Case Study

New Revenue Streams

Objectives achieved:

  • New strategies for increased revenue
  • No upfront costs
  • No investment in IT infrastructure
  • Rapidly deploy existing & new content
  • Publisher has complete control

String Letter Publishing (SLP) serves the global guitar and acoustic music community through two magazines, Strings and Acoustic Guitar, both with a circulation 68,000; a book series Backstage Books; a music school; and a web site.

Actively publishing for 20 years, the CEO and founder of SLP, David Lusterman, was seeking ways to generate revenue beyond traditional magazine subscription, book sales and advertising models. Knowing his community would appreciate a series of easily accessible digital media products based on SLP's popular lesson books and instructors, he designed a new strategy for the business. Armed with his library of high-quality content for which he owns media rights and his analysis of the needs of the SLP community, he began to evaluate low risk, cost effective digital payment and delivery solutions.

Bitmenu Inc.

Discovering the white-label digital fulfillment service firm Bitmenu Inc, Lusterman began a pilot program using the Bitmenu Vendor service.

With no investment in IT infrastructure or upfront cost, the service allows SLP to set up, create per lesson promotional offers (typically a PDF and 5 minute video) then sell and deliver media directly from their website and opt-in email broadcasts.

For the first time, SLP can launch new products combining new and backlist media in minutes using existing staff.

And through the Bitmenu Vendor reporting service SLP can identify individual buyers and preferences immediately upon purchase completion. The digital products are created using existing media assets meaning costs are minimized and the publisher has complete control of the experience.

Metrics

SLP's email promotions alternate between book and digital media product promotions through weekly e-broadcasts. Lusterman discovered that the net dollar margin for digital media product promotion is the same as for book promotions. Sales volume in the first weeks after each digital media product promotion results in a 4-8x higher yield compared to similar promotions in the SLP traditional book business. Mr. Lusterman attributes the higher sales rate to the Bitmenu Vendor service -- offering simple and secure impulse purchase and delivery experiences viewable on smart mobile devices. Post-sale, a Bitmenu Vendor report details the buyer information, transaction data and purchase patterns.

Future

Due to the success selling through the Bitmenu Vendor service, SLP has committed to build more products and is planning other innovative digital product initiatives.

Acoustic Guitar Facebook Store - Facebook Product Page

For More Information

Please contact us at publish@bitmenu.com.