Summary
To survive today and in the future publishers must be in the media business not the publishing business. They must offer a wide variety of products to their customers that meet the needs of today. These are dramatically different from what has made traditional publishers successful in the past. It is difficult and painful to change so dramatically so fast but it is a requirement for success today. Those who are not able to change quickly enough are folding as we see in the news daily. Looking back over history, it is those who have been able to change and change quickly that have survived in other difficult times. The smaller, privately held companies are better at this as they typically can move faster and have better reputations in their industry than the larger, investment held companies. The key is to understand the customers' needs, goals and ROI requirements.
Analysis
Publishing has been hit hard by the current economic crises but the problems goes much deeper. Advertisers' changing view of media has been a problem for many years. They now want an integrated approach that includes a number of Internet offerings. How do publishers keep up with the fast moving technology that has dramatically altered media offerings? What does all the new competition with low entry level investments do to traditional media? Publishers who are being successful are creative companies who are able to adapt quickly with new products that produce the ROI. These include video, webinars, e-newsletters, social media, keyword searches, etc. whatever it takes to offer both branding and lead generation. Every magazine's market is quite different so there is no "one size fits all". Each must know there customers' needs and adapt, not what they see elsewhere but what fits for their own market's goals. Excellent, highly sophisicated salespeople who deeply understand the changing market and customer needs are essential.
