Note to TV anchors and reporters: Please stop saying "Take A Listen." Try "Listen to this," or "watch this," or even just "listen." I don't want to "take" a listen. I wouldn't know what to do with it if I took it. I don't even know what a listen is.
Even Greta Van Susteren, one of those very anchors, agrees.
It's bad enough that I watch too much over hyped, often boring, superficial cable news (at least I gave up watching local TV news programs when I could get the weather update from the Internet), but if I hear one more smiling, handsome TV reporter introduce a sound bite by saying "Take a Listen," I will take my leave and watch something else.
File this under pet peeves.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
15 Ways to Generate Cash for your Community News (HyperLocal) Web Site
My co-author María J. Vázquez and I recently finished writing a case study on a hyperlocal community news site in Long Beach California, the Long Beach Post. As with so many of these entrepreneurial sites, the founders were doing a great job of journalism and technology. The challenge was on the business and sales side. How do you effectively generate revenues to sustain the enterprise? Here are 15 suggestions to consider if you are building a community news web business, or any web content business for that matter.
1. Webinar. Find a topic of interest to an audience and a particular advertiser. Have the advertiser put together a video to be aired on the site as a webinar. Readers sign up for it for free. The advertiser gets the names and emails of the attendees as possible sales leads in exchange for a sponsorship fee. A real estate agent might conduct a webinar on how to shop for a home, for example.
2. Microsites or Sole Sponsorships. Dedicate a portion of the site, or create a new one, to a single subject with only one exclusive advertiser. For example, all the content on a local high school team could be sponsored by a local car dealer.
3. Sponsored Newsletters. Send out a weekly email newsletter to subscribers on a specific niche topic, sponsored by one or two advertisers.
4. In-person Events. There are a whole range of possibilities here. Events can be high level training in a specific area of interest to local businesses, say “marketing your restaurant” to restaurant owners, in which an admission fee can be charged, or events can be open to the public and generate revenues by sponsorships. Business-to-business magazines do an excellent job of this. Check them out to see how it’s done.
5. Partnerships. Partner with other sites or blogs to sell advertising or participate in an online ad network. For example, find an online coupon site that will share revenues generated by readers who click through to it.
6. Google Ad Words. Although not usually a significant amount of revenue, some sites find this worthwhile, and very easy to implement.
7. Referral fees for product sales. Ecommerce sites like Amazon will allow you to put a “button” on your site and will give you a commission for any product sale generated by someone who clicks through from your site.
8. Paywall. If your information is exclusive and unique, that is, really unavailable anywhere else, readers might be willing to pay a subscription fee.
9. Archival fee. Old stories might be valuable to certain users. Consider charging for access to them.
10. Reader donations. Encourage readers to contribute to the site with a link on the home page for donations.
11. Advertising packages, premiums and discounts. Consider a wide variety of programs to encourage advertisers to participate. For example, a long term ad commitment has a discount, first time advertisers have a discount, referring another advertiser generates a discount, etc.
12. Sales incentives. Incent sales people to focus on a particular industry or type of advertising program by creating special one-time commissions.
13. Consultant services. Some publishers of community news sites have successfully generated substantial earnings from consulting services on such topics as local marketing, social media, and community building.
14. Store. If you develop content to engage and attract a certain niche of people, then why not go into direct sales yourself and offer products you know will appeal to them?
15. By-products. Journalists can also create products related to their activity or specialization. How about a book or training DVD?
1. Webinar. Find a topic of interest to an audience and a particular advertiser. Have the advertiser put together a video to be aired on the site as a webinar. Readers sign up for it for free. The advertiser gets the names and emails of the attendees as possible sales leads in exchange for a sponsorship fee. A real estate agent might conduct a webinar on how to shop for a home, for example.
2. Microsites or Sole Sponsorships. Dedicate a portion of the site, or create a new one, to a single subject with only one exclusive advertiser. For example, all the content on a local high school team could be sponsored by a local car dealer.
