Going Digital: Extending print-based brands online Shannon Emmerson Director of Digital Media, Canada Wide Media Limited May 22, 2009
May 12, 2015
Going Digital:Extending print-based brands onlineShannon Emmerson
Director of Digital Media, Canada Wide Media Limited
May 22, 2009
A little about me
About the digital division
Our work
Lessons learned
Questions and discussion
Outline
About me
Joined Canada Wide in Jan ‘07
Capricorn, fond of travel, wine, words, music
Background in journalism, writing & editing, knowledge management, interactive entertainment (games) web development, technical writing, yacht stewardessing
Mild Twitterholic (@semmerson)
About me
About the digital
media division
In-house editorial, design, development, sales and digital marketing team
Manage and maintain seven sites, nine enewsletters
First design award!
About the DMD
Why digital media?
Significant advertiser demand
Dot-com bubble burst; open source offered economy
Good digital models
Recognition and opportunity
Publishing industry showing signs of change
About the DMD
Overall Strategy
Extend brands into digital environment
Hire smart consultants
Contract developers
Build initial sites externally
Grow an in-house team to take over
About the DMD
Site Strategy
Give advertisers an online platform
Make the most of our content & make it findable online
Create sites that honour their respective brands
Grow communities
Our Work
Year one: Build it and they will come …
Our Work
Our Work
Year two: Refine and grow
Our Work
Our Work
Year three: Get creative
Our Work
Lessons Learned
Search, design and copyright
Focus on great web content
Cultivate digital skill
Think multi-platform
Consider new models
Community matters
Observe, analyze, adjust
Start small
Experiment
Lessons Learned
Search: make yourself findableYou’re competing with everyone else in the world on Google.
The rules (& players) seem to change every day.
Know who you want to find your content, and know your business goals.
Optimize for search--from code to design to editorial.
Lessons Learned
Design to keep readers.Consider user context.
Know the competition-- and steal shamelessly.
Test design: youthink.ca.
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
Get copyright.
Secure clear copyright permissions on anything & everything you post online.
Do it now.
Get agreements in writing.
Lessons Learned
Focus on great web content.
Digital content requires work to ensure that it’s working for you.
Very specific, always evolving knowledge is required.
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
Imagine (or remember) the conversation about what it takes to manage a website.
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
Cultivate digital skill. Hire rock stars.
You need people who are very comfortable with chaos.
Organizers. Good time managers. Bright personalities.
Anthropologists. Storytellers. Experimenters. Hurdlers.
Lessons Learned
“Digital Editors” are now producers, multimedia artists, developers, designers, marketers, sales reps, analytics evaluators and SEO specialists.
Start training your staff now to understand the digital universe.
Lessons Learned
Think multiplatform.From the start.
Offline
• Magazines, Books, Print Newsletters, Calendars, Guides
Online
• Web, eNewsletter, Audio, Video, Social Media
In Person
• Events, Workshops, Conferences
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
Example: Backyard chickens - Granville
An idea about covering the backyard chicken debate in Vancouver became:
• a mag article• a web article (repurposed)• 3 blog posts• a resource page including a
podcast & 4 repurposed articles• A Twitter stream pushing users
to latest articles and comments
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
Example: GardenWise Ask the Pros
Born of a nurtured community of gardening pros and Master Gardeners
Questions and answers are printed in the magazine
Users invited to submit online
All Q&As are searchable in online resource
Lessons Learned
Consider new models
Provide value that suits your medium.
Consider ways to monetize it.
Meet the needs of your advertisers -- and your readers.
Lessons Learned
Example: BCBusiness Top 100
In Person: Luncheon, speech, networking
Offline: Special mag issue with listings
Online: Sponsored landing page, searchable listings, video of event, winner interviews, eNewsletter
Lessons Learned
Example: Innovation Package
Lessons Learned
Community matters.
Give your readers a
voice.
Engage.
Use a variety of tools.
“Flip the funnel.”
Lessons Learned
Flipping the funnel:Marketing guru Seth Godin uses this term to describe the phenomenon of individuals using social media tools to broadcast their messages. They’ve got the megaphone now.
Listen. They’re the people you’re trying to reach.
Lessons Learned
Guest blog
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
Observe, analyze, adjust
Hire/develop smart people who understand metrics.
Use the results.
Metrics tell you about:– hot and not content– audience– peak times– related sites– reader habits– reader location – …
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
Start small. Test your ideas in low-cost
ways: eNewsletters work well.
Pay attention to how people respond – audiences and advertisers.
Try to sell before building.
Lessons Learned
Experiment.
Technology changes every day.Nobody has all the answers yet.Have some fun!
Lessons Learned
Areas we’re working on: • Mobile/WAP sites
• Text campaigns
• Widgets
• Social media
• Alternative revenue models
• Brand-based partnerships
Lessons Learned
In many ways, it’s still like the wild west out there.
Winding Up
But guess who knows the west?
Winding Up