Looking back, as people tend to do this time of year, we are grateful for the opportunities we’ve had this year to expand our reach and influence for the benefit of the customers we serve as well as for our global audience of industry practitioners in need of guidance for making smart technology decisions. We are grateful for the continued loyalty of our clients, many of which have been with us since the beginning, and for the continued collaboration of our ever-expanding partner network. It was truly a banner year for Starfleet Media and Starfleet Research, our IT market research arm, with the addition of more than twenty new clients in the hospitality, retail and healthcare IT sectors, the addition of several high-profile content distribution (and other) partners and expanded relationships with others, including UBM (medical IT), HospitalityNet, 4Hoteliers, Nevistas, (hospitality IT) and Restaurant Activity Report (restaurant IT), the rollout of new types of custom research projects and content deliverables, and the official launch of two new industry publications, Hotel Technology News and Restaurant Technology News, that have fast become leading resources in their respective domains. Which isn’t to say we accomplished all that we set out to accomplish (not by a long shot) or there isn’t a lot of work ahead and room for improvement as we continue to scale our operations and expand the scope of our research coverage areas and content marketing and demand generation capabilities. On the contrary! We look forward to tackling a host of new business challenges in 2019 while finding new ways to better serve our customers.
While some of these business challenges are new, such as growing our new publication subscription bases to industry-leading levels (we’re well on our way, with “weekly dispatch” email newsletters launching this quarter!), many of the challenges are the same ones we have faced since day one. Ensuring we deliver the highest quality content for our clients in ways that enable them to educate their target prospects in the most compelling way possible, for example, and generating the highest quality leads on behalf of our clients, ultimately helping them grow their customer rosters. In short, we are forever focused on the art and science of incorporating a range of content assets, tools, methodologies and channels to meet and exceed client expectations when it comes to helping them demonstrate thought leadership, raise brand visibility, grow their businesses and rocket to success.
We wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year. And remember: Content is still king.