While reading (and writing) about the idea of the press release, and re-invention which some call the "social media press release", over the past few days I was also having an email exchange with Chris Shipley of Guidewire fame about their planned "Guidewire Report" and I was struck by an interesting connection between these two conversations.
I had written to Chris (with an admittedly snarky set of comments) but because I like the Guidewire group and the things they are doing and was frankly horrified by the sample "Guidewire Report" that they had sent out, for 3 reasons:
- Like Stowe Boyd I felt that the format was very "old Media" -- PDF? Too hard to read! So I have to kill a tree to read the newsletter?
- I felt that the content was poor - I sent Chris a couple of examples where their coverage was, at best, incomplete on the companies they chose to highlight and at worst made me question how they were picking companies
- I couldn't believe that in this day and age that they would try to charge $3,000 for a newsletter that had worse content than I could get for free from a quick web search...
Chris and I exchanged a few emails and, with permission, here is a quote from one of the emails:
Thanks for taking the time and providing your considered feedback. We'll certainly take this in along with all the comments - pro (mostly) and con - we're receiving. It's clear to me in these comments that there are those, such as yourself, who have embraced blogs as a primary source of information, and others (our likely subscribers) who find a lot of value in (and are willing to pay for) having a trusted source distill all that information into one document that is quick and easy to read. Clearly, two different audiences. (emphasis mine)
I think the point that Chris is making is equally applicable to the debate about the press release as it is to the debate about the PDF subscription newsletter -- there are two audiences out there. One "isn't going to take it anymore!" and wants the press release and the subscription newsletter to both die. The other doesn't know any better and can still effectively be marketed to with the press release and sold a newsletter.
In my view, this latter audience will shrink over the coming decade and at some point cease to be interesting. But sure, it might be worth mining for awhile. Newspapers, after all, are still profitable today. The trick is to turn the lights out before you start losing money -- but keep bringing it in for as long as possible.
I believe that the technology industry is the place where this will play out first -- if you look at the people railing against the press release it is largely technology industry insiders. In my view, this is the early adopter group that other industries can learn from and see what will happen to media, public relations, and subscription based newsletters...
The divide will close though. I give it 10 years. That is still a lot of subscription revenue!
www.guidewireconnection.com
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