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Newspapers III
(August 17, 2001) Ten years from now, the newspapers will once again own the Recruitment Advertising space. It will be much larger than it was when they left it to rot in the 1990s. The real question will be whether or not ownership of the newspapers is in the hands of Monster and the industry it is singlehandedly creating or relatives of the existing owners. Currently, the Washington Post has about $3B in sales while TMP Worldwide has only $1B. But the gap is closing fast. The question, if TMP wants to buy, is how effective is the Post at producing readers and is that price cheaper than Superbowl advertising. Unfortunately for the Post, TMP will be increasingly unaffordable. TMP has a different curve. Other venues produce readers at less expensive rates. The newspapers may be in the market. TMP most certainly will be.
In other words, the newspapers have to reinvent themselves and, one way or another, they will.
It isn't going to be easy. The great Neanderthals of the 19th Century, the Railroads, should have come to own the emerging transportation industry. If anyone was positioned to do this, it was the railroads. They just could not let go of unnecessary assumptions. And so it is with today's newspapers.
Here are the top ten things the newspapers could do to reinvent themselves:
- Tear down the wall between business and editorial. Put the market in the face of your content producers. Make guerilla teams that include editorial and publishing functions the core of the business.
- Stop acting like you are an arm of the government. No one willingly pays the government anything.
- Meet all of your customers. When was the last time a newspaper CEO visited an employment advertising buyer?
- Practice Content Adjacency in Employment Advertising
- Own up to and fix the content problem. The reason readership is in decline is that the editorial stuff sucks. Other sources provide better content.
- Invest in companies and then leave them alone. The job fair business should have flourished under Brass Ring's guidance.
- Stop acting like everything needs a committee.
- Stop believing that centralized technology (a la CareerCast) holds a key to the future. Cheap technology and harsh constraints on customers do not produce sales.
- Hire salespeople who get paid more than the CEO. Everyone else does.
- Go to a Media Bistro event in your town. This is the future of Recruiting.
- Finance the venture about to be started by Paul and Fred before they take another chunk away. Then, leave them alone to grow the business.
This prescription won't solve the problem. It is a pointer to the future of the business, however.
Monday: the future looks like this.
- John Sumser © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.
All Rights Reserved.
Materials written
by John Sumser
© TwoColorHat.
All Rights Reserved.
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Materials written
by John Sumser
© TwoColorHat.
All Rights Reserved.