Netflix wants to make it easier for people to cancel subscriptions. For people who aren’t using the streaming service, Netflix will proactively ask them if they want to cancel. And if someone doesn’t confirm they want to stay, Netflix will automatically cancel their account. That’s awesome. How many newsrooms would do that? Hell, a lot
Know how when you go to CVS, buy two or three items small enough to fit in your pocket, and then they hand you that 5 foot receipt? Wait until you see how long it takes to find the newsletter opt-out link for the New York Times. Yesterday I showed step-by-step how The New York
The New York Times claims a whopping 17 million subscribers to “The Morning.” The thing is? 17 million is a bullshit number, because the Times subscribes people to its flagship newsletter without permission.
Try and get a loan or lease, and your credit score is going to come up. Credit scores take a bunch of inputs, crunch the numbers and spit out a single number that determines your interest rate. But you know what doesn’t factor into your credit score? Your income. Your savings. Credit scores are totally
People often struggle to create new KPIs for things. For example, how do we measure how “engaged” readers are with longform stories? Here’s the problem: What would you change with that information? What does that number tell you? That most people don’t read to the end? You already know that. 99% of the time, it
Technology makes it easier and faster to test a billion different ideas. You can A/B test subject lines, images, layouts, send times, all sorts of things. But, A/B testing has a few big pitfalls It doesn’t account for other options. What if the best answer is C? Or R? Or a sphere? A/B testing is
The best marketing is built in. Always. A great product can sell itself to a point. But it will plateau. And without a strategy and resources to implement it, the product alone has a hard time replacing customers who move. Or rage quit. Or die. Membership programs aren’t a new model. They are a more
Many newsrooms brag about “every dollar funds journalism”. I get the sentiment, but that statement neglects important functions. Marketing may be a dirty word, but you need it as much as you need electricity. Like it or not, even with no business dept (or a minimal one), or no marketing staff, someone is still performing
Now more than ever, it’s the responsibility of everyone in the organization to sell the journalism. Now, I’m not saying you need to roll up your sleeves, don a flat cap and hit the downtown corner yelling “EXTRA EXTRA” (holding up your phone with the app on it, of course). But. If your newsroom can’t
I have a magnet from the New York Public Library on my fridge. It says “Libraries are for everyone.” It’s perfect, because it’s aspirational. My vision is for local news outlets across the country to be treasured and loved the way people love their public library. Not just as sources of information or research, but
