Tribune’s Randy Michaels Back to Radio

July 16, 2011 By

Merlin Media; the investment group led by Randy Michaels, swooped in and took advantage of the faltering media company known as Emmis Radio. Randy picked up three sweet properties for a song….WKQX-FM (101.1) and WLUP-FM (97.9) in Chicago and WRXP-FM (101.9) in New York. Emmis smartly retains a stake in the newly formed company.

Randy Michaels Tribune Merlin Media EmmisWith this new acquisition, will we see Mr. Michaels apply his trademark tactics on these once dominant, local media giants? We certainly think so.

That’s why we’re going to dial up the way-back machine, and recall how Randy moved in and revamped the Tribune Company a few short years ago. Here’s my post from back then:

Randy Michaels had a plan. The former chief of Tribune would convert the stumbling newspaper and broadcast giant into a media and marketing company. A company that just so happened to own printing presses and broadcast towers. And the only way to accomplish this, was to first transform the company’s deeply rooted and stodgy culture. They had to think and act differently if they were to beat back the local threat of AOL, Google and other online pure-plays. Randy knew that digital would play a major role in this transformation, much like it did in previous makeovers the ex-DJ spearheaded in his past.

The attempted Trib-culture makeover had mixed results. Some, like embedding radio vets into the ranks certainly ruffled feathers. Many of these so-called ‘Randy hires’ are no longer with the company; Lee Abrams, Marc Chase, Jeff ‘Booger’ Kapugi, Kim Johnson, and John Martin. Other new-culture infusions went over a bit better: removal of redundant positions and activities, hybrid sales teams and smarter newspaper production techniques.

Like him or not for some of the recent accusations, Randy has an enviable track record of smartly using digital tech for innovation in media. His early work with radio voice-tracking around 1996, (ex: seasoned DJ in Miami being pumped into Peoria) was hated by 3rd tier on-air talent that were quickly canned by these so-called robo-jocks. But station management and investors loved this cost-cutting tool. Cash-strapped managers saw voice-tracking as a simple and affordable way to have major market talent on their small market stations. The quick expansion of NYC based Howard Stern affiliates is another example of how operators like Infinity/CBS and Mel Karmazin leveraged emerging technology.

Michael’s take over of Tribune with financier Sam Zell shows similar digital thinking and strategy being applied to the Chicago based company. Take a look at this 5 minute video clip (from almost 2 years ago) that highlights a speech given to employees of The Morning Call, Trib’s print operation just outside of Philadelphia. After all this time, the talk is still accurate and relevant. Unfortunately, some of what Randy wanted the staff to embrace and execute either fell on deaf ears, or was sloppily executed at the local level.

Filed Under: Front Page, Hyper Revenue Watch, Newspaper, slider Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Publishers & Owners: Demand Web ROI

March 22, 2011 By

Here’s a peek at the latest keynote speech I’m preparing to deliver.

Each year, we throw capital and manpower at the insatiable beast known as the Internet. Usually with crappy results. We’re now forced to take a much closer look at the digital ROI of our newspapers, management teams, and the feasibility of some questionable, interactive business plans.

Public/private equity ( Alden Global Capital ) and owner/operators have grave concerns about two newspaper issues: their limited success with digital revenue, and the rapid growth and lofty valuations of Huffington Post, Groupon, Reach Local and Patch. Making matters worse, these new players are going after the same budgets that newspapers have gorged and relied on for decades.

This eye-opening session is not about online sales tips & editorial tricks. It’s not a ‘future is bright if we only change’ lecture. Rather, we call out the 800 lb. elephant in the room: why don’t we run our websites like our print business? ( where profit, margins and realistic tactics always come first )

Mel Taylor Media has first-hand knowledge of these issues, and the specific fixes that should be considered and applied. Mel Taylor has spent over 15 years working with both traditional media and online-only ventures, in their pursuit of building a profitable, online business. Mel’s ability to clearly communicate the issues and actionable remedies will make this session immediately valuable to all who attend.

