Last week we talked about what we’re teaching future journalists.
Today we’ll talk about what you would do with unlimited power.
Newspaper tech expert Kevin Slimp posed that question to us.
A group of us were discussing the future of newspapers in Atlanta.
He wanted to know how we would advise newspaper people.
The answers came rapid fire.
Ken Blum said, "Don’t give your content away on the Internet."
John Peterson said, "Be accountable to your readers and advertisers."
Ed Henninger said, "Constantly reinvent your company. Innovate.
"Concentrate on customer service. Keep the personal connection."
Phil Hanna said, "Grow the top line instead of constantly cutting."
In other words, work as hard on the revenue side as the cost side.
Kevin himself said, "Constantly improve your reproduction."
Bob Bobber said, "Rotate your sampling in growth markets.
Introduce more and more people to your community newspaper."
I say, "Get more local names and faces into the paper.
"Look for new ways to help advertisers survive and thrive."
Tomorrow we’ll talk about our annual cost and revenue survey.
To improve your top and bottom lines click here.
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3 comments:
After coming out of a great Sunday worship service, my thoughts were on the last words from the Cross, "It is finished!" As I read the blog this morning, it dawned on me that there are two ways to take that ... and to make it ... we can either say "It is finished" and hang up the going out of business sign, or we can wait and work till the mission is actually finished (coompleted) and then say "my mission is finished/complete". As I read a large daily newspaper this morning at sunrise, it appears some of the larger papers have hung up the finished/going-out-of-business sign and given up filling a once proud paper with briefs and wire copy. They are finished, but we "never-say-die" community papers continue to serve, inform, educate, entertain and communicate. For some who put bottom line as their goal, the Fat Lady has sung. For those who recognize that the bottom line is the result of full service, the fat lady hasn't even arrived at the auditorium.
-The chaplain
After coming out of a great Sunday worship service, my thoughts were on the last words from the Cross, "It is finished!" As I read the blog this morning, it dawned on me that there are two ways to take that ... and to make it ... we can either say "It is finished" and hang up the going out of business sign, or we can wait and work till the mission is actually finished (coompleted) and then say "my mission is finished/complete". As I read a large daily newspaper this morning at sunrise, it appears some of the larger papers have hung up the finished/going-out-of-business sign and given up filling a once proud paper with briefs and wire copy. They are finished, but we "never-say-die" community papers continue to serve, inform, educate, entertain and communicate. For some who put bottom line as their goal, the Fat Lady has sung. For those who recognize that the bottom line is the result of full service, the fat lady hasn't even arrived at the auditorium.
-The chaplain
Great question.
If we are going to survive as newspaper organizations in this highly disrupted media environment, we will need to do all these things Jerry listed, and some much more radical things in addition. Here's a brief and by no means complete list, condensed from the new Newspaper Next report (a free download):
1. Stop defining ourselves by our technology. A "newspaper company" relies on newspapers to distribute news; a "local information and connection utility" relies on whatever platforms are appropriate to distribute whatever news and information people need in order to live well in a community. Might be news, but it also might be a local conversation forum like Monroe Talks, or a local business directory like Palmetto BizBuzz, or a newcomers' guide like IdahoIz. "Helping people live better lives through information" has always been the newspaper's primary mission; it's only the technology that has changed. We need to catch up with the technology, and quickly, if we're going to continue to fulfill that mission.
2. Ban the word "advertising" from your organization. You don't have "advertisers," you have "business customers." You don't have an advertising department, you have a revenue department, or a sales department. Once you do that, you can start talking seriously about hiring and compensating sales specialists for things like paid local search, paid video (and not the pre-roll kind), sponsored or white-label email, and other such things that don't look anything like CPM-based advertising but that will be the big growth channels in the next five years. By focusing on revenue channels (including but by no means limited to advertising) and the kinds of businesses that would most benefit from various revenue channels, you widen your local business footprint far beyond just advertising.
3. Focus on "mega-jobs" in addition to niche opportunities. Local business directories, community forums, databased resources and local portal sites are areas of expansion that will reach much wider audiences beyond the newspaper than a niche product will. Niche products are important, but they will never be the whole solution.
4. Think strategically about where you need to invest more for the future, and where you can invest less -- in other words, what can you stop doing? Can you rely on community resources for some kinds of content? Can content be generated or packaged differently? Can some business customers be offered a lower-cost, self-serve option that preserves your sales force for higher-yield opportunities?
5. Be realistic about margins. As an industry we have under-invested for years in our future; now the bill is coming due. Look to the long-term horizon and invest courageously in what your organization needs to become, and you will reap the benefits.
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