I was driving the other day when my 13 year old said, "Mom, what is black and white red and throughout? A newspaper!" My initial thought was ...well not anymore...
It is refreshing to learn an uproar on blogs, and healthy as well.
So, journalists, you got your butt whooped by innovative marketing that disrupted your industry status quo; stuff happens, and now it's time for you to do something positive about it.
Professionally managed strategic planning sessions channel brainstorming and drive topics to defined action items, inside a well-paced, productive environment.
Journalists, consider that you build widgets. In your case it is actually news, and like many engineers and other developers, you're enamored along with your widget. However, like every widget, your widget must be marketed, sold, and supported etc, to generate cash flow and a long-term healthy balance sheet to help you build more widgets https://takerootandwrite.com/.
Google, Yahoo and others are in the commercial of generating web traffic for profit; they distribute your widgets to generate more traffic with their sites. They distribute your widgets cost-free without payment for you setting a defacto standard; they're not in business to generate income on news.
After you commit to developing business models you will progress forward. After you step out of your homogenous safe place, you will never consider your widgets exactly the same way again. As an example, consider the intelligent, motivated blog readers as a resource. Consider these rules of engagement for strategic planning sessions:
1. Building business models is about working ON your business, not IN your business. Be objective, and open-minded; study from history without dwelling on the past http://trendynews4u.com/.
2. The team will evaluate markets and customer segments, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis, value propositions, price elasticity, competition and a number of other components. Strategic planning sessions conducted by an experienced professional will not solve all issues tomorrow, but will give attention to the achievable and deliver action items, set goals for another session, establish feedback mechanisms, etc.
3. Harvard's session the other day, "How exactly to Make Money in News: New Business Models for the 21st Century" had 48 attendees, 3.5 dozen too many. A productive team is comprised of 6 people, no more than 7, plus a period leader providing agenda, content and infrastructure, in addition to setting the pace and keeping the session on track https://afic.co/.
Perhaps blog readers should weigh in on who must be on the first strategic planning team. Have two lists (one example raised on a blog comment was an associate from the Huffington Post) 1> who must be on the team and 2> who must be guest speakers willing to possess candid discussions.Not everyone will have the ability or willing to participate; have alternates.
4. Team meets one 8-hour day every 3 weeks, finish session 1 in 12 weeks, final report in 15 weeks.
5. Team suggests reports to be evaluated e.g., consumer research. Blog readers outline 'The Best Of" reports as well.
Perhaps blog readers can volunteer to do research. This may keep journalists mixed up in sessions, be area of the solution and keep the pace moving. As an example, if 1 out of 4 those who read journalism blogs commit to help 2 hours every three weeks, we are able to evaluate some interesting results. This is not time intensive, but incredibly beneficial. Some research, like these example, would give attention to a specific market, specific customer segments; other requests is likely to be different.
Example research request: Call 5 companies in the to-be-defined industry in your home town and ask them exactly the same 5 questions to give an, albeit loosely coupled but a sampling of data. Interview the business owner. Listen. Appreciate this world from the owners' shoes. Example questions are:
What results maybe you have seen from newspaper advertising?
Just how long did you run ads, what were your original expectations, and were your expectations met?
Were you able to differentiate your business with newspaper advertising, why or why don't you?
What is probably the most successful way you gain new business?
Have you been advertising in other venues and how successful is that for you?
Ask people who do not advertise today and who do advertise today. Engage them in conversation. Probe. Feedback is likely to be consolidated and results posted.
Journalists, innovative leaders of strategic planning sessions assist intelligent professionals immersed in the present model to consider out from the box. When companies want to re-brand and open new lines of business or when innovative marketing disrupts the industry status quo establishing new competition, many choose strategic planning professionals. Consider working with a period leader that has never worked in your industry, a professional strategist may question perceptions and find marketable assets where none were visible before.
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