Analysis & recommendation delivered in framework that will resonate with:

  • Publishers, owner / operators, COO, CEO, CFO’s
  • Financial institutions, private & public equity, industry analysts

Session also provides insight and specific recommendation about:

  • Determining digital asset valuations when buying or selling a media property
  • Is my property operating efficiently as possible?
  • Low cost & no cost technologies/tactics to consider.
  • Why, when and how to outsource & automate
  • Buy, build or partner? Mergers & acquisitions. The digital media roll-up is on!
  • What’s better — being an aggregator or aggregatee? Paywall pros & cons
  • Financial benefits of a ‘digital first’ strategy & employee culture
  • Is your VP of Digital primarily focused on profitability or page views?
  • Potential legal implications of aggregation, search, and fair use
  • Workflow, management & compensation. Breaking common chokepoints
  • Overview of key competitors going after local advertising budgets
Filed Under: bottom featured front, Front Page, Hyper Revenue Watch, Newspaper, Popular Posts, Revenue Models Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

NAA; How to Beat Patch

January 15, 2011 By

How to Beat Patch & Other Hyper-Local Competitors

Summary: WED, JAN 19, 12 noon est

This webinar will provide a comprehensive look at the business and revenue models of Patch, the hyper-local initiative from AOL. Attendees will get details of Patch’s current strategy, what they’re selling to local businesses and their potential plans for 2011.

The session also takes a broad look at other companies going after local ad budgets such as Reach Local, Groupon, and Google.

Most importantly, Taylor will offer proven concrete methods on how newspapers can effectively sell against this new group of digital competitors.

Presenter: Mel Taylor, Philadelphia-based consultant and founder of Mel Taylor Media

REGISTER HERE

Filed Under: Hyper Revenue Watch Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Patch is Growing Like a Weed

December 22, 2010 By

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For Publishers Only. Website Money Pit

December 10, 2010 By

Description of a training session and workshop that I do more often.

For Publishers Only. The Un-varnished Truth about Newspaper Website Business Models.

Mel Taylor Media exposes why most local media still operate their digital assets in the red. Even if web revenue & traffic have grown over the years, your likely treading water and losing share, no matter how much money you throw at it.

This session is not about sales tips & editorial tricks. It’s not a gee-whiz technology talk. This is not a ‘the future is bright if we only change’ lecture. Rather, we call out the 800 lb. elephant in the room: our sites are not being run like our traditional print business; where profits must come first.

Mel Taylor has first-hand knowledge of these issues and the mandatory fixes that must be applied. He has spent over 13 years working with traditional media and online-only ventures, in their frustrating pursuit of building profitable online businesses.

Topics discussed:

  • Pros & cons: the vendors of Internet services.
  • Attracting or making 3rd party digital investments
  • Who’s driving your Interactive bus? Do they have the proper license?
  • The enemy within. Rooting out the inside saboteurs
  • Outsourcing & cost reductions via the latest Internet technology
  • Killing the sacred cows. Stuff that doesn’t make sense anymore
  • The Checklist. 10 questions to reveal the limits of your online business model.
  • They’re quietly eating your lunch; stealth competitors in your own backyard. (Patch, etc)
  • The 100% solution. The only HR & commission structures that work for Web.

Session also provides well-documented examples of how local media is using in-expensive tech and tactics to increase editorial coverage, cut costs and drive new revenue. Examples:

  • Gannett outsources some ‘soft’ editorial creation to companies like Demand Media. Why this is smart, and how it allows Gannett to focus on hard news.
  • Pasadena media property uses ultra-low cost, internationally based call-centers for setting up small biz appointments. Instead of expensive reps spending time making cold calls, they’re on the street with average of 5 qualified, new-biz sales calls a day.
  • Partnerships with independent online journalists. Some were smart. Some were really dumb.

> Philadelphia Magazine uses TechPhilly.com for coverage of regional tech issues.
> New York Times uses BayAreaNewsProject.org for coverage of San Francisco
> Allbritton Communications pulled together 200 bloggers in Washington, DC area.

