A reader just wrote in, "My client [a print business publishing company] is planning to add an email update to their subscription service for both their weekly and monthly newsletters. Both titles deal in very time sensitive info, so the expectation is that e-updates will be a real value to subscribers. This question is, can this service be positioned as premium feature commanding a premium price, or is the better strategy to simply implement the e-updates as an added benefit without an added subscription fee?"

My answer was, "I'm not a consultant, just a lowly journalist, but in my opinion news is well, news. And no matter what niche you are in, news is considered lower-value content. People don't pay for news anymore. So I would use the email version as a marketing tool to sell pass-along email readers on the value of a paid print subscription, and to sell ancillary products to current subscribers. That's where the money is."

It's very, very, very smart to be able to offer something that helps you collect email addresses from your marketplace and gives you a valid reason to contact them frequently.