My second objective was to conduct research on print circulation systems for integration into Memberpress. We are trying to create a tool for publishers to manage their print and digital subscribers in one place on the website. The manual methods that many of our customers use to keep their website and print subscription lists in sync are unnecessary and could be eliminated if both lists were managed from the web. I am feeling very confident that we can identify the key features of the print circulation software used by our customers and replicate it in our system.

I took off early to give myself plenty of time for the 1 hour drive north, passing between the shores of the Great Salt Lake on my left, and the foothills of the Wasatch front on my right. We had our morning internal Zoom meetings and I listened in from my phone.

When I arrived at 10am, Casey and I spent some time reviewing the site’s statistics and latest upgrades to Audio Articles. Then we switched to his Circulation PC.

“I think every publisher that I’ve spoken to has to maintain an old PC that is compatible with their print circulation software”, I noted.

“Yeah, this software is pretty old, but we really need it to generate our postal reports”, Casey replied.

We soon got to work on digging through his requirements for a print circulation system. I started a huddle with engineering so we were all able to drill down the specifics.

We discussed the need for the system to verify addresses, generate delivery routes, and pair barcodes with addresses in order to get as much of a discount on postage costs as possible.

“One thing that’s going to take effect at the end of the year is new USPS requirements to submit these postal reports digitally. It’s called ‘PostalOne’”, explained Casey.

This really piqued my interest. It didn’t sound like he was ready for this new requirement, so does that mean many if not all of our customers will be facing this new requirement without a solution?

We are now researching more about PostalOne and how to automate postal reporting.

After he described all the critical features of a print subscription system, Casey showed me around the office and I got to see their massive printer. He contracts to print a small paper in Idaho, but no longer prints his paper because he needs color on all pages.

After the tour I departed south for Salt Lake City, my mind reeling at the possibilities to help publishers save time and money with this new software.

If you are interested in participating in the development of this product, or would like to apply for the beta trial, please contact us at OPS@our-hometown.com.

The post The Our Hometown Road Show – Visiting Box Elder News Journal first appeared on Our-Hometown.

[Apple’s senior VP of software Craig Federighi] made it clear that despite Apple delaying the release of new privacy features in its mobile operating system – a decision made shortly after Facebook publicly attacked the idea – it will now roll out in early 2021 and “we’ll begin requiring all apps that want to do that to obtain their users’ explicit permission, and developers who fail to meet that standard can have their apps taken down from the App store.”

With Apple’s marketshare, they may be the only one’s capable of fighting the Duopoly’s quest to profile and manipulate their users.

State, federal suits against Facebook expected as tech antitrust fight escalates

“The suit, which could lead to the first court-ordered breakup of a major U.S. company in decades, is expected to allege that the world’s largest social network website sought to keep its monopoly by buying up potential rivals such as WhatsApp and Instagram before they could gain a foothold”

‘When terrible things happen, our numbers go up’:  How NYT Cooking is approaching the pandemic, politics, and inclusion

While many media operations are flailing, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has been a boom time for the six-year-old NYT Cooking, a key part of the Times’ overall strategy to grow its subscriber base, expand its product offering beyond news, and diversify its revenue streams.

The NYT Cooking newsletter (produced four times a week with a fifth of roundup recipes) has 4 million subscribers and is the second most popular newsletter at the paper.  Monthly uniques to Cooking have surged 66% from the same time last year.  During the first six months of the year, the Times brought in $24.1 million in revenue to its standalone subscription products, which includes Cooking, Crossword, and audio products, compared to $15.7 million during the same period last year.

Data shows Americans increased their daily time with newspapers during the pandemic

“An April 2020 Pew Research Center survey found 61 percent of respondents were accessing national and local news about the pandemic equally; however 23 percent were more focused on local news, compare to 15 percent on national news.  Half of all participants of a June 2020 Pew survey said local news sources reported the facts more accurately than all news media in general”

Local investors saved this newspaper and then bought another!

“In this segment of E&P Reports, Editor and Publisher’s Mike Blinder interviews Coastside News Groups publisher Debra Hershon and editorial directory Clay Lambert on how they were able to find investors to invest in local journalism and what it takes to build and maintain a local media company that is owned by local investors”

The post This Week in Journalism – Dec. 11, 2020 first appeared on Our-Hometown.

