lijansharma: 2012 in review: 7 digital publishing case studies

Most of us don?t have anything close to the resources that media giants such as Hearst, Conde Nast, or the New York Times can bring to their digital businesses. For publishers operating on decidedly smaller budgets, innovation becomes even more critical for building sustainable digital revenues.

In 2012, we wrote about a variety of strategies publishers are implementing to attract and retain audiences, better serve advertisers, and grow their businesses. Here are seven case studies that stood out.

Audience development: UBM TechWeb

Media companies seeking to become?more "customer driven" are adopting practices commonly used by consumer marketers, such as loyalty marketing or behavioral targeting. As publishers invest in these efforts, many are running into a barrier that most marketers can relate to: an?unclear or incomplete view?of who their customers actually are. UBM TechWeb, publisher of technology brands such as InformationWeek,?BYTE, Dr Dobb's and BlackHat, addressed this challenge from the inside out, building a consolidated customer database that serves as the core of the company's?multi-channel?marketing approach, which it has dubbed "Curvonomics." Full post: Customer-driven from the inside out

Content curation: BuzzMedia

BuzzMedia says its pop culture, music and celebrity brands, including Celebuzz! and The Superficial, attract a higher composition of 18-34-year-old visitors than Facebook. The six-year-old, venture-funded company has built its business through an ?amplified? publishing strategy: deliver a high volume of original and curated content?in digestible chunks, go heavy on photos, slide shows, video and audio, and search- and?social-optimize?to the max to draw in and engage with its target millennials ? and the marketers who covet them. Full post: BuzzMedia's 4 keys to digital publishing

Product development: Farm Journal Media

With the 134-year-old Farm Journal at its core, Farm Journal Media has built a broad multi-platform portfolio consisting of websites, data products, e-newsletters, mobile apps, events, and even TV shows, all focused on the agriculture industry. Fueling Farm Journal?s growth are an extensive audience database, quality editorial content and a willingness to experiment with a steady stream of new products and features. Since completely rebuilding its suite of websites less than two years ago,?Farm Journal?s eMedia group has launched approximately 25 additional?products or significant feature enhancements. Full post: Farm Journal Media's steady stream of innovation

Niche publishing: Say Media

Say Media,?formed in the fall of 2010?through the merger of ad network Video Egg and blog platform Six Apart, is the first to admit it?s still figuring out the best path forward as the company evolves from its roots as an ad network into a premium publisher of vertical web properties. In the two years since it was founded, Say Media?s strategy has evolved into one reliant primarily on ad network revenue into a ?build, buy and partner? approach focused on highly engaging, narrowly focused destination sites across four vertical segments. Full post: What's driving Say Media's 'build, buy and partner' strategy?

Native advertising: Atlantic Media

Atlantic Media?s?digital-first strategy took on a distinctly mobile slant in September with the launch of Quartz, its new business brand designed for tablets and other mobile devices. The publisher?s advertising model is evolving as well through the new brand: Quartz features no IAB-standard ad units. Quartz debuted with four category-exclusive sponsors who split up the site?s ?share of voice? into equal portions. Quartz currently features two main advertising options: a 480x550 display ad that runs at the bottom of some article pages, and the?Quartz Bulletin, a type of sponsored content that is integrates with editorial. ?We want to give brands a paintbrush and a wider canvas to paint on,? said Publisher Jay Lauf. Full post: Atlantic Media's Quartz pushes the digital ad envelope

Tablet design: Rodale

At?Rodale, tablet editions have spurred the creation of a dedicated interactive design team that serves the enthusiast publisher?s Healthy Living Group, which includes?Men?s Health, Women?s Health, Prevention and Organic Gardening.?Sean Bumgarner, the group?s interactive design director, leads an eight-person team that focuses exclusively on tablet editions. The group, with a mix of full-time and freelance staff, works closely with the brands but has tablet-specific expertise. Dedicated digital edition teams have more freedom to experiment with new techniques and are not hidebound by traditional print conventions. Full post: How Rodale approaches tablet design

Digital replicas: Source Interlink

What's more important for tablet editions: time to market or custom design? If you have a broad portfolio of magazines, the answer is probably both. Source Interlink Media, which publishes 60 enthusiast magazines, entered the tablet space in 2010 with custom iPad editions of its two biggest titles:?Motor Trend?and?Automobile.?But because custom apps require a significant investment in design and production resources, the process was not practical for all of Source Interlink's publications, particularly the smaller titles. Instead, it opted for a rapid-fire rollout of digital replicas. Full post: 40 apps in 40 days