

• Providing a centralized view of advertising effectiveness
• Enabling a holistic view of circulation and subscription numbers
• Centralizing sales data for both channels

Most Newspapers have already begun implementing an integrated CRM system. Whether they are exploiting the potential of this data and the reports is anybody’s guess.

What Newspapers need to adopt now is the next generation of CRM, i.e. Social CRM. As the name suggests, Social CRM is all to do with Social Media. Today, if there is one wave that Newspapers need to ride on it is Social Media. There is a plethora of user feedback and sentiment that is available out there which can be put to optimum use by Newspapers esp. for their online content.

• Capture user feedback, comments and sentiments through popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to create relevant and accurate editorial content
• Use the user data to publish articles/content that is relevant to each demography
• Implement contextual and/or subliminal advertising to increase effectiveness
• Derive sentiments and messaging from user generated content (blogs/citizen journalism features) to aid editorial
• Get proactive feedback on content through social channels
• Implement social analytics to analyze subscription, circulation and advertising feedback and figures
• Provide innovating subscription packages and bundles based on user feedback

Traditional and Social CRM both can go a long way to help Newspapers understand the customer’s need and ensure retention. With the immense data that these systems can provide, Newspapers can achieve what they have struggled with esp. in the online world- proximity to the customer.

How well they adopt and exploit the potential that is within their reach is to be seen.

The Fight for Survival

Courtesy: http://www.west-quay.co.uk

James Daunt (MD, Waterstones) recently made a statement that Waterstones could live with Amazon. While most other publishers are groping in the dark and mulling over how this Amazon could be conquered, Daunt seems to have found the answer.

Dwindling sales made Alexander Mamut (of HMV) bring in Daunt to salvage the company from the trouble it was in.  Daunt revamped the entire book selling process and began to focus on a simple motto that each and every book seller should follow- “What does the customer want”? With this objective in mind each Waterstones book store started focusing on stocking books that were relevant and catered to the customers of the resp. stores. However the icing on the cake as far as Daunt was concerned was partnering with the feared monster- Amazon.

Through this partnership Amazon started selling Kindle and eBooks from Waterstones stores. What attracted me to this post was Daunt’s philosophy behind this move.  Where most publishers have begun dreading the advent of Ebooks, Daunt believes that majority of the population are still print book loyalists… and so do I.

How much ever popular Ebooks might get; the charm and experience a print book has cannot be replaced as far as the reader is concerned. This is a firm belief most book lovers have and continue to stand by.Based on this perspective Daunt introduced Kindle into his book stores and true to his word his sales did not fall.

A bold move no doubt, but Amazon has been leaving no stone unturned to take control over the market. In a market scenario where it is now a question of survival it makes all sense to pull all stops that one can. If Waterstones could claim their stake at survival why cannot the rest?

Unraveling the Ebook Conspiracy

Courtesy: cherylktardif.blogspot.com

It all began with Amazon entering the fray for supremacy in the book selling business. The signs were always there for everyone to read, esp. with the launch of the Kindle that revolutionized the way the book publishing industry works. Print books were no longer the only path to choose, the rise of the Ebook opened up newer avenues for all entities involved in the value chain.

The next step was simple- make money.

Traditionally publishers would set the price for a book and distributors such as Amazon received a fee (usually 30%) on every unit sold. This is popularly known as the agency model. With Amazon stepping in, they adopted what is now known as the Wholesale model. Historically used for print books, this model allows the publisher to sell books to the distributors at a fixed price and the latter has the option to set any price they prefer while selling the book to the end consumer.

Owning approx. 70-80% market share in Ebooks, this model put Amazon in an extremely comfortable position. Pricing Ebooks lower than the standard price would not stand in the way for Amazon to realize its monetization objectives; it in fact benefited the Giant by giving them the opportunity to cross sell and up sell other products thus increasing its overall sales.

However things did not stay rosy for long. Apple decided to enter this market by launching an Ebook store and with the hope of developing a new market for its latest technology marvel- the iPad. To be profitable in this market, Apple had two options to consider

1. Partnering with Amazon: Had this venture taken birth, it would have taken the market by a storm. Both would have acted as a reseller for the other however Apple decided it would be more profitable to sell at a higher price than the Amazon standard of $9.99.
2. Forming a liaison with the Publishers: Apple reached out to five of the top six publishers (Hatchette, Macmillan, Harper Collins, Penguin and Simon & Schuster) agreeing to act as a distributor for them on the condition that Amazon was forced to increase the price. To bring this into effect, Apple designed a most favoured nation (MFN) clause in its agreements which required Apple to be able to sell books at the lowest possible price. This clause would imply that publishers coerce Amazon into increasing its price and thus moving from the Wholesale model to the Agency model. One method adopted to do so was delaying the launch of Ebooks on Amazon. Not to be let down, Amazon retaliated by removing the “Buy” option against the books belonging to some of the publishers and working out a model with Authors where in they were offered up to 70% royalty for pricing books between $2.99 and $9.99 and removing any middle men from the deal. Amazon could not hold fort for too long with all publishers dictating conditions and forcing a move to the agency model.

The latter option that Apple chose led to the DoJ suing Apple and the five Publishers for conspiracy to fix book prices. Three of the five publishers reached an out of court settlement which allowed Amazon to resume discounting books and terminated the MFN clause with Apple. The settlement also prohibited the publishers from entering into an Agency model agreement that prevented retailers from offering discounts. Macmillan and Penguin eventually opted for a settlement while Apple continued the battle eventually losing the case.