“The consolidation is the latest example of digital media brands looking to achieve scale and stability as they face intense competition from tech giants like Facebook and Google in the ad market.”

How the Daily Memphian grew newsletter subscribers to more than 40,000 in fewer than two years

“Here’s an idea to steal and adapt:  Focusing on newsletter subscriber acquisition will increase your digital subscriptions and donations to help fund your newsroom and editorial projects.”

News Publishers are Producing More How-To Guides to Help you Survive 2020

“Service Journalism – from self help guides to product reviews – is not a new trend among media companies, and it has long provided reliable readership for them.  But during a pandemic that has created restlessness, anxiety and insecurity, news outlets like the Post and Bloomberg have seized on this particular source of reader engagement and advertiser interest.”

South China Morning Post’s 10 Questions for Publishers Launching Digital Subscriptions

“Why are you launching a subscription service?”

“What type of subscription service should you choose?”

“What should be in front of your meter?”

“How are you pricing your products?”

Read the full article for 6 more great questions every publisher should ask about their paywall.

Daily News Podcasts are “punching well above their weight” with audiences

“Daily News podcasts make up less than 1% of all podcasts produced but account for more than 10% of the overall downloads in the United States”

YouTube targets music fans with new audio ad format

“Regardless of when and how people are tuning in, we have ways to help advertisers connect, even when they’re consuming music in the background.  Now you can complement the moments when your consumers are watching, by engaging them in moments when they’re listening, with newly announced audio ads”, said YouTube’s Head of Music Lyor Cohen.

I think Lyor makes a good point here about media in general.  People are tuning into media of all types, and in different combinations, depending on their personal preference.  As a local newspaper, we need to be providing content in those different formats and across multiple platforms, to get our audience’s attention no matter “how people are tuning in”.  Audio Articles plays a big part of that strategy.  In this blog post, we discuss how you can use this automated tool to create a full length “Audio Edition” podcast for your newspaper with minimal effort.

The post This Week in Journalism – Nov. 20, 2020 first appeared on Our-Hometown.

I love listening to podcasts, but this is the first one that I have discovered (besides the Our Hometown News Podcast) that focuses specifically on the local newspaper industry.

The podcast has many excellent episodes available,  but one that has stood out to me as especially on-point in much of their discussion on reader revenue and innovating in digital.

Watch the full video below

Future of Local News Media:  Hear from Experts #NewsPublishing #Editor&Publisher

The podcast featured the following guests:

James Fallows of The Atlantic

Nancy Lane of Local Media Association

Cheryl Thompson-Morton of LenFest Institute

Ken Doctor of Nieman Journalism Lab

Notable Quotations:

Ken Doctor on whether there is a future in digital subscriptions for local news:  “There’s plenty of money.  This is still the wealthiest country in the world…there are plenty of people who can pay.  Yes there are more people in pain because of the recession, but tens of millions of people have the money to pay for a subscription.  So we really have the confront the question…whether it’s the lacking money or its the value proposition that we are giving people at a local level.” [Video Clip]

Nancy Lane on the top 4 recommended focuses for local newspapers:  “Reader Revenue, Journalism funded by Philanthropy, Branded Content, and Events” [Video Clip]

Cheryl’s answer to Mike’s question on whether people will pay for local news:  “If you look at how other industries with subscriptions are doing this work…you see millennials are paying for Netflix, they are paying for Spotify, right?  They already have a structure in which you pay for access to things that you value.  So some version of reader revenue has to be part of the equation, whether it is subscription or memberships.” [Video Clip]

The post The Future of Local News Media: Hear from Experts [PODCAST REVIEW] first appeared on Our-Hometown.

Overall, Kevin focused on the importance of getting to know your readers.  The “Big Idea” of the session was his recommendation that newspapers hold annual focus groups with the public to ask questions about the paper.

Page by page, column by column, these focus group survey’s need to get into the details on every aspect of your paper from content to design.

Your readers will tell you what they like and don’t like, then you need to take action on the survey results.

