I was driving the other day when my 13 year old said, "Mom, what is black and white and red all over? A newspaper!" My initial thought was ...well not anymore...
It's refreshing to read 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 and energy to do something about it.
Professionally managed strategic planning sessions channel brainstorming and drive topics to defined action items, within a well-paced, productive environment.
Journalists, consider that you build widgets. In your case it is news, and like many engineers and other developers, you are enamored together with your widget. However, like every widget, your widget needs to 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 totally free without payment for you setting a defacto standard; they're not in business to make money on news.
As soon as you commit to developing business models you'll progress forward. As soon as you step out of your homogenous safe place, you'll never think about your widgets the same way again. For 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 on 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 many other components. Strategic planning sessions conducted by a skilled professional won't solve all issues tomorrow, but will give attention to the achievable and deliver action items, set goals for the next session, establish feedback mechanisms, etc.
3. Harvard's session a week ago, "How exactly to Make Profit 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 session 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 ought to be on the original strategic planning team. Have two lists (one example raised on a website comment was a part from the Huffington Post) 1> who ought to be on the team and 2> who ought to be guest speakers willing to have candid discussions.Not everyone will be able or prepared 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 submit 'The Best Of" reports as well.
Perhaps blog readers can volunteer to do research. This can keep journalists active in the sessions, be area of the solution and keep carefully the pace moving. For example, if 1 out of 4 individuals who read journalism blogs commit to greatly help 2 hours every three weeks, we can evaluate some interesting results. This is not frustrating, but incredibly beneficial. Some research, like these example, would give attention to a particular market, specific customer segments; other requests will undoubtedly be different.
Example research request: Call 5 companies in the to-be-defined industry in your house town and ask them the same 5 questions to provide 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 you will want to?
What is the absolute most successful way you gain new business?
Are you advertising in other venues and how successful is that for you?
Ask people that don't advertise today and who do advertise today. Engage them in conversation. Probe. Feedback will undoubtedly be consolidated and results posted.
Journalists, innovative leaders of strategic planning sessions assist intelligent professionals immersed in the current model to believe out of the box. When companies desire to re-brand and open new lines of business or when innovative marketing disrupts a status quo establishing new competition, many choose strategic planning professionals. Consider working together with a session leader that's never worked in your industry, an expert strategist may question perceptions and find marketable assets where none were visible before.
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