Do You Put Customers First?

Are publishers customer-centric? The question was raised recently in a blog post from The Scholarly Kitchen in an attempt to determine whether the enhancements and features publishers are implementing are focused on customer needs. Various chefs weigh in on the question, but instead of answering that question directly, they step back and ask a new question: Do publishers really know who their customers are?

Is your publishing operation customer-centric? The question is important because if it’s not, you run the risk of pursuing business goals and introducing features that don’t actually meet customer needs.

To make sure you are customer-centric, you need to ask:

• Who are your customers? You must first define who your customers are, what they’re doing and how they’re buying. Are they your core/niche audience? Researchers? Subject matter experts? Are they your subscribers, or do they come from a broader arena? Are they domestic or international?
• What do they want? As markets shift and technology evolves, their needs and wants are changing.
• Where do they want it? Your customers may be subscribers, but perhaps not adhering to the traditional model. Look at digital users and subscribers who use mobile apps. Then look at readers outside the subscriber base who want reprints or special collections. You need the capability to disseminate in various formats, to numerous devices, and through disparate partner channels.
• How do they want it? Do customers want high-quality print? Faster delivery? Online ordering? A mobile app for browsing? Perhaps they want email alerts for upcoming articles.

Sheridan has solutions

Defining your customers and determining their needs is only the first step. You need to be able to cost-effectively provide for those needs. That’s where Sheridan can help.

• We offer a range of high-quality print services to accommodate every print need for any size job.
• Sheridan’s international partnerships help you produce a high-quality magazine and get it in readers’ hands quickly, no matter where in the world they are.
• Sheridan’s electronic content services help you deliver content to meet the needs of mobile consumers.
• Our content sales and marketing services division not only offers traditional print and digital reprints, we provide guidance on marketability and use advanced technology to enrich your content and help you provide it to diverse distribution channels.

Meet customers where they are, then you’ll know what features and approaches you need to employ to build your business.

[cta]Contact your Sheridan representative, Susan Parente at susan.parente@sheridan.com, to learn more about new publishing technologies and how they can provide added value to your publications.[/cta]