Focus Group Results

One section of Kevin’s presentation brought up some interesting trends among Millennials and Older Readers.

Focus groups with older readers indicate that they want more:

1. Local News
2. Gardening Columns (better if it is a local person)
3. Calendar of events on front page
4. Recipes
5. Crossword Puzzle
6. Easy to Read, Fonts that are clean
7. Health issues covered well
8. Travel stories

Focus groups with older readers indicate that they want more:

1. Local News
2. Features about local people
3. Local entertainment and music
4. Hard hitting loal news
5. Self help/self improvement
6. Local Sports
7. Good design, clean and easy to read
8. DIY articles
9. Local Opinion Columns (they DO NOT want non-local opinion columns)

As mentioned earlier, Kevin’s “Big Idea’, the one thing that you should take away from the session, is that publishers should be creating focus groups once per year to get feedback on their print edition.

Get 10-24 people total, divide into two or more groups of 3-4 members each.  The whole process should take a few hours so you’ll want to provide a meal (host it at a local restaurant).

Most important of all, is that you apply changes to your print product based on the feedback received!

We are working on ways to apply the same process to improving the digital edition, stay tuned for more info on that in the new year.

Design Trends

Kevin also went through some of the trends in modern print design.

Based on research from nation-wide focus groups, in 2020, “Geometric Fonts” are IN; Kevin recommends Acumin, Aktiv.

He also had a slide on “Outdated Typefaces – Fonts to AVOID”

Color Trends

The colors that are the most popular in 2020 are “Classic Blue” and “Living Coral”(#FE6456).

See below for an image of “Color Trends” from Summer/Fall of 2020

Successful ideas that are working right now

• Historical stories related to local history, stories continue between editions
• “Faces of [Your Town]” series, profiling members of the community
• “Made in [Your Town]” series, highlighting businesses in the community
• Birthday News
• Monthly free Senior stand alone publication, used to promote subscription to the weekly newspaper.

Many thanks to Kevin Slimp for joining us for the conference, we look forward to scheduling another session with him in the future, exclusively available to Our Hometown customers.

The post “Getting People to Pick Up Your Paper” with Kevin Slimp – Webinar Recap first appeared on Our-Hometown.

#1 – News Corp Stock Surges on better-than-expected quarterly profits

“It is clear that the digital landscape is changing fundamentally, and the company has been an important catalyst for that change.  The principle of a premium for premium content is now recognized, and there will inevitably be further developments in algorithmic transparency and the digital advertising marketing, two areas in which News Corp has been a leading advocate” – Robert Thomson, News Corp CEO.

#2 – Can Spotify be the one to convince people to pay for podcasts?

“Spotify is reportedly considering a subscription service just for its podcasts”

#3 – Why product is the best subscriber-retention strategy

“Move to a retention first-model” to stop churn, “investigate the ‘why’ of what motivates your audiences to interact with your content and keep coming back”.

#4 – 8 Reasons Why Email Newsletters are a Game-Changer for Local News

This article hit a lot of great points.  One thing that we often talk about with publishers, is that the main purpose of Newsletters is to increase current subscriber retention and help you get your foot in the door to close new subscription deals.

#5 – The Kansas City Star to move from downtown building, shift printing operations

The whole staff could go remote!

#6 – How the Independent and Dennik N drive subscriptions with reader-centric metrics

“Rather than just putting up a paywall and hoping that readers will get their credit cards out, a successful subscription strategy requires fine-tuning and personalization”.  This article is right in line with many of the principles I have realized are key to growing subscriptions; i.e You need to focus on understanding your reader’s behavior, what it is they like/dislike about the website, and segment the audience for more effective marketing.

#7 – Widening the funnel:  Where are new sites finding new subscribers?

“The proportion of people willing to pay for digital news specifically tends to hover around the low double digits in many countries.  As a result, news publishers are widening the top of their marketing funnel in an attempt to bring as many people into the fold as they can.”

“That’s especially true when it comes to attracting young audiences.  The vast majority of digital subscription titles offer student subscription prices”

The post This Week in Journalism – Nov. 13, 2020 first appeared on Our-Hometown.

