Nine strategies for protecting your subscription revenue stream

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ProprietaryRevenue1 Is your subscription revenue threatened by the current economic climate?

Whether your organization is b2b or b2c or non-profit, whether you’re a local business or global enterprise…and whether subscriptions and memberships are your business model or your gravy – now is the time to start protecting this precious revenue stream.

Here are nine strategies to get you on the path toward preservation – and, yes, possibly growth:

1.     Get creative with the packaging of your benefits and services

  • Figure out what benefits and services are being used the most and which ones are not. What benefits and services are not being offered that would be logistically and economically feasible to add?
    • Ask your existing customers using a quick online survey
    • Study your usage data, trends, and patterns
  • Pare down your packages so they include only the most popular and/or practical benefits and services and change pricing accordingly.  
  • For your big customers who want the existing entire enchilada: Spice the package with a few extra features and benefits (again, base this on data/feedback) and increase your price for the “premium” package by 15-20% minimum
  • Consider subscription packages for “niche” audiences – for Package1 example:
    • Verticals
    • Channels
    • Technologists
    • Millennials
    • Students / Seniors
    • Government / Non-profits

2.     Consider changes to your Terms of Service and/or Length of Contract (this can be extended or reduced based on your strategy and market)

3.     Offer an E-membership or E-subscription package at a greatly reduced rate

4.     Collaborate on a joint subscription/membership with another business or organization that may offer relevant, complementary services/offerings.

5.     Consider creating an online community as the heart of your subscription-based business model. Although it will require manpower to manage it, the technology is established and it’s free. Best of all, the community will be considered a valuable benefit in your subscription package.

6.     Promotions, Deals, Incentives, Limited Time Offers – Make them count. Don’t bother with 10 or 15 or even 20% off. Those offers will not move the needle in this economic climate. Try 20-25% off to start, buy-one-get one free, two-for-one, multiple seats, all-inclusive, 1 or 2 extra months added at the end of the contract, whatever…just make it compelling.

7.     Referral programs – It’s no mistake that this is lucky #7 on the list. The power and potential of this program alone – using the social web – is staggering (yes, even in this economy). To expound on this strategy would require a separate blog post.

8.     Testimonials – I know this sounds elementary; but when is the last time you updated your customer testimonials? Are they relevant to each of your target markets? How prominent are your testimonials? How ubiquitous are your testimonials and references (yes, this ties in to #7 too)?

9.     Make it as simple and seamless to renew as possible. Most important: Make it easy for your customers to give you money.

Note: If packaging creativity and flexibility are constrained by technology, it’s time to revisit your IT investments. Seriously. The collaboration and content management solutions out there today will astound you AND save you money and heartache in the near and long term.

Twitter DON’Ts: The Dirty Dozen

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nodont1Dear fellow Tweeters: Here’s a list of Twitter Don’ts. If you find you can’t help yourself, or if you actually prefer to keep these on your Do list, please at least do your followers a favor by adhering to “moderation in all things.”

Yes, I know the ego is tough to keep in check; so just consider this a helpful “check” list:

1. Don’t use Twitter as a replacement for Google
“Does anyone know what time Lost starts?”

2. Don’t constantly ask people to digg, stumble and vote
“Please, I hardly ever ask…can you digg this article?”

3. Don’t feel compelled to report on the number of followers you have (yes, we know where to find the number if we are curious)
“In honor, of my 1700th follower, I am going to kiss my Chia Pet.”

4. Don’t abuse the requests to retweet (unless it’s an emergency like an Amber Alert)
8 am: “Please retweet…” 11 am: “Please retweet…”  1 pm: “Please retweet…”

5. Don’t take an Unfollow personally and don’t report on your Unfollows
Why do you think anyone cares?

6. Don’t threaten to Unfollow your followers if they don’t start answering your questions and engaging with you as often as you want
Now that’s what I call “social.”

