As I’ve been out talking to more and more of our publisher clients, a reality has emerged: audience growth and better knowledge about that audience is key to survival.

I understand the struggles. I grew up in the publishing business. These are trying times but there is light at the end of the tunnel: most publishers sit on email, a great asset that can be harnessed to help them control their destiny in a new era. I want to see Publishers, so important to our society, thrive. That’s why I evangelize the importance of investing in email.

So whether it’s using retargeting and email newsletters to entice users into becoming a paid member (because paid membership is predictable revenue) or focusing on building audience (not traffic) or offering up newsletter content for free as a way to support a subscription model, the email address is a publisher’s superpower and the means for controlling their own destiny.

I’m a proud zealot in supporting Publishers, and I know that the logged-in channel that Publishers alone own (email) is the key to their success in the new era.