Peter Himler, the man who set up the New York Times’ paywall. Peter’s an experienced PR and media consultant, and the founder of Flatiron Communications. Listen as Nathan and Peter talk subscription vs. native advertising, the growth of content marketing, and the importance of influencers.
Favorite Book? – The End of Big
What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— I absolutely do
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?— How to be more assertive with my boss
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:10 – Nathan’s introduction
01:30 – Welcoming Peter to the show
01:55 – Peter helped the New York Times launch their first paywall
02:45 – What can agencies do to make sure they retain talent?
03:00 – Large agencies have invested in digital strategies
04:00 – Flatiron create content marketing for their clients
04:35 – Content sites with a paywall are a growing trend
04:50 – How did you execute the NY Times paywall?
05:10 – The first paywall was unsuccessful - ‘Times Select’ in 2005
05:50 – “It was premature” - focused on driving advertising revenue
06:20 – When they fully embraced the paywall model it became more successful
07:45 – “The Times is a very strong brand in a sea of online content”
08:10 – “The voices of true journalism are fewer and further between”
09:40 – Do content paywalls cannibalise revenue from native advertising?
10:35 – Some paid subscriber sites provide a very targeted market for advertisers
11:40 – Are paywalls feasible for people who aren’t big brands yet?
12:41 – A trend of hiring influencers to create branded content
13:31 – A company called Niche matches brands with influencers - bought by Twitter for $20 million
14:24 – Flatiron has a team of 4 people
15:30 – Charges retainers of around $7500-12,500 per month
16:10 – Connect with Peter on his site or on twitter
17:55 – The Famous Five
3 Key Points:
Subscription models can coexist with targeted advertising: be creative about how you’re generating revenue from your content.
Be prepared to create a lot of free content in order to build your brand.
Be assertive...and once you know what you’re doing, be prepared to strike out on your own.
Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
