As we move into the holiday season and time seems to speed up, it's essential to prepare for 2024. If there's one thing we know, from our finger on the pulse of the publishing industry and the audits we complete for small to large publishers, the digital landscape is changing quickly, and not everyone is prepared. Are you?
Let's talk about what to consider as you're planning your budgets and initiatives for 2024. As always, we have some thoughts…
Get your Publishing Tech Stack in Order
Before making new investment decisions, consider investing in your current tech stack to catch up to 2023 functionality. The main takeaway is that all parts of your tech stack should be flexible and integrated.
Your CMS should be flexible and clean. Your content must be well-organized, categorized, tagged, and support a first-party data strategy.
There's no excuse not to have an integrated and centrally organized database of your audience. No one should be uploading lists in 2023; lean on tools with APIs to help import and export users.
Analytics and reporting are a part of your tech stack. You can't improve what you cannot measure accurately. If you need any help understanding the content types and traffic sources that drive conversions of loyal, returning users, get it in shape before the end of 2023.
Social and Paid Media Considerations
Paid media won't be a luxury but a necessity in 2024. Facebook shifted the algorithms again in 2023 and is even dropping the News Feed in other parts of the world. Publishers are not entitled to organic social media traffic or exposure. Congratulations if you're still garnering significant social media traffic but do not rely on it. If you want to increase your exposure on the internet, be prepared to pay to play.
Here are some things to consider when planning your paid media budget:
Spend on lead generation during months with low ad competition in 2024: January, February, and June - September. This effort will fill your funnel for offers and promotions later in the year. Refrain from spending in November and December due to the much higher average cost per lead because of competitive holiday advertising raising CPMs.
Experiment with click-based advertising to drive relevant and valuable traffic to your website, especially if your search traffic is flat or in decline. To grow your audience, you need to grow your online visibility.
Experiment with video to tell a short story to your audience that will capture their attention. Databox reports that by combining motion, sound, and storytelling, videos stand a higher chance of catching a user’s eye as they scroll through their Facebook feed.
Spend most of your paid media budget on campaigns driving conversions - subscribers, followers, or more. If you need to convert users in one channel, try another. If the bottom of the funnel isn't working for you, move up the funnel.
Continue to Invest in SEO
We recently held a webinar discussing the recent changes to Google's search algorithm and what the search engine prioritizes in 2023. Many publishers say that their website visits from search are decreasing, and it's due to needing to have their site configured with Google's best practices. Plan to focus on SEO now and in the new year:
Make sure that your site is understood and ranked well by Google. If you need help with how to do that, it may be time to invest in an SEO audit.
Budget for work with a freelance writer in your market or niche (oftentimes, when identifying SEO opportunities for clients, editorial needs exceed internal bandwidth, and we find benefit in working with a freelance editor).
Evaluate your relationship with your developer and budget accordingly. Developers are essential in the SEO process. Plan for a change if you aren't happy with your developer relationship.
Integrate AI into your Publishing Practices
Everyone is leaning into AI and automation tools. It can be put to good use for your marketing as well. In the long run, it can save time and resources and be a way to reallocate time/budget elsewhere. AI and automation also rely heavily on the information being fed to it. Make sure your team understands their role in using the tools and edits and tests accordingly.
Explore how AI can create more efficiencies in 2024 and present ideas for ethically integrating it into your workflows.
Consider tools that help with media placements and ad buying to maximize your investments. As an example, Google Ads already uses AI in their auction process.
Segment and personalize your email marketing campaigns and website pages. AI and automation can deliver dynamic content that changes depending on the user's location, previous engagement, and more.
HubSpot's AI Roadmap shows where they plan (some currently live/in Beta) to release AI-assisted services within each Hub, including AI support in writing subject lines, landing page copy, ad copy, and more.
Take Care of and Invest in Your Team
When you have a passionate team, readers will want to support them. Humanize your editorial team to your audience and build a two-way relationship. We've said it before, and we'll repeat it: your audience wants to know the people behind the content. They also want content that's relevant to them.
If your editorial team is in the "produce X number of pieces of content mindset," that may be coming from leadership, and that needs to change. Your editorial team must be curious in discovering what content readers engage with. If the team doesn't have the time and resources to be curious about the reader, it may require more resources to give that to them.
Consider content audits to understand better what your readers want to engage with. This audit will help your editorial team focus on what's working, benefitting their effectiveness and your brand.
Happy employees invested in the organization's success produce better content and results. Ensure your team feels valued and appreciated, and they'll produce results for you.
In 2024, ensure that there should be room in the budget to hire help for things that come up. No one on staff can make a social media video? Have a budget to hire someone to help. Does anyone on staff understand AI? Hire someone to come and explain it to your team. Don't saddle your existing team to solve every digital challenge that arises. Be ready to invest in experts when and where necessary.
