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There is a dramatic change taking place across the mortgage and settlement services industry.  It concerns how professionals take in, and disseminate data, information and knowledge.  

Why don’t many of the trade organizations and publications serving the space get that?

I still see exorbitant pricing for advertising, even as those publications struggle to bring in more advertisers. I still see block content (e.g. one can only buy a subscription to everything, or see nothing) subscriptions at high cost.  I still see trade organizations that reserve all data and information for their members only, making little effort to engage the larger industry.  I see little collaboration among trade organizations.  I still see insane pricing for on-site conferences, including 5 and even 6-digit pricing for sponsorships.  I see little active participation in the social media sphere.  Well, little from trade organizations and publications.  There’s plenty of participation among the leaders and professionals of the industry.

Now, there are some notable exceptions.  The folks at HousingWire and Inman are doing a great job of embracing this new dynamic, for example, as are a few others.  I have many friends at a variety of publications and trade associations, all working very hard to do the best job possible for their customers and members.

But they (or their bosses) could make their jobs a lot easier by understanding, embracing and adapting to a few simple truths.  Things have changed.

In the past:

1. Trade publications and association materials were the only entities with the reach and access to touch the industry as a whole.   If you wanted to hit a wide variety of prospects, you advertised.  If you wanted the latest from across the industry, you subscribed.  They were the only game in town, and they could charge accordingly.
2. Trade publications and organizations had the very best access to the top people.  If you wanted to hear from the best and brightest, who were not always accessible otherwise, you went to a trade show or read the publication. 
3. Social media was a fad.  It was for the kids, a way to keep up with extended family that you really didn’t feel like calling or visiting.  It was in a genre with computer gaming, not Microsoft Windows, e-mail, smart phones or Google.

Those truths are no longer self-evident.  Today, the reality is as follows:

1. Advertising is only one of many, many ways to reach prospects or customers.  Direct marketing has become much easier and more affordable with products like Mail Chimp and Constant Contact.  Social media forums, used properly, allow for engagement and communication at virtually no cost, and the gatekeeper doesn’t charge for access.  A company can reach its audience a thousand ways without ever spending a dime on traditional advertising.
2. The best and brightest are no longer off limits to the hoi polloi.  Now, more than ever, thought leaders and the captains of industry are out speaking, participating in multiple dialogues and even (some) engaged in social media.  The trade associations are no longer the only entities hosting conferences.  Content marketing (Webinars, on-site seminars, newsletters) has come a long way with regard to its sophistication, and most of its permutations are no longer thinly-veiled advertisements.   One can extract top-flight analysis and content without forking over several hundred a year to a publication.
3. Social media is here to stay, and is becoming a preferred medium for business collaboration and communication.  Maybe LinkedIn won’t last forever, but it will have a successor.

What are the good ones doing to stay relevant, then?  They’re accepting that the world has changed.  Maybe a few of the directors and editors who have been at this for decades don’t accept this.  But their market already has.  And when that happens, the market moves on—with or without the publication/association. 

Trade publications and associations serve a very valuable purpose.  They’re not dinosaurs.  But some of them do need a tune up.  My humble suggestions?

1. Give up on exclusivity as a marketing approach.  In the past, trade publications and organizations could charge fiendishly high premiums because, if the reader or member didn’t like it, he/she had nowhere else to go for the access or information.  That’s no longer the case, and free market economics are again in play.  Trade media and organizations no longer have a choke hold on access to the people and knowledge of the industry.  The river is already running around the proverbial dam they’ve erected.    Now is the time, therefore, for these entities to take a more democratic approach.  Embrace the new truth and engage the audience.  Find new ways to be relevant—there are many. Enter the conversation.  Don’t just put up a hollow Facebook or Linked In page and ignore it.  Be in the conversation.  LISTEN in addition to speaking.
2. Accept that everyone is a publisher and advertiser now. Accept that they get their information from a number of sources.  Information is no longer disseminated in large, multi-elemental blocks through a handful of channels.  Instead, professionals pick and choose what works for them.  Most may not even find your content appealing across the board.  So find ways to let them select what they need, and leave the rest behind.  Otherwise, they’ll choose NOTHING.
3. Collaborate.  Your readers and members are now also writers, editors, lobbyists and executive directors of their own, to some degree.  Professionals in this industry expect to be engaged, and wish to help out.  Whether that’s contributed articles, guest blogs, significant roles in a key conference…whatever it may be, you need to get your biggest advocates, (and, some suggest, your biggest critics) involved.  It makes you more credible, and keeps you relevant.

This is not a blast at the trade organizations and publications of my industry.  It’s not a damnation of adveritising or sponsorship.  There are very real places for each of these forms. Instead, it’s an invitation to evolve a bit.  And kudos to those that have already recognized this new reality, and are moving or have already moved to adapt.  For those that haven’t—it’s time.  Your audience is moving on.  Are you coming with them?