How do you get more for less? – The Network effect!
by Rob Paterson
I was talking with a client the other day and I scared and depressed her – she is already working at more than full stretch. I told here that she would have to find a way to get more for less. I did not know that this is corporate code for more layoffs and the survivors doing more.
What I meant was this.
Many papers and news outlets pay for AP membership. But as these stats from Twitter show – if you want to cover breaking news – Twitter can do it faster. They also do it better in that as a station builds its Twitter gang – as the BPP did – it builds a fanatic membership. Members who do not pay money and get a Coffee Cup – but are true members of the Station Tribe. They work for you but not for money – they work for you because they belong
Imagine your entire state covered in every area – imagine every state connected to every part of the world – now you have a news service. What does it cost? A lot less than AP.
Of course what I am talking about is The Network Effect. This is what I mean by more for less.
I think that this idea can work in every part of a station’s world. Look at me or Mike Rosenblum. Few papers or stations could afford to have Mike or me full time. I can’t speak for mike but I would never be able to restrict myself to one employer anyway – I would learn to little.
But stations can Time Share people like me. This is not transactional consulting. I want to be involved – even when I am not being paid. I worked for NPR for a full year after my contract ended and visited them on my own dime. I still am very attached. There are people with all sorts of skills who want to be attached to you. They want to do more than send a check. They want to be able to say “I work for Public radio and TV” and mean it. These people have tons of skills in all fields.
I am thinking “Tribe” more and more. In your tribe will be people who merely Twitter – they are your news wire and immediate feedback loop. There are regulars who make local content for you – video, audio, call in whtever. There are regulars who find content for you. There are regulars who help with development.
There are experts in required fields such as media, accounting, legal, and maybe local politics.
I know all of this to be true. So what is in the way?
I think it is organization and culture – oh that again!
I see w new job in media – the Tribal Connector – do you have anyone who hosts the space for the larger Tribe – who looks out and after them? I bet you don’t. In fact many in full time parts of the organization fear the outsider who may know more than them and feel shown up.
In my ancient past I was SVP Marketing for the Investment Bank at CIBC, then the 10th largest bank in North America. What did I know about marketing? Squat. So I did not build an empire and run it from my pinnacle of ignorance. Instead I hired a person who knew everyone in the field in Toronto. She and our secretary were the only full time people. We attracted and kept a wonderful tribe of the best people in the business. We could turn around anything in any time. All the infrastructure was outsourced but the key members of the tribe were very close. All our budget went on the deliverables.
This worked because we acknowledged that the best people in a creative field would never work full time for a bank. Our job was to get the brief right and to connect to the best people. We did this by creating trust with the inner circle.
No one knows it all. Even less can you know it all when all you do is one thing in one place.
So the way forward I think is to accept that the best people will not work for you full time but that you can get a bit of the best people – if you are nice and if you are straight.
I think that stations can get much more for much less if they were to explore this. Why not try a Twitter Breaking News Tribe First? No risk and you learn how to do this
