Sifting through over a hundred prospects this year, most RFPs focus on transforming businesses by opening up new lines of revenue.
This takes different forms, i.e.:
👉 SaaS seat pricing moving to usage-based
👉 E-commerce offering monthly access subscriptions
👉 Publishing switching to first-party (newsletter)
👉 Content networks opening up paid communities or educational content
👉 Opening up event vertical (profiting off of physical or paid virtual events)
👉 Agencies turning into productized or SaaS firms
Core businesses are still needed. But the way content is consumed today or how consumers are used to paying is different.
The available market opportunities also dictate that.
My generation is used to text content as the dawn of the Internet was limited, barely accessible, slow (dial-up) and text was the only possible way to transfer information for a while.
Meanwhile, Gen Z consumes LOADS of video today, and toddlers access search first through conversations with Alexa and Google Home and using tablets, not desktops.
The mix of supply and demand, combined with rapid algorithm changes and AI, doesn’t make core content obsolete per se. But while Wikipedia or WebMD or other media sites may be struggling in a purely textual, organic-led form, it doesn’t mean they can’t profit off of different models – paid subscriptions, newsletters, professional events, video channels, certification training…
I had the highest signal ratio from blogging in 2008-2010, social media in 2013-2015, videos in 2016-2018, documents/decks in 2019-2021, newsletters in 2014 and today. And different revenue buckets shift accordingly – between agency, consulting, fractional services, publishing, SaaS, and investments.
The best way to operate in an uncertain environment is finding the low lifts, high impact initiatives.
Use your current business model – a proven revenue driver – and safely experiment with other adjacent channels and pricing methodologies.
Building an MVP today – and distributing to an existing audience – is faster and easier than ever. Constantly iterating is a hard requirement.
