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John Wilpers
Experienced Media Consultant and Co-Founder at Katahdin Media Management
John Wilpers is a seasoned media professional who currently serves as the Co-Founder and Partner at Katahdin Media Management.1 With a career spanning several decades in the publishing industry, Wilpers has accumulated extensive experience working with newspaper and magazine publishers.1
Professional Background
Prior to his role at Katahdin Media Management, Wilpers held the position of Senior Director at Innovation Media Consulting.1 This background has equipped him with valuable insights into the media landscape and publishing strategies.
Expertise
Wilpers' expertise lies in helping media companies navigate the challenges of the industry. His work involves collaborating with newspaper and magazine publishers to develop innovative solutions and strategies for their businesses.1
Career Span
With over four decades of experience in the editing field, Wilpers has worked with a diverse range of writers across various genres.2 This extensive background has likely contributed to his understanding of content creation and management in the media sector.
Online Presence
John Wilpers maintains a professional presence on LinkedIn under the username "johnwilpers". His profile serves as a platform to showcase his experience and connect with other professionals in the media industry.
Highlights
VERTICAL NEWSLETTERS: You’re probably leaving money on the table
By John Wilpers, Co-Founder, Katahdin Media Management
Just guessing here, but there’s a good chance you’re leaving money on the table with your newsletter strategy.
Presuming, of course, you have one.
No matter what kind of publisher you are — large or small, B2C or B2B, niche-focused or general interest — you should not only have a newsletter, you should also have multiple newsletters for all the sub-niches in their niche.
And don’t say you’re already too niche to have any sub-niches. No such thing. (I’ll talk about how to find those sub-niches next week.)
Not having a newsletter, or not having a variety of newsletters catering to your sub-niche communities represents lost revenue, lost potential new subscribers, lost ecommerce opportunities, and more (see list below).
To be clear, newsletters are not the silver bullet that will solve all your woes, but taken together, they can deliver revenue, subscribers, and ecommerce.
Also, there are good newsletters and bad newsletters. Aggregating content is out. Column-like monologues with a personal voice are in. Good newsletters embed links to the publisher's content and beyond.
A good newsletter is like a trusted friend or colleague providing pre-vetted, curated information, and the voice should reflect that.
Taking a cue from a sonnet by Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Newsletters, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”
15 ways newsletters help publishers:
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Newsletters drive subscriptions: Newsletter subscription conversions are “exponentially higher” than an “anonymous web user,” or a person coming to the website via other channels, according to New York magazine GM of Consumer Revenue Jason Sylva speaking to Digiday.
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Newsletters deliver valuable data that can be leveraged: With third-party cookies about to disappear, you need first-party data. Newsletters deliver personal reader data and behavior patterns, and more if you also use newsletters to do periodic surveys. That data, especially if it leads to identifying narrow areas of interest (sub-niches) within your market can be leveraged to launch new newsletters, attract advertisers, sell products, drive subscriptions, create new products, etc.
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Newsletters are lucrative: Every newsletter that is delivered can carry a targeted ad impression that can anchor a digital buy with specific content parameters.
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Newsletters drive traffic: Most publishers say the largest source of traffic is their newsletter(s). Quartz reported that 75% of its paying subscribers were driven to most of Quartz’s content from their inbox.
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Newsletters are habit-forming: If they are good and come every day or week at the same time, they become “appointment reading”
To see the other 10 reasons, go to: https://lnkd.in/gCW653Dc
(Next Tuesday morning: How to find niches within your existing audience base.)
MY NEW COMPANY IS OFFICIAL: CAMDEN, ME – January 5, 2022: Revenue models have been turned on their head for content publishers as the media industry has prioritized technology and distribution over quality and accuracy. With publishers seeking viable revenue models to support their evolving business reality, they don’t have time for theoretical, one-size-fits-all consulting; they want fast, practical, bespoke help to deliver bottom line results to support their visions and consumer appetites. That’s what three media executives with more than 100 years of combined revenue, editorial, management, and consulting experience will deliver for both legacy and digital-only media companies alike, while also preparing those companies for a sustainable, long-term future. The three executives forming the new Katahdin Media Management team are: Peter Medwid, former chief revenue officer at global mega-brands including Cosmopolitan, People, and Martha Stewart Living; John Wilpers, former senior director of Innovation Media Consulting and former editor in chief of multiple newspapers and magazines, and Kathleen Capetta, former publisher of the largest multimedia company in the Cayman Islands, and former editor in chief of Down East magazine.
Katahdin Media Management also offers short-term, ‘fractional’ executive services, helping companies execute projects or bridge the talent gap between an executive leaving and a replacement being hired. “Katahdin Media Management, LLC, based in Camden, Maine, helps publishers cope with quantum-pace changes and diminished resources, all in the face of increased demands from digitally-savvy readers, advertisers, and platforms for more differentiated content in entirely new formats,” said Peter Medwid. “Media company staff are stretched thin. Their skill sets often leave them unable to make the adjustments necessary to assure their survival.” “Our mission is to support media companies who recognize the need to change but are not sure of the steps and way forward,” said Kathleen Capetta. “By blending our deep global expertise with each company’s local knowledge, Katahdin can be the outside eyes that provide the knowledge, perspective, and understanding of the challenges that lay ahead. Together, we create roadmaps to a sustainable future.” “We differentiate ourselves from other consultants by going beyond spreadsheet analyses and templated solutions for uniquely local challenges,” said John Wilpers. “We interview all of the staff and readers and advertisers to gather local intelligence, and combining that intelligence with our global experience, we create uniquely local roadmaps that have staff buy-in because they were part of creating it.” Visit us at https://lnkd.in/gC6na5hT or: • John Wilpers, Partner; [email protected]; 617-688-0137 • Kathleen Capetta, Partner; [email protected]; 207-466-5602 • Peter Medwid, Partner; [email protected] ; 347-693-9045
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.