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    Measuring your “Return on Content”: How to tell whether your content is successful

    Click here to If your organization is like most, it publishes a lot of content.  When I oversaw Realtor.org, the member website of the National  Association of Realtors, we published or updated 25 to 50 pieces of  content every day. (Surprising, right? When we added it up, we were astounded also.)  This content included news releases, bios, conference session agendas,  program updates, magazine articles, issue briefs, and so much more. Our  content was published by numerous people in our organization: In fact,  100 of our 300 staff members had rights to publish content online.


    Even if your organization doesn’t produce anything close to that kind  of volume, it’s wise to ask yourself an important question: Is all this  content working? This article lays out how to answer that question for  the content you have now and ensure that, going forward, your future  content is positioned to succeed.


    Introducing Return on Content

    Return on Content needs to apply to every single piece of content your organization creates.

    To figure out how successful an individual piece of content is, we need three pieces of information:

    1. The goal for that piece of content.
    2. How to make that goal measurable
    3. A plan for measuring it and using the information about what we find

    Let’s walk through each of the three elements of Return on Content for an individual piece of content.

    Continue reading the article below, and check out the slides and recording from my recent webinar:


    Slides:

    Webinar recording:

    1. The content’s goal – aka, why are we publishing this?

    Effective content achieves a goal. While this may sound obvious, all too often the goal is misidentified:

    • that the content is published
    • that lots of people look at it

    In these cases, content’s “success” could be misleading – reinforcing the creation of too much irrelevant content.


    “Pageviews aren’t the goal. Your goal is the goal."
    —Mike Powers, Director of Electronic Communications at Indiana University of Pennsylvania


    Rather, a true goal for content is that it meets a user need, an organizational goal – or ideally, both. You may be asking which is more important – business goals or user needs? The user experience profession gives us a clear answer to this  chicken-and-egg scenario: if you satisfy users’ goals, you can achieve  organizational goals – and if you don’t satisfy users, you cannot  succeed from a business perspective.


    Every organization has business goals. While for corporations,  business goals are usually tied directly to revenue, professional  organizations such as nonprofits, associations, or educational  institutions typically have goals about audience (donor, member,  student) satisfaction, retention, or action.


    Content is a key way that organizations meet their goals: Every piece  of content you publish is connected to what you do, who you are, or something your audience wants from you – a program, service, product,  event, etc. Therefore, content’s success needs to be connected to what  it’s about – driving usage of a program, awareness of a benefit,  purchase of a product, etc.


    “Content is the way our work is manifested in the world."
    — Hilary Marsh


    Content is the manifestation of an organization’s programs, products,  services, resources, information, and tools. If an organization’s  content is effective, its offerings succeed in achieving their goals.  Further, the target audience understands what is available to them and  how to take advantage of the right programs – and they don’t need to  contact the help desk unless they have a complex question.


    There’s a technique called the 5 whys that help you get to the root  cause of something. I’ve found it helpful to use a similar technique to  drill down to the true goal of a piece of content. It’s not always  necessary to ask five questions, but it’s a good number to keep in mind.  


    Here’s an example from a realistic conversation:

    Why do you want to publish this content? Because we want to share an update about our program

    What is that latest news? That we have given grants to several more organizations

    Why do you give those grants? It’s part of our mission, to improve society

    Why do you want people to know about this information? To increase donations, supporting our mission


    So the true measure of the effectiveness of this content is not  whether it is successfully published, or whether more people looked at  the information about the program – but whether the donations to the  program increased.


    Here are a few more examples:

    For a conference your organization is producing:

    Marketers might want to publish videos from speakers teeing up their talk, or photos from previous events.


    The true goal for those videos and pictures is is to get people to  register for that conference – maybe that speaker’s fans, or maybe  members of your audience who have never attended this event before. If  the speaker is a well-known name, the video may attract attention, but  if it doesn’t inspire enough new people to register, it is not successful. The photos from previous events might be more successful if  they show members of the target audience engaged in the event and  enjoying themselves.


    For a report you produce:

    The goal of the report is probably to educate your audience about a  topic that is important for them to know and on which your organization  is seen as expert.


    If you require the audience to provide their email address in order  to download it, and fewer people then get that information, the report  is not successful.


    For any content about the report – press releases, articles, blog  posts, etc. – the goal is probably to get people to download the report.  Did the tweet contribute to that result? The newsletter item? The home  page announcement? The content about the report is successful when it  delivers the result you’re looking for – and you can tweak the headlines, content length, wording of the call to action, etc., to  improve that result.


