A no-loyalty content business

People try to make an analogy between newspaper and classifieds. But when it comes to the evolution of newspapers in Internet and the evolution of on-line classifieds, we sometimes forget one major difference: in classifieds, there is not the same brand loyalty as there is in newspapers. Classifieds, from the user perspective, are a tool to an end. Newspapers are an information and opinion space, a subjective and intellectual and ideological factor way beyond purchasing goods is at stake here. Users of classified publications need a marketplace and some tools to best complete an informed transaction. Newspaper reading is a totally different story.

This is why Craig disrupted the industry. This is why employment boards took the lion-share from print media. They give the marketplace and they give the tools to better purchase and make informed decisions in the marketplace.

When we focus so hard on brand, we have a point. If you were the best classifieds editor in print, maybe this will leverage your on-line brand. But wait: what if instead it penalises it? What if instead you are seen as a print monster, slow, not internet oriented and dusty? This is the flip side of the coin that many in the industry struggle with. Re-branding or going vertical or niche is a vogue now and it has worked for many publishers. I wonder what’s the next step after this, and I don’t just mean networks and communities, I wonder what a serious disruption could bring to the scene…

Tags: branding, classifieds, content, evolution, loyalty, newspapers, printing