The digital media landscape has changed demonstrably. Once fuelled by sponsorship and advertising as core revenue streams – both of which have struggled in recent years – B2B digital media and marketing services entrepreneurs now have no choice but to adapt their models as demand for such activities dries up. This has led to the concept of a ‘burning platform’; traditional players that don’t move to develop and grow demand generation offerings, as well as offering service and plug-ins to client infrastructures, will be squeezed out of the market.

But how can digital media founders and entrepreneurs rise to this challenge, and what steps should they be taking?

For businesses to survive in the new digital landscape, and be more attractive to investors / trade buyers, it’s about delivering more integrated marketing services and moving into the world of building a demand engine and ultimately, a marketing revenue platform that is always-on, embedded, and a must-have partner for clients.
Collingwood has created the Marketing Services Maturity Model to provide a structured framework to help ambitious leaders of independent media companies understand, plan and navigate this essential progression of marketing services as digital media transforms.

Co-authors

John Webb

Strategic Adviser, Collingwood

John is a seasoned commercial leader who has operated across a wide variety of market sectors and international territories for some of the biggest brands in tech and media. Former MD at Dennis Publishing at Autovia, John is an acknowledged expert in driving growth within scaling B2B businesses.

Fergus Gregory

Managing Director: Digital Media, Collingwood

Fergus leads Collingwood’s Digital Media Practice. With more than 20 years of digital media experience and a career spent transforming media businesses, Fergus has spent the past four years at Collingwood advising media, events and information entrepreneurs on how to maximise the value of their growing media business.