Same Cow, Different Tree

So you think things are changing too fast? It’s not going to stop. First, a word about this blog.

Welcome to Print2Web. This blog is meant to be a communication tool, and not a personal forum. Rather than send emails that disrupt your day, I’ll be posting to the blog. You can reach out and access on your own schedule. I’ll be trying to provide insight and info that may help us be more effective in managing our transition to an ever more multimedia world…sales, marketing, communication, and audience engagement. This is about improving communication, and offering outside insight. It’s also about input back from you. Feel free to comment directly back on the blog (one of the benefits and curses of the media.) Also feel free to let me know what types of things you want to see here.

Now, back to the tree…and this is from a well-known sales trainer in the media world, having worked with newspaper companies like Morris, Lee, Gannett, Freedom, etc. I’ll paraphrase.

Hundreds of years ago, when a farmer wanted to sell a cow, he nailed a note to a tree. Today, we still have farmers, we still have cows, but we have to find a new note and a new tree.

Very simply, (and I don’t do this as much justice as my friend the trainer does,) it means that only a piece of the sales equation has changed, we still have farmers and cows, we just need a new note and a new tree. And this doesn’t mean we have to print up multiple notes, and nail them to multiple trees. But we do need to be able to know the options and propose the best way for the farmer to reach as many potential cow buyers as possible, (and no, www.cows.com is not currently under development.)

Newspapers are not the only media looking in this direction, radio is also articulating the move to multimedia. It’s interesting to note the similarities stated in how things are changing for this media, http://www.bia.com/webinars/Revitalizing_Radio_11122008.pdf. The ability to be Multimedia is not defined by adding products, as much as it is the ability to understand the value of multiple products, and provide the right one, or the right combination, achieving the right solution.