This incident if nothing else does imply the fierce competition that exists in this market and the extent to which players can go to stay competitive and maintain their market share. With Ebooks gaining popularity, the publisher is bound to lose control to a large extent. The publisher’s argument that the Agency model will help the book industry survive does have essence of truth in it however given the nature of this market and the rate at which it is growing, the pricing wars will continue and Amazon will play a dominant role in controlling the market dynamics. It is time all publishers and potential distributors accept this fact.

How relevant are interoperable DAM/CMS in Media?

Courtesy: www.synaptop.com

I came across an interesting article about the interoperability of DAM products on cmswire today. Be it DAM or CMS, the concept of interoperability is relatively new but highly beneficial across industries. Interoperability is the ability of these systems to interact with other third party/in-house DAM/CMS or other enterprise products (such as SAP, Oracle etc.) to share assets. This process can help save on costs of purchasing connectors, developing plug-ins and/or migrating content. This efficiency is typically obtained through the adoption of standards such as Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS), Open Data protocol (oData) etc. These protocols act as an overlying layer/API to allow access across systems to linked assets, metadata etc. For metadata another popular standard is used- Open Archive Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OA-IPMH)

Interoperability can be a boon for most Media Conglomerates. Publishers owning multiple newspaper properties (national, regional and/or global) or Studios/Broadcasters having various Televisions, Radio and Studio assets can use this concept in multiple ways to optimize efficiency across the digital/content asset enterprise.

Take for example a Broadcaster having many channels as well as online properties. More often than not, different DAM systems are used to manage digital assets for each channel depending on their needs (Production or Archive DAM) and allocated IT budgets. A lot of investment has already gone into the Infrastructure; instead of looking to centralize the DAM with yet another enterprise DAM product as most businesses usually do; building in interoperability between the existing systems will prove more beneficial. Content such as news, advertisements, episodes, movies etc. can be shared across the channels. In addition a unique identifier can be assigned to each asset that will act as a primary key across the enterprise and can be the indicator for linking assets for this initiative.

In the case of Publishers, news, article, advertisements, editorial content, CRM and subscription data can be shared across newspaper and magazine properties within the enterprise. Linking subscription and CRM content across newspapers can help give a holistic view of the Conglomerate’s customer base and any user feedback can be used across the enterprise in the Editorial without much investment.

Across Media, creation of asset registries and linking them using Interoperability would help restrict copyright violations by the sharing licensing information across teams and units. Linking of metadata through the assets can also lead to a consistent metadata model falling in place; something most businesses are trying to implement across their enterprise. Benefits of Interoperability are many however the concept is yet to reach a level of maturity and stability that is required for it to be implemented. As of now CMIS is supported by IBM, Microsoft, SAP, BEA/Oracle, EMC, Open Text, Alfresco and Fatwire among others.

A mechanism worth adopting; it would be interesting to see how Media companies go about it.

Retail Revolutionary buys Famed News Daily

Courtesy: www.mercatornet.com

As I leafed through the newspaper today morning, this news piece had me wide and awake. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has bought one of the most prestigious and famed US newspapers- The Washington Post.

Spates of acquisitions have been making the news lately. Be it The New York Times selling The Boston Globe or IBT Media (A digital news company) buying Newsweek. Off the lot, the Washington Post news caught my fancy the most. The fact that only the newspapers arm has been sold off while the real estate and education business (Kaplan) have been retained speaks volumes of how dwindling circulation numbers and lack of revenue growth left The Post Company with no choice but to sell.

The sale was probably long coming, however that Bezos would make the purchase would have stunned many. It has been explicitly reported that Amazon would have no role to play in this acquisition however if one takes a pause and gives it a thought, a handshake between the two might not turn out to be a bad idea at all. Bezos’ comments in his note to the WP employees on the need to experiment and look for newer revenue making opportunities just complements the thought.

A few touch points here and there; cross selling and up selling of products etc. can help in multiple ways-

1. Given WP Amazon’s technology advantage. WP is not known to have state of the art technology infrastructure, the Amazon mantra could be very useful here. Greg Sandoval voices similar opinions at The Verge


2. Advertising Amazon on WP and vice versa can help increase foot fall/page visits esp. for WP


3. Enriching the content on WP using advertising to link Amazon products to relevant content


4. Developing new subscription models by bundling Amazon offers and discounts with WP print and online subscriptions.


5. Linking product reviews by Users across Amazon and WP, providing an in-depth product feedback and analysis


6. Localization- providing shipping/subscription discounts depending on high volumes of purchase in a particular area etc.


7. Bringing in WP’s distribution to help Amazon strengthen their. A view voiced by Ian Burrell on the Independent as well.

These are just a few examples of how both brands could be leveraged well to benefit one another. Such a strategy demonstrating synergies between media and retail could well change the way both industries work today.

On the one hand we have an extremely traditional newspaper; on the other a platform that revolutionized the retailing world and to a large extent was the driving force for the eBook industry; given what Bezos has done to Amazon, it would be interesting to sit back and watch what he would do to move WP ahead in what I call the fight for survival by newspapers across the globe.

All we need to do right now is sit back and watch this space for more.