Let Me Break It Down For You, Magazines and Newspapers

Print media is a platform. Platforms were and continue to be created for one of two reasons: Either to distribute information or enable communication. Go past the immediate idea of what print media is and you’ll understand that ultimately it was created to inform people. This means insignificant things like Jon and Kate’s relationship issues that nobody cares about, and important things like what to do if a bomb goes off in your city. The latter is what the government, etc. had in mind when they created your platform. When it’s not being used for something important, it’s free to entertain society (or in today’s world, make many look and act stupid). Enter the internet. It too is a platform. Same purpose, same reason for being here. Why it is better for distributing information than print media? Because if something happened — a disaster, attack, etc. — in a city, print media would more than likely be either limited or completely unable to distribute information. People would be either limited or unable to access it. The government of a society would have an issue with this, of course (or it should). The internet solves this. It would reroute itself around any disaster by its own design and important information society needs to know would reach society so that people can act. Not even television can do this. This is why the internet platform is here.

If there were a disaster, the internet would maintain a society’s ability to communicate and distribute information. This is why it will replace the majority of PRINTED information. It is very important for you, media business, to understand that there is nothing — and I do mean nothing — you can do to stop this. Your choice is either adapt, or go out of business. By the looks of your market, you’re picking option #2. That’s too bad. You could actually be benefiting enormously. The internet reduces your overhead printing costs. It can enable you to reach a larger audience. It requires less manpower, further lowering your overhead. You alone made the decision to give away your content for free online, under the false idea that somehow people wouldn’t pay for it. You failed to realize that success online solely and squarely depends on the ability to build an audience, and sold yourself out to aggregators under the false idea it’d drive you traffic. Had you seen the internet for what it was, and what it was ultimately going to do, you wouldn’t have made such foolish decisions. Imagine the outcome if you hadn’t.

So what can you do now? Time is running out for you to make a move, that’s for certain. Whereas in the past, the internet wasn’t ready to take over our entire communications and information distribution platforms. Today, it is. The only thing that holds it back is the ignorance (lack of understanding) of those who make decisions across all markets. You don’t have to be one of them. In fact, you’re better off — what will be will be regardless of them. First, your focus must shift. Stop fixating on social networks, stop fixating on trends — these things will not matter in the future. They’re tools for you to use, not the answer. Just two years ago, MySpace was all the rage if you might remember — trust me when I say you’ll see things change again. Start focusing on YOU and MOVING YOUR EXISTING CUSTOMERS to YOU on the internet. Success on the internet platform (or any platform) is all about CREATING A CUSTOMER BASE. You should know how to do this. Customers are not traffic. Do not believe the people in the market who say “people won’t pay for content.” There is more proof that people will than not. Not one person who has said this has cited anything concrete or conducted any research to support that people won’t pay for content. A poll on a blog doesn’t count — if someone isn’t polling the mass consumer base in a meaningful, accurate way, then it’s not worth paying attention to. It should not even come to this. Subscription content has existed over platforms forever because people choose to pay for it. Nothing has changed here. Create value and you’ll find a customer willing to pay for it.

As far as mobile goes, the internet is designed to be device agnostic. It’s not a “mobile” play exactly — it can be fixed too. Don’t make the mistake of bum rushing a “trend.” Going “mobile” without a customer base will equal failure. Create a customer base, and you can do all of that and more so focus on it first. You have MBA grads running your companies at nice fat salaries. There is no reason why they are failing you. Either make them learn or help them learn, or replace them. Your failure is your fault, not the internet’s. Fix it.

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