New Media Age, New Marketing Strategies

Amos Gelb at OJR: New media age, new marketing strategies - To be honest, I haven't had time to fully digest this yet (it's quite long), but skimming over it, I'm sure it will be worth the time. In the piece, Gelb explains why 'Journalism business' doesn't have to be an oxymoron. Specifically, he looks at The Discovery Times Channel, The Washington Monthly and The WashingtonPost.com

Gelb wrote:

The new competition is not just within traditional media -- it is from new sources of news, such as the Internet, portable e-mail devices like Blackberries, cell phones and iPods. In printed media, desktop publishing has shattered the capital requirements for publishing. Barnes & Noble, the nation's largest news agent, today carries 3,500 magazine titles.

This is so true. Just today, while in a local coffee shop, closing the deal on a banner ad sale, I ran into Jeff, who does The Good Beer Show podcast locally. He had with him a PSP (Play Station Portable.) More than games this device gives us. Of course, I had him call up Muncie Free Press on the small screen so I could see how it fit (not bad, btw.)

In any case, these new readers will make the mediums irrelevant for the most part. That is, the info companies of the future won't be print only, or audio only, they'll be a combination of all the current mediums.

Gelb wrote:

While washingtonpost.com, The Washington Monthly and the Discovery Times Channel are all news organizations (and thus in competition with each other) each is in a different medium and at a different stage of development, so the strategy for each has its own unique characteristics. But, examining the strategies of all three, it becomes clear that there are several common themes that have contributed to their success. Those are:

• Understanding the product -- Each of the news organizations is very clear about what it does and the value proposition of its product. Understanding the origin of each product -- whether it's a new brand extension or a reinvigorated old product -- is crucial to defining that value. This origin not only shapes the product but also defines the business objectives beyond profit.




• Knowing what the target audience is -- Since each product is clearly defined, the news organization must understand which audience its value proposition appeals to. That knowledge allows targeted marketing and shapes promotion strategies for the product's market space.




• Resourcefulness -- All three organizations have only a limited ability to take advantage of the distribution and marketing channels that news products traditionally use, and all three have restricted marketing budgets. As a result, the three organizations have had to devise unconventional strategies that leverage their competitive advantages as cheaply as possible, using such phenomena as viral marketing and earned media.




• Competition -- In the hyper-competitive journalism business today, no news organization can succeed without understanding and responding to the competition. The three outlets examined here have unconventional views of, and responses to, their competition. For example, The Washington Monthly has collaborated with the very publications with which it would seem to be in direct competition. Such strategies reflect the three news organizations' unique understanding of their market environment. Moreover, competition comes not just from other existing outlets; news organizations must also anticipate the challenge of future technologies and not yet existent rivals, and find new ways to increase their audience and expand the relevance of their products.

This last one is interesting to me. Why? Well, the local newspaper pretending I don't exist instead of opening up a dialogue to see how we can work together. It's a bad move on their part, imho, but maybe they'll come to their senses eventually.

The other three things are important too, though, I think. I think I have a strong grasp on these. (Although, like Newmark, I'm pretty much doing this w/out much in the ways of a concrete business plan. Maybe that's why BackFence has gotten funding and I haven't, but I think it's important to do it this way...more on the whys of this later perhaps...)

Gelb again:

For all the punditry on how much trouble American journalism is in, there has been virtually no attention paid to healthy sectors of the industry as demonstrated in these three case studies. None of the organizations profiled has "sold out" to business pressure or sacrificed the quality of the product in the chase for audiences. Instead, they changed their models to use the most basic business principles to hone their own product. They have focused on what makes their product different (its competitive advantage), why anyone would want it (its value proposition), who would want it (their audience), and how to get it to them (distribution channels). Their success has been in understanding their value-proposition and being ready and nimble enough to adjust to changes in the market without sacrificing their core values.

And with that, I think, there is hope.

As I said, I want to digest this piece a little more and I might have more to say. I do recommend heading over to OJR and having a look at it, though.

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