Friday, August 21, 2009
Time to make the IBM switch
http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/mediamoney/2009/08/21/newspapers-live-events-theres-money-in-affinity/
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-07/mf_freer
Both of these article make perfect sense for the newspaper industry. Our existing business model is failing, so we have to find a new one.
What have we got left? What’s most valuable? The relationship with out readers. But if dead trees with ink on no longer fit into their lives what can we give them? Other stuff, especially stuff that’s unique, can’t be commoditised by competitors and we have a sustainable competitive advantage in.
What’s that? The relationship with our brands. How do we monetize it? By getting into leveraging it to sell services (as IBM did) and experiences that do fit into their lives and will hopefully do so for many years to come.
So where do papers fit into this? I’m not going to suggest we give them away free to promote the live shows associated with their titles, but they should certainly be used to promote their sister sources of revenue.
