Looking to grow your subscribers? Here’s how!

In PUBLISHING
16 July 2020
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There’s no denying that building a subscriber base for your magazines, catalogs or professional content requires a lot of hard work. In fact, standing out is a big part of the challenge to grow your subscribers!

In this article, we’ll explain the strongest strategies for attracting subscribers to your publications. Plus, get tips on how to manage them with ease using Calaméo.

Use Digital Publications

Because more and more people access their content solely online, it would be unwise not to have a digital presence for your magazine.

Calaméo offers an excellent Platinum plan that enables you to convert your print publications into multimedia digital publications. Designed specifically for professional use, its exclusive interactive features help to enrich your documents and set your publications apart from the rest. Getting creative with your digital content will make it more engaging and more likely to draw new subscribers.

Adapt your content to your audience

First and foremost, your magazine must be seen as a valuable source of content to your audience. Therefore, be sure that your publications are targeted specifically to your readership. For example, the Washington Post was able to grow its ‘digital only’ subscriptions 145% in just one year. This rise was partly due to the fact that it broadened newspaper’s opinion and politics coverage, two areas that the Post’s subscribers were particularly interested in.

Be consistent

No matter what the theme of your content, your readers still need to know that it is coming from you. You can achieve this by making sure that your content and visuals maintain the same look and feel of your brand.

To put these measures in place using Calaméo, insert your brand logo and upload a consistent and professional background image in your publication viewer. Such steps will help to make your digital publications more professional, inviting and trustworthy. And as a result, you’ll increase their potential to grow your subscribers.

Rely on detailed insights

Calaméo provides statistics that let you see where your readers are coming from and track how long they stay on each page. These insights are essential to identify the content that works best for your audience. Once you know what engages your readers, you can build on this information to improve your subscriber numbers.

Share your content

If you want to get noticed, consistently promoting your publications on your blog, website or social media channels is important. Readers see the value in online visibility and will subsequently be more inclined to browse, share and subscribe. Need ideas on how to develop your strategy? Check out our Digital Publisher’s Guide to Social Media for tips and trends.

Subscription forms and pop ups

The simplest way to add to your subscriber count is to ask your audience to subscribe. It’s as easy as that! In order to achieve growth, your website or blog needs to be a subscription driver. Although pop-up subscription forms on your website may be a nuisance to some, they are often very effective in increasing subscriptions. Create a compelling call to action for best results.

💡 TIP: Did you know you can include forms in your Calaméo publications? Learn more in our Help Center.

Provide Exclusive Access

Never underestimate the power of exclusivity to grow your subscribers. In other words, subscribers value knowing that they are the only ones who can get this privileged information from your content! Calaméo offers you the possibility to assign exclusive access to your subscribers. While exclusivity can keep subscribers happy, it also has the ability to attract a lot of new readers and can give a definite boost to your chances of building a loyal subscriber base.

Here’s how:

Control the Distribution

You can further control the distribution of your content on Calaméo by limiting the way your readers can view to your content with individual usernames and passwords. Calaméo allows you to assign three types of access:

  • Single – the subscriber is assigned access to selected individual publications
  • Period – the subscriber can access all of your publications published between two chosen dates
    For example: all publications between January 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021
  • Series – the subscriber will have access to a set number of publications published from a specific date onward
    For example: 12 publications beginning on January 1, 2020

Read more on how to manage your subscriber sessions here.

For more tips and ideas to inspire your digital publishing, have a look at our review of the year’s top strategies.

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PUBLISHING

How to choose a digital publishing platform

In PUBLISHING
6 January 2022

When you’re ready to start digital publishing, it can be challenging to choose a platform. Because there are quite a few options out there, we’ve put together a five-point guide to help you choose the digital publishing platform that’s right for you.

First, answer a few simple questions about your basic publishing needs. Next, consider the features that are important to achieving your goals. Then review the audience access that your publications will require and other key platform elements like languages. Finally, look at plans and prices to see which digital publishing platform is the best fit for you.

Let’s dig in!

1. Basic needs

Begin with some simple facts about the content you will be publishing online.

Since you’ll want to try out any digital publishing platform you choose for free, here is what Calaméo has to offer on our BASIC plan:

2. Features

In addition to transforming files into HTML5 publications, you may also want to take advantage of some of the great features online platforms can provide. But remember, the specific features that will matter most depend on your objectives. For example:

In many cases, digital publishing platforms will ask you to sign up for a paid plan to access advanced features. Here’s what you can expect from Calaméo:

3. Audience access

Another major factor to evaluate when you choose a digital publishing platform is content access.

  • How many times can you share your publication?
  • Can you configure protected subscriber access for your publications?
  • Are multiple user profiles available for your account to make teamwork easy?

