Robbie Kellman Baxter's Blog, page 10

7 Kinds of People to Have in Your Network

There’s a joke about a guy crawling around on a sidewalk under a street lamp. Someone asks him what he’s doing, and he says he’s looking for his keys. A lady asks how’d you lose them, and the guy says “I tripped on the bridge and dropped them.” So, she asks, why are you looking for the keys […]

Building a Subscription Bundle to Better Deliver on Your Forever Promise with Tommy O’Hare, SVP of Outside

Bundles are a hot topic right now and Outside+ is a fascinating example. A few months ago, the Outside Magazine organization announced they were welcoming 20 new publications including Trail Runner, VeloNews and Yoga Journal to their family. More recently, they launched a suite of new features such as training plans & workouts, access to the Gaia GPS Premium app and discounts for outdoor events available with the new Outside+ membership.

By bundling together content, discounts and other benefits, Outside is building a membership that more fully delivers on their promise to inspire active participation in the world outside

I recently interviewed Tommy O’Hare, SVP Business Development and Licensing for Outside for the inaugural D2C Summit, a new conference I co-created with Global Media Association, FIPP, and want to share that conversation with you here on the podcast. In this conversation, he shared the journey of rolling up this bundle of benefits to support the goals and challenges of Outside’s most engaged members. I hope you enjoy it.

How Profit and Purpose are Combining to Create New 21st Century Iconic D2C Companies Like Tesla, The RealReal and Bellwether Coffee with DBL Ventures’ Ira Ehrenpreis

“The sustainability lens is at it’s infancy of evolution and the number of companies that are going to be innovating through that lens is just at the start.” Ira Ehrenpreis, the President of the Western Association of Venture Capitalists and Managing Partner at DBL Partners, joins Robbie to discuss the current need for innovations towards sustainability as driven by the demands of consumers. They open conversations on how companies should be gearing towards this disruption in the centuries-old economic status quo and start aligning their profit with purpose of values-driven consumers.

The Importance of Storytelling in the World of Subscriptions with GoodTrust’s Daniel Sieberg

  The ability to tell a good story is valuable—and not only when the story is the product, as it is in journalism. Stories can build understanding, trust and connection with members, prospects and investors alike. Storytelling is an important skill in the Membership Economy, and GoodTrust Co-founder Daniel Sieberg is a fantastic storyteller. Daniel Sieberg started his career […]

Small Is Beautiful – Niching Down Your Subscription to Grow Faster with Mindful.org CEO Bryan Welch

  Mindful.org is dedicated to a very specific goal–sharing the gifts of mindfulness through content, training, courses, and directories— and helping people enjoy better health, foster more caring relationships, and cultivate a more compassionate society. Because of that core focus, Mindful has been able to develop deep expertise about how people want to engage in […]

What Features Should be Free and What Should be Paid in a Freemium Subscription?

I get asked all the time what features should be freemium (aka free forever) and what features should go behind the paywall. The answer is, of course, it depends. But here are some useful frameworks. Does your business model depend on VIRAL MARKETING? If your “free” subscribers are a marketing channel for attracting paid subscribers, […]

How to Reinvent Your Organization as a Member-driven Movement with Ariel Zirulnick of The Membership Puzzle Project

  Since The Membership Puzzle Project (MPP) launch in May 2017, the team has studied, advised, and supported more than 100 newsrooms around the world, from Akron, Ohio, to New Delhi, India as they make the transition to a member-driven newsroom. In this conversation, I’m talking with Ariel Zirulnick, who runs MPP’s Membership In News Fund, which […]

How Strava Built a Subscription Business within a Social Platform with Strava CRO David Lorsch

  Just over 10 years ago, I had my first conversation about the idea that would become Strava with serial entrepreneurs Mark Gainey and Michael Horvath. They talked to me about their bold objective of building the world’s largest community of athletes. Since then, they’ve achieved that goal, touching over 90 million athletes and logging […]

Subscription Stories Season Two Wrap-Up

As we wrap up Season 2, we’re reflecting on the amazing guests we had, and all of the wisdom that was shared.
We covered best practices in pricing, scaling and supporting your subscription offering, and did deep dives on what membership means at organizations including CrossFit, Nike and YPO.
Take a listen to this 5 minute short, to hear about them all. We’ll be back with new episodes this fall!

Are Newsletters Dead?

Some content-oriented newsletters are so valuable and popular, that they go out once or even twice a day. You should know the ROI of your investment in newsletters.