Five takeaways on connecting business and editorial

The spring conference season provided lots of opportunities to learn what’s working across the industry, and preview a path forward…

Over the past few months, I’ve had the privilege to attend several summits and conferences focused on connecting the bottom line and business needs to overall newsroom strategies and operations.

It’s been a gratifying experience, particularly because in the almost 2 years that I’ve been with Hearken, I have seen a marked shift and movement towards newsrooms understanding of this fundamental truth: that businesses operate better when everyone knows how the business operates (where the money comes from and the corresponding incentive systems). This gives me tremendous hope for the future of our industry!

Prior to joining Hearken, I was a management consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers, working closely with global companies in a variety of industries. While every industry has its own peculiarities, no matter who you are or what space you operate in, there’s at least one thing in common: in order to survive and be sustainable, the bottom line cannot be ignored. Having shared strategic goals, accountability, a focus on data / metrics, and being open to change and innovation, you can find yourself growing and becoming sustainable.

We are in a time in which the industry is facing not only financial pressures, but also ethical quandaries and a constant fight for trust and relevance. How do we not only figure out ways to keep the lights on but also convince a much needed population that news and press is critical to survival and democracy? The questions will never end, but thankfully there are solutions and tried and true ways to explore moving forward.

There is exciting movement by both individuals and organizations doing important work in elevating awareness and sharing solutions to connect editorial and business needs. From recent conference circuits, here are some movers and shakers and takeaways to share:

Ken Doctor: I highly recommend checking out his work on business models and news. He has a great ability to share examples that resonate in a very accessible way, while tying in outside industry examples that have proven success.

The Solutions Set weekly report from The Lenfest Institute is another resource that consistently provides innovative examples (particularly love their case studies!) of how newsrooms are changing and operating in new ways.

The Table Stakes program is another phenomenal resource. I notice a huge difference when it comes to newsrooms that have gone through the program. Those newsrooms are growing and transforming in ways that can encourage everyone, no matter how big or small your newsroom might be.

Some themes and insights that are being talked about widely (and need to be acted upon quickly!) that everyone should paying close attention to:

• Know your audience. Understand their social identities and what makes them tick. Understand their behaviors and get to know them at an individual level so you can guide them toward a path that will both serve their needs better and will help you financially. The marketing / branding industry has been doing this for a long, long time and has been doing it well. Learn from outside the industry!
• Know your data. There’s no way of getting around this. You need to understand how your stories perform in nuanced ways. There has to be the balance of long term and short term needs. Pageviews are quickly becoming a metric that is too simplistic, and doesn’t convey much more than a click. Start thinking about the data that will reveal if your goals and metrics are driving action that can help your bottom line. It might be subscriptions, donations, or membership models — it might be even proving relevance and impact to your local government that’s funding your work. Whatever it may be, understand which data will help you know whether you’re succeeding or need improvement.
• Know your staff. Who’s primed to grow and innovate with you? If you’re a leader, are you willing to change and explore new avenues and potentials, and do it quickly? If you’re an employee, are your eager to learn and try new things? The status quo will not work anymore, and the industry has to not only produce great journalists, but great journalists who understand how the business works. Business units need to come together and collaborate, not sit in silos. My motto personally as a leader is that I should be able to articulate and have a good standing knowledge of every group’s challenges, growth opportunities and overall needs. When I have that knowledge, I can operate from a place that’s informed in a more empathetic way vs. just sticking to my own wheelhouse and caring about my work.
• Experiment with creative revenue models. A newsroom recently talked about how their publisher is introducing alternate revenue generation in a very creative way: through ensuring the paper delivery trucks don’t come back empty after making their rounds. After delivering the papers, they pick up airplane parts to deliver to a warehouse so that an empty truck doesn’t waste miles without earning revenue. I love that! There are so many ways to think about building the bottom line outside of the day to day operations.
• Know your newsroom’s mission and goals, and how you’re going to track them. I was surprised when I found out that newsrooms typically didn’t operate past the goal of getting the story out. It was the first time I had heard of high level staff (or staff in general) never being held accountable for overall job performance or the ability to lead / drive success. Set strategic goals that resonate, understand how it relates to your organization at large, incentivize people to work towards goals together, experiment, track, rinse and repeat.

Now more than ever I’m committed to the business and editorial sides of news coming together and figuring this out, because I’m confident it CAN be done! To see the industry moving forward in this way is inspiring. I believe that we can learn from each other, partner together, and share our successes and failures, so we can build a sustainable future on collective health, not on competition.

Ready to better engage the public? Download our free engagement checklist guide.