I was driving yesterday 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 is refreshing to read an uproar on blogs, and healthy as well.
So, journalists, you got the sofa whooped by innovative marketing that disrupted your industry status quo; stuff happens, and now it is time for you to do something positive about it.
Professionally managed strategic planning sessions channel brainstorming and drive topics to defined action items, in just a well-paced, productive environment.
Journalists, consider that you build widgets. In your case it happens to be news, and like many engineers and other developers, you are enamored 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 so you can build more widgets https://takerootandwrite.com/.
Google, Yahoo and others are available 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 your requirements 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 from the homogenous comfort zone, you'll never think of your widgets the same way again. As an example, think of the intelligent, motivated blog readers as a resource. Consider the following 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; learn 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 great many 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 last week, "How 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, a maximum of 7, plus a program leader providing agenda, content and infrastructure, as well as setting the pace and keeping the session on track https://afic.co/.
Perhaps blog readers should weigh in on who should be on the initial strategic planning team. Have two lists (one example raised on a weblog comment was a part from the Huffington Post) 1> who should be on the team and 2> who should be guest speakers willing to have candid discussions.Not everybody 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 send in 'The Best Of" reports as well.
Perhaps blog readers can volunteer to accomplish research. This will keep journalists involved in the sessions, be the main solution and keep the pace moving. As an example, if 1 out of 4 people who read journalism blogs commit to greatly help 2 hours every three weeks, we could evaluate some interesting results. This is not time intensive, but incredibly beneficial. Some research, like the following example, would give attention to a certain market, specific customer segments; other requests will undoubtedly be different.
Example research request: Call 5 companies in the to-be-defined industry in your home town and ask them the same 5 questions to give an, albeit loosely coupled but a sampling of data. Interview the company owner. Listen. Understand why world from the owners' shoes. Example questions are:
What results have you seen from newspaper advertising?
The length of time 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 the most successful way you gain new business?
Are you currently advertising in other venues and how successful is that for you?
Ask people who 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 present model to consider from the box. When companies wish 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 program leader that has never worked in your industry, a professional strategist may question perceptions and find marketable assets where none were visible before.
No comments:
Post a Comment