In a chaotic environment where the news cycle is often less than 24 hours long, how can a small town media organization with a small staff possibly keep up?
In short, on global and national issues, you can’t. However, no Reuters or AP story will understand the quintessential experiences of living in your community or the shared values and experiences of the people around you. Events from around the world filter through to your audience’s laptop almost instantaneously, but it still takes a small town media organization to illuminate and explore the perspective and character of your community. Adrenaline without intimacy is eventually tiring. The same is true of a constant barrage of national and international news without the context and intimate portrayals of people who share space and time with you.
Rather than trying to rekindle the glory days when a local newspaper could be a one-stop-shopping information option for audiences, smart, strategic media players in 2018 understand and exploit the unique value that small-town storytellers provide. But success for local media organizations depends on adopting strategies congruent with current technologies and opportunities in the marketplace.
Recruiting Talent 2018-style
One way that small town media can work with the times rather than against them, is to change and update recruiting practices to take advantage of favorable workplace trends. You may not need to hire someone full-time to get the quality content you need. In addition to less experienced interns – an industry staple – consider retired people whose career demanded the development of strong writing skills. Or heighten your publication’s creative content by recruiting local poets, artists and cartoonists. If the New Yorker runs a poem, so can you! Try posting a recruitment flyer in the local bookstore, library and hip coffee shop. Or hit up some open mic poetry nights to scout talent. Fire off a query for writers at the English department of your community college or university. Local therapists may write a “Dear Abby”-type advice column and a yoga instructor or personal trainer might develop a wellness series for you, if it helps drives their client base.
More than a few regional papers weathered hard times because of the witticisms and gossip game of a provincial grande dame who volunteered to write a society column (even the nicest small towns have at least one Downton Abbey-style Dowager Countess). If contributors have a selfish reason to deliver content for you, it may empower you to come up with creative, affordable business arrangements. Grateful new contributors may even spread the word about your publication. There are writers and storytellers in your community, but you have to make an effort to find and develop them and keep an open mind about the stories and insights they want to share.
If you need more help than what’s available locally, freelancing sites empower editors to get in touch with writers from around the world. Through UpWork.com or the like, you can hire seasoned professionals willing to write a few pieces for you for extra cash and/or professional credit. That’s probably the quickest, easiest way to uptick the quality of your content. So hire a freelancer to review a film or profile a local legend. Freelancers cut down on interpersonal politics and human relations management since they work from home. It’s true that remote contributors aren’t always immediately available and sometimes you have to be careful that the writer reflects the voice and values of your periodical. But once you find the right collaborator, your flexibility and a looser structure may be a small price to pay for higher quality talent at lower prices.
Developing Small Town Media Stories and Series
It’s all too easy to focus on the responsibilities of tomorrow – choosing a headline, covering the city council meeting, selecting the photos for the sports section. But it’s crucially important to make time to dig deeper to find stories and human interest pieces that take weeks or even months to develop. In the end, when you discover someone from your community that’s doing something noteworthy and you cover it remarkably well in a front page story, that’s what prompts someone to renew their subscription or converts a casual reader into a fan.
Most people like to see themselves in the paper, at least when it comes to human interest items like weddings, eagle scout briefings, baby announcements and church news. But it’s easy for these items to slip through the cracks, which is dangerous for you. The general readership doesn’t understand the way media works and one church might be offended that you covered a different church’s event but not theirs, not realizing that you would have loved to promote their charity fundraiser….if only you’d found out about it. So invest in relationships with pastors and business leaders to make sure you stay in the loop. Wouldn’t it be great if the businesswoman who runs the local bridal boutique always mentions your paper to her clients? Try to make it happen.
In addition to developing great stories, create some iconic series of content that keeps readers coming back. Instead of profiling one member of the city council, create a series called “Getting to Know Your Government” and profile an interesting elected official in-depth once a month. Maybe you’ll start with the city council, but by the end of the series, you will have enough traction to interview your Senator or some other statewide elected official. Plus, the branding work you do on an ongoing series can have a stabilizing effect on your online traffic and bring new exposure to your publication long after the article is first written. Think of similar series that could be developed for your sports, entertainment or home sections.
