We all know that publishing must become increasingly consumer-centric, but few of us really know how to make that happen. B2C marketing has become a priority for publishers but there is a lot more to becoming a consumer-centric business. While publishers have traditionally considered themselves taste-makers, if not gate-keepers, that dynamic needs to change as consumers are becoming an increasingly active participant in the retail environment. Consumers have a more powerful voice and the expectation to be heard. This is influencing many industries, and a market-driven approach is proving to be critical to the success of companies across industries. This is why, this year, I’ve focused the Technology Forum programming on B2C thinking. This is a vague term that covers a lot of ground as you can see from the programming confirmed so far.
Being market-driven involves really learning who your customer is, how they use your product and what they want. This can include gathering consumer insight through market research and social listening and gathering customer feedback. At Tech Forum, we will be hearing from Brian O’Leary who will speak about strategies on how to become community-centric, Noah Genner will share the results of extensive market research, and Brett Sandusky will talk about Agile and how this consumer-focused product management method can be productively applied to publishing. (Brett works as a Product Manager in publishing, which is a position that will hopefully become more common in forward-thinking houses soon.)
But B2C isn’t only about new practices; traditional practices have a place here, too. We need to continue to discuss sales trends and gap analysis. Book readers are not only fragmented across genres or verticals, they’re also spread across markets for different formats and across countries. Our sales analysis workshop will cover different sources of sales and stock information, types of reports that can be built and where to look for actionable insight.
While B2C marketing will become increasingly important, we need to think more broadly about being market driven. Hopefully you’ll find all the necessary ammunition to add to your arsenal in March, when we see you at Technology Forum 2013.
Tickets are running out. Register now!
And don’t forget that Canadian-owned and -operated publishers can apply for a subsidy on tickets and travel from the ACP to save even more.