    For information about a product or service your organization offers:

    The goal is to get the right people to buy the product or  use the service. So if you get out the word about your product or  service with general-purpose SEO or ads, you may get lots of traffic to  the page, but if only a small percentage of your visitors actually take  the next step, the content and tactics were not successful. Instead, the  content needs to speak directly to the target audience, highlighting  the right benefits and the exact value they need, using their  terminology.


    Sometimes content needs to support more universal goals – for  example, the organization wants to get fewer customer service calls  about its products. One of the goals for product content, then, is to be  clear, specific, and comprehensive enough to answer the most frequent  questions customers have.

    2.    Make your goal measurable.

    Now that we have a better understanding of the true goal of the  content, we need to think about how to make it measurable. These are  often called KPIs – key performance indicators. Here’s where marketing  experts can help – they have invaluable knowledge about how to measure  goals and matching the right tools to the right situations.


    For the conference video, remember that the goal is to get new  attendees to register for the conference. One way to measure that is by  looking at the user path in your analytics software. Ultimately, you’ll  want to compare the list of people who took that next step with the list  of new registrants

    • For product content, you could compare content improvement with calls to the call center about that specific product.
    • If your goal is engagement with your organization, you might make  that measurable by tracking how often your content is shared on social  media or via email.
    • If the goal is in drawing more people to the program or offering, you may measure that through search engine traffic.
    • And if your goal is to increase satisfaction with your organization  or a specific offering, you may choose to measure that with surveys,  starting with a benchmark from before and then following up every year.


    Here is a chart that I adapt with clients to map goals to KPIs and determine how to measure them.

    The key to this effort is the middle column – the measurable goal.  Before you can choose measurement techniques, you need to reach clarity  with the people in charge of what the content is about, about what  success will look like. If one person downloads the report, does that  make the content about the report successful, or does success require  1,000 people to download the report?


    Download this chart (Word, 40k), so you can create your own Return on Content.


    The National Retail Federation recently learned an important content  strategy lesson through testing. They wanted to know whether content  volume affects the content’s visibility. To test this, the organization  reduced the number of news articles it produced by 21 percent from 2014  to 2015. They discovered that the total number of page views to its  collection of news articles actually increased by 14 percent – and that  pageviews and visitors to the site overall increased by 20 percent. Were  they more selective about what they wrote about? Were they able to  focus more on each news article?


    Understanding their behind-the-scenes  decisions would help them use those decisions to fuel more success.


    3.    Measure, tweak, repeat.

    The final piece of the pie in content success is in actually doing  the measuring and reporting your findings back to the people who have a  stake in its success. It might be the writer who created the content, as  well as the department that creates the event, program, or service that  the content is about. And don’t forget the organization’s management,  too, so they have a sense of how your content is doing.

    But that’s not all. Measuring helps you understand what’s working  well and where you might improve – which gives you an opportunity to  make your content even more successful.

    Content improvements are likely to include:

    • Focusing the content on the benefits to the user, not just a list of features
    • Ensuring that the content’s goal is clear and explicit
    • Writing directly to the user, not in corporate-speak
    • Rewriting the headline so it doesn’t follow the usual formula (e.g.,  stop using number-driven or Buzzfeed-style headlines, since readers are  becoming numb to them)
    • Making the call to action clear, but not overly sales-y


    Getting started

    You can start your Return on Content journey today with your existing  content.


    1. Identify what the content’s goals were, ideally with the  subject-matter expert responsible for the program that the content is  about.
    2. Measure what you can.
    3. Start working in partnership with those who manage the  programs, products, events, etc. to draw out the goals for those  programs and discuss the role content will play in those programs, so  you can measure what is meaningful.


    “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.”

    — William Bruce Cameron


    The more goal-oriented your content is, the happier your users will be, resulting in greater business success.


    If I can help your organization start a Return on Content journey, please get in touch!

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    Content strategies to increase member engagement

    association management

    Associations are constantly creating content — from  articles, conference sessions, webinars, press releases, and research  reports to industry guidelines, advocacy talking points, and more. This  on-demand webinar will help you make the most of your content  investments.