Often, subscription set-up in particular can be complex. We recommend you research privacy and subscriber options thoroughly to find the right fit for your needs.  

4. Other aspects

Although publishing basics and features are essential, it’s worth keeping a few other aspects of working with the platform in mind. For instance:

  • Is the site available in your language?
  • Can you get fast, helpful support when you need it?
  • What kind of flexibility does the platform offer via API access?

Calaméo proposes the following:

5. Price

Last but not least, look at the pricing of different plans as you choose a digital publishing platform. In some cases, the free Basic plan may have everything you need to get started. However, the cost of paid plans can vary quite a bit—from as low as $14 per month with a PREMIUM account on Calaméo up to $269 per month on other platforms.

Below, you’ll find a chart comparing the monthly cost before taxes of Calaméo’s annual plans. (In other words, you’ll pay the total yearly amount at checkout to benefit from these prices.) Please note that all prices are listed in USD.

If Calaméo seems to match your needs, why not try out the advanced features of our professional PLATINUM plan? During your PLATINUM Demo, you’ll enjoy direct downloads, full viewership statistics and much more. Request your free trial today and experience exceptional digital publishing on Calaméo.

PUBLISHING

[CHECKLIST] Develop your digital publishing strategy

In PUBLISHING
30 July 2020

If you have important content to share online, then you need a digital publishing strategy. This can be a part of larger business plan or as simple as a set of guidelines. Not sure where to get started? Our simple checklist will help you develop your digital publishing strategy, no matter what you want to achieve.

Define your goals

First, think about the objectives you have for your content. Don’t rush this step—it’s the most essential information you’ll need to establish your strategy. Because the rest will follow from here, take some time to define your digital publishing goals.

These might include:

  • Improving your site’s SEO
  • Building your business’s brand
  • Communicating with colleagues
  • Generating leads
  • Sharing sales material with prospects

Above all, make sure to prioritize. It’s normal to have multiple goals, but challenging to accomplish them all at once. Be honest with yourself about your top objectives and remember that different types of content can have different purposes.

Choose your channels

Now that you have a clear idea of your goals, you can select the channels that you will use to publish your digital content. Maintaining an active presence on as many channels as possible is a good idea. However, keep your priorities in mind and focus on the channels that match your most important goals.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media channels can be a great fit for sharing content that builds your business’s brand. Research which kinds of content perform best on the platforms that interest you. For example, Twitter is often associated with content related to news, while compelling visuals are a must for Instagram.

BLOG

A blog is a key channel for content aimed at improving your site’s SEO and generating leads. What’s more, blogs are now easy to set up and manage. If you’re starting from scratch, figure out the blogging platform that best meets your needs. If you already have a blog, do a quick audit to see the content that is succeeding and where there’s room for improvement.

LONG-FORM CONTENT

Some types of more complex content may not make sense to publish as a simple blog article. This is especially true for sales material, like a prospectus or brochure, and internal communications material, like an employee handbook. Because this content tends to be longer and have more striking graphics, it should be available to share from an intranet or digital publishing platform.

Create a production schedule

Once you have decided on the channels that work best for your goals, it’s time to create a production schedule for your digital content. Make a list of the subjects that you will cover and plan the frequency and format of your publishing. In other words, decide how often you want to publish to each of your channels and what kinds of content you will create.

Most importantly, be realistic about how much you will be able to publish on the channels that you will use. Don’t forget that some content is faster to produce than others. For example, a blog post won’t take as much time to write as a white paper. But when in doubt, pick quality over quantity. Publishing less is a smart strategy if your content is interesting, well-written and attractive.

Determine promotion needs

Even amazing content can benefit from an extra push to connect with your online audience. Although you’ve already chosen the right channels for your goals, other channels still offer great opportunities for promoting your content. You could post a link to your most recent blog article on your social media channels and reach new followers. Or you could embed long-form content on your blog for readers to discover. In addition, email newsletters and paid advertisements are two popular options to consider.

For each type of content on your production schedule, select at least one way that you will use to distribute it.

Decide measurement metrics

Analyzing the impact of your content is a critical step to develop your digital publishing strategy.  Before you start hitting that Post button, look at the goals you defined at beginning of this checklist. To know whether you achieve them, you’ll need to establish which data points will be most relevant.

For instance, you may want to measure how many times your content has been downloaded. This may tell you whether it is appealing to readers and allowing you to communicate successfully with colleagues, prospects or leads. With other metrics, such as the number of pages viewed or the conversion rate, you can begin to evaluate the effectiveness of your approach.

Gather data regularly and note the patterns that emerge. As you continue to develop your digital publishing strategy, use these insights to adapt your content and keep moving toward your goals.

Ready to develop your approach to online content? We’ve outlined all the essential steps in one handy digital publishing strategy checklist. Download your copy now and start making the most out of your content.

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