https://fakebrains.com/blog Field notes on newspaper and media publishing operations from Fake Brains. en-us https://fakebrains.com/blog/a-few-successful-traits-of-growing-newspapers https://fakebrains.com/blog/a-few-successful-traits-of-growing-newspapers Wed, 10 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT Publisher field notes We build software for newspaper and media publishers, which means we get a look inside a lot of operations. The ones that are growing tend to share three things. https://fakebrains.com/blog/accountscout-mobile https://fakebrains.com/blog/accountscout-mobile Wed, 10 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT Product notes Why we put the full advertiser record — balances, run history, expiring orders, and the actual ad artwork — on a phone. This product is now SalesScout. https://fakebrains.com/blog/email-marketing-basics https://fakebrains.com/blog/email-marketing-basics Wed, 10 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT Operational deep-dives Selling to advertisers by email is straightforward once the vocabulary stops getting in the way. Here is what each metric actually measures, and the two things that matter more than any of them. https://fakebrains.com/blog/fake-brains-software-continually-develops https://fakebrains.com/blog/fake-brains-software-continually-develops Wed, 10 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT Product notes Software should increase productivity, not frustration. A note from 2018 on what we shipped that year and why we build every line of it ourselves. https://fakebrains.com/blog/is-your-software-holding-you-back https://fakebrains.com/blog/is-your-software-holding-you-back Wed, 10 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT Workflow patterns The clearest sign software is costing you is a person inventing a workaround for it. We found one at the desk down the hall, and it changed what we built next. https://fakebrains.com/blog/mailchimp-campaigns https://fakebrains.com/blog/mailchimp-campaigns Wed, 10 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT Operational deep-dives A campaign is three things: the setup, the audience, and the design. AccountScout owns the audience and the results; Mailchimp owns the design and the send. https://fakebrains.com/blog/ten-tips-for-choosing-newspaper-and-media-mission-critical-software https://fakebrains.com/blog/ten-tips-for-choosing-newspaper-and-media-mission-critical-software Wed, 10 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT Choosing software Features and price are the two things every buyer compares, and the two least likely to predict whether the decision works out. Here is what we would check instead. https://fakebrains.com/blog/whats-new-2018-1 https://fakebrains.com/blog/whats-new-2018-1 Wed, 10 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT Product notes Three changes shipped in this release: merging duplicate advertisers, a digital asset manager hook on retail orders, and screen layouts that only save when you say so.