The path to revenue growth and expansion has three requirements: 1) clarity and alignment around your organization’s core strengths from which to expand, 2) a clear and objective view of existing challenges faced and 3) the participation of all key internal and external stakeholders. At Rising Tide we’ve developed a powerful process for helping organizations identify new revenue opportunities.
We start with a strategic review of all assets, associated revenue and competitive forces along with input from both internal stakeholders and external partners. This structured approach allows us to work collaboratively with you to identify your “core strengths”. Once those strengths are identified and agreed upon, we focus on building on that core to identify high potential revenue opportunities worth exploring in a facilitated in-person group session. Participants in the session typically include executives, senior staff, content creators, technology/site experts, sellers and partners. In the session, we create an environment that fosters creativity and collaboration. It is in that atmosphere that associations can break out of routine thinking and explore ideas that might include expanding into new geographies, development of new products, new audiences to pursue, mergers, acquisitions or new partnerships. The ultimate goal of the session is to identify a range of ideas, and then rank and prioritize them against key criteria established by association leadership to determine which ones are most promising. Key criteria will vary depending on the association’s goals e.g. speed to market, short and long-term revenue potential, degree of difficulty in implementation, etc. Once selected, individuals are assigned responsibility for actionable strategies with timelines and milestones to ensure action. The deliverable for your organization is a roadmap for growth with a clear path to implementation. We act as a catalyst to speed the process with proven methods, processes and expertise and provide the tools to track the success of your initiatives to ensure implementation and accountability. A recurring theme we hear from executives at associations is their concern over revenues. What were once reliable revenue streams are now shrinking. Gone are the days of comfortable planning that allowed professional societies to continue to expand their offerings to members, confident that the predictable funding would follow.
Three dynamics are contributing to these challenges. First, many associations have been heavily reliant on only one or two revenue streams outside of membership dues. Any changes or threats to a single stream can wreak havoc on budgets and planning. Second, associations are often reliant on intermediaries for sales. While it makes sense to hire experts such as advertising rep firms, or subscription sellers with access to key decision makers at institutions, it leaves them one or even two steps removed from understanding key market drivers in real time. The third dynamic is fundamental shifts that occur – whether in technology (e.g. shift from print to digital), funding, budgetary changes due to leadership or political changes, or to an underlying market itself. All of which leave associations with a more urgent need to identify and pursue new revenue streams, get closer to their key buyers and stay tuned in to the overall market drivers that are bringing about change. There are ways that we’ve identified for you to do just that. Start out by getting closer to key buyers. Ask your ad rep firm or your publishing partner who is calling on institutional buyers at libraries to set up a series of meetings and go along on them. You’ll want to visit with a mix a clients including big and small, those who currently buy and those who used to work with you, but now don’t or have cut back. The meetings should be set up with the agenda of learning more about their needs, their challenges coupled with your goal getting input and feedback on what you are doing well and how you can improve. Another effective tool can be setting up and attending advisory council meetings of your institutional buyers. Once again it’s a great forum for learning first hand more about their needs and challenges. And last but certainly not least, nothing beats getting a fresh perspective on the core strengths of your association and working with internal and external stakeholders to identify promising new revenue streams. It requires collaboration, focus and taking a step back from the “we’ve always done it this way” thinking and providing a forum for exploration and dialog. We’ve yet to see an organization engage in active analysis that hasn’t emerged from that process with new insights, ideas and action plans to explicitly focus on initiatives that will contribute to growing and protecting revenue streams for the future. |