Susan Mernit: Services

Susan Mernit is available to consult on business strategy, product development, revenue optimization, funnel management, media and hyper local, and audience acquisition/retention. She is particularly interested in working with companies focused on Web 2.0 tools, and on using platforms, personalization, recommendation and community to increase engagement and key metrics. She’s also fascinated with the transitions happening from classifieds models to more hybrid enhanced directories.

Susan has been a VP at Netscape and AOL, a senior director of Product Development at Yahoo!, a social media and web strategy/product development consultant, a consultant and editorial director for local newspapers, services and community tools, an experience conference organized, speaker and facilitator, and a energetic force in the blogging, tech feminist and online news communities.

Her resume is available at linkedin.com

Susan works with established companies and start-ups of all sizes on social media, media, hyper local, social search, community and deep vertical businesses. She has also consulted on executive decision-making, building teams and processes in turn around companies and start-ups, and on integration strategies for larger companies with diverse business portfolios.
After spending the past 2 years running the most visited online dating service on the net, she is particularly passionate about projects with customer acquisition, lead generation, viral distribution and people matching components.

She is also an avid and experienced blogger and has taught many workshops on blogs and social media.

Susan has done everything from writing vision statements, business plans and product documents, to helping companies write and deliver RFPs, hire vendors and partners, and optimize revenue.

Deliverables for projects Susan does could include the following types of output:

o Positioning plan and business strategy for start-up to take out for funding
o Strategy and product vision plans & facilitation, with execution LOE and timelines
o Revenue optimization plan for premium services and/or advertising business
o Editorial and community site development, particularly as a complement to an existing vertical or niche
o Product development plans related to social media, social search, deep verticals, life stage businesses, media & community sites, hyper local, and personalization tools.

Community development and hyper local or niche audience development plans including:
o Vendor appraisals/recommendations
o Blog and social media tools development and positioning
o Success metrics and tracking
o Staff /community training

• Created strategic business and product plan for blogging, RSS, next-generation search for large news organization, with vendor recommendations and development timetable.

• Developed the strategy (business and product plan, ecommerce relationship, blog and social media/RSS feeds) for a new website tied to the launch of a major new shopping magazine (800,000 copies first issue) for women 25-50.

• Helped the President and Executive VP of a $125MM consumer publishing business improve distribution of content into their digital media platform and streamline the new product development process.

• Developed an advertising/revenue strategy and a social media/audience acquisition plan for a magazine web site with over 5MM page views a month, but no online revenue.
• Built a web-based audience acquisition plan and social media platform for a science and technology web site looking to shift their audience and grow uniques and frequency.
  

• Worked with CEO and VP of a social media start-up to conceptualize and spec a new recommendation/newsreader product, as well as define marketplace and revenue opportunities for angel round (launches Q3 2004).

• Helped a major magazine client develop a means to publish affordable, relevant content daily on the website of their monthly magazine, and define the strategy and means to syndicate their content.

• Crafted ecommerce strategy for consumer experience company: addressed back end, audience segments, distribution partnerships and revenue splits.

• Conducted internal assets audit and external market review for large educational technology consulting company seeking to determine commercial sector value for their intellectual property assets.

• Advised publishers of niche blogging sites on paid content pricing, advertising models and syndication partners, optimizing revenue.

What clients have said:

“ She is knowledgeable, fast and extremely well-connected.”
--Jim Kennedy, VP, Associated Press

“I hired Susan and her staff at 5ive to help develop the business plan for shopetc.com, a website for a new magazine, and then execute the plan. She was a tremendous partner in the whole process. Professional, timely, detailed, tremendous execution and added even more value than we contracted her for. She did such a good job she was hired for multiple other projects by other managers at the company. I strongly endorse Susan.”
--Peter Schmidt, Hearst Magazine Group

“Susan is an extremely smart, experienced interactive-media expert who understands the technology, the content and the business aspects of interactive media.”
--Peter Zollman, AIM Group

Media
o Associated Press
o Consumer Reports
o CosmoGirl
o Hearst Magazine Group
o Knight Ridder Digital
o Popular Science
o Redbook
o TV Guide
o Yoga Journal

Social Media
o Eurekster
o Feedster
o Pluck, Blog Burst
o Rojo

Nonprofits & Local
o Ifocos
o Teachers Network
o Media Center, American Press Institute
o Dragonfly Media

(partial list)

Her 2008 conference schedule includes

• February WeMedia Miami, Fla
• March 14-15, Country Living Women Entrepreneurs, Chicago, IL
• March 27,28, Re:public: Assessing the state of Participatory Media (Berkman), Los Angeles, CA
  
• April Web 2.0 Expo, San Francisco, CA
• April 23 From My Space to Hip Hop: New Media In the Everyday Lives of Youth--Silicon Valley, CA A public forum on how digital technologies and new media are changing the way that young people learn, play, socialize and participate in civic life.
• April 30-May 2nd: Journalism that matters: News Tools 2008
  
• May Kelsey Group: Drilling down on local, Seattle, WA
• June 16-18, Supernova, San Francisco, CA

Programming and facilitation

Susan has developed speaker programs, workshops and related events for numerous conferences and groups including
o She’s geeky, Santa Clara, 2007
o BlogHer, 2005, 2006, 2007
o We Media, American Press Institute, 2006
o BlogOn, 2004
o BloggerCon, 2003

Susan Mernit’s Blog
BlogHer Sex and Relationship columns

Poems

Articles(samples)
BlogHer: What it feels like to write poetry again
OJR: Kevin Sites and Blogging controversy,