If You Aren't Betting on the Media Industry, You Are Losing a Competitive Edge — Here's Why. Building or acquiring media assets is an increasingly popular strategy adopted by creative entrepreneurs and startups looking to leverage the industry's unique characteristics.

Two years ago, while putting together a strategic plan for the launch of my venture studio, Evernomic, I began searching for ways to differentiate and build a competitive edge. This formed the strategies we rely on today, setting our operations apart from similar firms.

One thing in particular that we stuck to was initially focusing on media-based startups. To put it simply, I identified what I suspected we would be competing on in the future — skills, experience, network, capital and so on. The fact is, most of the above are prerequisites that every firm must possess. However, if we had a strong portfolio of audience-based offerings, we could leverage that in numerous ways to propel us forward.

Effortless networking

In the media industry, almost every demographic can benefit from your work in some way, from businesses seeking promotions to consumers seeking information. This sets a unique stage for networking. The broad appeal and reach of media can open doors to valuable circles and opportunities that might otherwise remain inaccessible.

For instance, with a local digital newspaper, we manage in the Netherlands, we pursue strategic partnerships with other local organizations and associations by offering them free coverage of their initiatives. Naturally, we must maintain the quality of our content, so we are rather selective with the organizations we approach. Nonetheless, this local network has strengthened our community ties and connected us with invaluable contacts for our international projects.

Related: 8 Reasons to Make Networking Part of Your Everyday Life

Promoting your own initiatives

Media platforms offer an exceptional channel for marketing projects and initiatives directly to your audience. This direct line of communication allows you to shape the narrative and control the messaging around your products or services, ensuring that your promotional efforts align perfectly with your brand's voice and goals.

You should never exploit your audience's trust and spam promotional materials. However, you understand the preferences of an audience you manage better than anyone, enabling you to engage effectively with such campaigns.

By consistently communicating with your audience through these platforms, you can build a loyal customer base more receptive to your new and existing offerings. This strategy enhances brand visibility and drives engagement and sales more effectively than traditional advertising channels.

Recycling your audience

One of the most strategic moves in media is the ability to recycle an existing audience to benefit other projects or brands within your portfolio. A prime example of this is our approach with one of our prominent media brands with a highly engaged audience. Instead of continuously promoting our other ventures to the same audience, we arranged cross-promotions with other creators and media brands. However, rather than promoting our media brand reciprocally, they would encourage a different venture of ours. This tactic allows us to introduce our projects to several audiences by utilizing a single audience without additional acquisition costs.

Related: If You Want Funding, These Are the Financial Reports VCs Need to See

Access to market insights

Operating a media entity provides more than just an outlet for content; it offers invaluable market insights derived from audience data and content interactions. This continuous data stream includes consumer preferences, behavioral trends and engagement metrics, which are critical for tailoring content and marketing strategies.

Such insights also enable media companies to anticipate market trends, adapt to consumer needs more swiftly, and make informed decisions that align with current and future market dynamics. The ability to analyze these insights gives media investors a significant advantage in staying ahead of the curve.

Influence in strategic partnerships

The influence gathered through successful media projects is valuable in forming strategic partnerships and negotiating deals. Media companies can leverage their reach and visibility to attract and secure beneficial partnerships with other brands, sponsors and influencers. This influence acts as a currency that provides media owners with the leverage needed to negotiate favorable terms and collaborate on projects that can amplify mutual success.

Whether on a local scale or an international one, when we seek partnerships with new startups, the most common obstacles they face are exposure and ineffective marketing. Our media portfolio has been an invaluable asset in solving such obstacles with minimal inconveniences on our end.

Related: What's Up With the Global Media Industry?

High-profit margins

Media projects offer attractive profit margins, particularly once an established audience is in place. Media companies can significantly increase profitability with various revenue streams such as advertising, subscriptions and sponsored content.

After the initial phases of setup and audience building, the costs of content production often decrease, while revenue potential scales with audience size and engagement. This scalability and the ability to leverage content across multiple platforms enhance the profit margins, making media investments particularly lucrative.

I urge you to look around the global business landscape, the most innovative organizations have been building or acquiring media assets rapidly for some time now. Especially given the more efficient pathways to creating content, setting up media subsidiaries should be a strategy all businesses should consider undertaking.