ONE of the things that newspapers have never got their heads around with the move online is that you can't use the same advertising sales techniques as in the paper.
A whole different method is required, with some part involving the hand holding of advertisers who may not have used online before, whilst other elements may involve partnerships.
Many moons ago when I was working on This is Lancashire, the Fish4 service had real potential to be a basis, it would be called a platform today, upon which many UK businesses and sectors could have gained an online presence.
Unfortunately it never moved with the times and has slowly drifted off the radar, and so a new set of people are going to have to be trained up in how to sell online ads if local news organisations want to survive.
That is also the belief of Dave Chase, writing from a US perspective, and who has an IT and sales background.
I think any online publisher, regardless of size, should take a little time to read over his article and draw a few ideas from it.
His first point about 'farming hunters' perfectly sums up what happened with Fish4, the newspaper groups only looked to shift their existing advertisers online as a way to 'lock-in' their share of the advertising pie.
And failed to realise that if they had looked to use Fish4 to make a bigger pie then there is a good chance smaller retailers would have had a platform to work off and maybe even given eBay, and other online retailers, a run for their money.
It is this closed nature of so-called creative media that struck me as well when I read a piece about the experience of a professional photographer on Flickr.
The pros and cons of using the service were explained by photojournalist Pete Jenkins, and he put the emphasis on the cons, but it comes as no surprise he didn't think it worked as he only saw Flickr as a one way process.
He wanted to use Flickr as a way to sell prints of his work, which is fine, but shops already exist for that.
Flickr, and the myriad other online creative tools out there, are places where you share your work, share ideas, pass on advice and in Flickr's case get involved with the photography community.
Want to know how to make Flickr work for you, amateur or pro? Spend some time on the Digital Photography School.
Update: Julia writes in detail about her own experiences of Flickr and offers some tips on getting the best from it, see Making Flickr Work for You (Or Not).
Woah I remember Fish 4....blast from the past! Totally agree could have been massive today, I'm sure the money is still good for them but as you said not with the potential it had!
Posted by: Andy Wood | January 07, 2009 at 21:13
Well, I too remember Fish4, especially Fish4Jobs. As for Pete Jenkins, honestly the images he chose to put on Flickr don't strike me as being particularly good or inspiring, and some are downright dull and uninteresting. I think he could certainly present his work better and THEN perhaps he would have many more queries and a better experience of Flickr.
Posted by: avidadollars | January 08, 2009 at 17:55
Hi guys, thanks for the comments. If there is one thing digital has done it is raised the bar for everyone, no longer can you rely upon scarcity as a way to prosper.
All the best, Craig
Posted by: Craig McGinty | January 08, 2009 at 18:54