3. Sponsored Newsletters. Send out a weekly email newsletter to subscribers on a specific niche topic, sponsored by one or two advertisers.
4. In-person Events. There are a whole range of possibilities here. Events can be high level training in a specific area of interest to local businesses, say “marketing your restaurant” to restaurant owners, in which an admission fee can be charged, or events can be open to the public and generate revenues by sponsorships. Business-to-business magazines do an excellent job of this. Check them out to see how it’s done.
5. Partnerships. Partner with other sites or blogs to sell advertising or participate in an online ad network. For example, find an online coupon site that will share revenues generated by readers who click through to it.
6. Google Ad Words. Although not usually a significant amount of revenue, some sites find this worthwhile, and very easy to implement.
7. Referral fees for product sales. Ecommerce sites like Amazon will allow you to put a “button” on your site and will give you a commission for any product sale generated by someone who clicks through from your site.
8. Paywall. If your information is exclusive and unique, that is, really unavailable anywhere else, readers might be willing to pay a subscription fee.
9. Archival fee. Old stories might be valuable to certain users. Consider charging for access to them.
10. Reader donations. Encourage readers to contribute to the site with a link on the home page for donations.
11. Advertising packages, premiums and discounts. Consider a wide variety of programs to encourage advertisers to participate. For example, a long term ad commitment has a discount, first time advertisers have a discount, referring another advertiser generates a discount, etc.
12. Sales incentives. Incent sales people to focus on a particular industry or type of advertising program by creating special one-time commissions.
13. Consultant services. Some publishers of community news sites have successfully generated substantial earnings from consulting services on such topics as local marketing, social media, and community building.
14. Store. If you develop content to engage and attract a certain niche of people, then why not go into direct sales yourself and offer products you know will appeal to them?
15. By-products. Journalists can also create products related to their activity or specialization. How about a book or training DVD?
Friday, February 25, 2011
Newspapers: Lessons Learned
This piece, by John Temple, former editor, president and publisher of the Rocky Mountain News, is a couple years old, but I hadn't seen it before. It tells the story of the demise of the 150 year old newspaper, with some powerful lessons for media and digital executives.
He notes: "Being a “great newspaper” isn’t enough in the Internet era. You have to know what business you’re in. We thought we were in the newspaper business. Working on the Web, you need to think of now and forever. At a newspaper, people largely think about tomorrow. Thinking about tomorrow isn’t enough anymore. Consumers today want services when, where and how they want them, and they want to be able to participate, not just receive."
His list of lessons learned:
Know what business you’re in.
Know your customers.
Know your competition.
Know your goal.
Have a strategy and be committed to pursuing it.
Measure, measure, measure.
Keep new ventures free from the rules of the old.
Let the people running a new venture do what’s best for their business, regardless of the potential impact on the old.
To compete in a new medium, you have to understand it.
Invest in R&D.
It's an important and worthwhile read!
He notes: "Being a “great newspaper” isn’t enough in the Internet era. You have to know what business you’re in. We thought we were in the newspaper business. Working on the Web, you need to think of now and forever. At a newspaper, people largely think about tomorrow. Thinking about tomorrow isn’t enough anymore. Consumers today want services when, where and how they want them, and they want to be able to participate, not just receive."
His list of lessons learned:
Know what business you’re in.
Know your customers.
Know your competition.
Know your goal.
Have a strategy and be committed to pursuing it.
Measure, measure, measure.
Keep new ventures free from the rules of the old.
Let the people running a new venture do what’s best for their business, regardless of the potential impact on the old.
To compete in a new medium, you have to understand it.
Invest in R&D.
It's an important and worthwhile read!
Friday, February 18, 2011
Community News Online--Will it Work?
“There is a profound crisis taking place in American journalism.” That is the introductory line to the case study being published today by the Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. My coauthor, Maria Vazquez, and I hope that this case, which focuses on the real life trials and tribulations of a four year old community news web site in a suburb of Los Angeles, will add to the admittedly parse academic literature on what some people call "hyper-local news".
