Innovation isn’t a buffet table. This to say that you can’t take what you want, load your plate, and leave the rest. I was reminded of this in a recent article, ironically enough, on cnn.com
In a nutshell, someone over at News International in Britain woke up one day and realized that they might want to start charging for online content for The Times and The Sunday Times website. After all, the internet is fast making print news obsolete and soon enough, extinct. Why not hitch our wagon to it?
Not a bad idea, but here’s how they want to monetize it:
They want to charge a subscription.
Don’t worry though, they’re offering a free trial period! Let’s not discuss the fact that their service is, at the time of this writing, already free.
The article goes on to tell us that: “The only other major British newspaper currently charging for online content is the Financial Times, which charges a basic rate of £3.29 ($4.90) a week for a year-long subscription. Users can view up to 10 online articles for free each month, but they must register.”
How about this: Instead of your limiting the amount of news I can access, how about encouraging me to access MORE? How about instead of a monthly fee, which does wonders for your cash flow but doesn’t fit my usage patterns, you charge me a usage fee on a sliding scale? What about giving me a credit for clicking links to advertisers? Or hypertext to drive business to sponsors? In other words, and here it comes: how about adapting your business model to my give-you-my-money model?
Rather than look to what the consumer (you know, the guy with the money) needs, the gentlemen in the big chairs behind the big desks are trying to squeeze this upstart new medium into the mould of the way they are used to doing business – the old way. How many times do we have to do this and in how many industries before we realize it simply doesn’t work?
Changing your thinking isn’t easy. Getting left in the dust by more agile, forward thinking competitors is.
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