The media business has been trying to reinvent itself for years. Traditional platforms -- newspapers, TV, radio, books -- are all in disarray as they attempt to compete with the emergence of a newly digital, global news cycle that chops information up and spits it out more rapidly than a plague of locusts destroy the land.
Online advertising has been booming the past few years as companies attempt to brand their products with younger audiences. The arrival of social networking sites and the user-driven content phenomenon has complicated matters.
"Old" media companies are left with shrinking audiences and declining revenues, reduced reach and an ominous feeling like the best days are past. It need not be this way, but for media companies to adapt, several principles need to be firmly established in any successful media culture:
* Distribute your brand globally; understand that a new, global market for news and information is replacing the traditional national and local markets. (These smaller markets will remain but do not currently present any substantial opportunities.)
* Identify what is "global" about your content and emphasize that for the widest possible distribution.
* Surround your content with widgets that can be added to websites anywhere; these should be small, branded bits of functionality such as has been successfully created by digg.com.
* Never forget that the only content you will be able to charge for is exclusive content. Therefore, concentrate on creating some excellent, exclusive content that people may eventually be willing to pay for.
* Meanwhile, implement advertising strategies that go beyond producing ad revenue but aggregate specific vertical markets that you can charge multiples for.
* Maintain the highest standards of journalistic and business ethics. Ensure that a11 marketing and messaging efforts are clear, accurate descriptions of your service and the value propositions you are offering.
* Concentrate on blending your content widgets with the social and professional networks. Partnerships are essential.
* Don't even bother to foster your own "community" until and unless you have a proven, virally spreading, interactive service that can be accurately described as presenting users with a new, unique set of functionalities.
* Hire me as your consultant!
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