Filed Under: Hyper Revenue Watch, slider Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Is Patch Evil ?

December 9, 2010 By

At the ONA 10 conference in Washington, DC a  few weeks ago, Patch boss; Tim Armstrong, got a question from the audience. It came from Robert Hernandez, a journalism professor from USC.

“Is Patch evil?” Some in the crowded room laughed, others cringed.

For struggling  journalists, this type of nonsense (even if asked jokingly) is deadly for those looking for steady employment in  journalism. It’s especially bad coming from an educator.

Patch is a business. It prefers to eat it’s competitors. They have no interest in being non-evil to the competition. Local journos that don’t work for Patch are their enemy. Those are the facts.

Mr. Hernandez could have asked NPR’s Vivian Schiller (on stage with Armstrong) about the still fresh, Juan Williams issue. But he didn’t. Duh.

Kudos to Armstrong for infiltrating the conference. I bet Tim walked out of there with a pocket full of resumes.

Filed Under: Hyper Revenue Watch Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

How To Beat Patch. SNA Webinar

November 24, 2010 By

How To Beat PATCH and Other New, Local Web Competitors

Tuesday, December 14, 2010 1:00 PM Eastern Time

From Suburban Newspapers of America website:

An overwhelming number of SNA members have recently inquired about Patch and its presence in and around their market(s). In response to these requests, SNA has arranged for Mel Taylor to present a Patch.com specific webinar and a Q & A opportunity for all SNA members. About the Webinar:

Mel Taylor, founder of Mel Taylor Media

A comprehensive look at the business and revenue models of Patch; the hyper-local initiative from AOL. Attendees will learn who they are, what some of their current & future plans are, and how and what they’re pitching local business. Most importantly, this webinar will offer proven methods in how to effectively beat Patch. This session will also take a broad look at others going after local ad budgets: Reach Local, DataSphere, Groupon, Facebook, Hyper-local sites and Pandora.

About our Speaker:

Mel Taylor is a Philadelphia-based consultant specializing in online revenue strategy and staff training. Mel also conducts ‘Web 101 workshops’ for small business. Recent clients include Tribune Newspapers, Philly.com, Fox-TV, CBS Radio, & various hyper-local websites. Mel’s website can be found at www.MelTaylorMedia.com.

HOW TO REGISTER

SNA Members: FREE, Click here to register; Nonmembers: $59, Click here to register

Note: Registration is required no later than 1 hour prior to the time listed above. If you have any questions regarding registration, please let us know: sna@suburban-news.org or 888-486-2466.

Filed Under: feature bottom, Hyper Revenue Watch, slider Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tribune’s 435 Digital & Local Business

November 18, 2010 By

Tribune recently launched 435 Digital; a social media and web-focused subsidiary of the Chicago based company.

Forward-thinking media companies like Tribune are smartly diversifying their advertiser product line, with digital first offerings like social media, seo, site development and other services that small business is asking for…. more often.

As we shared in a previous post, consumers now get over 50% of their media & information from online. Compare this to the fact that local businesses still only allocate 4% of their marketing budgets to online. Imagine when local businesses wake up to this disparity.

While it’s true that local business is quickly moving online, unfortunately they’re making quite a few mistakes along the way. I recently spoke with Tracy Schmidt; a social media consultant from 435 Digital to share some of these far-too-common errors.

1. Jumping on the social media bandwagon without a plan.

Local business operators often think: “Oh geez, we have to get on Twitter! Don’t we have an intern who just graduated high school? Everyone’s on Twitter and Facebook. We have to be there too!”

The problem is they haven’t developed a plan, and a set of objectives. This is a recipe for failure.

2. Not sure which metrics are important.

You have to know and understand which specific metrics you’re following, in order to judge the success of your strategy. Some important metrics are: customer conversions, purchases, increase of readership, opt-in emails collected, Facebook fans/Twitter subscribers, etc.

3. Using rogue social media gurus.

There are a lot of so-called social gurus out there who claim to be interactive experts. Sure, they can build a Facebook page, but they have no clue how to craft a social media strategy that works for a specific business or objective.