    In this webinar, you will learn:

    • What content is best to repurpose

    • To think more strategically about your content

    • How to use your content to reach and engage members and prospective members


    Watch the recorded webinar:

    On-Demand: “Content Strategies That Will Increase Member Engagement” with Hilary Marsh



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    Unlocking the Power of Content for Associations

    association management

     I was thrilled to be a guest on the Association Adviser podcast. Naylor  CEO Christine Shaw and I talked about how content represents  associations’ value, aligning organizational and departmental  priorities, making content more successful, and the value of truly  understanding your audiences’ needs.


    See the details and show notes on Naylor’s website

    Lightly edited transcript:

    It helps to really think of your offerings in their  totality and figure out what that means to you. The offerings are almost  invariably going to be content. This is a strategic thinking effort,  and non-dues revenue is part of that.


    Christine Shaw: Hi, and welcome to the Association Advisor Podcast, brought to you by Naylor Association Solutions.

    Hilary, you have such an amazing background. Would you please share  with our listeners what led you to this work, and why you’re so  passionate about it?


    Hilary Marsh: Sure. I started my professional life  as a magazine editor, and when the internet came along, I had to figure  out how content fit into this new media. Every organization that’s  online is a publisher, whether they think of themselves that way or not.  And my magazine experience taught me that there’s a really valuable  place for an editorial role. Content strategy really is that for any  kind of organization. I’m passionate about helping associations add that  lens, add that layer to the work that they do.


    Christine Shaw: That’s fantastic. A lot of people  had to make that pivot when the online strategy came to fruition. So,  good for you that you’ve done it. And I also love that you shared about  your passion and support of associations.


    We know associations are very mission-driven and aim to create value  for their members in a lot of ways. So, let’s dig a little bit more into  the role that content specifically plays for associations in delivering  a mission and providing solutions to challenges that we face.


    Hilary Marsh: I used to work for the National  Association of Realtors, and I realized then that associations are  content machines. The the products and programs and services and  resources they offer, publications, conferences, original research,  advocacy — really all of the work they do is content. Content is how  they provide their value to members and to their various audiences and  constituents.


    Christine Shaw: Well, obviously, we agree because  that’s what we do. Content can drive that member engagement because it’s  so important. Now, with that said, with associations, they have to  carefully balance the organizational, individual roles, and departmental  alignment.


    Hilary Marsh: Adding on to my previous answer, the  people who create all of those really valuable programs and products and  services for members don’t think of themselves as content creators. I  really struggled with how to make all of those subject matter experts  inside an organization realize that what they do is create content. And  so, I have coined it as ‘Content is the way that our work is manifested  in the world’ because when we say content strategy, we don’t mean the  communication department or marketing department or media relations  only, we really mean everyone.


    A strategy for an organization’s content is integrally a part of the  strategy for the thing itself. A strategy for the program itself must  include a strategy for the content of or about the program.


    Christine Shaw: You bring up an excellent point,  which is a great segue into. So, you’re talking about the individual  work and then, obviously, the association’s content creation. How does  one, in an association  align the association’s goals and the individual  department goals while keeping this whole process organized? That, I  think, can be overwhelming. So, give us some of your suggestions.


    Hilary Marsh: I often refer to content strategy as  being like an orchestra conductor or an association. In an orchestra, if  every musician, regardless of how talented they are, is playing their  own music in their own time, or if every section is playing its own  music in its own time at the same time as the other sections, the  audience experiences it as cacophony. And yet, there’s a much deeper and  richer experience for an audience in hearing the whole symphony by an  orchestra as opposed to just a solo violin, for example.


    If we translate that to the collection of work that the association  does, it’s the same thing. If they’re not connected, the audience  doesn’t know where to go first, doesn’t know what to listen to first or  pay attention to first. And then associations wonder, why aren’t they  knowing about and using all these things we offer, which we know are  valuable to them? And, in fact, they’re almost always amazing and  relevant and valuable.


    There are a few tools and practices that associations can do to  connect the individual work to the greater picture. And you would think  that a strategic plan would address that, and it kind of does, but then  everybody goes off and they do their own piece and they forget to  connect back to the core mission and how their individual piece rolls  up.

    I think the tools are setting a common voice and tone. In my work, we  call that a message architecture, and sometimes it’s part of branding  work, but sometimes branding work focuses on the visuals and the  graphics and the colors without focusing equally as much on the  organization’s voice. That’s one piece.


    Another one is the taxonomy, the tagging of content, so that whatever  topic something’s about is labeled with the same topic, whether  department X or Y or Z creates it. And the other one is not only a  content calendar, but the planning exercise and conversations around  that content calendar.


