You can’t stop it. It’s Free

Simple example of how trying to charge for some things on the web is nearly impossible.

This is the story in WSJ. You can’t read it because you need to subscribe.

But you can go here.

Or here.

And get it for Free.

The point is quite simple.

If information is freely available people won’t pay you for it.

Aping the off-line model won’t work on-line. What is the WSJ value to this story? Until WSJ can define that, they will always be fighting off newswires.

A differential pricing model is probably the answers.

For free is the news.

You should have to pay for WSJ’s analysis of the news and their interpretation of its impact.

IMHO.

Free to build brands

Chris Anderson, the editor in chief of Wired, and author of the best seller, The Long Tail, recently released his second book. Free : The Past and Future of a Radical Price.

In this interview Chris explains his perspective of Free and how brands can and should exploit it to take advantage of the Internet era of marketing.

There is no question that with the advent of the Internet there are a lot more free services out there. This is good up to a point. But a combination of information overload and free options leads to consumer confusion. Especially, as consumers have less time to absorb all that is thrown at them, let alone digest and reach a sensible conclusion.

In such a situation brands become even more more important as is the role of communications to be single minded to communicate quickly and clearly.

To that end I think Chris is not extremely clear on his POV. Of course I say this, purely on the basis of his interview.

His book is in my To- be- read pile!!