7. Don’t just follow people who share your exact interests and beliefs. Mix it up a bit. Follow people you disagree with
You may learn something new or gain a new perspective (or, at a minimum, become tolerant – now THAT’S what I call “social!”)

8. Don’t report your Twitter rankings
Again, who cares? Actually, some people might (like people who aren’t on Twitter – heh)…I don’t.

9. Don’t abuse Twitter as a primary tool to promote your events and products
As a marketer, I can tell when this happens. For those with a following, it is called “lazy marketing.” For those without a following, it’s called “stupid marketing.”

10. Don’t announce who you’re unfollowing
One more time: Who cares?

11. Don’t tweet your rules for following and unfollowing (if you must have these rules, maybe you can put a link to them in your bio?)
This takes away from the spontaneity and beauty of that whole “social” thing.

12. Don’t announce your Twitter Update milestones
“For my 10,000th update on Twitter, I wanted to hang a Disco Ball – but this is actually the 10,000th update. Does it still count? Maybe I’ll do something for the 11,000th update then.”

Anyone care to make this list a “baker’s dozen?” What are your thoughts?

UPDATES for 9 March 2009: 

Photo Credit: FranUlloa (via everystockphoto.com)

What is news?

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paulrevereNews is what you think it is.

Today, with access to unprecedented amounts of information on the Internet – including millions of blogs, comments, traditional news sites, reviews, press releases, videos, and conversations on social networks – people are choosing how and when they are receiving their information. But, more importantly, they’re choosing “what” information they want.

This is what we call news.  

It’s that simple: News is what we think it is. Just like brands are shaped by consumer perceptions, reputations are built by recommendations from friends and peers, and expert labels are earned by professional colleagues, news is defined by what we think is important. And on the Social Web today, this is gauged through our participation in telling stories and determined by our willingness to share information.

Ironically, it has been this way throughout history. For a time, however, when traditional mass media was the fastest method to share information, news was packaged for easier distribution and consumption. It may or may not have been what we considered news, but it was – at the time – the fastest way of getting “new information.” And when pieces of information somehow dripped outside of the packaged news story, it was often called a leak. Not surprisingly, though, the leaks were stories that had audiences too. Quite often leaks also became very popular “news” stories. So today, you can think of the Internet as a virtual news sieve…with leaks all over the place, each one with its own relevant audience.

Whether it’s leaking information or telling stories, we all play an important role in creating and disseminating news. And that can mean anything from stimulating global conversation to actively sharing bits of highly relevant information with members of our community. 

Welcome to the Social Web — where every visitor, reader, and contributor is also a reporter.

On enterprise RSS…

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“RSS to the enterprise is a bit like one of those nano-needles to a single-cell micro-organism. Puncture the corporate membrane and its life drains away.

Enterprises are scared to disrupt their own structure and command lines by introducing uncontrolled information flows both internally (which can route around management) and externally (which can route around the official PR outputs and sales inputs of the company).”

– Comment by Phil Jones on ReadWriteWeb‘s “R.I.P Enterprise RSS”

 

 AN ASIDE: Have you seen SuggestRSS? It’s a cool web app – currently in Beta – that suggests new RSS feeds for you.

AND ANOTHER:  Check out CopyGator, which will locate your blog content that’s been republished in the blogosphere – with or without your permission and knowledge. Thanks to ReadWriteWeb.

Delivering a quality sales lead in 10 minutes (for free)

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This is a true story. It’s one of many that occurs every minute – by the hundreds, if not thousands – on the Internet Social Web.

Today I answered some questions posed by users on LinkedIn. Answering questions is a great way to network, grow your business, and establish yourself as a thought leader and credible resource in the industry. Or you can simply answer questions to be nice…and to give back to the Social Web, which gives so much to us 24/7, for free, and asks for nothing in return. My motivation at the time was the latter. Here’s a question that I answered (click on image to read it):
linkedinquestion

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