4. Having the intern do everything.

I’m not making fun of someone who’s between the ages of 19 and 21. But just because you can text on your iPhone or post pics on Facebook, that doesn’t qualify you to handle the critical online strategy for a business. Far too often, the business owner dumps off all that ‘icky’ web stuff to the intern or youngest person on the staff.

5. Not getting professional assistance to get started.

Most small business owners need some level of assistance, at least while they’re getting started in the online space. This early hand-holding and direction will make a huge difference in attaining goals and objectives.

6. Hiring web developers who keep the client in the dark.

It’s a dirty little secret of some web developers. They won’t explain all of the tools they’re using to build your site. They’ll simply say: “just spend $5,000 so we can build you a really sweet Flash website.” They conveniently forget to tell you that your beautifully animated site won’t be seen by Google and it won’t display on your iPad or iPhone. Bummer.

7. Thinking “Me, me, me, me, me”– instead of sharing first

Often when somebody starts to tweet, they’re not sharing information or having a conversation. It’s all about them. It’s about what they think personally and what they are trying to sell. If you’re not going to share and be a part of a conversation, you’re most likely going to fail.

8. Mixing business with personal

I follow many people on Twitter that are experts at one digital thing or another. 90 percent of the time they turn me on to something I wasn’t aware of. It makes me sort of bond with that person from a business perspective. But then all of a sudden, they’ll tweet or post something that pushes their personal thoughts on something like politics, sex or religion. It’s like your mother told you: these are the three topics you never talk about in mixed company. For some reason, people often forget this golden rule when online.

9. Not adopting “slow & steady wins the race.”

You don’t need to do everything all at once. You’ll burn out. Just do one or two things a day–build up slow and steady.

10. SEO is important, but content & conversation should play lead role

Don’t automatically think that SEO (search engine optimization) is the most important thing. Example: Let’s say I find your site in position #1 on Google, and then I click through. When I get there and the site is confusing or lame, I’m outta there. I don’t really care how great your SEO expert is, and how high up your listing was on the search engine results page.

Filed Under: Hyper Revenue Watch Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Help Teens Avoid Facebook Mistakes

November 11, 2010 By

Here’s my latest keynote session and workshop devoted to helping parents, teachers and employers better understand the Internet usage of young adults.

What Kids Don’t Want U 2 Know About Facebook

Filed Under: Hyper Revenue Watch, Presentations, Speaking Topics Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Patch, Reach Local & Pandora

November 9, 2010 By

The new, local online competition; more than just the other newspaper or TV station across the street. Outsiders like Patch, Reach Local, Groupon and Pandora are hell-bent on siphoning ad dollars in local markets. Even independent, hyperlocal sites are grabbing bigger shares of small business marketing budgets.

Local Market Web Competition 9.12.10

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ONA 10. TBD Not Focused On Profit?

October 29, 2010 By

Been watching the live video stream and Twitter feeds of ONA10, The Online News Association conference in Washington, DC  this week. Totally loving that I can follow from my office in Philly… but I’m bummed at the lack of any coherent sales plan coming from my hyper-local heroes at TBD.com.

The ONA keynote this morning featured top execs of Allbritton’s TBD, the DC based online news effort steered by Jim Brady and Steve Buttry. These guys are some of the smartest in the business….when they’re discussing editorial and online news gathering procedures.

But when it comes to sales and revenue strategy, the discussion disappoints. Badly.

Journos are screaming at me now: ‘so what, it’s all about gaining audience for now’. Well, if the moderator thought it was important to ask questions about revenue, one would assume it’s a key part of keeping TBD, and others like it, sustainable? Or was she just filling time trying to sound ‘entrepreneurial’? I doubt that parent company; Allbritton Communications (Politico, WJLA) is willing to burn through millions to see what might emerge. Maybe they have too much confidence in their mature TV sales force as well?

