Whether you’re a big media company, or an indie-journalist/content creator…. participating in or forming your own Hyper-Local Advertising & Content Network could be critical to your online success.
Some examples: the independent effort of SLOAN in Sacramento, and the ‘big media’ initiative from Journal Register in Philadelphia.
FACT #1: Small businesses are quickly moving their ad budgets to web. In addition to your own direct sales efforts, there are substantial revenue & cost reduction benefits when you take part in the efficiencies of a shared sales and service “Co-operative”, or ‘Hyper-local incubator’. (see below)
FACT #2: Your work as a writer/reporter has incredible value. Especially to big Media. Why ‘donate’ it or sell it for peanuts? Understand online journalism business models, before you act.
Local online competition is on the rise….and now, at a much faster pace. Don’t be fooled into thinking that hyper-local news doesn’t work. Those early journalist-lead experiments from CUNY, New York Times and ChicagoNow still struggle for financial stability due to this common flaw: revenue & sales expertise seemingly took a back seat to editorial & tech in the start-up phase. Indeed, ‘build it and they will come’ does not work so well on the web.
Today, a growing list of hyper-local news efforts are being lead by those with deeper revenue & business experience. It’s about time. Well-funded projects from Patch, Main Street Connect, DataSphere and Reach Local, are proof of the substantial opportunity that exists in local markets. Even though these bigger dogs have financial muscle, indie-journos from the neighborhood still have an excellent chance to own this space. Who wins the local, online revenue game? The winners could likely be those organically-grown websites and independent content creators from the community. These online publishers take their efforts seriously, and are exploring realistic plans for revenue. These future, local online titans are not encumbered with legacy business concerns that need to be ‘protected’.
