Traditional Newspaper management is just like the old guard in Baseball. That’s what you’ll think after watching Moneyball starring Brad Pitt as Oakland A’s general manager; Billy Beane.

Based on a true story, Moneyball shows Beane going up against his old school, know-it-all, front office. He’s tired of being in last place and squeaking by on a shoe string budget. Unable to afford star players, Billy decides to slaughter a few sacred cows and installs experimental yet logical tactics into his game plan.

Today’s Newspaper industry is like that once great, but now struggling baseball team playing on a new, hyper-competitive field called the Internet. The veteran print team is stuck in a rut using the same, tired strategy that did serve them well for years, but no longer. Today, they get trounced by those with more money & muscle (Google, Reach Local, Yellow Pages, Hyper-Local Chamber of Commerce, etc.)

Does anyone on your newspaper team play the role of Billy Beane? You should find one. Their job will be to encourage the ditching of tactics, managers, research consultants, conferences and professorial pundits that just don’t help anymore. This person will need entrepreneurial tenacity and a very thick skin since insiders will immediately try to torpedo their efforts. This person will be a threat to ‘the way it’s always been done’.

Now’s the time to slaughter a few sacred cows in Newspaper, just like Billy in Moneyball…did with the Oakland A’s.

10 areas that hold the key to your Newspaper’s digital success or failure. Here’s the first 4, with more on the way….

Compensation & Financial Motivation If you can’t fix this, just turn off your site and retire. Even though adjustment of compensation is the most direct way to positively affect digital sales, it’s also the most challenging action to take when surrounded by whiny sales reps and ad managers who threaten mutiny. If you can’t apply the simple & proven principle of compensation adjustment to your digital efforts, you don’t have a web business… you only have an expensive hobby.

Management Structure. Who’s in charge? If the person managing your digital efforts is salaried, you’re either bleeding red ink or you’re hitting a too-low web budget and leaving a load of cash on the table. Would you ever hire a publisher or ad director and then pay them a nice salary whether they hit their numbers or not? Then why do it with those who control your digital business? Need some proof that salaried execs are more likely to kill your digital business? AOL Patch, The New York Times, Allbritton’s TBD and Gannett placed salaried, editorial execs in charge of building out the company’s hyper-local business models. To date, these brainiac-led efforts have either been shuttered or still bleed rivers of red ink. Tip: Do the exact opposite of what these egg-heads did. Tip #2: Run digital like a real business, not a hobby.

Inventory Management. Publishers, editors and ad directors vigorously defend the value of their content and readership in print. They smartly price the ad inventory adjacent to the editorial. But we’re floored how often they let Google Ad Sense, Centro and other 3rd party rep firms dictate CPM’s for prime positions on their sites. This over reliance on ad networks & deadly CPM selling contributes to the worse crime of all: web managers boasting of an online ‘sell out’. Duh. Would you ever tell an advertiser that you’re sold out in tomorrow’s Newspaper? Being ‘sold out’ online exposes a serious lack of inventory yield management, poor understanding of supply & demand pricing, and the painful in-ability to quickly create programs that help a client spend money with you.

Market Intelligence. If your staff is semi-blind to what the local business community is doing online, you’re in for a rude awakening. Instead of just picking up checks and taking orders, sales reps must be vigilant with client ‘intel’.  They must always understand the ever changing need of the advertiser…especially when many are moving their marketing dollars to online. Take test #1  and then take test #2 to see what I mean. We totally understand why Newspapers invest in market research about Internet revenue activity. It seems smart, but it’s not. It also seems like a good idea to perpetually debate digital innovations in journalism. But it’s not. Unfortunately, most Newspapers struggle to implement any of the tactics employed by innovation poster children; Deseret Media & Journal Register.

Fact: Your sales force with those direct relationships with local business should be your #1 source of market research. Reps should always be doing CNA’s (client needs analysis) to uncover clues to help point your Newspaper web sales model in the right direction. If anybody should have high levels of market intelligence and know the spending habits of local business, it should be your local feet on the street….NOT an expensive research firm. Duh.