162 todd carpenter

November 16, 2004 SSP Marketing Seminar - © 2004 BioOne

Putting the Conversation Back in

Marketing

Todd CarpenterDirector of Business Development

BioOnewww.BioOne.org


Communication in an Interactive World

Ø Communication and marketing is no longer simply setting your product out, describing it, and selling it

Ø The old rules still applyØ What separates your product from its

competitors? How can you encapsulate that?

Ø But in an interactive world, you cede some control over the form and the results of your communication


Back to Basics: Plant Your Flag

Ø Successful communication centers around a particular idea - a flagØ That flag sets your product, organization, issue, etc. apart from the other things in the marketplaceØ Your flag doesn’t need to be revolutionary, but it does have to be compellingØ One example…


One Planted Flag

Ø Early in the 20th-century a brewery came to a top advertising firm in New York

Ø The copywriter went to the brewery to “get a feel” for the business

Ø He came back a week later with:“Our bottles are steam cleaned”

Ø The result - Spectacular sales


What is Your Flag?

Ø At BioOneØ Focus on our mission - CollaborationØ Quality content in the biological sciencesØ Library-friendly policies

Ø At Project MuseØ Humanities and social sciencesØ Partnership with libraries/librarians

Ø At ElsevierØ Breadth of content in all sciencesØ Technological innovation and leadership


What Color is Your Flag?

While you can set the direction, it is important to realize that you do not have complete control over this process…

Your customers will play a role and you should plan on that.

They might have a different idea about your flag. USE THEIR FEEDBACK


How to Have a ConversationGet on the Phone

Ø There this intrinsic fear when someone suggests calling your customers.

“ISN’T THAT … <<GASP>> …

TELEMARKETING?”

Fear not, it will be OK…


How to Have a ConversationGet on the Phone

Ø During political campaigns, pollsters project the actions of some 120 MILLION people.Ø To do this how many people do they call?

Ø Between 700 and 1,200

Ø Now if you have a subscriber list of 1,000, how many people do you need to call?

Ø Between 15 and 23


How to Have A Conversation:Get on the Phone

Ø THESE ARE NOT SALES CALLS!!!

Ø You want to gather information…

Ø This also puts both the caller and the respondent at ease

Ø A direct sale might result, but that is coincidental


Why Are You Calling Me?

Ø What could you talk to a librarian about?Ø HOW MANY THINGS CAN YOU THINK OF?

Ø What’s your budget forecast for next year?Ø Is Open Access changing your buying behavior?Ø Have you implemented a print cancellation policy?Ø How are your buying decisions made?Ø What role do faculty play in purchase/cancellation

decisions?Ø Are our marketing or renewal efforts effective?Ø How is usage trending? How does it compare with other

titles?Ø Is your institution setting up an Institutional Repository?


Things You Might Learn From Talking to Your Customers

Ø A fair percentage didn’t mean to cancelØ 10-15% changed focus in somewayØ Budget issues were cited ~30-40%Ø Duplication and preference for electronic

was cited by ~20-30%.

ØWe stopped printing a catalog, which really bothered some librariansØ New titles were not picked up in print at all - only electronically


How to Have a Conversation II: The Death of Direct Mail

Ø It is increasingly difficult to break through the clutter in the mailbox

Ø Response rates are falling

Ø Costs are increasing: postage, lists, printing.

Ø Where do you turn?


Dreams of Digital Printing

4-Color catalogs can now be digital printed one-off

Images can easily be dropped in based on the customer’s database profile

One large retailer is doing this offering 20% discount on couple’s wedding registry items after their wedding has passed for items they didn’t receive at the reception

Now how many of us have a $300K budget for this type of campaign?


Dreams of Digital Printing (for the rest of us)

Ø How many of you have…MS Office?

Ø How many of you have…an inkjet printer?

Ø At JHUP, we used this technology to prepare semi-annual customer reacquisition marketing campaigns


Dreams of Digital Printing (for the rest of us)

Dear Dr. XXXX,In reviewing our files, we found your subscription to YYYYY JRL

expired some time ago. You’ve been missing a lot of important scholarship in the past ## OF ISSUES. Since you had been a subscriber to YYYY JRL for ## years, you know that THE FOCUS WAS…

Here are some of the important articles you missed since your subscription lapsed…

Here are some highlights from upcoming issues…Why don’t you re-subscribe and we’ll send you one of the issues

you missed. Pick one.Sincerely, THE EDITORPS - If you have some suggestions about YYYY Jrl, email me.


Success with Digital Printing

Ø We started out with “stuffing parties” a couple hundred letters at a time.

Ø With success, we grew to 12-15,000 piecesØ Response rates of 7-12% Ø Some individual letters brought back as many as

35% of lapsed customersØ Outsourced to a mail shop that specialized in this

type of printingØ More expensive and more time consuming, but

significantly better response.


DM Fostering Communication

Ø These letters did increase sales and each mailing was among the best performing campaigns we mailed.Ø But because they were signed by the editors, they elicited communication from the readers

Ø This increased submissions and feedbackØ Most editors were receptive to the advice

Ø Several letters asked for feedback to the Press, which pointed to some problems in our own customer service and communications


Developing Strategy Through Communication

Ø Libraries are canceling print subscriptions in favor of electronic access.

Ø BioOne is helping societies manage this transition from print- to electronic-based business model

Ø This situation forced us to consider a potentially significant price increase

Ø However, how do you balance that with BioOne’s stated mission of being library-friendly and moderate in pricing?


Developing a Plan

Ø Understanding of where we needed to goØ Come up with a range of optionsØ Present scenarios to participantsØ Gather feedbackØ Determine the best fit strategy – one that spreads

the ‘pain’ among all participantsØ Communicate back with the participantsØ Return to community with results and be forthright

about what we chose and whyØ Continue feedback loop with next decision


Pricing Strategy

Ø Developing pricing with input from communityØ Focus groups at ALA, SLA, CanLAØ Online surveyØ Library Advisory BoardØ Informal meetings with librarians at conferences

Ø Publication of research in portalØ Publicity push

Ø Press releasesØ Publication of articlesØ Meetings and speaking engagements


How to Approach Communicating a Price Increase

Ø Stress BioOne’s publishing partners are committed to working collaboratively to determine mechanisms for managing this process

Ø Buy-in on from all members of the community -publishers, consortia, librarians, internal administration

Ø Solicitation and inclusion of input that formed the basis of decisions.

Ø Customers are more likely to accept a strategy that they played a role in forming


The Feedback Loop

Ø As we developed our business model one comment we received repeatedly:Librarians support BioOne on our mission but that support has a “Best Before” date

Ø BioOne needs to move from a “Nice to have” product to a “Must have”

Ø The process begins anew with the formation of a Content Review Committee


Highlights of This Process

Ø Communication began BEFORE the decisions were made Community knew the reasons what we were doing and why

Ø Most acceptable solution We learned specifically where the borders of support lie

Ø No surprises The process telegraphed to our subscribers months in advance our planning

Ø Buy-inTo date we’ve not received any significant push back, even in a challenging environment


Briefly: Costs

Ø What is cost effective? Of course it will depend.

Ø However, it can cost 7-10 times more to get a new customer than it costs to retain a current customer

Ø Investments in communication can return significantly in increased retention, brand development, and potentially easier sales


Success Through Communication

Ø Old rules still exist: Meaningful differentiation

Ø But interactivity is subtly changing communications

Ø You will lose some controlØ But you will gain strength in the power of

your message


Thank you!

Todd [email protected]

BioOnewww.BioOne.org

162 todd carpenter

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