All Entries Tagged With: "newspapers"

7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Marketers – Paul Gillin

Ok, Interview #10 of the “7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Marketers” series. Today’s interview is with Paul Gillin, author of the
New Influencers and Social Media Speaker, Trainer, and  Content Marketing Consultant. One of my favorite “products” that Paul Gillin produces is his website “Newspaper Death Watch“. As a journalist with 25+ years of experience, he is especially tuned in to the evolving space around journalism and publishing.

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
I suppose I have a knack for seeing where the puck is going, at least as far as media is concerned. I was trained as a journalist but quickly got out of general assignment work and into specialization in information technology, which was a pretty geeky field of the time. The timing turned out to be good, because in the early 1980s the technology went mainstream and I went along with it.

I got my first demonstration of the Internet in 1993, before there was even such a thing as a web browser. I knew immediately that this was the future of publishing and moved my interest and career in that direction years before that became fashionable. I also caught on to the idea that social media was going to revolutionize not just publishing but the way people communicate and was able to get a book into the market on that subject before the feeding frenzy began.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do and why?
I have a carefully tended list of RSS feeds from sources I respect on subjects relating to new media. I try to spend one or two hours at the beginning of each day browsing through new entries. I tweet a lot of those recommendations, which generates other conversations and awareness on Twitter. I also bookmark a great deal of stuff that may be useful to me later. It’s difficult for me to start a day without knowing what my most trusted sources are saying about my field.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
I use the Google suite of applications for mail, calendaring and many of my documents. This means that nearly everything I write is searchable, which saves me from fumbling around for stuff. I also reuse a great deal of content so that letter writing is more a matter of assembling than creating new content.

My most productive tool, however, is Dragon NaturallySpeaking. It’s a voice recognition program that enables me to speak rather than type. I probably work two to three times faster and am able to write considerably more by speaking than I would if I had to type everything.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen

5. 3 things on your desk right now/ 3 things you can’t live without
Two of them are computers. I flip back and forth between them so I am constantly working even while waiting for a website to load. The third most useful item is the microphone I use to dictate into Dragon.

6. Habit you want to kick in 2010
Well, I would sure like to make it through the year without a cigarette, but I’ve already blown that one. From a business perspective, it’s a tendency to take on more than I can handle and then having to work 16-hour days to meet my obligations.

7. Habit you want to form for 2010
Doing a better job of following up and staying in contact with people. I value relationships but I’m so busy that I tend to let them lie fallow until I have a reason to contact someone. I would also like to get back into playing the trombone regularly. I was an avid musician through high school and college but put the instrument aside many years ago. It beckons to me but my ability has deteriorated so badly that it’s frustrating even to try.

Does Dirt from Fenway=A year subscription to the WSJ?

I recently redeemed some leftover frequent flier miles for a year long print subscription to the Wall Street Journal. This cost me about 2,800 points. So, some immediate reactions and a suggestion to the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

This is a GREAT deal.  The Newsstand price would have a value of at least a couple hundred dollars. If you were to go online today and order a year-long print subscription to the WSJ, it would cost you $110.

So, for  2,800 airline miles you are getting a year full of great WSJ content ($110) for a value of about .04 per mile. Let’s compare that to some other things you can get for roughly the same amount of miles…

A $25 GAP gift card from American Express’s Membership Rewards= 2500 points or  .01 per mile
A $17 bottle of Oreck Pet Stain Remover = 2400 points or .007 cents per mile
Dirt from Fenway Park (home of the Boston Red Sox) =  2400 points or .007 cents per mile

Now, we can have fun answering the following questions…

• Isn’t DIRT from Fenway Park worth more than a bottle of Pet Cleaner? (Yankees/Red Sox fans will have fun with this one)
• A 4 year subscription to the WSJ is worth 100 bucks at the Gap.
• And my personal favorite , some dirt from Fenway Park is less valuable than a year long subscription to the WSJ..

And, ask ourselves the following questions….

How do we value the offline (print only) edition of the Wall Street Journal? And for that matter, the value of any other newspaper/publication struggling with their business model now?

And my favorite question
The Mags for Miles program currently only allows print subscriptions to the WSJ and select magazines. With the WSJ and now the NYT soon charging for online content, why isn’t an online subscription available? It’s a terrific opportunity to engage a new audience and use us some of those leftover points…

The New York Times Sets Up a Digital Toll Booth

The New York Times recently announced their decision to start charging for content in 2011. Here is a quick primer on what this means for them and for you.

For You = You’ll still be able to access content
This new model allows the casual reader to access the occasional article- the question is, “how much is occasional”? We’ll find out in 2011. The Times may set the meter at 4 articles, 8 articles, or 20 articles a month. So, if you just go online every Sunday to read Thomas Friedman, Dave Anderson, or one of your favorite columnists, you probably won’t have to worry much.

For the Times
It’s a great decision for them. After years of thinking this through, the Times has finally put a line in the sand. (They’ve been hemming and hawing for a while) Here’s why it makes sense.

The Times is one of the few, probably only, publishers that can do this. Excellent content IS their entire business. There’s a reason you can get a printed copy of the New York Times virtually anywhere in the world.

Numbers
The NYT has 17 million monthly readers a month, and 800,000 paid print subscribers a year. Even if they get a fraction of those 17 million readers, they are in good shape

Access
Search! The most important reason for going with a metered system here is that you’ll still be able to find and access the Times’ content using Google/Bing/Yahoo. Using any other model, the Times content won’t be “findable”

Pricing Flexibility
Advertisers will still get their money’s worth. If you are a casual Times reader, you’ll still be exposed to advertisements. If and when the Times needs to change their pricing based on how much you read, it won’t affect their relationship with key advertisers.

So, in effect, the Times has set up a virtual toll booth for the consumer. So, while driving down the content highway, how far do you want to drive, and much are you willing to pay the New York Times?

NOTE: Some Additional Perspective about  the NYTimes from the NY Times is here
For an outsiders view on how they should really do it, click here
For an unbiased view from the Associated Press, this is a great read