Winning in The Subscription Economy

March 25, 2016 by

Winning in The Subscription Economy

“In order to draw meaning from an example it doesn’t have to be from your world.” – Malcom Gladwell

Mind Blowing Facts

Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Apple have a combined market cap (total market value of outstanding shares) of approximately $1.72 trillion US Dollars.

This equates to the GDP of Canada, thereby making them collectively equivalent to the 10th largest country in the world. Think about that for a moment.

These companies have one thing in common: Their business models are designed to capitalize on subscription relationships.

The good news is you can learn from their respective business models how to make your small business a winner in the subscription economy.

Amazon: A Retail Buying Subscription

Thanks to its Prime subscription product, Amazon controls 43% of all eCommerce worldwide. The roughly 10 billion US Dollars Amazon generates with Prime subscriptions pales in comparison to the revenue it generates from buyers with a subscription discount mindset.

Facebook: A Social Subscription Community

Everything Facebook does as a  free membership community is designed to learn as much about our behaviors as possible. Then it monetizes that data with advertising. The reason this community remains free is the users are the product advertisers are paying to reach.

Google: A Subscription Identity Service

YouTube, Contacts and Docs (Drive) are just a few of the many free Google subscription services that collectively establish your online identity. Paradoxically, the more Google knows about you the better it can serve you with these services, while also better serving the advertisers willing to pay to reach you and people with similar identities.

Apple: A Subscription Experience

We think of Apple as a company that sells innovative products, and it does that exceptionally well because it is intensely focused on guiding your subscription experience with its products and services. This is why there are just a few product choices available from selected retail outlets, and why Apple now offers economic incentives to rent rather than own your next iPhone.

Your Digital Subscription Communities

One of the reasons blogging is not what it used to be is that when Google killed Google Reader many people stopped using RSS to subscribe to blogs. Smart businesses took notice and shifted to email subscriptions to deliver their content and marketing messages.

Start thinking in terms of digital subscription communities. You will realize that email newsletters, podcasts and membership sites are opportunities for capitalizing on the subscription economy. I’ll be using all three and more at Landscape Digital Institute.

That brings us to how you can monetize your digital subscription communities. This could be with advertising like the big dogs, or more likely the sale of your products and services.

Personally, I like all three for different reasons. We’ll discuss this further in a future episode of This Old New Business Podcast.

Are you a lawn or landscape or related green industry professional?

Consider joining our free Landscape Digital Institute community to discover relevant resources, tools and training on all aspects of digital business, selling and marketing

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subscription economy. Meet me over on Twitter to take the conversation further.

About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social and host of This Old New Business podcast.

He helps organizations use media to create exceptional customer experiences that drive business growth in a digital, social and global world. Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+

Data Visualization: How to Tell Stories with Data

December 9, 2015 by

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Data Visualization: How to Tell Stories with Data

This is Episode 59 of This Old New Business weekly business podcast with Jeff Korhan.

In this episode we learn about data visualization with Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic. If you want to make your presentations more powerful for a business world that is driven by data, you won’t want to miss this conversation.

Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic is the author of Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals. Formerly with Google, Cole now conducts workshops and presentations that are highly sought after by data-minded individuals, companies, and philanthropic organizations all over the world.

Accessible Data Visualization Drives Better Actions

According to Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, communication and visual storytelling with data is a counterintuitive process that does not begin with data, but with the audience context and the big picture story that you want to tell.

She suggests starting with a blank piece of paper to summarize that big picture story in a sentence or two. Then consider how effective data visualization can convey the core message that will lead to the goal of better decisions or actions.

A simplified version of Cole’s process storytelling with data process is:

  1. Understand the context
  2. Create effective visuals
  3. Eliminate clutter
  4. Focus attention
  5. Build the story narrative

Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic acknowledges that storytelling with data sits at the intersection of science and art. The challenge is finding the right approach that will allow you to tell better stories for your audience. Listen to the audio and get the book for more.

Data Visualization: How to Tell Stories with Data

I’d love to hear your thoughts on data visualization. Meet me over on Twitter to take the conversation further.

Key Take-Aways

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About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business and host of This Old New Business podcast.

He helps organizations use media to create exceptional customer experiences that drive business growth in a digital, social and global world. Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+

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Social Selling: Getting Buyers to Know, Like and Trust Your Business

March 23, 2015 by

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Inhabit One Social Media Channel

November 20, 2014 by

Unless your company is a big brand, it’s unlikely your customers are scattered across multiple social media channels. Why not simplify your life and improve your marketing efforts by choosing just one? Consolidate Your Resources As social media continues to evolve, it is increasingly important to evaluate the respective channels and the allocation of your […]

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4 Pillars of Online Marketing Success

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Too many businesses are overwhelmed with social media, and for good reason. Even those with abundant resources cannot manage all of the major social media channels well. Facebook advertising alone is a major undertaking. If you narrow your focus to one or two channels, then it’s only a matter of building the discipline of doing […]

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Grow Your Business Audience Without Google

September 22, 2014 by

Depending on leads from sources other than the friends and customers in your business audience is a dangerous plan. You may know that Google recently killed Google Authorship. In a nutshell, this was a feature that allowed authors of original content to share the authority of search results with the sites publishing it. Many of […]

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Google+ Communities: Amplify Your Content In Search

September 12, 2014 by

This is Episode 8 of This Old New Business weekly business podcast with Jeff Korhan. Earlier this year Social Media Examiner released an extensive social media marketing industry report that revealed learning Google+ was a top priority for businesses. One of the reasons for this is they intuitively understand Google+ impacts Google search results. However, there is a […]

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Facebook Marketing: Attracting Your Ideal Audience

September 5, 2014 by

This is Episode 7 of This Old New Business weekly business podcast with Jeff Korhan. I have to be honest. I have not been a big fan of Facebook for marketing my business. However, this conversation with Mike Gingerich changed my thinking, and it just may do the same for you. Mike genuinely likes to help people, so listen […]

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Find Your Audience: How to Grow Sales with Digital Media

August 20, 2014 by

This is Episode 05 of This Old New Business weekly business podcast with Jeff Korhan. Do you often wish that media experts would just share a few of their better practices so you could adapt them to your business? Then join me and Ryan Hanley as we discuss some of the techniques he successfully used as Director of […]

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