Existing news magazines and newspapers face serious threats to their continued profitability and viability. The future outlook for local print newspapers is not good. However, in the face of this threat, thousands of blogs and hyper-local community news web sites have entered the scene. The accessibility of the internet and inexpensive technology have combined to lower the barriers to entry, allowing many budding entrepreneurs to launch new efforts to try to satisfy local information needs. But it is still very unclear whether these new “businesses” will survive. Much of the early attention on these start-up enterprises has been on the “news” or content side of the business, but it is the advertising or sales side of the business that is often the most challenging. And without revenues and profits, these businesses will not make it.
The local advertising market has always been the untapped Holy Grail in the media business and now is one the fastest growing ones. Billions of dollars are spent on Yellow Pages, Classified Advertising, Coupons, Direct Mail, Weekly and Daily Newspapers, Billboards, and Cable. The competition is intensifying with the entrance of new big online players such as Groupon, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, AOL Patch and Craiglist, among others. For the smaller startups it’s a messy and challenging business to secure those advertising dollars.
Our case study "Online Community News: A Case Study in Long Beach, California--What It Takes to Survive and Thrive" shows how local online journalism works in real life. It tracks the launch and execution of a community news web site in Long Beach, California, showing how difficult it is to develop a business model that will both survive and eventually thrive.
The case focuses on the challenges facing Shaun Lumachi, one of the founders of the Long Beach Post, who launched his “for-profit” venture in 2007.
When Lumachi and his co-founder Robert Garcia initially developed the idea of their new online community newspaper, they saw it as a “community service.” It was only after the web site was up and running that they realized it was also a business that had to generate a profit if it was to survive and thrive long term. (They actually did consider making the business a nonprofit but decided not to go down that path.) Similar to many others who have launched hyper-local community news sites, they focused initially on the content and the technology for the site before thinking through the business model, and particularly the challenge of attracting revenue to the enterprise. They did not start with a sales strategy but developed it over time, in a series of trials and errors.
At the same time, the site was quickly a reader success, attracting a growing number of visitors and great interest from community leaders. At one point, they launched a companion site focused on local high school, college and community sports. It won editorial awards, ramped up readership, and earned praise but it turned out to be a financial drain, and was eventually merged back into the original site.
The experience of these journalism entrepreneurs is similar to many others who are trying to launch new news and information online businesses. The obstacles they faced are typical, the challenges are many. The lessons learned are valuable.
Given the dramatic changes in the news business, and the financial challenges affecting large corporate media companies, there is a growing recognition that local independent online journalism may be a strong and viable alternative to print newspapers. As a result, there is a new interest in entrepreneurship in journalism.
For journalism professors and high school teachers, this is an excellent case to have students experience the real-life challenges facing journalism entrepreneurs. Case studies are a valuable teaching tool, especially in an area which is so new that there are no established “best practices” to study. Practitioners can best learn from others who are encountering similar obstacles to their success.
For a pdf copy of the case study, click here. To see an online version of the case, including video interviews, click here. Faculty members, if you would like a copy of the Teaching Note for the case, please email vazquezmajo@gmail.com with your request.
Existing news magazines and newspapers face serious threats to their continued profitability and viability. The future outlook for local print newspapers is not good. However, in the face of this threat, thousands of blogs and hyper-local community news web sites have entered the scene. The accessibility of the internet and inexpensive technology have combined to lower the barriers to entry, allowing many budding entrepreneurs to launch new efforts to try to satisfy local information needs. But it is still very unclear whether these new “businesses” will survive. Much of the early attention on these start-up enterprises has been on the “news” or content side of the business, but it is the advertising or sales side of the business that is often the most challenging. And without revenues and profits, these businesses will not make it.
The local advertising market has always been the untapped Holy Grail in the media business and now is one the fastest growing ones. Billions of dollars are spent on Yellow Pages, Classified Advertising, Coupons, Direct Mail, Weekly and Daily Newspapers, Billboards, and Cable. The competition is intensifying with the entrance of new big online players such as Groupon, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, AOL Patch and Craiglist, among others. For the smaller startups it’s a messy and challenging business to secure those advertising dollars.
