Subscriptions: Marketing for Life

I am not much of a "routine" person. I tend to do too many things at once, in no particular order. But my mornings are more routine. I wake up in the dark, get my daughter up and off to the train. Run. Then walk Lulu (our dog). Then I get my son off to school. Finally, my favorite moment: a cup of coffee and the obituaries.

I know that doesn't sound good, but I assure you, the New York Times obituaries are quite interesting. There are usually 1 - 3 stories of known (dead) people. Most often not known by me, but famous in some circles - maybe academic, military, the arts or business.

I have learned so much from the obituaries and today's was no exception.

Today, I discovered Danny Newman (1919-2007) known as the promoter of subscriptions for theatre and concert companies. It seems that Danny did not invent subscriptions, he appreciated their value and used them to build audiences. His book, "Subscribe Now," written in 1977, is still in print and promotes an idea that is now common practice.

What Danny Newman did was not uncommon in marketing: he took a good idea and made it better. I did a little research and found, in his own words, a story about the sad state of subscriptions when he first became aware of them. But - aha! - he realized that subscriptions could be the perfect solution to long term sustainability for theatre and opera companies.

I would think that a little more research might reveal that this idea is linked to the more recent practice of nonprofits asking donors to pledge for several years. Like a theatre counting on subscriptions, these pledges allow an organization to plan for the future, knowing the income is there.

So, the take away from this is: