{"id":60032,"date":"2023-08-09T08:00:36","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T12:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessesgrow.com\/?p=60032"},"modified":"2023-08-08T15:37:35","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T19:37:35","slug":"focus-on-subscribers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessesgrow.com\/2023\/08\/09\/focus-on-subscribers\/","title":{"rendered":"Why a Focus on Subscribers, Not Web Traffic, Transformed My Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"focus<\/p>\n

Many of you have noticed a dramatic difference in how my blog posts are being delivered to you. In fact, some people have asked me … “where’s your blog?” Today, I will expose a flaw in my business and why a new focus on subscribers instead of web traffic resulted in the new blog delivery system you’re seeing today.<\/p>\n

This is my story (and maybe it’s your story too?).<\/p>\n

The complacent strategist<\/h2>\n

I had become lazy.<\/p>\n

Prior to the pandemic, business was coming so easily to me that I really didn’t need to focus on the nuts and bolts of my digital strategy. As my personal brand rose, opportunities poured in. It seemed like I didn’t need to worry about marketing.<\/p>\n

I recognize the irony. I’m on a lot of “best of” lists<\/a> as a digital marketing thought leader, and here I am, ignoring my digital marketing. What an idiot.<\/p>\n

But the post-pandemic world is an era\u00a0of unintended consequences<\/a>. The dynamics of my customer base changed, and I needed to change with them, fast!<\/p>\n

The right measure drives the business<\/h2>\n

In his famous book “Good to Great<\/a>,” Jim Collins emphasizes the importance of choosing the single right measure for a business. It drives behavior up and down the value chain, so it is a big deal!<\/p>\n

\"100Like nearly every other digital marketer on the planet, I was obsessed with web traffic. And it drove me NUTS!<\/p>\n

You have to understand that I come from a manufacturing background. When there is variability in a manufacturing process, we wanted to know WHY. We wanted to hunt down the root cause and improve it.<\/p>\n

But the internet world is aggravating and often defies statistical logic. For years, there would be wild swings in my web traffic, and each time I asked my web guru why, there would be a shoulder shrug and a puzzled look. It could be anything. A little change to the Google algorithm. Unexpected traffic from links. The inevitable decline in traffic to popular older posts (and I have a lot of them!).<\/p>\n

I even hired experts to help me sort through the data. The work involved in tracking down attribution exceeded any benefit. Over time, I just gave up on the idea of assigning meaning to web traffic.<\/p>\n

It seemed like I had a rudderless ship.<\/p>\n

I felt nearly helpless trying to understand a key metric for my business. Truth is, nobody understands the internet. I needed to reflect on what Jim Collins said and come up with a new measure, the right measure.<\/p>\n

Focus on subscribers<\/h2>\n

When business slows down each holiday season, I use the downtime to reflect on what is working and not working in my business. Last year, realizing that I had the wrong metric was only the beginning.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Subscriptions to my blog and podcast were stagnant. Part of this is due to what I call the “physics” of subscriptions. The larger your subscriber base, the harder it is to grow. You can read a detailed analysis about this: surprising math behind a growing social media community<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. My entire website was sub-optimized for subscriptions.<\/li>\n
  3. I had numerous Excel spreadsheets of various customer groups. Too much manual labor!<\/li>\n
  4. By focusing on traffic instead of subscribers, I stupidly ignored the fact that subscribers will be more likely to hire me or buy my books and online classes one day.<\/li>\n
  5. My email delivery system was badly outdated and poorly managed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I felt ashamed by how I had overlooked so many digital marketing basics. But the good news was, I had an obvious focus for the coming year!<\/p>\n

    The new plan to focus on subscribers<\/h2>\n

    My first realization was that I had to abandon my attention to web traffic. I know that sounds weird, but it is absolutely not the right measure for my business, and all it caused was stress. I have not looked at web traffic trends to my site in at least six months.<\/p>\n

    My key business metric had to focus on subscribers. Subscribers are future customers.<\/p>\n

    My immediate need was to turn the ship around and start attracting new subscribers. Here was my plan:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Invest in a comprehensive email management program. I was able to do this through the guidance of email genius Robbie Fitzwater and his company MKTG Rhythm<\/a>.<\/li>\n
    2. Focus on subscribers and their needs in my content plan. I know … that sounds so obvious. But recently, my writing tended to follow my whims instead of reader needs. An example of this change was a comprehensive post I did about how to design an AI marketing strategy<\/a>. This was a lot of work and not my favorite topic, but it was a post that needed to be written right now. So I’m doubling down on more relevant and timely content for you.<\/li>\n
    3. I went through my website looking for opportunities to encourage subscriptions, including an unobtrusive pop-up ad, which I had previously resisted.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Those are the main pillars, and I am already seeing encouraging results. Last year, nearly every month registered some small net decline in subscribers. This year has had a positive gain every month.<\/p>\n

      Yes, this means something for you!<\/h2>\n

      This is a long way to explain why the blog posts being delivered to you look different. The new format is a result of my strategy, and in particular, the new email system.<\/p>\n

      So, you can expect even better content in a fresh new format. I’m just beginning to turn the ship around and there will undoubtedly be more ideas and innovations coming to you soon!<\/p>\n

      If you would like to help me envision a better future for this blog, please fill out this five-minute survey!<\/a><\/p>\n

      I never take you for granted. Thank you for spending time with me and my content! I hope you enjoy the new format coming to your inbox.<\/p>\n

      \"MarkMark Schaefer is the executive director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions. He is the author of some of the world\u2019s bestselling\u00a0marketing books<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and is an acclaimed\u00a0keynote speaker<\/a>, college educator, and business consultant.\u00a0The Marketing Companion podcast<\/a>\u00a0is among the top business podcasts in the world.\u00a0Contact Mark<\/a>\u00a0to have him speak at your company event or conference soon.<\/em><\/p>\n

      Follow Mark on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>,\u00a0YouTube<\/a>, and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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