Our case study "Online Community News: A Case Study in Long Beach, California--What It Takes to Survive and Thrive" shows how local online journalism works in real life. It tracks the launch and execution of a community news web site in Long Beach, California, showing how difficult it is to develop a business model that will both survive and eventually thrive.
The case focuses on the challenges facing Shaun Lumachi, one of the founders of the Long Beach Post, who launched his “for-profit” venture in 2007.
When Lumachi and his co-founder Robert Garcia initially developed the idea of their new online community newspaper, they saw it as a “community service.” It was only after the web site was up and running that they realized it was also a business that had to generate a profit if it was to survive and thrive long term. (They actually did consider making the business a nonprofit but decided not to go down that path.) Similar to many others who have launched hyper-local community news sites, they focused initially on the content and the technology for the site before thinking through the business model, and particularly the challenge of attracting revenue to the enterprise. They did not start with a sales strategy but developed it over time, in a series of trials and errors.
At the same time, the site was quickly a reader success, attracting a growing number of visitors and great interest from community leaders. At one point, they launched a companion site focused on local high school, college and community sports. It won editorial awards, ramped up readership, and earned praise but it turned out to be a financial drain, and was eventually merged back into the original site.
The experience of these journalism entrepreneurs is similar to many others who are trying to launch new news and information online businesses. The obstacles they faced are typical, the challenges are many. The lessons learned are valuable.
Given the dramatic changes in the news business, and the financial challenges affecting large corporate media companies, there is a growing recognition that local independent online journalism may be a strong and viable alternative to print newspapers. As a result, there is a new interest in entrepreneurship in journalism.
For journalism professors and high school teachers, this is an excellent case to have students experience the real-life challenges facing journalism entrepreneurs. Case studies are a valuable teaching tool, especially in an area which is so new that there are no established “best practices” to study. Practitioners can best learn from others who are encountering similar obstacles to their success.
For a pdf copy of the case study, click here. To see an online version of the case, including video interviews, click here. Faculty members, if you would like a copy of the Teaching Note for the case, please email vazquezmajo@gmail.com with your request.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Private Equity Impact on B2B Publishing
A group of the industry's heaviest hitters—including Frontenac principal Walter Florence, 1105 Media non-executive chairman Jeff Klein, Apprise Media CEO Charles McCurdy, Jordan, Edmiston Group managing director Scott Peters and DeSilva+Phillips managing partner Reed Philips—took on the private equity revolution and the effect it’s had on the magazine industry, from the 2007 FOLIO: Show.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Is the iPad the Savior of publishing?
I bought my 3G iPad about two weeks ago and have been playing with it every day since. That's what you do with it. Play with it. It's a fun toy.
But is it a revolutionary way for the publishing business to survive? Many pundits seem to think the answer to that question depends on how much and whether readers will pay for content on the device--but they are asking the wrong question. The right question is about advertising.
Most of what I've read so far is that the iPad will revolutionize the publishing world because it will change the way readers interact with "magazines." See "Magazines look to iPad for new life." There is this hope on the part of traditional magazine publishers, that millions of readers will pay $5 for one iPad edition of the magazine. But why would readers do that when they can subscribe to the print edition for $14.99 for a year? Apparently, over 72,000 readers bought the Wired iPad app but my guess is that much of that is because of the novelty of it, and readers won't regularly pay that kind of price for a single issue.
So the early reader pricing is bound to change. I just don't think we are going to see streams of new revenue from readers who will pay top dollar for an iPad app. Just check out the comments from readers who bought the Wired and Popular Science iPad apps--the biggest single complaint seems to be the price. Unless publications start holding back content on the web, and only releasing it on the iPad app, why should readers pay a lot more when they can jump to the web site on the iPad anyway?
