Since leaving Philadelphia Media Network, I have been speaking with newspaper publishers and with many of the vendors who supply the services those publishers use and have realized that there is a disconnect between the two. Simply put, publishers require more then most vendors are able to provide — if a vendor is good at sales, they may struggle with publisher relations, if they are good at publisher relations they might struggle with post-sale training and user development. To help both groups be more successful I’m excited to be able to share that I have created Media Vanguards.
With offices in Bryn Mawr, Pa., Media Vanguards provides the vendor side of the business a variety of services including outsourced publisher relations, post sale support and managed introductions. We’re already working with a number of companies and thanks to a great team, have the bandwidth to add more. And at the same time, we’re continuing to talk with publishers and learning what issues they are struggling with and offering them solutions that meet their needs. At the core of what we do is our simple goal of helping vendors be more successful, ensuring that their products are being used effectively and helping publishers fill holes in their product and revenue strategies.
If you sense that this is something I’m excited about and deeply believe in, that is because I am and I do. I think this an interesting time for the industry and I’m excited to be able to play my own role. I am pleased to already be working with some great companies and am excited by those opportunities still to come.
Organized by Sheigh Crabtree of Perfect Market, this is one of a bunch of panels attempting to focus on the news industry, but in my unbiased estimation, the very best. Here’s a description of what we’ll attempt to do:
The Survivalist Newsroom: How Far Will You Go to Get Readers? In today’s frenetic media world, it’s never been more difficult for media companies to attract readers. They’ve used sophisticated search technologies, content seeding, social media, promotions, and splashy homepages to try to lure the most eyeballs possible to their sites. But how far would you go to get readers? In this session, hear from one newspaper that decided to sell Android tablets with its content pre-loaded at a massive discount, juts to get readers in the door. Hear how they also used games, giveaways, and sophisticated data-mining content management techniques to successfully increase readership.
I’m excited to be able to share that I have been invited to represent Philadelphia Media Network and speak at Digital Content Monetization East 2011Â taking place from October 11-14 in New York City.
For those of you not familiar with DCM East, it is “a multi-stream summit incorporating only the most senior strategists and decision-makers in Film, Sports, TV, Publishing, Games and Music” … “DCM East helps you to sort out the best short and medium terms strategies for delivering revenue through digital content.”
While I don’t yet have all the details (such as the when and where), I can tell you that it’s not a panel, but my own session. More details to follow, but if you’re thinking of attending, here is a link to register. And let me know if you’re going to be there!
After speaking on the “Subscriptions, Paywalls and Real Money. Will Users Pay Up or Fade Away?“Â panel at the Digital Publishing and Advertising Conference in New York City, I was interviewed by the folks from Scribemedia.org and no, my use of “monetization” is not intended for a drinking game…
