Tizra Blog

The annual CESSE conference (Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives) has historically been focused on high-level strategy, so when we headed up to Quebec City for this year’s I wasn’t sure I’d be hearing a lot about publications. But I was surprised at how many discussions—both in the sessions, and in the hallways—revolved around issues that publications really are central to.  The issues themselves are nothing new… Recruiting, engaging and retaining members Building organizational branding and identity Finding effective value propositions for members and prospects at all points in their careers And of course, adding revenue streams What’s new is that we’re seeing more and better ways of using publication content to address them.   For example, associations can recruit, engage and retain members by meeting readers where they are, making it easier to find publication content in Google and social media, and reducing the barriers to samplin...

A post over at the No Shelf Required portal highlighting a new  whitepaper  from  Oxford University Press recently caught our eye .  Navigating Research examines  "how users seek contextual information and guidance for areas of scholarship as they conduct research, and how reference resources can support their work.” Key findings of the paper,   include, among others (bolding ours): recognition of ‘reference’ as a specific category is declining and users are not likely to identify ‘reference resources as those belonging to a distinct category research needs of today’s researchers are moving away from basic factual information and terminology (for which free online sources are used) resources offering guidance to a field of study retain appeal as a ‘bridge between introductory materials and specialized research publications'” resources offering guidance to a field of study are also used to support work in interdisciplinary fields use of ref...

ACCESSE17  - the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives - takes place in Québec City July 25 - 27, and Tizra will be there! Well, our own Abe Dane will be there, facilitating a new session during Thursday’s breakfast called the  Reciprocity Roundtable . Abe will be leading a discussion on the category of “relevance” - as in an association’s relevance to members, their professional development and career advancement. Roundtable attendees can expect to learn the power and practice of reciprocity; find solutions to issues while focusing on contributing to others; build relationships and trust with colleagues; and learn about and help one another. All that and breakfast, too! You’ll find Abe and other early risers at 7am in QCC – Room 200B, with roundtable sessions beginning at 7:30 am, and ending at 8:30 am.

We recently came across the post, " Digital marketing scales and that could create new opportunities for capable publishers " by Mike Shatzkin of The Idea Logical Company While written with trade publishers in mind, it has some good news and helpful takeaways for niche-market, mission-driven publishers -- especially those who are Tizra users. The post puts a spotlight on publisher Open Road Integrated Media's success with discount pricing and vertically-focused digital marketing campaigns, and their continuing expansion as a marketing services provider for competitive publishers. Open Road offers those competing publishers visibility for their niche titles in its highly target-marketed newsletters, reaching an ever increasing number of niche readers. In a win-win arrangement, those publishers reach more potential readers, and Open Road is able to share news about additional relevant titles - making their newsletters even more valuable for the readers. Open Road...