Long time independent newspaper The Seattle Times has lost my vote because I don’t know whether I can trust them anymore. They crossed the line last week and I moved from proud print subscriber to a non-subscriber overnight. They stopped living their brand while searching for new revenue streams. When they did that they lost my trust.
Revenue is essential to every organization. In a declining industry like print news a new revenue stream is critical. However, no company can afford to lose customers (even indirect customers) in their quest for new revenue streams. To keep an existing client base a company must continue to fulfill its brand promise.
They must live the talk.