The media money model

I hate to get drawn into the Blogs v Newsprint debate or the newsprint v other communications channels for that matter but The post by Cynthia Typaldos Online Content Business Models is just too good to miss and the follow up Please Newspapers, charge for online content! From Blog Herald is not too far from the mark.

The issue is where is the consumer value.

Where value is high, people will pay. This does not always mean money of course but its helpful for many organisations.

People like to build relationships and they do this by becoming aware of the things they are interested in, that is, that are part of their personal culture, and seek to find out more. In this quest they look for common values first and then values that add to their personal wealth (tangible, intangible and, most often tacit).

This opens up a huge range of possibilities for both not-for-profit and commercial organisations.

The problem is that most organisations have a fixation about their products and services and not the values they have inherent in their organisation which are valued by their people and their potential consumers.

Most of these values are intangible, are not in the P&L or on the balance sheet and so are invisible to most managers.

Most of us will have found that just chatting to people inside companies is fascinating. Many times its valuable and often so valuable we would like a slice of the action at a price. That is when the shutters come down and the opportunity for both parties is rudely shut off.