Premium Content Subscription, Ergonomic Delivery, and Social Media Marketing

A Brand’s Dilemma  Or A Thinking Shift?

Many brands are facing online marketing crossroads. For years, and across a variety of industries, marketers have created premium website content and have then given it away for free to consumers.  Of course, the purpose of this give away is to engage consumers with their brand(s), create a loyal following, and encourage frequent purchases on the backend.

 Recently I’ve spoken with several marketers who’ve expressed concern about the expenses associated with the “give away premium content model”.  Creating attractive and informative content, producing frequent content updates, and website maintenance, are continuous processes and each item has its associated expenses.

The REAL Question

The real question really seems to be this, once consumers have been given free content for years, can you foresee a business model that brands can adopt where consumers are willing to pay for premium content?   This could be a simple subscription or pay-as-you-go service that delivers the content consumers need and when they need it. My answer is yes, but it’s critical the content is unique and premium, and, if possible, has an ergonomic delivery method. And of course, the pay-as-you go or subscription fees must be kept low.  One more thing: within this environment, appropriate, complimentary, and non-competitive ads can be delivered to users, adding another potential revenue source for brands.

Consider these possibilities

What if brands created premium content that consumers truly want, were presented in easily accessible online formats that, were nonlinear and ergonomically pleasing, and not just photos and written instructions?  What if this content could be organized into categories important to the consumer? What if consumers could augment your premium content with their own insights and twists for their own “my content” files?

 And what if this brave new world had a strong social web aspect that has been shown to deeply engage consumers with brands and all of this is delivered on a single configurable software platform? Are you intrigued? Would you at least invest a little time to learn about this novel approach? I did and I’m very impressed!

Some Subscription Models That Work

We all know of the sales strategy used by many software companies where they provide a basic level of application functionality for free; but for more extensive feature sets, escalating levels of subscription fees are charged. You pay for what you need.

A Working Model

I worked for a Silicon Valley technology startup that had a software subscription model that was adopted by several companies. These companies were facing the dilemma of providing free premium content to their customers outside of regular support agreements.

Essentially, these companies published detailed technical briefs and notes to encourage customer self-support. Their customers liked the availability of the briefs and notes, and the expense of producing and publishing the information was not huge. The problem was many of their customers wanted even more detailed tech notes, videos, “tricks”, vetted email threads, memos, expert insights, and the availability of subject matter experts. Of course, support fees could have been raised to accommodate this need, but this was not the option our client companies wanted to pursue with their customers.

The company I worked for provided a novel approach to this issue. Using a variety of proprietary techniques, our technology found vetted technical communications typically not made available to customers, videos, subject matter experts, and other resources, and elegantly published this content to a number of instantly deployed self service eSupport portals.

Our clients’ customers would simply request specific types of content and access to subject matter experts, and all would be delivered to them via an eSupport portal. Even the subject matter expert could be scheduled within the portal. A fee schedule was posted and the customer could pay-as-they-went or issue a purchase order covering access to specified data sets and experts.  We even offered the option to localize the content into other languages. Everybody won!

So, Can A Similar Model Work For Consumer Oriented Brands?

My answer to this question is YES!  Here’s my example. I’m not an eager do-it-yourselfer. But I know if I had access to the content I needed, and at my finger tips, namely a video screen, multiple options for completing my task, the ability to compare more than one approach, see user ratings of plans, I would pay for this!  Wouldn’t you do this for your favorite projects like creating a the perfect get together with friends and family, organic gardening specific to your growing zones, sun availability and soil types, electronic integration (music, computers, safety alarms, cameras…) throughout your apartment or house, preparing a the perfect meal for one or twenty-one…? Think about it. Having what you need in the ergonomic format you want it! And imagine being able to use a mobile device when you’re shopping and be able to purchase everything you need to complete your project, task, or perfect meal.

And remember, it’s social! If you opt in, manufactures of your favorite items can email, Text or Tweet you with special offers, and invite you to participate in user generated contests, sweepstakes, promotions, and reward you with items you really want. You can communicate directly with the manufacturer and other members of your interest group if they grant permission.

Are You Willing To Investigate?

The brand dilemma or crossroads may be more of a shift in thinking and strategy about content publishing.  I’ve seen this future and I’m extremely impressed with the convergence of technology, social media marketing, consumer engagement, and revenue generation!