Published by Dow Jones & Company and founded in 1889, The Wall Street Journal is a global news organization that aims to provide trusted news, information, and analysis to inform readers and decision makers across industries and disciplines. Since its inception, the Journal has built on its heritage as the preeminent source of business and financial news to also cover world news, politics, lifestyle, sports, entertainment and more.
In addition to The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones publishes several premium financial publications, including MarketWatch, Barron’s, Investor’s Business Daily, as well as leading luxury and real estate titles Mansion Global and WSJ. Magazine.
As the world becomes increasingly complex, companies and business professionals across sectors rely on Dow Jones to provide unbiased, trusted news, data and analysis to make important decisions. To date, the company has a record number of more than 4.9M subscribers across its portfolio.
Loyalty360 CEO Mark Johnson met with Joe Martin, vice president and head of global partnerships for Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, to learn more about the brand’s partnership strategy and specifically how it relates to customer loyalty.
Acquiring and Retaining Customers through Partnerships
Since the launch of its online subscription model and customer-led strategy, The Wall Street Journal has successfully grown its audience reach with a focus on building loyalty. When the brand made the decision to charge for online content, it did so with the belief that quality journalism is worth paying for.
Over the last several years, the publication’s commercial partnership team has been busy developing new distinctive ways to showcase Dow Jones’s unique and engaging content, products and services to its partners’ loyal customers.
Quality Content Builds Loyalty
To enhance customer loyalty efforts, Martin and his team work to grow strategic partnerships with complementary brands that help broaden the Journal’s readership and engage new audiences. Dow Jones seeks partnerships with brands with some crossover in demographics where the content will be relevant, such as financial institutions and companies in the hospitality and travel industries.
Martin cites wealth management partners as one of the most successful alignments. A gifted subscription to The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s or MarketWatch is a benefit that is not only relevant, but a rare perk that improves engagement and provides the customer with true value which in turn builds loyalty.
Similarly, WSJ has been incorporated into airline benefits where top-tier travelers can receive a WSJ subscription as a valuable and highly relevant rewards incentive from the airline’s loyalty program. They have also worked to create co-branded newsletters with their partners, delivering curated Dow Jones news content to their customers.
Martin’s team uses data to show partners how engagement with Dow Jones products improves customer retention. “It is a challenge for loyalty owners to demonstrate ROI, but we work hard to show partners the increased customer engagement with our products that attributes value,” Martin explains.
Expanding Reach Through Mutually Beneficial Relationships
While some brands are challenged with partnerships being one-sided, Martin stresses the importance of partnerships being mutually beneficial to form a lasting collaboration. He emphasizes that it is important for brands to set clear KPIs and expectations from the beginning, and then measure success against them. Of course, more value can be derived from fewer, larger partnerships where all parties’ intentions are aligned, Martin said, but there needs to be a clear commitment from both sides with specific goals.
As Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal continue to expand their partnership efforts, the team is looking to better integrate their content with their partners' existing programs. With an increased focus on audio, video and live journalism capabilities, Martin says the company is looking for new ways to integrate these offerings into its partnerships to reach a larger audience. Offering relevant content in these new mediums can help customers remain loyal to partners’ reward programs while introducing them to Dow Jones’s premium brands.
Martin adds, “As long as the content is highly relevant to the audience, it’s going to increase their engagement and loyalty as a result.”