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Copyright Red Sage Consulting SSP Meeting 2009

Growing your businessin new marketsA guide for smaller publishers

Sarah DurrantRed Sage Consulting

SSP Annual MeetingMay 2729th 2009


I apologise for the bare nature of theseslides the images used in the originalversion of this presentation have been

removed to avoid copyrightinfringement.


About me…

• 20 years in information industry

• Consultant in scholarly informationsector

• Secretary General of Associationof Subscription Agents & Intermediaries[part time]

• Recent adopter of retired racing greyhound


About this talk…

•Context•What do we want to achieve?•Where will we have the most impact?•Who are our customers?•What are our key messages?•Who are our potential partners?•Summary


Context

• Traditional journal markets havematured limited/slow/no growth

• Economic downturn presents threats…• … and opportunities:ü leverage business in underserved marketsü‘offset’ losses in depressed marketsü‘seed’ emerging and immature marketsüenhance staff knowledge and expertise


What do we want to achieve?


New business

üGrow subscriptions/revenuesüBuild brand presence/awareness for

wider international:– readership– authorship– membership

ü Identify individuals for future marketingcommunications

ü All of the above


Existing business

ü Increase awareness and usage(secure renewals)üFacilitate migration to onlineüReactivate lapsed subscribersüEncourage renewalsüEstablish why customers have cancelledüGain feedback from key customers

(e.g. outlook 20102011)


Where will we have the mostimpact?


Where to start?

• Clearly, not all countries have thesame potential– everywhere outside North America?– one particular region e.g. Asia, Latin America?– specific countries e.g. South Korea, Mexico?

ØProfile countries using a common set ofmetrics…Ø… using indicators relevant to your market sector


Metrics (examples)

• Population

• Status of English

• Political stability

• GDP growth

• HDI value and ranking

• UN Education index

• Govt. spendingon tertiary education

• % tertiary students inscience, engineering

• Numbers of med.schools

• R&D expenditure

• Internet users

• etc.


Local market intelligence(examples)

• Currency recent history, stability, valueagainst dollare.g. recent 26% fall in South Korean Won

• Extent of exposure to economic downturne.g. India buoyant, Japan depressed (China vulnerable?)

• Teaching and research: status and trendse.g. disciplines, funding etc.

• Journalspecific market intelligencee.g. importance of: eonly; perpetual access rights; localarchive


Resources (examples)

• World Bank/WHO/UNdata

• Bloomberg• Reuters• The Economist.com• SciDevNet• BBC/CNN etc.• Newspaper websites• Govt. development

departments

• ISI data

• OCLC data

• Industry reports

• Consortium PurchasingDirectory

• Identify (Ringgold)

• MasterVision (Datasalon)

• etc.


Outcomes…

Ø Prioritise a single regione.g. SE Asia ahead of eastern Europe

Ø Prioritise countries within a regione.g. South Korea and Taiwan but not Indonesia

Ø Target key countries from several regionse.g. Brazil, India, China, Russia

Ø Consider discounted accesse.g. for countries with transitional economies

Ø Provide free/lowcost accesse.g. to countries with developing economies


Who are our customers?


Known knowns…

ü Current subscribers(upselling)

ü Membersü Authorsü Pay per view customersü Contacts/alerting

recipientsü Other prospectsü Lapsed and cancelled

subscribersü Who else?

• Specialist tools foranalysing this data e.g.– Ringgold Identify– Datasalon MasterVision– etc.


Known unknowns…

Within target countries:• Academic libraries,

consortia• Research institutes• Corporations• Govt. departments,

NGOs, etc.• Highlycited authors and

institutes• Authors in

competing/related journals• Potential sales partners

• Research undertaken:ü inhouseü by consultant


What are our key messages?


Messages (brand)

• Useful opportunity to revisit/developyour brand

• Its a busy market –stand out in the crowd• Emphasise international credentials...• … and local relevanceüeditorial boardüauthorsü content


Messages (content)

Buyers (librarians)ü valueü quality/pedigreeü imprint/brandü impact factorü positive quotations from

other librarians/consortiaü research resourceü teaching supportü etc.

Users (readers, authors)ü qualityü currencyü imprint/brandü high profile authors/papersü local editorial boardü functionality

(RSS feeds etc.)ü impact factorü local language versions


Messages (services)

• Offer pricing models appropriate to the market• Emphasise

–customer choicee.g. print only; print + electronic; eonly; backfiles;

–customer benefitse.g. positive licensing; perpetual access rights;permanent archiving strategy

–customer service and supporte.g. local language and time zone (if using partner)


Potential partners


What are our options?

•Employ an international salesteam

•Join (or create) a publisherconsortium

•Find one or more local salespartners


Why work with a partner?

• Licence negotiations entail timeand resources:– specialist skills and knowledge– time zones, languages, cultural sensitivities– local market knowledge

• Can this realistically be resourced inhouse…• … across all markets?• … effectively and efficiently?

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.


Sales agents: benefits

ü Get you a place at the negotiating tableü Make salesü Develop longterm customer relationshipsü Advise on local market conditions (all sectors)ü Advise on pricing and related mattersü (Potentially) assess and restructure existing dealsü Give you regular information and feedbackü May offer useful ‘extras’

e.g. local language marketing, exhibition attendance etc.


Sales agents: caveats

• Don’t underestimate resources requiredto manage sales partnership/s

• Maintain direct involvement with market andcustomers

• Ensure you get action not just wordsü initial contract 2years maximumü include a servicelevel agreementü consult with agent’s existing customersü visit key territories and customers


A growing choice…

ü Accucomsü Burgundy Servicesü Charlesworth Groupü ELicensing (David

Charles)ü EMpact (EBSCO)ü Gateway (Swets)ü PCGü van de Bilt Sales &

Marketing• etc.

Ø Geographical focus vs.international reach

Ø Subject specialists vs.generalists


Other potential alliances

• Aggregation servicese.g. Cengage, EBSCO, ProQuest, Swets etc.

• Potential in ‘secondary’ markets…e.g. public libraries, FE colleges

• … and/or traditionally underserved marketse.g. parts of Asia, Africa, Latin America etc.

• Work with more than one, compare results• Be clear about terms

e.g. sales territories/sectors; copyright ownership etc.


Summary


Market intelligence

ØSupports revenue forecasting/business planning

ØEnables confident prioritisation ofcountries… and activities

ØHelps you define and achieve sales andmarketing goals

ØMaximises ROI


Strategic partnerships

• Give you international reach and presence

• Help secure a place at the negotiating table

• Not all agents/aggregators offer the sameservices: don’t be shy about:ü shopping around

ü setting (fair) goals

üusing more than one agent

ü changing agents


Finally…

• Economic downturn presentsopportunities for smaller publishers

• Not all international markets are suffering• Not all institutes are affected equally• Big deals are increasingly being scrutinised…• … usagebased acquisition may favour smaller

numbers of musthave titles• Yours may well be among them…


Thank you for your attention.

Questions…

Sarah DurrantRed Sage Consulting

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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