Throughout the entire process, never forget that your potential audience is still learning how to navigate to this "new media".
The biggest hurdle for most people is that they need an internet enabled device to access your content - that in itself is a major barrier for most people.
Over time, they're getting better at it, but it does take time, patience, and understanding.
Just keep on building it, as they will come.
Jim Long
· 2 years ago
Firstly, thanks for the shout out!! I really admire what JETSET is doing with community. I think community is a HUGE part of this as well. All of the points you raise in this post are critical. I think the ability to evolve and grow in a shifting landscape is also vital.
Great thoughts!
Mads Kristensen
· 2 years ago
Is it just me, or does it look like the game is going to get played on the old medias old terms? A lot of your very interesting thoughts and advice reminds me of the way that traditional media does business. Are we coming full circle now?
Randell
· 2 years ago
I don't think that we are coming full circle necessarily. There are certain business rules that are tried and true. Big media have a long history of capitalizing on the obvious ways to do things. The brilliance of the new media seems to have been finding different ways to manipulate the same set of basic rules. Great product, delivered to a specific audience, for an agreed amount of money. What is so exciting about new media's advantage is how easy it is for the smaller of us to change direction and continue to pull fast ones on the big guys. By the time they catch on, we're over it and on to something else. Great subject Chris!
eric : gardenfork.tv
· 2 years ago
Very smart suggestion to build a brand as a production company. My past experiences prove Chris' points, be very careful when negotiating business deals. My addition: think twice before going into business with friends.
chrisbrogan
· 2 years ago
It's not that people have to act like big media or follow their lead, but if you're looking to make a living, you'd do right to see where they're spending their money, how they see the future. Then, you can choose to either be there to catch their money, or you can find a way to get your own money that they haven't thought of yet.
My point is, it's no longer okay to be doing this in a bubble and hope the money falls into your lap.
Christopher Penn, Financial Ai
· 2 years ago
Media is media, old or new.
One other strategy to potentially pursue is to splinter your own content into pieces, rather than create bite size content. For example, ever since getting an ASCAP/BMI license, the Student Loan Radio sub-set of the Financial Aid Podcast is becoming wildly popular, so I may split that off as its own product, with its own feed, so that people who just want great music can get that too - but I don't need to do any additional work.
Laura Athavale Fitton
· 2 years ago
I think a really important shift is that it's *not* (necessarily) going to play out on old media terms. TV has lived & died (well not yet, but) by the tonnage rule of advertising: the more tons of viewers delivered, the more $$ sucked back into the maw. I don't think "we" are ever quite going to be able to play that game.
Build & sell (talent concept, segments, etc.) to larger media bodies is just a variation on this tune. Sure, if you can grab yourself a nice "scoop" of somehow targeted eyeballs, and bring them to the party, you become valuable to "something bigger." BUT
I think you buried your best point:
"(Financial Aid Podcast) doesn’t count because it has such a strong business plan of its own"
The money you seek doesn't have to come from advertising. That's just the way the game's been played. We wanna make truly *new* media, we gotta figure out new ways to make new media profitable. I blog because I want presentations to suck less. That would be cool. I'd be excited to make a difference. But I also blog because I think my ideas are worth money. I want people to see how my consulting is different and useful, and to taste the product, as it were. I want to be hired for seminars, and coaching, and development work. And it's working. This is been, by far, the fastest way to get potential clients excited about what I can do for them. That's just one way content is valuable to me.
So people, there are probably as many ways to find $$ value in your content as there are ways to do your content. Rip your brains out and stretch 'em a bunch. Be creative. Advertising, subscription, syndication & sponsorship have been great to radio and TV, but the game doesn't end there. This is a new game
@Michael: the key is, who are "THEY" who will come. In a world where 1 of 20 or 1 of 10 or 1 of 5 of us are also producing content, who consumes it? Who has time to dive into your stuff? And how are they valuable? And UBER-important, how is your stuff valuable to THEM, however defined?
@randell YES!
What that you do has VALUE? To whom? Start by figuring that out. Dance accordingly.
Rosa Say
· 2 years ago
I so appreciate these postings you do Chris, essentially telling the rest of us to wake up to a time like no other, and live with a charged up spirit, bravely deciding to be part of it. Your coaching here is good for all who are in business, for like it or not, "new media" has made the A team that continues to challenge us.
You pulled me into this article with your first sub-header to be a production company and not a show, for the work metaphor it evokes is a compelling one, and in the workplace coaching I do it will be very helpful - thanks!
Mark Schoneveld
· 2 years ago
Thos are awesome tips, Chris. Thanks for laying it down with such clarity. Forwarding this to friends right now... a MUST read for media creators.
Michael Bailey
· 2 years ago
@Laura - yes, the "THEY" are the "other" 19, or 9, or 4.
What is simple to "us" is only simple because we have a number of years devoted to figuring such things out.
