Business media under attack

Diane Mermigas of Media Daily News writes Monday that the business media is being attacked by online sites as they try to convert to online strategies themselves.

Mermigas wrote, “There are, of course, many enterprising and progressive business media players reveling in new concepts. However, time is running out for business media to seize new opportunities to transfer their brand value and leverage reader and advertiser loyalty. Saturation levels are high, and the resources that constituents have to invest are stretched. The gap is narrowing between business-to-business and business-to-consumer press, expanding choice and complexity.

“To survive, business media players can’t just be a quick read; they need to be a must read. They should be using interactivity to connect readers and advertisers as well as buyers and sellers in new ways, to deepen their targeted ties and transactions. They should develop more sophisticated community interfaces, borrowing best practices from such social networks as Facebook and LinkedIn. This is particularly important as business media entities become more global and need to transfer their services and products across date lines, currencies and cultures. It is not clear how quickly business media companies are prepared to move past the periodic special sections on emerging markets to integrate international business into every aspect of their digital interactive editorial and sales.”

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