Advertising

Is Hyperlocal Media Really “Seriously Challenged” Financially?

January 26, 2011 By David Leave a Comment

Another Negative Nancy about hyperlocal journalism. This time it’s analyst Claire Enders, who says hyperlocal funding is “seriously challenged,” in remarks reported at Journalism.co.uk:

Speaking at a Westminster Media Forum event on local media, the founder and chief executive of Enders Analysis said hyperlocal websites could learn from the model succesfully used in community radio, where hundreds of volunteers give up their time because they “care a lot about their communities”.

I have a couple of issues with this analysis. First, what does Enders even mean when she says “seriously challenged?” This is a key question, because “seriously challenged” to one entity might be “well-funded” to another. For example, if a newspaper or radio station makes $30,000 on a hyperlocal venture, it probably considers that funding “seriously challenged.” If I make $30,000 on my 1-man media outlet in the Midwestern US, that’s a pretty good start.

The trouble with analyzing hyperlocal news sites financially is that the baseline for success is usually set as if the sites are traditional media operations. They’re not — or at least they don’t have to be, if they’re started by an entrepreneurial journalist. There’s plenty of local funding out there to turn a hyperlocal media outlet into a business. You just have to work hard and be creative to find it. Engaging the community — both readers and businesses — is the first step in doing that.

Filed Under: Advertising, Hyperlocal, Journalism

Why Big Media Shouldn’t Worry Your Hyperlocal Site

January 21, 2011 By David Leave a Comment

An article in The New Yorker says the AOL hyperlocal venture Patch is probably too costly to last very long. In a nutshell, author Ken Auletta says the hyperlocal sites created by Patch are not creating compelling enough content to stay in business — not without spending a lot more money to pay people to create that content.

He’s right, I think, that there’s not enough money in ad revenue to make Patch worthwhile. But that’s not an indictment of the hyperlocal concept. The thing that makes hyperlocal coverage valuable is not the national aggregation of hundreds of little-bitty audiences for national advertisers. It’s the customer service offered to local advertisers by a local media outlet operated by a local businessperson. Patch can gather local content, but until it can reach into each community and offer personal service to each business, the hyperlocal nut will remain uncracked.

Filed Under: Advertising, Hyperlocal, Marketing

Helping Your Local Lawyers

January 18, 2011 By David Leave a Comment

Local attorneys are often community boosters and frequent media advertisers. They probably already have a budget for marketing or sponsorships or community outreach. So tapping into that part of the business community is a good way for you to start.

But don’t offer them a traditional banner ad to replace their newspaper buy. Offer them your expertise in a new way of marketing.

Kevin O’Keefe writes about social media and the legal profession at Lexblog. He writes that social media is replacing legal directories as the way lawyers connect with clients. About old-fashioned directories, he writes:

Those directories also benefit from a lack of understanding of the power of social networks by law firm leadership and in-house counsel. It’s easier to sell legal directory services to professionals on both sides of the equation – law firms and corporate consumers of legal services – when they have yet to experience the power and value of social networks.

If you’re operating an online news operation, you’re probably miles ahead of your local lawyers in understanding how social media can improve their business. And your expertise is valuable to them. Far more valuable than the print ad your local newspaper is selling them once a month. So before you pitch a traditional ad package, consider sweetening the deal with extras like this: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Marketing

Helping Clients Buy Better

January 17, 2011 By David Leave a Comment

Mark Ramsey is one of the smartest people tracking changes in the media business. He focuses primarily on radio, and has great advice for local radio stations that applies to anyone who’s in the local media business.

If you’re a local media company, part of your job is to maximize the success of your client partners on their terms, whatever those are: Foot traffic, awareness, the ring of the cash register, etc. It’s not simply to stock more items in more categories and pitch them harder.

It constantly amazes me that so many of our digital assets are built to sell to our clients and so few are built to educate them and deepen our relationship with them.

Ramsey suggests building a website that specifically caters to your clients. Give them case studies that highlight success stories. Give them tips for how to best use your resources to promote themselves. Post a Q&A section that answers your clients’ questions about marketing. He has tons of other ideas, and you should go read the post here.

Anyone out there do this kind of thing already? If so, I’d love to hear about it.

Filed Under: Advertising, Hyperlocal, Marketing, Radio

Is it harder to connect with consumers?

November 17, 2010 By David Leave a Comment

From an Fast Company article on The Future of Advertising:

“The irony is that while there have never been more ways to reach consumers, it’s never been harder to connect with consumers.” – Brad Jakeman, chief creative officer at Activision

I don’t think this is quite true. It’s easier to connect with consumers than ever, because now we have social media tools that allow us to do it. In reality, advertisers were never really “connecting” with consumers before. It’s just that they defined almost anything — someone viewing their commercial or driving past a billboard — as a connection.