On Thursday September 24, CQ-Roll Call Group, the media company formed after The Economist Group completed its acquisition of Congressional Quarterly from Times Publishing Co. in August, announced a restructuring that included the elimination of 44 editorial jobs.
There used to be a time when editors were superstars – their name synonymous with an entire industry, their word irrefutable. Who could have predicated that three letters and their universe would topple this long-standing establishment? The World Wide Web has precipitated a change in the business information landscape, which is not only irreversible but puts in question the very existence of the media industry. As editorial voice gives way to user generated content and peer-to-peer communities, the controlled circulation model of free industry content is becoming increasingly unsustainable financially – en masse editorial staff lay-offs are testament to this new reality. So should you be investing your marketing budget in a dying business model? You can for now, but you really need to start thinking about alternatives. Especially as controlled circulation media owners are ruthlessly compromising their integrity by letting their sponsors and advertisers fill the empty seats of their editorial staff. Free content is now increasingly product-led which – ironically – is only accelerating the decline as their disappointed readers look elsewhere for knowledge.
So is the only reliable knowledge now something that is only available to your target audience on a paid-for, subscription basis? Not necessarily. Companies such as LinkedIn and BrightTALK are changing the knowledge landscape by offering viable and sustainable alternatives to professional audiences and marketers. Importantly, media and business information companies don’t need to die – they just need to reinvent themselves and adapt their business model so their communities don’t abandon their brand. As long as they can deliver engaged audiences, marketing budgets will continue to flow.
So how do I think they can achieve this? By empowering their community to shape content through measurable interactive and rich media experiences and taking a more open approach to their competitive landscape. B2B media must realize that they don’t OWN communities – they own a database of names that are worthless unless they are engaged and responsive. Their survival will depend on cross-fertilization of communities with other brands and competitors. Their key differentiator will be the vibrancy of their community’s conversation.
