With the media landscape shifting seemingly by the day, start-up expert Lisa Messenger, author of “Daring & Disruptive,” offers six secrets for becoming a mover & shaker in a multiplatform world.
When there’s so much disruption happening in an industry, how do you get people to choose you and your product? This is a question I recently asked Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter and Square, when I was lucky enough to interview the man who changed how Millennials interact with media. “I think the quality and cohesion of the experience is what sells the most,” he said. “It’s about speed and simplicity. I look at [our software] and know how to use it. I look at it and it works fast which means [the user] gets time back”.
This topic has never been more important, especially in the media industry, where every week there seems to be a new development, product launch or ‘next big thing’ vying for a viewer’s attention. It’s not like the old days when every household in the neighborhood would sit down to watch the same television show on a Sunday evening. We’re living in a multi-dimensional, multimedia world where it can feel hard to get your own family’s attention (“Please, no Pokemon Go at the dinner table”), let alone break into the mindset of strangers.
How, as a media professional, can you thrive amongst the disruption? How can you make a name for your product – and yourself – amongst the channels? It can be easy to be disheartened, but the truth is that anyone, from any background can be influential – with the right strategies. Jack Dorsey was once a punk rocker who enrolled in fashion school because he wanted to learn how to make A-line skirts. If he can break through the white noise of the media world so can you…
1. Experience Counts (But Isn’t Everything). In 2013, when I decided to launch a print magazine, I wasn’t a known entity in the industry, a regular at industry events or a front-rower at fashion shows. I did have a background in publishing but my specialty was books rather than glossy, newsagent content. Three years later, Collective Hub magazine is sold in 37-countries, encompassing digital content, bespoke events and unique brand extensions. I don’t blame the naysayers who said I didn’t have the experience to do it. I would have doubted the novice with the big vision. But, it just goes to show that sometimes you have to run with a big idea, even if it’s down an unknown road.
2. Get Out of the City. As a public speaker I spend a lot of time travelling across the country for different events and traveling between such diverse places gives me a unique perspective. I think it’s easy to spend too much time in an urban epicenter and think that everyone is an iPad-wielding, Netflix-watching, early-adopter. In Australia there’s a huge customer pool who don’t have access to the latest gadgets or high-speed WiFi and this was something I had to not overlook when planning any local campaigns – be sure to look at these constraints in your own part of the world.
3. Combine Old and New. Continuing from the point above, this is why Collective Hub produces content across so many mediums; our print magazine is available in newsagents, at airports and Barnes & Noble, but there’s also an app version, my books are sold in airport book and stationary stores, but can also be ordered online and shipped to your doorway. I am nostalgic when it comes to paper and love the feel of a ‘tangible’ product, as do our readers. As a media innovator, I think it pays to have one foot in the past and one in the future.
4. Become Fluent in Finance. These days you can’t rely on the accounts department to count the beans for you. There’s no point pitching the greatest show on earth if it’s going to cost $1 million an episode (unless it’s Top Gear!). I am not afraid to broach this topic as it is clear to me how many entrepreneurs have blockages when it comes to money management. Research the financial ins and outs of your industry, crunch the numbers and understand if an idea is really commercially-viable. Then decide whether to emotionally invest in it.
5. Micro-Network. If there’s a media mogul you really want to meet then make it happen, but don’t expect them to put aside a long lunch to break bread with you. In my experience, many industry leaders are happy to meet up-and-comers, but there is a time and a place to approach them. Don’t expect a yes from Arianna Huffington if you Tweet her a dinner invitation. Instead, buy tickets to an event that she is speaking at and strike up a conversation with the right people in the coffee queue. I was lucky enough to spend a week on Necker Island with Sir Richard Branson and recently spent another week with him while he was in Australia, also co-presenting at an event, but I’d have happily travelled across the world for 5-minutes in his presence.
6. Rebel in the Right Way. If you’re going to break the rules (which I encourage!) then make sure you can explain your reasons. In issue 23 of Collective Hub we used an image of a woman’s back as our cover shot which was taken by travel blogger Nataly Osmann which he has posted to his famous Instagram account @followmeto. It broke the number one rule of magazine land (‘A cover star must have eye contact’) nor was it in any way exclusive (his few million Instagram followers had clearly already seen it and hopefully double tapped) but I fell in love with the image and thought our readers could learn a lot from her ethos. I made sure that I explained my thought process so that industry insiders – and more importantly our readers – would understand my ‘controversial’ decision which at that point, ended up being our best-selling issue to date. I never set out to shock people. I’m just willing to take calculated risks. There’s a big difference.
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