Sales teams are always looking for ways to publish media kits, sales sheets, and other marketing collateral. It’s often a challenge getting the documents on your web site and even then, they are usually PDF documents that take a long time to download before someone can read it. There’s also the bandwidth required to host and deliver large PDF documents. I’ve discovered an elegant solution to the problem: Scribd’s iPaper. It’s quick and easy solution that is 100% free. I downloaded the Aviation Week media kit in PDF format (it’s freely available on their web site)...

Many media companies who have successfully embraced online media will tell you that margins online are significantly higher than those in print. One would expect this from an incremental business that leverages an existing brand, existing content and sales teams, as well as corporate infrastructure. Personally, I expect the incremental online business of any media company to generate at least 40% margin. This is one reason why we see such high multiples for media companies who have solid online media businesses. Even if total revenues are rather static, as long as the company has a solid, growing...

So many publishing companies still do it backwards. They create content for their magazine, assemble it once a month, ship it to the printer, then convert it to HTML and dump 20-30 articles on their web site in one fell swoop. At least it’s better than some publishers who amazingly still don’t put their content online, but it’s still not the best way to maximize your print and online opportunities. There’s a reason print magazines are called periodicals. They only come out monthly, weekly, etc. But online has no such constraints. New information can … and is expected to...

I’m heading out to the Publishing Business Conference this evening in New York. I’m honored to be part of three panels on Monday. Beyond Webcasting – Revenue Opportunities with Rich Media – 11:15 AM. I’ll be part of a panel presenting on various revenue opportunities around rich media. Personally, I plan to talk on creating low-cost, high-impact, and strong revenue producing streaming video programming via sponsorship. But we’ll also cover video ads and a variety of other rich media opportunities. Emedia Roundtable Part 1 – 2:30 PM. This session will use my...

I am honored to be speaking at 3 online sales related sessions at the 2008 Folio Summit later this month in Miami: Monetize Your Reader – 11:00 AM on Thursday, Feb. 21. Chris Collins (VP of Multimedia Sales for Dow Jones), Jonathan Chalon (VP and Group Publisher for Penton Media), and I will be showing how to really monetize user generated content (UGC). Where are the opportunities and pitfalls? What kinds of social media work in different markets? And how can you make the most money from online social media? As you know, I am a huge fan of UGC and believe it is one of the keys for any...

This article originally appeared in the December issue of Publishing Executive where you can read the full article. I’ve worked with dozens of different sales teams to help them become more effective sellers of online media. Sometimes these sales teams are integrated print/online teams, sometimes they are separate. They may be located in large markets or small, and may be business-to-business or consumer publishing companies. Regardless of size or scope, however, there are six keys to online sales success that always apply, and those companies that execute these keys are usually very successful...