Opportunities & Threats: B2B Media

I’m firmly on opportunities outweighing threats for B2B publishers in 2024. The plethora of business models available for those with specialised audiences in defined niches is exciting. Whether you go for marketing services, membership / subscription or the all-inclusive ecosystem model we follow, there are multiple opportunities.

Opportunities

• Monetising your audience either through charging them for access to specialist content, data or events is high on many people’s agendas. The heart of this approach is good old-fashioned journalism and high-quality content focusing on analysis and insight. Building on the trust our audiences place in us makes that transition easier. On a practical level, you will probably need to take free access away or severely restrict it if you want to transition to the higher value corporate subscriptions, the gold standard of recurring revenues.
• Proprietary data, the holy grail. Do you have information which solves a problem for your audience, and which preferably they either can’t get elsewhere or not without a lot of work? We don’t all have this though you’ll never know if you aren’t talking to your audience all the time. Feedback and research are key activities so don’t scrimp on them.
• AI. The explosion of available models is breathtaking. Harness the power to achieve internal efficiencies and help create new products for your audience. Experiment and ensure you have clear policies in place.
• Single customer view. The ability to track your audience / users’ behaviours is easier than it has ever been provided you invest in the technology (see threats below!). Our first party data is our gold, especially with the imminent demise of 3rd party cookies. Treat it with respect and look at what it’s telling you, not only for new product development ideas – if your data is unique, your market might want to pay for it.

Threats

• More people eating our lunch. Competition can come from anywhere and it pays not to be too internally focused or insular. If AI bots are stealing your content, then think through your strategy on blocking.
• Cost of tech. The move of every tech provider to a SAAS model allows easier entry, however, the costs escalate so choose your tech stack wisely and go for those options that offer the most convincing and easy integration with other platforms. There simply isn’t one solution out there so they all need to speak to one another.
• Lack of focus. Such are the opportunities, it is hard sometimes, especially as a smaller player, not to get distracted by the next shiny idea. Work out what you’re really good at and make sure you prioritise that first and foremost. On the new ideas, as they say, fail fast and learn.