    Everybody has initiatives or programs that they’re working on. So, if  we publish them in a central organization-wide content calendar and  everyone looks at it and talks about it, then everyone will understand,  oh, this thing that I’m working on, gosh, that relates really well to  that thing that you’re working on. We should collaborate on that instead  of creating two separate documents because we all want to explain the  issue to the members and let’s explain it together or you write it and  then I’ll include it or link to it.


    Those are the tools I can think of.


    Christine Shaw: Those are really helpful suggestions  and I love, Hilary, that you use the orchestra example because I think  we all can visualize and listen to a beautiful piece of music, but then  behind the scenes everything that goes on to bring that all together.  So, that should be a good thing we all keep in the back of our minds as  we’re doing things like what’s the beautiful musical outcome to be and  if you can remember that, it helps guide you through the process and the  practice. Great suggestions.


    I love that you talked about tagging, because that shows your online  chops that you developed from pivoting to just imprint to online because  it’s huge.


    So, let’s talk about content in terms of being an exclusive member  benefit. As you know, a lot of associations tout their content as this  exclusive member benefit and they keep a lot of that gated or behind a  wall that you only get if you’re a paid member.


    However, in your opinion, content should be available and accessible.  What approach benefits the association or why does this benefit the  association along with its audience? Can you help us understand a little  bit of your beliefs there?


    Hilary Marsh: The core of my work is asking  questions. It’s what I do all day. The two main questions that I ask  over and over and over again are Who’s your audience? and What’s your  goal?


    If the goal for a particular initiative is making sure that every  member sees this thing and uses this thing, then we’re probably looking  at volume. And the issue is that content behind a firewall gets a  fraction of the use of content that’s open. You’re never going to be  able to succeed in your goal if you keep content behind a firewall.  Because that gets into tech issues about how long your website session  stays good, and do you remember your login, and what if you’re on your  home computer versus your work computer or your phone? Do you have your  login? Is a member really going to pursue that?


    The other challenge is that it’s usually leadership that wants to  keep member content behind a firewall. And with the huge explosion of  volume of content out there in the world, the risk of somebody finding  and using this content — gosh, we all want that risk in a way. We don’t  have a problem of too much use of our content. In fact, we have the  opposite.


    Don’t worry that your content’s out there, because there’s also a lot  of other things. Rather, make sure that everyone who might need what  you have can find it and use it.


    Christine Shaw: Leaning into your tagging example,  in your online experience, when people are searching, it’s much easier  for them to find you, so you don’t know how many new people and  potential new members you could be bringing to your association by  ungating that content. So, I think that’s great advice and a good  perspective on it. Thank you for that.


    Also, let’s talk about a method that you’ve developed for the  foundational content strategy and making sure you understand the  audience. I know you describe that as empathy-based personas. So, talk a  little bit about that and how they work in relation to developing  value-driven content, please.


    Hilary Marsh: Sure. Remember I said I ask those two  questions, who’s your audience and what’s your goal? Knowing your  audience isn’t a demographic segmentation exercise only.


    And it’s not even the typical personas that I see all too often,  which is: This is Sally, she’s 32, she’s been in this profession for  three years, we have these three things for her. That’s a very  inside-out approach to the audience. Empathy-based personas go much  deeper into understanding who is Sally, what is she motivated for, what  are her challenges, what is she afraid of, what does she need, and then  how does our work fit into what she’s about.


    The process starts with basic demographics, and then it asks people  to prioritize. Of all the dozen audience stories that we have, which  four are the most important? When I first learned of this technique,  when I worked at the National Association of Realtors, I thought there  is no way, we’ve got 83 committees and subcommittees and forums, we’re a  giant organization, there’s no way we’re going to be able to distill  this down to four. And in fact, we did.


    We did it in person because it was far pre-pandemic, and with voting  dots, and there turned out to be some top ones and then some outliers,  and we interwove some of the characteristics of the outliers into the  main ones so that we could take a deeper dive into what makes these  people tick. So, we build them as real human beings with their  motivations and their challenges and all of that. Are they ambitious?  Are they in front of a desk? What are they interested in?


    And then we go through the second part, which I call the audience  engagement journey. Do they even know about us? Are they dimly aware?  Are they using our stuff? Are they involved with, engaged with us? And  then finally, are they kind of our own personal PR agents where they’re  getting all their peers and colleagues also engaged with us because they  find our work so valuable? And those two things together are  transformative.


