What Rolling Stone Should Have Done to Capitalize on the McChrystal Story & Why Print Needs a Pay Wall - Steve Blacker - MediaBizBloggers

1 While Rolling Stone scored a major media coup with quotThe Runaway Generalquot interview I doubt their newsstand will achieve the dramatic jump it would have 20 years ago Sad to say no major new profits will occur from either newsstand or advertising as a result of this major story2 Because Rolling Stone management was operating as if it were 20 years ago no major planning was initiated on how to make money from the article on Rolling Stone39s own Web site or any other new media platform3 Everyone who saw the TV interviews etc and had an interest in the story either has already read it for FREE on Politico or Rolling Stone39s own Web site To show how out of touch a major magazine can be with today39s new multiplatform Digital business model Politicocom was showing the full article before Rolling Stone was featuring it on it39s own site4 It was obvious that this story was going to be a major blockbuster What could have Rolling Stone done First off it should have created a Digital strategy as follows5 They should have legally protected their rights to the article and not made it so easy for Politicocom or any other site to be able to feature any portions of the article6 As the TV interviews and other media coverage broke and millions of people were made aware of the article Rolling Stone should have dominantly promoted access to the full article on its Web site but in an innovative way7 Rather than providing free access to the entire article Rolling Stone39s Web site should have just promoted highlights and a pay for view opportunity to read the entire article Rolling Stone could have easily charged a one time access fee that equaled its newsstand cover price and people would have gladly paid it This should have also been promoted via cell phones and anything else that could have become available8 Without giving away the content major advertisers should have been approached to buy advertising on both Rolling Stone39s Web site once the article was promoted and within the article itself Sure something like this has never been done before but that39s what new media is all about creating new profit centers by innovative marketing9 When I printed the article from the Rolling Stone Web site it was 12 pages long Imagine if a few ads had been interspersed10 Until print learns what Rupert Murdoch already knows you can39t give away your content for free new media will stay an elusive and frustrating challenge for print Magazines must create a pay per view access model especially when they break high impact storiesSteve39s new book You Can39t Fall Off The Floor The Insiders39 Guide to ReInventing Yourself and Your Career chronicles his 50 year career working for over 25 different companies with 189 lessons learned and insider tips from Gayle King Cathie Black Chuck Townsend and 28 others Blacker is still going strong today as a partner in Frankfurt ampamp Blacker Solutions LLC His web site is blackerreinventionscom and email address is blackersolutionsaolcomRead all Steveamp8217s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Steve Blacker MediaBizBloggersCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBlogger

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What Rolling Stone Should Have Done to Capitalize on the McChrystal Story & Why Print Needs a Pay Wall - Steve Blacker - MediaBizBloggers

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What Rolling Stone Should Have Done to Capitalize on the McChrystal Story & Why Print Needs a Pay Wall - Steve Blacker - MediaBizBloggers

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