Valuing Your Content
Community journalism is valuable, and the community needs to pay for it. It’s tempting to give away content away for free online, out of fear that no one will read it otherwise. But you must cultivate confidence in your coverage. Providing some free content is great, but if you do, your piece should be well-supported by advertising. Invest in a motivated advertising sales professional who can focus at least 20 hours a week on strengthening relationships with local advertisers and selling traditional ads or social media shares. Be creative in a payment structure that works for both of you (i.e. commissions).
Other income-generating options should be seriously considered, too. Many established publications are putting up paywalls. Basically, a paywall requires consumers to shell out funds for additional content after a certain number of gratis views. Some publications allow ten or twelve articles to be scanned for free, others only one or two. Paywalls may be a good solution if you are seeing a lot of local traffic on your website, but advertisers aren’t yet stepping up to the plate. Paywalls might convert the die-hard dedicated readers, providing your organization with a new revenue stream. However, you’ll lose casual readers, a serious trade-off in negotiating ads. So make a thoughtful decision about paywalls based on your comprehensive revenue strategy. Stick with it, re-evaluate, and adjust over time. For example, in the beginning, you might offer five articles for free, but if that causes traffic to plummet, be more generous and provide 10 articles to retain readers.
Beyond traditional income sources, many media organizations get creative to find new sources of revenue. Some use Patreon, a crowdfunding platform that allows consumers to make a monthly commitment to worthwhile ventures, like local news. Giving out “Best Of” awards can be another moneymaker. Some local periodicals host a yearly awards ceremony after readers have voted on fun items like best coffee shop, best restaurant, etc. The significant ticket price and a silent auction of the culminating event serves to support the mission of the paper the rest of the year. Even for folks who don’t attend the ceremony, the emails you’ve added throughout the year because of contest voting provide another valuable resource. Sometimes, your email list is the most lucrative asset of all, just be sure that you have your consumers’ consent before sending bulk emails.
Some media organizations develop mobile apps with additional features that drive revenue. But be careful! These mobile apps can be a money pit and can cause as much frustration as excitement from your readers if they’re not well-designed. If your app and website are basically mirror images of each other, then your time and resources are best spent elsewhere.
Leveraging Social Media
Social media is a huge asset for small town media organizations, allowing your audience to grow beyond the borders of your town as well as providing leverage within it. Smart, social media practices are essential.
To check out an article where we discuss specific strategies on social media for small-town media organizations, check this out.
Staying in Print
The intimacy of a small-town paper is often best exemplified by the pages you hold in your hand. Think of the clippings of obituaries, wedding announcements and the article profiling your mom that gets stored in a photo album and passed down to future generations. It’s costly to stay in print and, for some, isn’t feasible. But there is a huge benefit to small town media that keeps their print product strong, as many consumers prefer to pick up a hard copy. Too many editors get trapped in the mindset of choosing between print and digital. But it is a NOT a binary choice – print or digital. Ideally, print and digital versions of your content should complement one another, not compete with one another. One solution to cut down on printing costs is to have a slightly different version of your paper come out online. Perhaps there are additional articles and photographs available online, which gives consumers a reason to go online and a reason to feel extra special when they see someone the know and love featured in the paper in their hand.
An Important Job
Small town media organizations provide crucial information about their communities and give context for the human cost and opportunities associated with international and national news. We highlight the extraordinary work of people who might otherwise be forgotten and remind our readership of the important, unfolding milestones of life. It’s not an easy industry, but we provide a valuable service. If you think strategically about how to accomplish your goals with the tactics that work in the current media landscape, you can be a successful small-town media business and bring meaning to your readership in the process.
Have questions on strengthening your small town publication? Feel free to Contact Us here!