The path to Diversification II- How?
Identifying your DNA, the strong points that have made you a benchmark in your community or, at least, a part of it: this is the starting point from which a good diversification strategy can be developed.
Are you valued for your independence, not being influenced by those in power? Then wouldn’t it be a good idea to go deeper into the relationship with your public? What do you think about creating spaces for face-to-face or virtual discussions, on a regular basis, about those themes which readers look for in your publication? And channelling the participation of your readers? Not much imagination is needed to see the good synergy that an activity of this nature may contribute: social leadership that makes you somebody that cannot be rejected when inviting personalities related to each theme; prior news feedback, during and after events; taking society’s pulse about what are the concerns of the day or, put another way, having the best survey with respect to the interests of your community to plan your editorial agenda; being “creators of news” on all media and channels... and who knows whether this may give rise to subjects worthy of being published in the form of books or dossiers of analysis... Come on, give it a try, it’s a controlled risk that leads to a new business line and, above all, strengthens the one that you already have.
Are you known for the quality of your special reports? Perhaps for your photographs? Do they have a human interest? Are they about travel? Are they universally valid? Perhaps it’s the moment to take seriously the possibility of making money out of these reports by selling them to other publishers around the world. Technology is here to help us! And why not try to involve your readers? Don’t they go everywhere with their video cameras and their smartphones recording everything that comes their way? What would happen if you were able to motivate them, through a competition or something similar, and involve them in the multimedia (!) discovery of human interest stories, or of attractive locations? Don’t you think that this would create a dynamic with a degree of potential?
Do you consider that you have are well respected for knowledge of certain subjects? Could you channel and structure this in a professional manner? Training is another line of work that offers a lot of synergy with the specific activity of a newspaper. Don’t just think of the traditional Master’s in Journalism. What about gastronomy, language teaching, photography or ballroom dancing? Perhaps you will smile when reading this. But open your mind. What are your readers interested in? What would they like to do with their free time and how would they like to use their intelligence? It’s likely that your newspaper considers itself to have little to do with and to lack expertise in these possible areas, but your brand has very important qualities: organizational capacity, attraction, power of dissemination... make the most of them and think about it once more before smiling again.
Do you see yourself as strong in Promotional Marketing? Are you transferring your know-how in this area to digital channels? Online purchases are on the rise. The moment has come to design attractive promotional campaigns that stimulate the compulsive consumption habits of our readers. Many of our biggest advertisers would like it if we offered them imaginative proposals of this nature. Don’t wait until creative agencies come up with the idea. Propose this to them yourself in a way that makes it impossible to be stolen and, if the agency has doubts or seems apathetic, pitch the idea directly to the advertiser. Digital promotions are in their infancy; there is a whole world waiting to be discovered that may bring a lot of benefits. Wouldn’t you like to be like a miniature Christopher Columbus in this field?
And what about young people? How can we get them interested in the newspaper? We often complain about the fact that young people are drifting away from newspapers. But what are we doing to get them to take us into account in their lives, in the use of their time? What initiatives have been put in place that are aimed at them? Building the future means doing the ground work and many have thought preparing the supplement of a newspaper and distributing it in some colleges was already enough. But this is another issue that probably deserves to be dealt with separately.
We could continue with this small brainstorming session. But I think that this is enough for the purpose of this article: to provoke, unsettle and, in some way, shake up our imaginations so that we throw ourselves into the search for new paths which the future offers. If we are capable of identifying correctly our strong points, we can develop a diversification plan that is built on solid foundations, on which we can base our role as an opinion leader that we cannot afford to lose. And this will naturally lead to profitability.