Posted on November 2, 2009 - by Janet Smith

Strategy for News Sites: The Rest is Still Unwritten

I was driving the other day when my 13 year old said, “Mom, what is black and white and red all over?  A newspaper!”  My initial thought was …well not anymore…

It is refreshing to read an uproar on blogs, and healthy as well.

So, journalists, you got your butt whooped by innovative marketing that disrupted your industry status quo; stuff happens, and now it is time to do something about it.

Professionally managed strategic planning sessions channel brainstorming and drive topics to defined action items, within a well-paced, productive environment.

Journalists, consider that you build widgets.  In your case it happens to be news, and like many engineers and other developers, you are enamored with your widget.  However, like every widget, your widget needs to be marketed, sold, and supported etc, to generate cash flow and a long-term healthy balance sheet so you can build more widgets.

Google, Yahoo and others are in the business of generating web traffic for profit; they distribute your widgets to generate more traffic to their sites.  They distribute your widgets free of charge without payment to you setting a defacto standard; they are not in business to make money on news.

Once you commit to developing business models you will progress forward. Once you step out of your homogenous comfort zone, you will never think about your widgets the same way again.  Think about the intelligent, motived blog readers as a resource. Consider the following rules of engagement for strategic planning sessions:

1>     Building business models is about working ON your business, not IN your business.  Be objective, and open-minded; learn from history without dwelling on the past.

2>     The team will evaluate markets and customer segments, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis, value propositions, price elasticity, competition and many other components. Strategic planning sessions conducted by an experienced professional will not solve all issues tomorrow, but will focus on the achievable and deliver action items, set goals for the next session, establish feedback mechanisms, etc.

3>     Harvard’s session last week, “How to Make Money in News: New Business Models for the 21st Century” had 48 attendees, 3.5 dozen too many.  A productive team is comprised of 6 people, a maximum of 7, plus a session leader providing agenda, content and infrastructure, as well as setting the pace and keeping the session on track.

1. Perhaps a blog response on Newsosaur on who should be on the initial strategic planning team is warranted. Have two lists (one example raised was the Huffington Post) 1> who should be on the team and 2> who should be guest speakers willing to have candid discussions . Not everyone will be able or willing to participate; have alternates.

4>     Team meets one 8-hour day every 3 weeks, finish session 1 in 12 weeks, final report in 15.

5>     Team suggests reports to be evaluated e.g., consumer research.  Blog readers send in ‘The Best Of” reports as well.

1. Perhaps blog readers can volunteer to do research.  This will keep journalists involved in the sessions, be part of the solution and keep the pace moving. For example, if 1 out of 4 people who read journalism blogs commit to help 2 hours every three weeks, we can evaluate some interesting results. This is not time consuming, but incredibly beneficial.  Some research, like the following example, would focus on a specific market, specific customer segments; other requests will be different.

Example research request: Call 5 companies in the to-be-defined industry in your home town and ask them the same 5 questions to give an, albeit loosely coupled but a sampling of data.  Interview the business owner.  Listen.  Understand this world from the owners’ shoes. Example questions are:

• What results have you seen from newspaper advertising?
• How long did you run ads, what were your original expectations, and were your expectations met?
• Were you able to differentiate your business with newspaper advertising, why or why not?
• What is the most successful way you gain new business?
• Are you advertising in other venues and how successful is that for you?

Ask folks who do not advertise today and who do advertise today.  Engage them in conversation.  Probe. Feedback will be consolidated (method TBD) and results posted.

Journalists, innovative leaders of strategic planning sessions assist intelligent professionals immersed in the current model to think out of the box. When companies want to rebrand and open new lines of business or when innovative marketing disrupts the industry status quo establishing new competition, many choose strategic planning professionals. Consider working with a session leader that has never worked in your industry, a professional strategist may question perceptions and find marketable assets where none were visible before.

Thanks to Natasha Bedingfield, “the rest is still unwritten” is a lyric from her 2005 hit, Unwritten.

Ok …wait for it…

http://5dmarketing.com delivers strategic planning sessions tailored to a client’s specific needs. With 20+ years experience designing and implementing business plans and marketing strategies, 5D Marketing provides a positive energetic, infrastructure to drive brainstorming activities to action-oriented conclusions, all within a well-paced, productive and entertaining environment.