The Word 'Subscription' is Dead Terminology!

I have mentioned in my two previous posts this blog is all about ideas and innovation. I will start today looking at our industries broken circulation and/or subscription model; one that is coming to an end very quickly if we don't take action today - actually yesterday. Coming through the industry ranks on the marketing, circulation and business side, I've often felt the key to maintaining a strong print product in the future is tied to the bundling of our products with other products and/or services. To often I hear industry veterans tell us that all we need to do is promote what is in our various products better, or in other words, enlighten our readers as to how good we really are.

From a marketing perspective, nothing could be more outlandish; yet it does reek of the traditional mindset so prevalent in our industry. You know that mindset that we know what is good for the readers and they just need to rely on and trust us. Sorry folks, that mindset went away with 8-track tapes, record albums and pet rocks. From a business and marketing perspective, we can judge our products on one thing and one thing only, how many people will buy what we are peddling. Money talks, tradition walks.

Don't take that the wrong way, offering a compelling message or marketing campaign certainly can and will bring people in the front door or into our pages; however keeping them there is the real battle. That requires long term strategies and hooks that hold in many ways. The bottom-line is that anyone that takes a trial subscription for 13 weeks and then quits has spoken to us with his/her pocketbook, saying you don't have enough value for me.

Now here is a somewhat tame, yet potentially powerful thought. What if we no longer offered subscriptions? What if our newspaper became but a small piece of a much bigger package that readers couldn't say no to? What if that bigger package was priced even higher than a traditional subscription to a daily newspaper? I do believe that our print products aren't dead yet and even may have a bit of a run left in them, just not under the traditional format we have grown accustomed to in our industry.

Why not convert our subscriber base before it shrinks any further and create the largest Co-op or buying club in the area patterned after a Sam's Club or Costco etc? However, as the largest and most trusted media medium in the area, it could be taken to a completely new level, let me explain further.

As a new co-op club member I would receive the following based on my relationship with the Newsmedia company.

1) Newspaper delivered 1-6 days per week (member's choice) and unlimited online access.

2) Buying club membership. (Each month, as a group I am offered the opportunity to purchase food or gas at greatly reduced prices because we purchase in bulk to the winning bidder.)

3) Free auto buying services. (I simply submit the type of vehicle I am looking for, the co-op places that request to bid with all their suppliers (advertisers) and presents the buyer with the bids acting as the 3rd-party - of course the winning bidder has built-in the finders fee to the Newsmedia company and the buyer just goes in and picks up their new vehicle at the best price without dealing with the car sales hassles or routines.)

4) Free other buying services. (See #3 and expand to real estate listings, insurance, legal services and let the mind wonder - could be a great new revenue stream)

5) Free local e-mail offers. Members can sign-up for weekly, monthly or whatever e-mail blasts listing the special offer of the week at local restaurants or businesses and so forth. (Of course, we go to local businesses and pitch they now have access to the largest co-op buying group in the area. Think what that e-mail blast might be worth in your market)

6) Free classifieds (we're going there anyway)

7) Free magazine subscription of their choice. (Magazine companies offer highly discounted subscriptions when in bulk, give the members a choice of about 10-15 highly read magazines such as TV Guide etc. - only cost the co-op about $1 - $2 per year.) Side note: maybe it is worth it to just purchase a TV Guide for everyone in the market to avoid our weekly newsprint cost.

8) Free 11x17 color replica of any page in the newspaper throughout the year. (1 per household)

9) Other discounted services as acquired throughout the year, let you imagination run wild.

The trick to making this work isn't offering this as an option, you simply convert your entire subscriber base to co-op memberships with no options. Even if 10% of your subscriber base opted to stop the newspaper in lieu of being a member, you'll lose that many in a few years anyway. Additionally, I would consider offering tiered levels of membership benefits based on length of subscription or club membership to encourage longevity and consistency. There is no end to what could be offered to the members and monetized by the Newsmedia company.

Lastly and most importantly, I would charge an extra $2.00 to $5.00 per month for the privilege of being a member with a money back guarantee that if they haven't saved more than the price increase throughout the year, you refund their money. For every 10,000 in circulation, your Newsmedia company would see $240,000 - $600,000 in additional revenue, with very little incurred cost and multiple renewed revenue opportunities.

Does this idea have flaws? Absolutely! Is it doable? Without a doubt! I can think of a few questions and concerns, after all anything worth doing will require a few risks and chances; but I would submit this line of thinking is where we need to be going as an industry. Our industry doesn't have time for evolution, it is time for the revolution to begin. We need to change the rules of the road more to our advantage or change the road we are traveling on. Please feel free to pick this apart as we will most likely be going down this path at our newspaper in the near future and we certainly would appreciate any feedback from you.