Here are some of the articles we are enjoying this week:

#1 – New York Times Hits 7 Million Subscribers as Digital Revenue Rises

“Our strategy for journalism worth paying for continues to prove itself out,” said CEO Meredith Kopit Levin.

“Digital subscriptions would not only be the central driver of the publisher’s growth, Ms. Levien added, but eventually become its biggest business.”

#2 – Gannett posts revenue decline but tops 1 million digital subscriptions in third quarter

“We continue to focus on transitioning to a subscription-led business model, we expect to leverage this important milestone to accelerate growth in 2021 and beyond”, said CEO and Chairman Michael Reed.

#3 – Text-to-Speech is the Audio Opportunity no one’s talking about

“While offering articles in an audible format is nothing new, this type of content is currently enjoying a massive boom, as time-strapped audiences look for convenient ways to consume online media.”

Check out Audio Articles for an automated way to produce podcasts!

#4 – Idaho Statesman to Sell its Building after 48 Years

“This is a major part of our transformation into a digital news organization”, said Publisher Rusty Dodge.  “The building no longer fits our needs.”

#5 – Three News Innovation Projects as Inspiration for your 2021 planning

1.  Gamifying news at Russmedia brings 10x growth in registered readers
2. Personalizing news distribution at The Times lowers churn by 49%
3. Differentiated plans enable 40% subscribers growth at Le Monde

#6 – Amedia’s seven steps to digital subscription success

1. Get Readers to Login
2. Focus on your existing subscribers
3. Democratise data and insights and empower your journalists.
4. Develop your products using facts and insight
5. Sell your paid subscription product to new readers
6. Reduce churn, and focus on churn reduction within the whole organization.
   1. “The more they read; the less the readers churn”
7. Do the same with advertising data

The post This week in Journalism: Digital Subscriptions Rising, Text-to-Audio, and more first appeared on Our-Hometown.

https://our-hometown.com/join-us-for-office-hours-this-friday-at-1pm/

Watch the full office hour video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLYBdP_qDek

See below for highlight links.

Top Stories:

Recap on our last Virtual Conference – Helping Local Businesses During Shutdown and Reopening

Video: https://youtu.be/WLYBdP_qDek?t=40

Blog Post: https://our-hometown.com/virtual-conference-recap-helping-local-businesses-from-shutdown-to-re-opening/

Next Virtual Conference Announcement – Digital to Print Publishing with Meg Norris

Video: https://youtu.be/WLYBdP_qDek?t=136

Blog Post: https://our-hometown.com/virtual-conference-digital-to-print-publishing-with-meg-norris/

What are Pending Transactions?

Video: https://youtu.be/WLYBdP_qDek?t=171

Blog Post: https://our-hometown.com/what-are-pending-transactions/

Latest Updates on your Dashboard

Video: https://youtu.be/WLYBdP_qDek?t=280

Blog Post: https://our-hometown.com/our-hometown-news-updates-are-now-on-your-dashboard/

Example – http://voicenewsnebraska.demo.our-hometown.com/wp-admin/

Audio Articles and Facebook Live Package

Video – https://youtu.be/WLYBdP_qDek?t=421

Example – https://www.wilsoncountynews.com/articles/c-r-122-residents-lose-home-to-fire/

New Feature Progress Report

Video – https://youtu.be/WLYBdP_qDek?t=523

Blog Post – https://our-hometown.com/new-feature-progress-report/

Glasgow Daily Times converts front print to digital only

Video – https://youtu.be/WLYBdP_qDek?t=815

Article – http://newspapers.org/stories/glasgow,4156528

McClatch Journalists in 7 newsrooms will continue working remotely – for now

Video – https://youtu.be/WLYBdP_qDek?t=877

Article – http://newspapers.org/stories/mcclatchy,4156529

Building a better email program

Video – https://youtu.be/WLYBdP_qDek?t=913

Blog Post – https://our-hometown.com/second-street-summit/

Full Video

FAQs:

