All I wanted to do was change my Wall Street Journal digital Monday to Friday subscription back to a daily print subscription. Why? Because I found I was not reading enough of the business news as I had when the paper was physically delivered. I also wanted to retain my Saturday delivery subscription. Sounds easy to accomplish, yes? Four or five (can’t remember which) conversations later, I have effected the change. Why so many? Because the WSJ customer service functions are designed from the inside out to serve internal needs rather than from the outside in to serve customer needs. To make the change I needed to deal with three customer service groups: Saturday only Digital Daily print As I look at this list, I can envision the WSJ’s organizational structure and financial reports. Because of this business structure, I would have needed…
Saving Newspapers Before Google Rescues The Day
Media provides a great case study of creative destruction, to coin Joseph Schumpeter’s term for capitalism’s ability to destroy while creating anew. Yet even massive creative destruction will not reverse the basic economic principal that customers buy based on highest perceived value, where value is perceived benefits less the perceived costs to acquire those benefits. Newspapers, for example, were highly profitable when they held the unique advantage of cost-effectively and frequently reaching customers with an advertiser’s message. Editors focused first and foremost on readers, with the publisher paying most attention to advertisers. The symbiotic relationship worked … … until Cable TV and the Internet fragmented markets and provided alternative and less costly routes for commercial advertisers and classified ad purchasers to reach their target markets and paying readers to find news. The monopoly position of the newspaper as a frequent advertising vehicle was…