Five best practices to build audience and generate revenue through Data-Driven Marketing

Tom Ratkovich INMA European Conference

20 October, 2011

Five best practices to build audience and generate revenue through Data-Driven Marketing

Tom Ratkovich INMA European Conference

20 October, 2011

About me •  Founded ASTECH InterMedia in 1992 •  Focus: transformation through database/digital marketing solutions •  Clients

–  The New York Times –  The Washington Post –  USA Today –  The Sydney Morning Herald –  Toronto Star

•  Formed LMP in 2011 to “practice what we’ve preached” –  Acquire community newsmedia companies that fit our profile –  Leverage shared services and database/digital best practices to profitably deliver

capabilities to the community newsmedia market

The Laboratory •  Print & digital redesign •  Daily print to weekly •  24/7 digital •  Feature-oriented content •  Revamp distribution •  Drop classifieds for SMB bundle •  Reallocate sales resources to mid-size and major opportunities •  Introduce new print/digital products to build audiences, gain knowledge •  Create production/operational efficiencies through outsourcing •  Build database/digital capabilities (Emailvision)

Digital First? •  Not an option for the Sentinel to remain viable in the short-term… •  …but an opportunity to grow revenue and audience •  Digital < 1% of total revenue •  No email database •  Limited presence on social media sites •  Print still core in our community

CUSTOMER First! •  Deliver multi-platform solutions

–  Meet consumer needs for relevance, value & channel preference –  Meet merchant needs for optimal ROI

•  Key drivers of LMP strategy 1.  Intelligence 2.  Integration 3.  Automation

The Marketing Data Center

Subscription Data

Digital Data

Social Activity

Contests and Events

Demographics

Customer Service

Do Not Solicit

Transient Advertising

Telemarketing

Loyalty Programs

Advertiser Customers

Cleanse

Standardize

Integrate

MAAX

Planning & Reporting

Multichannel Campaign Management

Data Visualization, Segmentation & Analysis

Modeling and Data Mining

Email, Mobile & Social Executions

The New York Times Regional Media Group

Case Study: Improved marketing performance through demographic targeting

Multichannel Customer Acquisition

•  Created custom segmentation scheme integrating PRIZM and transaction data

–  Seven “super-segments” within three “lifestage” groupings.

•  Optimized email and direct mail channels based on consumer preference and/or profile

•  Dynamic messaging delivers tailored offers and creative executions

Results: Significant Improvement in Productivity Cost per Unit by Channel

$0

$20

$40

$60

$80

$100

$120

$140

$160

$180

$200

Crew-Kiosk Direct Response

Field FSI Telemarketing Web Total Pressure Voluntary Total All 2006 2007 2008

Cost per unit of circulation fell from $96

to $65 in two years.

Annual Source Savings: $1,000,000+

The Sacramento Bee

Case Study: Integration of print & digital to drive advertiser performance

Hardware Store Customers: PRIZM Lifestage

14% 14%

7%

6%

9%

11%

7%

5%

9%8%

9%

15%

9%

3%

6%

11%

7%

3%

12%

17%

9%8%

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

Y1 Y2 Y3 F1 F2 F3 F4 M1 M2 M3 M4

Market Hardware Store

In keeping with the earlier findings regarding the age and affluence of YOUR customer, it is not surprising that the M1 and M2 groups constitute 29% of the total file. Those

Lifestage groups appearing more often among YOUR customer group (Y1, F1, F2, M1, M2) than the market at large comprise 69.7% of customers.

Under 45 Singles & Couples No Children

Between 25 and 54 Families with Children

Over 45 Singles & Couples No Children

Hardware Store Customers & Bee Products Among YOUR Customers we see the following:

-  40% are current subscribers -  21% are both subscribers and sacbee.com registrants

-  36% are sacbee.com registrants

-  55% are Bee Print or Online customers -  45% are MVP (shared mail) recipients

Customer File

Hardware Customers: Utility GRID Lifestage Group: Y1 Y2 Y3 F1 F2 F3 F4 M1 M2 M3 M4Total Pop, in Thousands 195K 189K 40K 78K 213K 191K 49K 182K 244K 140K 67KStore Index 104 66 40 112 119 63 42 231 179 117 86Store Comp. % 14.7% 9.1% 3.0% 6.4% 10.8% 7.1% 2.9% 11.9% 16.5% 9.4% 8.2%Monetary Value 16.9% 8.7% 2.4% 5.9% 12.1% 5.1% 1.0% 16.5% 17.0% 7.9% 6.5%

All Home Improv. 116 74 43 116 120 79 66 105 109 108 101$1,000+ 108 65 51 133 129 76 44 114 116 100 87

▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲

Weekly Print Audience 103 107 40 120 107 71 38 150 129 104 75Sacbee.com 133 152 37 134 148 79 51 114 87 63 44Weekly Combined Audience 106 118 41 114 111 71 36 146 126 99 71

Text messaging 130 110 43 121 123 108 108 97 71 72 64Internet Usage 124 107 67 129 113 98 72 114 97 75 72Broadband Connection 117 107 68 133 117 93 69 116 99 79 7610+ Hrs Online/Week 126 105 62 100 105 89 83 153 93 77 64E-Mail Usage 118 101 76 118 111 100 65 111 97 73 71Yahoo! 124 107 81 131 121 88 84 112 89 81 71

◄ Affluence ◄ Affluence ◄ AffluenceUnder 45 No Kids 25-54, Children 45+, No Children

USA TODAY

Case Study: Enhancing operational efficiency through automation

Daily email, direct mail, telemarketing communications •  Print & Digital Engagement

–  Daily email links to digital edition –  Weekly welcome emails & letters to new subscribers –  Subscriber surveys and satisfaction research –  Content & coverage promotion –  Contest promotion

•  Print & Digital Renewals –  Daily email, direct mail & telemarketing renewal initiatives –  Electronic billing –  Subject line & copy testing to improve open and click-through rates –  Sampling leveraged to optimize timing and sequencing of communications

•  Reactivation of Vacation/Temporary Stops –  Automated email to vacation stops of 90 days or more with no re-start pending

•  Miscellaneous multichannel communications –  Service & delivery alerts –  Auto pay conversion –  Upgrades –  Credit card expiry data collection –  Opt-in advertising

Challenges •  Accuracy •  Resource intensive •  Limited metrics •  Lack of testing and optimization

Approach •  Establish business rules for communication •  Prioritize digital channels where possible •  Automate •  Free resources for testing

Results •  Eliminated hours of manual campaign creation •  Minimized human error •  Applied complex rules to ensure right message/channel/time/offer •  More sophistication in testing and creative approaches •  Improved open and click-through rates •  37% improvement in CPO

In summary…

…I’m out of time!

Thank You!

Tom Ratkovich, Managing Partner Leap Media Partners, LLC

+1.303.886.0202 tom.ratkovich@leapmediapartners.com