The New York Times made content and traffic a top priority with THE LOCAL, and we know how that flamed out with little advertising support. Not even the top flight professors at CUNY could save that one. Like the NYT and their hyper-local plan, TBD.com might be committing the same fatal mistake of  NOT adding seasoned sales expertise to the mix, early in the process. Foundation support, angels, tip jars and the HOPE of future profit… is no way to run a  business.

I could sense from watching Mr. Brady answer questions about money, that the topic of sales is not his strong suit. And God bless Steve Buttry for trying to help Jim out with some tired, local-revenue factoids. Still, why are we asking two brilliant journalists about sales? I get the same nauseous feeling when I watch NYU’s Jay Rosen or Jan Schaffer from J-lab talking about those so-called ‘elusive revenue models’.

The folks at Reach Local and Patch are snickering right about now. These new local competitors are hell bent on revenue. They’re likely amazed and thankful that Allbritton put newsroom and old-school TV execs in charge of TBD revenue generation. They also love to hear college professors ask: “is patch evil?”

Some things mentioned from this keynote, that kinda made me cringe…..(para-phrasing)

  • Our ad network is not gonna make the blogger rich, but it’s more than what they’re used to
  • No magic bullet to revenue…only shrapnel
  • Maybe 5 different revenue streams we could tap
  • Quality staff & news coverage is long-term strategy, profit will follow later
Filed Under: Hyper Revenue Watch, Popular Posts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Online Disruption: Local Media Screwed?

October 27, 2010 By

Not so long ago, small business was at the mercy of Newspaper, TV & Radio. If you needed to advertise your Italian restaurant or car dealership, you had to call the big media players in town. Often, they played the role of Tony Soprano (or Nucky Thompson if you watch Boardwalk Empire on HBO). They were in the driver’s seat and it was their way or the highway. But that’s no longer true today. Local marketing budgets are in flux. They’re up for grabs as the Internet enables and empowers every mom and pop in town. Yes, as my mentor told me…’the deer now have guns’.

Thanks to cheap and simple digital platforms, along with a growing army of online-only companies, SMBs (small & mid size business) are no longer trapped. No longer must they endure overly confident radio reps or cranky newspaper ad directors who are counting down to their retirement and pension. Small biz can now take low-risk chances and move larger chunks of their ad dollars to new digital solutions arriving on the scene.

Consider the facts. Consumers now get 50% of their media from online sources. Compare this to the fact that local business still only allocates 4% of their marketing budgets to online. Imagine when local biz wakes up to this disparity. This impending tsunami of local marketing dollars to digital is why Patch, Reach Local, Google, Pandora and others are making big bets in the local space.

TV, Radio & Newspaper losing kung-fu grip on advertisers? The short answer is yes. The longer answer is ‘yes but so what, they still make an awful lot of money’. Thanks to typical Q4 spikes and better than average political dollars, these types of short-term windfalls obscure the growing cracks in traditional media’s revenue foundation. It also blinds management to the growing success of digital outsiders like ReachLocal, (now in 45 markets) sucking bigger ad dollars out of their market.

Here’s a look at some recent local-media disruptions, affecting all local media outlets:

1. David and Goliath in Philly. Journal Register Company (JRC) recently fired a shot across the bow of every Philadelphia news organization. CEO; John Paton, announced his intention of launching a digital-first service for the nation’s 4th largest market. Paton’s plan calls for leveraging JRC’s suburban Philly newsrooms and sellers, with increased use of ‘cloud’ production. Paton will also look for some divine intervention in tapping a fiercely independent group of hyper-local content creators.

