Ten Ideas to Save Newspapers

January 7, 2009

Dear Mr. Newspaper Editor,

I have been studing the demise of the newspaper for some time. It is more of an interest then anything else. My degree is in Journalism (by the looks of this blog, I could use a refresher course) so it has a soft spot in my heart.

Instead of jumping on the bandwagon and talking about the death of the newspaper, I want to talk about how to save it. I am offering you my passion for good journalism and my experience as an entrepreneur. I worked in newsroom and ran a small paper for a few years so I speak with a bit of knowledge on the subject.

Over the past years, I have been reading the opinions of all the greats - Jeff Jarvis, Alan Mutter, Jay Rosen, etc. They are the experts. They are attempting to make a difference and offer their thoughts on saving the newspaper. You can read their blogs. Too good to paraphrase here.

On to solving the problem of print. First, admit it, the actual print paper is declining in circulation. Nothing wrong with that. We don't drive horse and buggy today. Why? Henry Ford gave us a better way of getting around. Don't look at the decline in your print circulation as a problem. Look at it as an opportunity. The paper isn't going away because your journalism is bad, the paper is going away because we found a better way to consume your content. Let your ego and fears go. Your print addition is a horse and buggy. The car is the future.

I know what you are thinking, "But, Bill, we generate the most revenue from our newspapers." For how long? Is it a dyeing asset or growing one? Your strongest asset is your skilled writers no matter the medium where they write (paper, phone, internet, on a napkin.) Cultivate your strongest asset. Funnel their passions.

Ten ideas to save the newspaper (no particular order)

1. Think locally! If you are local paper, STOP covering World news. This is not your sweet spot. I want to know about the local sports team, 4H, or how the local economy is suffering from the global mess we are in. Your customers of tomorrow know how to find national and World news elsewhere. They are aggregating content from multiple sources.

2. Set your content free. The future is syndication and aggregation. I don't know if the Huffington Post has the right model of the future of the news as Michael Hirschorn points out but I can tell you one thing from my vantage point, content is becoming mobile, untethered from the website. Your future customers are mashing, widgeting, twittering and friendfiending your content.

3. Think like a database marketing company. Your online revenue model should be focused on helping the local merchant generate leads. Are you helping him capture leads? You are not in the advertising business you are in the lead generation business. Create a database of your customers. Mine their attention data. You know what they read. You know what they like. Help your local merchant succeed. You are in the best position to succeed at local advertising. There have been many failed attempts at local advertising online with few success. You have a sales person in every county, city, and town in the US. You have the potential to beat Google in this market. Even they cannot be everywhere. Stake your position before it is too late. Create a place where local merchants can create a profile on your site. Become THE local source for special offers, announcements, coupons from the local community.

4. Outsource, outsource, outsource. You are in the business of creating great content. You are not a technology company. Just because you are on the Internet doesn't mean you are a technology company. Keep your writers writing.

5. Digitize your content. Your future customers are getting their news online. They are blogging, friendfeeding, widgetizing, twittering, feeding your content (if you don't know what the means, learn quickly.) How are you embracing the real-time web? Study the new media landscape and NOW!

6. Embrace your customers. Publishing is in real-time now. It is getting more competitive to break news even in your local market. Now that we all have phones with cameras or video we can shoot, write and post in real-time. You have to think about writing differently. You will need to create a balance between shorter stories published more often and in-depth investigative stories. Be know for quality journalism first and foremost. Engage with your customers too. Create a place for them within your content. Have them submit news under your brand. Yes, this is a risk and they are not trained like a journalist. Use them as a source of real-time news and have your trained professionals follow-up. Hold regular meet-ups at your office with your customers. Ask them what they want, ask them to volunteer, train them for what to look for.

7. Hire the right people. This is a big one. Look across your organization. Are you bringing in young professionals who grew up with texting, Facebook/Myspace, digital music etc? Do you have the right ratio of young and experience based on your future business and revenue status? Is anyone on your editor staff using Twitter? You need to start building products for your future customers. Simple business principle.

8. Aggregate. Aggregate content from bloggers writing about the local market. Find out who they are and embrace them. Most would be delighted to have their content appear under your brand. Ask them to add geo tags to their posts to make it easier to find their content so you can aggregate it.

9. Partner. Do you have business development person in house? Your business is writing and distribution but think like a business that creates a product or service. You are not an island. What is our online distribution model? How are you embracing local merchants? What about coffee shops? People go there everyday to read the news - great place to hold a meet-up. Is there a penny saver in your community? Are you working together. What about online coupon sites? How are you working with them? What about online classified sites? Are you THE resource for them in the local market?

10. Network Spend a hour or two ever week at the local hang-out. You will be surprised what you might learn from the locals talking about the news, the weather or whatever. Are you holding regular networking events at your office with local business people? Why not?

Remove your fear and anxiety. Print is going away. That is ok. The paper is NOT your strongest asset. Your journalist are.

And while we are on the subject, maybe we should drop "paper" from your name. Report on the news no matter what medium carries it.

Let's stop talking about the death of the newspaper. That is so easy. Let's collectively think how we can save a profession. We need great journalism. We need investigating reporting. What are your thoughts?

Posted by Bill Flitter on January 7, 2009 10:29 PM
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