So if new user generated circulation revenue from the iPad is not the savior for the magazine industry, what is?
The real business question is all about advertising revenues. Will newspaper and magazine iPad editions generate new and significant ad dollars to publishers? In order for that to happen, iPad ad pricing will have to be much more lucrative than online advertising, where the CPM, the cost per thousand, is notoriously low because of the vast and almost unlimited inventory of ad slots on the web. In short, will advertisers only pay the online modest CPM or will they pay something closer to the print CPM (which is where most of a magazine's profit resides)?
The early signs are positive. USA Today, for one, is charging much higher rates for advertising on its iPad app than for its online web site. "Jason Fulmines, director of products for USA Today owner Gannett, said the publication charges Mariott about $50 for every thousand ad impressions, while the going rate on the newspaper's website is less than $10." That's still not as high as the print CPM, which runs over $100, but it's a major step in the right direction, from the perspective of publishers. The theory seems to be that iPad users will spend more time with the publication, pay more attention to the advertisement, and that the advertiser has the potential to be more creative with its presentation. There is also the hope that the inventory of ad slots will be more limited, but as more and more publishers develop iPad apps, I'm not sure why that would remain true. I'm not overly optimistic but willing to wait and see.
In order for the iPad to be the financial panacea publishing execs yearn for, advertising pricing and reader interaction with iPad based advertising will have to grow, improve and differentiate itself from web advertising. That's the key, not how much readers will pay for content. That's where the potential pot of gold lies.
But is it a revolutionary way for the publishing business to survive? Many pundits seem to think the answer to that question depends on how much and whether readers will pay for content on the device--but they are asking the wrong question. The right question is about advertising.
Most of what I've read so far is that the iPad will revolutionize the publishing world because it will change the way readers interact with "magazines." See "Magazines look to iPad for new life." There is this hope on the part of traditional magazine publishers, that millions of readers will pay $5 for one iPad edition of the magazine. But why would readers do that when they can subscribe to the print edition for $14.99 for a year? Apparently, over 72,000 readers bought the Wired iPad app but my guess is that much of that is because of the novelty of it, and readers won't regularly pay that kind of price for a single issue.
So the early reader pricing is bound to change. I just don't think we are going to see streams of new revenue from readers who will pay top dollar for an iPad app. Just check out the comments from readers who bought the Wired and Popular Science iPad apps--the biggest single complaint seems to be the price. Unless publications start holding back content on the web, and only releasing it on the iPad app, why should readers pay a lot more when they can jump to the web site on the iPad anyway?
So if new user generated circulation revenue from the iPad is not the savior for the magazine industry, what is?
The real business question is all about advertising revenues. Will newspaper and magazine iPad editions generate new and significant ad dollars to publishers? In order for that to happen, iPad ad pricing will have to be much more lucrative than online advertising, where the CPM, the cost per thousand, is notoriously low because of the vast and almost unlimited inventory of ad slots on the web. In short, will advertisers only pay the online modest CPM or will they pay something closer to the print CPM (which is where most of a magazine's profit resides)?
The early signs are positive. USA Today, for one, is charging much higher rates for advertising on its iPad app than for its online web site. "Jason Fulmines, director of products for USA Today owner Gannett, said the publication charges Mariott about $50 for every thousand ad impressions, while the going rate on the newspaper's website is less than $10." That's still not as high as the print CPM, which runs over $100, but it's a major step in the right direction, from the perspective of publishers. The theory seems to be that iPad users will spend more time with the publication, pay more attention to the advertisement, and that the advertiser has the potential to be more creative with its presentation. There is also the hope that the inventory of ad slots will be more limited, but as more and more publishers develop iPad apps, I'm not sure why that would remain true. I'm not overly optimistic but willing to wait and see.
In order for the iPad to be the financial panacea publishing execs yearn for, advertising pricing and reader interaction with iPad based advertising will have to grow, improve and differentiate itself from web advertising. That's the key, not how much readers will pay for content. That's where the potential pot of gold lies.
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