Some takeaways from our September / October issue

The September / October issue of InPublishing magazine was published last week. Here are some of my takeaways from it:

1. Traditional media companies know they have to “do social” to reach the under 30s but, for that, you need to have a young newsroom and filming expertise.
2. Without trust, you’re sunk as a brand. There are three ways to win and retain trust: firstly, have truth as a guiding principle; secondly, invest in top journalistic talent that are subject experts, and fact checkers; thirdly, ask the right questions.
3. The BBC’s plans to cut local radio and push further into written local news online pose a major threat to regional news media, which will face competition from local news websites, funded by the licence fee.
4. When looking to monetise your podcast, it’s important not to prioritise quick commercial wins over your long-term brand reputation. Make sure to target brands that align well with your audience.
5. It’s not just words which are important on the pages of a print newspaper; pages have to be a visual feast to arrest the eyes and stop people flicking on to the next thing.
6. Generative AI will always provide an answer, and this is not necessarily a good thing. Think of it as being like an articulate, but sneaky, 13 year old.
7. … on the other hand, always getting an answer can be useful for hypothesis testing or scenario analysis because you can put any question to it for consideration, such as ‘what needs to happen for electric vehicles to be 100% of cars on the road by 2030?’ and you’d get an answer no matter how hypothetical the question.
8. The key to building successful subscriber acquisition strategies is to have a long-term customer-centric approach, driven by insight, which is agreed and embraced by the whole organisation.
9. The secret of a good newsletter is to have it edited by a passionate and knowledgeable subject expert who is always keen to learn more, someone who consistently encourages and responds to readers’ thoughts and cultivates a community of enthusiasts.
10. When looking to reduce the carbon footprint of your website operations, try using the Measure, Optimise, Deploy and Educate (MODE) approach.
11. By developing a membership offering, publishers will be able to convert more readers from ‘anonymous’ to ‘known’. The more you know about your readers, the better you can serve them relevant content and offers, as well as access to events and experiences that they are passionate about.
12. Reporters need to have some bottle. It is no good having people wanting to be reporters if they daren’t go and knock on people’s doors and say, ‘can I talk to you for a minute?’.
13. In a world where there is an oversupply of “good enough” free content, which is being expanded massively by AI tools, paid content is under massive threat. This poses an existential threat to publishers, who will need to double down on creating differentiated high value content.

If you want to read the full issue, then please register here. Once you’ve completed your registration, you’ll be provided with a link to the digital edition.

PS. Quick reminder – our next webinar focuses on commercial strategies. Entitled ‘5 ways to boost revenue from your SME advertisers in 2024’, it takes place on Tuesday, 14th November. Click here for more info and to register.