    I find that you can validate these with focus groups if you recruit  people based on the demographics you identify in the first session, and  then you ask them the questions about what messages are the baseline for  you, what would be amazing, and how can we help you more? Every time  I’ve done this exercise, it always validates when we have a focus group.  Not every client has a budget for a focus group, but I assure them that  the initial work, which we do with staff because they’ve typically  interacted with various kinds of members, so they can bring their own  member-centric experience with them, and they know other human beings  who are like that.


    They know people who are in their early stages of their careers,  whether they are in that profession or not. These are folks, for  example, who don’t know what they don’t know yet. So, you need to help  them understand what their path is going to be, what they should be  looking at. Thinking about what human beings in that kind of space are  like is super helpful about really being able to put yourself in their  shoes when you’re creating content for them, and that’s the challenge:  Subject matter experts inside associations are so good at what they do  that they forget that the audience doesn’t live in their head. The  audience really needs what they have, but they don’t know the lingo.


    So, we have, for example, people in advocacy putting out emails that  say, ‘Act now on HR 432B.’ What does that mean? The issue turns out to  be super important for the members to join in a call for action for, but  unless you help them understand what’s the issue, why is it a threat or  important for you to ask your congressional representative to vote for  or against, then they can take action.


    Christine Shaw: Hilary, it’s clear why this is your passion and your calling in life.

    I love the methodology you created, and you did it in a way to help  others understand the process. It’s a two-step process in really getting  into the minds and the personalities of the potential audience and  leaders, so that’s fantastic. You’ve done a great job at outlining the  content strategy approach, some tools, some tips, everything you do to  create your content and align it.


    Tell me from your perspective, how do you see content as such a  driver for non-dues revenue to help support associations’ investment in  their future?


    Hilary Marsh: Honestly, non-dues revenue isn’t  always the primary focus of the work that my associations do. It’s the  member value that’s a greater focus, but I have seen associations  repackage a lot of their content in a way that can give it a new life,  let’s say.


    There’s also the idea of kind of a bite, snack, meal. So, bite,  snack, meal is a content technique where you understand that different  people have needs for different levels of depth in the content they  consume. If you think about not a specific piece of content constructed  as a bite/snack/meal, but a journey through your content as a  bite/snack/meal, that’s so interesting because if the bite is a blog  post, the snack might be the detailed report, and the meal is a  conference where that’s created. It helps to really think of your  offerings in their totality and figure out what that means to you. The  offerings are almost invariably going to be content.


    So, while it all manifests itself on the website, this isn’t really a  website effort. This isn’t really a technology effort. This is a  strategic thinking effort, and non-dues revenue is part of that.  Connecting the products you sell to the products that you offer to  members is a real yin-yang there.


    Christine Shaw: I like that you talk about the first  priority being member value because member retention is also a big part  of this. To have a strong association, you need to have a strong  membership, and that membership that you can retain year in, year out,  and so your content strategy definitely speaks to that. We all know the  benefits that generating extra revenue can help for associations and  what they can invest for the future of their association, whether it’s  technology or new initiatives or anything that they feel can help beat  advocacy for their association and their members. You have so much  experience in content creation.


    Obviously, from what we’ve talked about today, you definitely stayed  ahead of that curve personally, but what would you say we need to be  doing now, and what would your suggestions be that we can all do to stay  ahead of the curve as we go forward into the future?


    Hilary Marsh: I think this is probably a different  answer than you might be expecting, but for me, the key to all of this  is creating that content strategy and operationalizing it — making sure  that you do what it takes to make it stick. Part of that is an HR issue,  so when I say content strategy is an HR issue, people usually give me a  puzzled look in response, but if those subject matter experts are  expected to create content in a way that’s going to resonate with the  audience to do that translation we talked about a few minutes ago, then  they need the skills to do it, they need the time to do it, and it needs  to become part of their job description. If content strategy is going  to be sustainable, the organization really needs to look at its roles  and processes to make sure that the people who are supposed to be doing  this work have the tools and permission they need, and that it becomes  part of what they’re evaluated on.


    That’s not the sexy AI kind of answer, because I don’t think this is a  AI problem, I think it’s a strategic problem that associations really  need to focus on that way.


    Christine Shaw: The way I translate that from listening to your answer is it needs to be part of your organization’s  DNA, and it starts with the talent and how you bring that talent into  the organization.


    I think that’s a great point that we often overlook, and so if you  don’t fundamentally have that as part of the foundational DNA, it’s hard  to create strategic content, so that’s great.