Seeing things from "their" perspective is a trick unto itself.
chrisbrogan
· 2 years ago
This is the thing: the people with the money aren't interested in learning what we think as new media creators. They are interested in us working with them on their projects. THEY have budgets and deadlines and needs to be met. WE are the suppliers in this case. We're not on top of this food chain. And yet, we are the new, delicious candy bar for their old vending machine. Heck, sometimes we're the new vending machine *and* the candy bar *and* the crowd of hungry kids with a dollar in our hands.
But that's the thing. What we are not, in this equation, are in a position to just go idly along doing our own thing.
We can either A.) figure out how to play ball with the big team, or B.) be like Penn and make our company a fortune creating something of great value.
Tim Coyne
· 2 years ago
Great stuff Chris.
I'm enjoying your Twitters.
From one (native) Bostonian to another - THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT STUFF.
Tim
Steve Woolf
· 2 years ago
Thanks for the kind words -- we're definitely watching what the big players do, and we've also spent some time researching the emergence of cable television in the 80's to look for similar patterns and opportunities. History tends to repeat...
Great blog post, as always...
Justin Kownacki
· 2 years ago
Actually, there are 4 ways to succeed in this emerging market:
1) Find a way to play nice with the companies who have money (i.e., creating content for paying clients).
2) Find a way to make new money for an existing comapny (i.e., Financial Aid Podcast as an extension of an existing profitable business).
3) Find a new, undiscovered, untapped niche and exploit it first.
4) Find a new, undiscovered, untapped niche and exploit it best.
You don't have to play by "old media rules," but if you're not going to, you'd better be exploring, striving, taking chances, persevering and finding all the opportunities you possibly can.
Otherwise, you're just treading water, hobbyist.
Justin Snyder
· 2 years ago
Thanks for the comment Chris! This article was very helpful.
All Comments
The biggest hurdle for most people is that they need an internet enabled device to access your content - that in itself is a major barrier for most people.
Over time, they're getting better at it, but it does take time, patience, and understanding.
Just keep on building it, as they will come.
Great thoughts!
Great subject Chris!
My point is, it's no longer okay to be doing this in a bubble and hope the money falls into your lap.
One other strategy to potentially pursue is to splinter your own content into pieces, rather than create bite size content. For example, ever since getting an ASCAP/BMI license, the Student Loan Radio sub-set of the Financial Aid Podcast is becoming wildly popular, so I may split that off as its own product, with its own feed, so that people who just want great music can get that too - but I don't need to do any additional work.
Build & sell (talent concept, segments, etc.) to larger media bodies is just a variation on this tune. Sure, if you can grab yourself a nice "scoop" of somehow targeted eyeballs, and bring them to the party, you become valuable to "something bigger." BUT
I think you buried your best point:
"(Financial Aid Podcast) doesn’t count because it has such a strong business plan of its own"
The money you seek doesn't have to come from advertising. That's just the way the game's been played. We wanna make truly *new* media, we gotta figure out new ways to make new media profitable. I blog because I want presentations to suck less. That would be cool. I'd be excited to make a difference. But I also blog because I think my ideas are worth money. I want people to see how my consulting is different and useful, and to taste the product, as it were. I want to be hired for seminars, and coaching, and development work. And it's working. This is been, by far, the fastest way to get potential clients excited about what I can do for them. That's just one way content is valuable to me.
So people, there are probably as many ways to find $$ value in your content as there are ways to do your content. Rip your brains out and stretch 'em a bunch. Be creative. Advertising, subscription, syndication & sponsorship have been great to radio and TV, but the game doesn't end there. This is a new game
@Michael: the key is, who are "THEY" who will come. In a world where 1 of 20 or 1 of 10 or 1 of 5 of us are also producing content, who consumes it? Who has time to dive into your stuff? And how are they valuable? And UBER-important, how is your stuff valuable to THEM, however defined?
@randell YES!
What that you do has VALUE? To whom? Start by figuring that out. Dance accordingly.
You pulled me into this article with your first sub-header to be a production company and not a show, for the work metaphor it evokes is a compelling one, and in the workplace coaching I do it will be very helpful - thanks!
What is simple to "us" is only simple because we have a number of years devoted to figuring such things out.
Seeing things from "their" perspective is a trick unto itself.
But that's the thing. What we are not, in this equation, are in a position to just go idly along doing our own thing.
We can either A.) figure out how to play ball with the big team, or B.) be like Penn and make our company a fortune creating something of great value.
I'm enjoying your Twitters.
From one (native) Bostonian to another - THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT STUFF.
Tim
Great blog post, as always...
1) Find a way to play nice with the companies who have money (i.e., creating content for paying clients).
2) Find a way to make new money for an existing comapny (i.e., Financial Aid Podcast as an extension of an existing profitable business).
3) Find a new, undiscovered, untapped niche and exploit it first.
4) Find a new, undiscovered, untapped niche and exploit it best.
You don't have to play by "old media rules," but if you're not going to, you'd better be exploring, striving, taking chances, persevering and finding all the opportunities you possibly can.
Otherwise, you're just treading water, hobbyist.