The JRC plan is a direct assault on dominant Philly news orgs like The Philadelphia Inquirer, CBS, Fox, NBC and KYW News Radio. It also kicks sand in the face of other market competitors like Gannett and Calkins Media. While all of these companies have competence in the interactive space, traditional management still plays a far too dominant and protective role in strategic digital decisions & resource allocation. I imagine an uncomfortable meeting where NBC corporate asks their local Philly management team: “why did we allow a former bankrupt company (JRC), take the lead in the Philly hyper-local news race? (sounds funny but could be true)

2. Hyper-local advertising and content. Speaking of my home base of Philadelphia, the hyper-local eco-system here features sites of every make and model. Examples: PhillySportsDaily.com leaves local sports radio 610WIP.com & 950TheFan in the dust with its 24/7 online sports coverage & analysis. Gawker-influenced; Philebrity.com, probably assisted in the decline of our once great alt-weekly: City Paper. Smart and dominant technology coverage of ‘Philacon Valley’ by the team at TechnicallyPhilly.com certainly must embarrass the top brass at the legendary Philadelphia Business Journal. And if you taste-test the foodie editorial of JerseyBites.com, it’s easy to imagine this content eventually being licensed or sold to The Food Network or Fodors.

All this content creation sounds like a fully staffed newsroom, huh? That’s why traditional media is desperately attempting to lure these indies into some level of partnership. Getting cheap or free content to replace empty newsrooms seats is an understandable move for anyone looking to cut costs. But as many have found, Philly blogs and sites are mature, revenue bearing efforts that see big media partnerships as win-lose proposition. Big media wins…local blogger loses. They’re not too impressed with the traditional sales forces and horrific rev-share deals being offered.

To survive, indie online publishers didn’t have to teach themselves the voodoo art of entrepreneurial journalism. They just get off their ass and knocked on a few doors. Just like former Gatehouse exec; Howard Owens, at TheBatavian did. Some have formed their own hyper-local networks and share the cost of hiring a sales team. This is how many become self-sufficient and successful.

In one more crack at old media trying to be hip, KING-TV and The Seattle Times just announced a hyper-local partnership. In theory, it’s a great idea. But when executed by a traditional sales and management team, it’s destined for a slow ride to nowhereville.

3. Dump your expensive CMS vendor. Go WordPress! In a rare moment of brilliance, the CBS broadcast division has started to dump some of its pricey and stale, interactive vendor tools. They’re moving to WordPress as a CMS; content management system. (although we think CBS blew it by combining all of their excellent brands – The Fan, 1010Wins, 610WIP, KYW1060, under the consumer un-friendly url’s of CBSPhilly.com & CBSNewYork.com)

This big media move to WordPress should be a wake-up call to all companies stuck in crappy and outdated vendor contracts. It’s a fact. Open source platforms like WP are better and easier to use than ever. WordPress; an open source publishing platform, has humble beginnings as a simple yet effective blogging tool. Today, WordPress is also the leading CMS that handles everything from easy creation and upkeep of Newspaper sites, to helping TV Networks with a series of specialty blogs.

Some web development & digital VPs snobbishly look down their nose at WP. Understandably they’re fearful of implementing an in-expensive, yet robust and user-friendly platform where it would likely affect their employment and pay status. Nonetheless, watch for others to dump a few vendors and adopt WordPress and other free digital tools. Why not reduce interactive hard costs while increasing ease of use, functionality and consumer value?

4. Tribune and 435 Digital. It’s true. I’m still bitter over not being invited to those smoky poker games inside the Trib Tower. But before his exit, Randy Michaels was a big supporter of their 435 Digital division and we gotta love him for that. Imagine a newspaper & broadcast company getting in front of local advertisers…and NOT forcing them to buy print ads and broadcast spots. Instead, clients are given the option of digital solutions like social media management, web development and search engine optimization. This activity suggests some old school media finally willing to offer….what local advertisers increasingly want to buy.

Why do local media managers ignore or mis-play the new digital competition? Well, if your compensation is primarily tied to spot and print dollars, as well as archaic rating systems and circulation audits, what would you do?

But don’t place all the blame on middle management. It’s the broadcast/newspaper CEO’s and investor groups that are in charge here. They set the tone. Instead of stepping up and immersing themselves in the business of digital, they sheepishly delegate all that icky web stuff to the company web geek…

Translation: ‘we hired some heavy hitter who worked at a dot com. He was recommended by someone who used to build streaming websites and tweaked code as a teen. Sure, this guy with the prestigious resume is burning through a lot of our cash, but our sites look cool, traffic is building, and we win digital awards all the time. He swears profitability is right around the corner.’

