If you have a brand and had to choose between quality or quantity, what’s the right answer? Well, there is no right answer. Depending on your brand, you might choose quantity – like for example McDonalds or Walmart. I’m not saying there are no quality products coming from these companies (yes I am), but their business model is based on cheap products for the masses – and that equals quantity. Now when we look at Porsche or Tiffany’s, we think quality and only for a select few, very elite. Of course it depends heavily on your target audience. In an era of economic strain, loss of jobs, cutting coupons, eating out less, and staycations to national parks instead of 5-star vacations, this means your quality product must really be high quality.
One industry that is challenging this theory is the media. With vast resources on the web and access to online news 24-7, we sometimes take this access for granted, until we hit what The Economist calls the “paywall.” The publication cites the Tallahassee Democrat as an example in its article, saying “many firms conclude that revenue from online advertising alone is not enough to make end meet.” But the question isn’t whether they should start charging. The real question becomes, “is it quality news and will I pay for it?” For some online newspapers like The Wall Street Journal, there is quality, so most agree with paying for the service. For other media, if the content isn’t of quality – you can’t claim it so and begin charging all of the sudden (let’s say on July 1st – example only). Well you can, but your readers and media buyers might riot, you’d have to shrink your paper size to that of a newsletter, and then well – who knows.