    Hilary Marsh: A few years ago, I co-authored a study  for the ASAE Foundation called “Content Strategies for a Changing  World” that was a study of associations’ adoption and maturity in their  content strategy work, and there really is a journey that every  association goes through in its maturity, and the end stage of its  maturity is exactly what we’ve been talking about.


    It’s that everybody understands what content they have, how long it’s  supposed to live, who it’s for, and why. They might organize their  content by topic, so if somebody comes with a problem to solve, they  don’t have to look at the magazine and the conference section and the  advocacy section and this and that or the other. It’s organized for  them, so that it’s done with the audience and their needs in mind, and  everybody understands their place in that, so there’s not a competition  for attention and people lobbying for more space on the home page, as we  see all the time in a website effort. Everybody has a journey in  getting there.


    Christine Shaw: That makes total sense. Thank you  for referencing that study. By the way, Hilary, is there a way listeners  can get their hands on that study if they would like to look at it?  Absolutely.


    Hilary Marsh: I have a bit.ly link, and it’s on the ASAE Foundation website.


    Christine Shaw: Amazing. That’s such a great resource and tool, so thanks for sharing that.


    My final question is more of a fun one. With summer coming up, people  like to read. Can you recommend a book for our guests so they can be  learning even more after this episode?


    Hilary Marsh: Well, this is not beach reading for  sure, but I have two. One is the bible of content strategy. It’s called  Content Strategy for the Web, and it’s by Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach.


    I have not written a book, but I would think that the collection of  articles and things on my website also serve as useful reading, because I do always write with associations in mind.


    Christine Shaw: We’ll be sure to include that link  in our episode notes, so thanks for sharing that. And Hilary, if our  listeners want to get in touch with you, how can they connect with you  after listening to our episode?


    Hilary Marsh: My website is contentcompany.biz, and  I’ve got a newsletter. For anyone who’s really interested in joining in  on content strategy work, I run an online community for content  strategists, and the URL is content-strategy.com.


    Christine Shaw: Thank you so much. Wow, this has  been great. So much information, and we really appreciate your  willingness to share all of your knowledge with our audience, and you do  a lot of amazing work for the association space and beyond. Thanks for  your time today, Hilary. I’ve really enjoyed having you on as our guest.


    Hilary Marsh: Thanks so much for having me.


    Christine Shaw: I appreciate it. Until next time,  thanks. Thank you for listening to the Association Advisor Podcast,  brought to you by Naylor Association Solutions.

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    Transform your magazine, transform your association

    association management publications

    For associations, content from their magazines is often the most read  and most valued information they produce. It’s no surprise — magazine  content is planned with audience needs in mind, designed beautifully,  written by professionals, and goes through a thorough editorial process.


    That said, I suggest that it’s the CONTENT, not the magazine itself,  that association members appreciate. This is more true as time goes on,  with the decline in advertising and the fact that so many associations  no longer print and mail magazines.


    Your magazine is the content cornerstone of your association

    Think about your magazine’s content outside of the package that it  comes in (similar to my advice for content from other departments or  member groups).

    Members don’t know or care which department produces which content.  And because magazine issues are time-based, the fact that an article  appeared in the April 2023 issue isn’t meaningful for someone looking to  learn something new, answer a question or address a challenge they  have.


    Reconceive the magazine as a strategic content asset (not a budget drain)

    Here are some of the ways you may reconceive magazine content:

    Digital-first thinking opens so many possibilities

    Here are just a few thoughts.


    No space limitations

    • If you have a contest, you can present many more entries online than would fit in a magazine’s pages.
    • If you conduct interviews, you can present both the summary and the complete interview for those who want to explore further.
    • You can publish links to other sources of information, both from the organization and elsewhere.

    Multimedia opportunities

    • Add audio or video material to articles.
    • Have columnists create a podcast.

    Rethink frequency

    • Publish on a schedule that makes sense for the audience, rather than for the printer.
    • Publish less content at a time, but more often.

    Remove or replace time-focused content

    • The editor’s introduction to each “issue” could be replaced each month, since it isn’t relevant after the time has passed.
    • Consider ending publication of recaps of other association content.


    Revisit magazine promotions

    With a digital-first approach, fewer members will get the printed  magazine on their doorstep. And while you may still email people letting  them know the latest issue is available, there are other opportunities:

    • Highlight topical articles in other newsletters produced by the association.
    • Highlight entire collections of content on a timely topic.

     

    You will need a strategy for why and how to transform your association publication. Please get in touch if I can help.