Filed Under: bottom featured front, Hyper Revenue Watch, Hyperlocal Networks, Popular Posts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Patch Not-So-Secret Plan

October 25, 2010 By

We often hear hyper-local journalists and newspaper publishers scoff at the Mc-cookie cutter and corporate approach of Patch. Too much aggregation, editorial missteps and the lack of advertiser support…..all early critiques that provide some level of comfort for those that hope Patch will fail, and fail fast.

Patch does share a few traits of other struggling or dead local initiatives that adopted a ‘build it and they will come’ strategy. In these plans, editorial & tech execs take the lead and burn through cash to build traffic. THEN… they retro-fit a semi-realistic sales strategy and hire a VP Sales. Ask San Diego News Network and NYT’s The Local, whether that model worked out for them. (hint: it didn’t) We can’t imagine that AOL Patch chief; Tim Armstrong is overlooking the lessons of these past stinkers. We also don’t think he’s doing Patch for purely altruistic reasons like saving journalism or winning journo awards for his mantle. Clearly, he’s wants ROI. And why not? That’s job #1 for any CEO.

Patch using smoke screen & red herrings? To my non-journo hairy eyeball, much of Patch’s current content & editorial efforts are being mis-interpreted by those who feel threatened. Editorial, massive page views and community engagement is not the ultimate end game here. Rather, the real M.O or modus operandi of Patch is to steadily build relationships with local advertisers, then offer a portfolio of digital marketing solutions. And we’re talkin’ more than just banners.

More than just banners. In other words, Patch is just starting to get cozy with mom & pops….getting them ready for a sweet and more profitable up-sell consisting of events, video, sem, web development, social & reputation management, database, etc. Friendly Patch folk stop by local retailers to ‘help’ them with their free online profiles, take some pics, and stealthily update the Patch smb databases. Smart.

Using free-mium model, Patch cuts through clutter and aims to be a primary partner with local business, something traditional media had a lock on for decades. That’s the holy grail. The life blood of local, online news & info, is local advertiser support. Without it, Patch and others like it, fail.

Market incumbents fighting back. Sort of. In Seattle, KING-TV and cross town competitor; The Seattle Times, have formed an un-holy union with their hyper-local ad network plans. In this scheme, they hope to attract indie bloggers by offering the digital sales acumen & relationships of their ‘ace’ TV and Print sellers. Since The Seattle Times has dabbled in hyper-local for the past year, one may assume their solo plan wasn’t working, so they needed a partner. To see the ‘newsroom & editorial only’ perspective on big media & hyper local, watch these very telling interviews of Seattle Times execs. This video clearly highlights the lack of any sales or local advertiser influence and understanding. Also watch for the knucklehead that states: ‘this helps the newspaper’. (why do bloggers want to ‘help’ the newspaper?)

To date, we haven’t seen this kind of plan work out so well for the blogosphere. Especially in the revenue department. That’s why we patiently wait…and wait…..for good hyper-local sales reports from TBD.com, ChicagoNow.com and MiamiHerald.com. Can a TV or Print rep properly represent the unique properties of an indie website? We still think that’s a long shot, as many reps and their ad directors, still struggle to sell their own big media sites.

Journalism’s two masters: reader & advertiser. Which one do you think ROI-focused PATCH is putting first in line? Distasteful as it may sound to some, sales & revenue need to take a front seat in every local news and hyper-local effort. Without sound financial footing, community coverage & engagement are non-existent. Journalism is a means to an end for corporate media. That end is profit. We know this is tough to swallow for newsroom vets, after decades of insanely profitable newspaper domination.

Getting hooks into local smb’s. If Patch can accomplish this, don’t be surprised to see an upgrade in their editorial & staffing. Not only will this will be tough for indie bloggers to compete against, it might just be the final nail in the coffin for Newspaper.

Filed Under: Front Page, Hyper Revenue Watch, Hyperlocal Networks Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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