1. 2 requests this week about changing a user name that appear in comments. User names can’t be changed but, the display name can be changed in the reader’s profile. I don’t believe readers have the ability to change their public display name but, publishers can by editing the reader’s profile. VIDEO –
2. This might be an upcoming topic for a newsletter or webinar: In light of CoVID-19, we all know that publishers have lost ad revenue as well as permanently losing some advertisers. But, they’re also seeing new advertisers – or “potential” new advertisers – as small businesses are realizing the benefits of advertising online during the pandemic. What creative ways are publishers using to harness the opportunity to gain new advertisers as businesses come back from the shutdown? (Will Cover In Another Office Hours)
3. new feature of being able to setup periodic reports from memberpress. VIDEO –
4. How to setup automated promotions in newsletters. VIDEO –

The post Office Hours – June 12, 2020 first appeared on Our-Hometown.

June 9 at 3pm EST

“Smarter Ways to Use Email with Quizzes, Polls, Ballots, and More”

Speakers:

Jennifer Williams

Tim D’Avis

LIVE UPDATES:

Email and Promotions Work Together

87% of new email opt ins come from promotions

The Cycle: Run Promotions. Send Emails. Repeat.

1. Follow-up promotions by moving your audience to the next digital action.
2. Feature promotions and interactive content in newsletters to capture valuable segmentation data.
3. Use segmentation data to send more and better targeted email. Reduce churn, increase opportunities for engagement and revenue.

Group-wide focus on actionable data

1. Asking for Permission and Interests. This can be done with gravity forms to get newsletter subscribers to opt in to specific categories or topics.
2. Send updates related to interests.
3. Acknowledge interests within email. “Looks like you are a music fan, so we thought you’d want to know about this concert coming up downtown”.

Treat your email relationships like…relationships

1. Keep an open dialogue and listen
2. Be inquisitive and ask questions
3. Focus your listening and asking on improving the relationship

The post Second Street Summit – Smarter Ways to Use Email first appeared on Our-Hometown.

https://summit.secondstreet.com/schedule/

See below for some of the ideas that stood out to us:

Session 1

June 9 at 1pm EST

“Building a Better Email Program: How to Use Newsletters to Drive Relationships and Revenue”

Dan Oshinsky

dan@inboxcollective.com

Live notes:

Why Email Works

Email is a place to engage and start a 1 to 1 conversation

Drives revenue for converting readers to paying subscribers.

Additional revenue through newsletter sponsorship, affiliate partnerships, or ticket sales.

Ways to Grow you lists

Sign up pages

Pop ups

Modules in your navigation or footer

In Article promotions

Banners or alerts

Social Media Promotions

Remnant Ad inventory

Paid Acquisition ($1 per email address)

Engagement + Capture

1. Engage reader around a topic or issue they care about (News Quizzes, Games, Polls)
2. Showcase the value of your work
3. Then ask them to sign up for a relevant newsletter

Brackets

1. Let people vote on best restaurant
2. Follow up for them to sign up for newsletter

Contests

1. Partnership with a local business
2. Enter to win gift card from local business for newsletter sign up

Surveys

1. Lead generation tool
2. Good thing for editorial to get feedback on coverage
3. “What stories do you want to see covered this month”, provide a list
4. Email sign up

Rules for Successful Newsletters

1. Relationships come first. Deliver on your promises (follow through on newsletter schedule). Ask readers questions and follow up with answers. Be respectful of their space and thoughtful with your interactions.
2. Meet the moment. Re-evaluate your newsletters on a month-to-month (or even week-to-week) basis. Be willing to adjust the content or timing of a newsletter. What do readers need to hear from you right now? What do they have questions about?
1. Weekender newsletter planned to launch preCOVID. They turned it into a Series on Gardening and other family activities at home.
2. UTAH Eats was about going out to eat. Pivoted to cooking, groceries, and what restaurants are opening.
3. Start with a building block. Identity (who you are, what you care about). Service (content and stories you want more of). Utility (content and stories you need more of). Personality (newsletters build around a specific voice).

Onboarding

Engage with your readers

1. Ask questions and answer questions from previous days
2. Getting readers to reply to your newsletters can improve your placement in the inbox!!!
3. “Placement” meaning getting into the “Primary” tab and not the “Promotions” tab on Gmail.

The post Second Street Summit – “Building a Better Email Program” first appeared on Our-Hometown.