Two good articles give vision for successful news Web sites

Data about customers.

Seems like such an obvious answer to the needs of news organizations looking for ways to be successful online.

Two recent articles, I think, provide direction for news organizations trying to find their way in this era.

The first comes from The New York Times.

The headline on the article is: The Data That Turns Browsing to Buying

The article, by STEVE LOHR, begins:

"NEXT JUMP may well be the most intriguing Internet business that you’ve never heard of — though that’s likely to change as the company seeks a wider audience.

"The handful of industry analysts who were invited into the company’s New York offices recently have come away impressed. Next Jump, they say, represents the future of online commerce and could emerge as a counterweight to Amazon, the giant Web merchant. And this patiently gestated start-up, they add, shows one path to the still-elusive promise of Internet advertising: using data to greatly improve the efficiency of marketing."

How many newspaper companies can say they're using microtargeting data to greatly improve the efficiency of the marketing services they're offering advertisers?

The other article is from PaidContent.org. It contains the text of the speech given by Matt Kelly, associate editor of Britain's Daily Mirror, to the World Newspaper Congress.

His talk makes clear why the first article is so important.

"The associate editor of the Mirror says we have to put journalism first and search engines second," the headline says.

His speech is a worthwhile read that makes one critical point. Not all traffic is created equal. It matters who's reading your content, not just how many people are reading it.

Google must think I'm really religious

I decided to add advertising to my blog, largely, frankly, to learn more about how Google adsense works and how people respond to it. I thought it was fascinating that somehow Google figured I or my readers must be really religious, because the site was immediately populated with Bible ads, including one for the Gospel of John. Well, at least that's my name, but I know the readers of this blog know it doesn't have anything to do with gospel. Wandering the desert maybe...

Insightful CJR article on newspaper industry ad revenue raises important question about size of news staffs

Ryan Chittum has written a terrifc article for the Columbia Journalism Review. It gives valuable perspective on the economic state of the newspaper industry.

Basically, Chittum reveals that newspaper industry ad revenue in 2009 is at 1965 levels, if you use inflation-adjusted numbers. That finding raises what I think is an important question: How big were the newsrooms in 1965? (Remember, those were the days before publicly traded newspaper companies.) In addition, I'd like to know what percentage of a newspaper's revenues on average went to editorial coverage in 1965? It also makes me wonder about the news hole staffs filled in those days. Does anybody have that data?

Good thinking on how to capitalize when Yahoo! drives millions of page views to a newspaper's Web site

In writing about steps newspapers should take to survive and thrive, my third recommendation was, "Realign the internal operations of local newspaper companies to make marketing, advertising and editorial partners every step of the way."

Reader and friend John Leach, managing Partner at Digital Strategies LLC, pointed out how the recent experience of The New York Times, when it received more than 9 million page views on one story in a few hours from a Yahoo! link, was a good example of how what I was proposing could help newspapers. If news organizations were restructured in the way I described, they'd be better able to capitalize on this kind of opportunity because the whole team would react instantly, together. Instead, according to the Nieman Journalism Lab story, the Times sold remnant ads on the page getting the fire hose of traffic.

John wrote me: "You talked in No. 3 about putting together news, advertising and marketing staffs along the lines of what you described for CNN at the Democratic convention when you talked with the (CU Journalism School) advisory board. It's a great idea, and it's long overdue.
An online advertising staff has to be as nimble as the online news staff in order to take advantage of opportunities like the one the Times had -- and the same thing goes for the online marketing staff. As I pointed out in a brief comment to that post, the online advertising staff should have sold a client like Bing on being able to pick up 1 million or 2 million page views from a big event like that one, which is an ideal place for Bing to promote its new search engine. It could have done something similar with other big advertisers.

"What an opportunity that presents to deliver extraordinary value to a key advertiser, even if it's for a price halfway between the usual rate and the dismal remnant rate.
Instead, newspapers are functioning online like they do in print -- selling ad space, building the ad and putting it into that space on a set schedule. It's the equivalent of posting the day's paper and stopping there. Why can't we have breaking news ads to go with our breaking news?
The Times also could have targeted a marketing campaign for itself onto those pages -- getting far more value than it did from remnant ads. After all, the Times undoubtedly was getting visitors who hadn't been to the Times very often before, and visitors who hadn't been there at all, and that's a prime group to tell about what the Times offers in breaking news, in-depth coverage and multimedia. It's also a group that might well buy Times photos or other products."

I think John makes great points. Are newspapers nimble enough and are they structured to seize opportunities that present themselves quickly? Instead of complaining about the link economy, they should capitalize on it. By the way, I'm not saying the Times was complaining. But John is right that in my previous post on Yahoo! driving traffic to the Times I undervalued the opportunity that kind of traffic represented by not reiterating the importance of advertising, editorial and marketing working side by side.

What local newspapers should do #6

This is the sixth in a series of 10 posts on what local newspapers should do to survive and thrive in the face of the economic meltdown and the societal shift to the Internet.

