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January 21, 2011

New Year, New Challenges, New Opportunities for Existing Products

From our January 2011 McKinley Matters:

Welcome to 2011. Seems like we just said hello to 2010, but the years fly by when you’re busy! When people ask us, “What’s new this year?” or “What are you seeing out there?” We have many answers.

For our clients, 2011 so far seems to be the year of new products or more accurately, the next generation of existing ones. We are involved with many organizations that are looking to maximize new opportunities on things most associations deliver really well – content and community. These groups in completely different industry sectors, some with individuals and some with institutional members, have already migrated printed books to electronic versions for sale. They are now looking at taking those static PDFs and making them interactive, turning them into routes to communities and allowing for user input, discussions and more, while selling subscriptions in addition to the content.

We love the model of going from delivering a product to delivering an experience. This brings members closer to each other and their organizations, creates a living asset for the organization and…drum roll…an ongoing revenue stream if members find value and renew their subscriptions. This model is very exciting, especially compared with the one-time sale of a book, even if it’s delivered electronically. But will it work? Will members go for this? How should offers be structured and marketed? The associations aren’t sure and are following the effective practice of seeking market input to support product development. That’s where we come in – to support data-based product development and business planning.

I would love to hear what’s going on in the evolution of your offerings, drop me a note and tell me what’s new for you for 2011. Until then, I hope you have a wonderful, healthy, and prosperous year (and for those of us in DC, not too much more snow please).

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