6. Newspapers should revamp their approach to print advertising. If they do, it will free them up to change their approach to the type of content they print. Today, the approach to editorial content is in part driven by the need to fill holes around ads. As a result, at least partially, you see “A” sections filled with wire stories that can be easily cut to fit. Yet in other areas of modern life, high quality product design has become a standard consumer expectation. If you want proof, all you need to do is go to Target. Or go and test drive a modest, compact car. Even those are well designed now. Yet in many newspapers much of what they print still looks like an after thought. They present small and unwieldy partial pages that editors “fill” with “wire” content that feels like yesterday’s news. That can’t continue. Newspapers need to adopt a more coherent approach to print advertising that allows them to elevate the quality of their content. This will provide a basis for them to charge readers more, something they’re going to need to do in many cases. In others, it may be that a free newspaper with a fixed-page count with standard advertising units sold on an auction basis is the better approach. But in either case, what’s essential is that the advertiser is connected to quality editorial content and that’s only possible if editors can actually plan for the units they have to work with. We’re long past the days where newspapers can get away with “filling” holes. Space actually dictates content. If you doubt that, just check out what people say on Twitter versus what they might say on a blog.

Here are some concrete steps:
• Establish a set of standard ad sizes and positions and make those apparent to potential advertisers on the newspaper’s Web site, the way USA Today already does. Make the ad sizes modular, so they can be adapted to any format. Even today’s broadsheet papers may want to produce some tabloid sections or even editions in the future. If newspapers put the customer first, they will make it easy for them to understand the sizes and make it easy for them to build ads in those sizes.
• Provide an online way for smaller advertisers to build and distribute standardized print ads. Take the work out of it for them.
• Adopt this approach in all specialty publications.
• Reinvent the editorial content of the newspaper based on the ability to use modules that can be placed in any position. Stop using “wire” to fill holes. Make every content decision intentional, with the reader in mind. Ask not whether something would fit. Ask whether anybody would want to read it.

Next: Flip the model on its head.
Previous: Make the local newspaper a transactional site.

What local newspapers should do #3

This is the third in a series of 10 posts on steps local newspapers should take to survive and thrive in the face of the economic meltdown and the societal shift to the Internet.

3. Realign the internal operations of local newspaper companies to make marketing, advertising and editorial partners every step of the way. This will involve a zero-based approach to the structure and commitments of the company. Newspapers tell their advertisers how critical it is to get out their message on a regular basis. Yet newspaper companies appear to see marketing as the first place to cut. Marketing doesn’t mean traditional ad campaigns, although it could include some of that. It does mean an entire organization telling a consistent story about itself and living up to that story. Google says its mission is “to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.” That’s pretty easy to understand. If a local newspaper had as clear a mission – “to be the central source of news and information on (x place) and make it easily accessible and useful” – it would enable the entire organization to tell a consistent story and evaluate every potential use of resources against the mission statement.

Here are some concrete steps:
• Locate advertising, marketing and editorial types in close physical proximity so they’re working together and talking every day.
• Make each main content focus of the organization its own channel, or sub brand, with a business manager attached to the content type. Establish separate tracking for audience, reach and revenue for each channel: sports, news, multimedia and business, for example. Share that information with the staff. Give the channel managers responsibility and authority to develop new products.
• Develop or hire expertise in social networking and viral marketing. Every advertiser needs to be exposed to new ways to reach customers and offer them benefits.
• Make mobile the focus of this new approach. This should be the fastest-growing part of any newspaper and as the new frontier it will be the place where there will be the fewest institutional obstacles to experimentation.

Next: Make the classifieds a separate, standalone business.
Previous: Establish a clear and credible public service mission.

What local newspapers should do to survive and thrive in these challenging times

OK, I was critical of the American Press Institute's tired ideas for the newspaper industry. But what do I propose? Well, here goes: 10 ways to strengthen local newspapers in the face of the economic meltdown and the societal shift to the Web.

Today I publish my first recommendation. I'll build my list over the next 10 days.

1. Start with the customers: Readers and advertisers. This might sound obvious. But too often newspapers still base their thinking and strategy on their own processes, traditions or needs. They have to stop thinking of readers as receivers or advertisers as sponsors, and instead treat them like participants in a common community.
• Readers should be able to customize/personalize how they use the services of their local paper. With everything newspapers offer, from the main newspaper and specialty print products to Web sites and smart phone services, the user should feel a sense of control.
• Readers should be able to contribute to the community conversation and a community’s understanding of itself in everything a newspaper does.
• Readers are looking for tools to improve their lives: financially, intellectually, emotionally, health-wise, etc. Newspapers should do everything they can to meet that need – to be a resource for a better life – and make sure their communities know that’s what they’re doing.
• Newspapers shouldn’t produce content the way they’ve always done it: basically, this could be boiled down to headline and text. Instead, they should ask what would provide the greatest benefit to readers in any medium and do that.
• Just as readers should be able to customize and personalize the services of a newspaper, so should advertisers. Newspapers need to be a resource to help businesses grow.
• Just as readers should be able to participate in the community conversation, so should advertisers. It’s newspapers’ job to help them do so. Banner ads don’t cut it.
• Just as readers need tools to improve their lives, so do advertisers need tools to improve their business. Newspapers should provide those tools and make sure that businesses know that newspapers are the place to turn to improve their competitive position in a local market.

Here are some concrete steps:
• Change the way subscriptions are sold. Switch to a membership model. (See step #2.) Enlist the community in the newspaper’s mission and offer a whole range of ways to be part of that mission, including never receiving a print product.
• Ask readers and non-readers alike what they want from a menu of options and then give it to them. This means newspapers should be asking for every e-mail address in a household and every cell phone and the capability of every cell phone, not just for the home delivery address. Each member of a household should be able to opt for a different suite of products/services and have a different relationship with the newspaper organization.
• Highlight readers' contributions on all platforms and celebrate their role by rewarding contributors with greater visibility, shout-outs and financial rewards.
• Offer advertisers ways to participate in social networking appropriate to their businesses.
• Provide advertisers with an easy-to-use suite of tools to allow them to play in the digital world.

Next: Establish a clear and credible public service mission.

A new role for editors - tear down the walls

Newspapers used to be more like utilities. Nobody could compete with their ability to collect and distribute classified advertising. And nobody else had their reach in a geographic area. So other advertisers needed them, too. But the world looks radically different today. Newspapers have to be more entrepreneurial. That’s a difficult shift to make, one that can cause a lot of angst. So what’s the appropriate relationship between editorial and advertising in this new environment?

My bottom line is that revenue is everyone’s problem today. Everyone in a news organization should at least be allowed to propose ways to bring in more money. Even better, people should be encouraged to think of new sources of revenue (and savings) for the health of their organizations - and their ideas to improve the performance of their companies should be welcomed. To me, this requires a much closer relationship among people working producing content, selling advertising, marketing, and providing customer service.

Perhaps the most controversial part of my recent post about lessons for editors from the demise of the Rocky Mountain News was the statement: “Don’t worry about walls, or the separation of church and state. Instead, worry about values, that the entire organization and the community understand what makes you distinctive and worth caring about.”

One critic said my approach resulted in editors allowing newspapers to be destroyed in the name of being “innovators.” Another said, “your suggestion not to worry about walls between marketing and advertising strikes me as a huge mistake. History and Sam Zell tell us there are very, very good reasons for those walls.”

Let me describe more fully what I’m thinking about the role of the editor when it comes to the advertising department. First, I don’t believe it’s healthy for a news organization to be a free-for-all, where advertising reps shop proposals to help their customers with any editor they can find to listen to them. That’s chaos. Nor, of course, do I believe an editorial slant should be promised as an enticement for advertisers. But I do believe it’s critical for the top editor or his/her representative to be at the table when new revenue initiatives are discussed, developed and evaluated. Why do we think American newspapers are so full of advertorial content? One reason for that development, I believe, is that in some places it’s easier for advertising to produce its own “journalism” than find a way to work with editorial. That’s a disaster.

Local news organizations need to have an identity, and it’s one of the roles of an editor to build, maintain and protect that character through the type of journalism and other information services they provide. This doesn’t mean editors need to go on sales calls – although personally I think there are cases where it could be helpful for a client to understand what is being imagined and there’s no better person to explain that than the editor. But it does mean that editors need to be part of the group at their news organization approving new approaches to growing their businesses and signing off on how their work is represented.

There’s no question this can take the editor away from the daily bustle of the newsroom. But think back to when the founders of newspapers were creating these businesses. Those owners cut a wide swath. So should today’s editors. They should be the voice arguing that what's best for the customer is best for the organization, regardless of the institutional hurdles that stand in the way of delivering what people might want.

Newspaper advertising departments used to operate like order takers. It can’t be that way any longer. Local news organizations need to provide services to advertisers and help them build their businesses. The world moves much faster today. If advertising folks aren’t working side by side with journalists, aware of what they’re trying to do and looking for opportunities for their clients in the community, too much is lost. The same holds true for marketing staff. How are newspapers going to develop viral marketing if the marketing people aren’t working with editorial types in real time? And the same holds true for customer service folks? How are newspapers going to deliver new products to people where and when they want them if customer service people aren’t looking for opportunities in real time?

I think newspapers need to think of themselves more like the weeklies of old, where one person did many things over the course of the week. I’m not saying an advertising rep should be writing a story, or a journalist selling an ad. But they should be talking, sharing their understanding of the community, its needs and the possibilities of their work. They’re in this thing together and right now the battle is for survival. That means people need to know what they’re fighting for. But editors can’t tell them if they’re not on the front lines.