There’s been a lot of talk lately about the future of the newspaper industry. Certainly the closures of the Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle Post Intelligencer don’t bode well for the industry. However, ringing the death knell may be a bit premature.

I am a big fan of newspapers. Perhaps that’s because I have “ink in my veins” as my father once said. My grandfather was a newspaper publisher and founded local papers in Rifle, Colorado and Sharon Springs, Kansas (remind me to tell you the story of Pretty Boy Floyd someday). My uncle retired from the Kansas City Star and my father from the St. Louis Post Dispatch. So, when it comes to the newspaper industry I believe I have some knowledge from which to speak.

Publishing is an expensive activity. Paper and printing costs have not declined, and the cost of advertising is out of reach for any but the largest companies. So, without doubt a new business model is required for newspapers to stay profitable. But will newspapers be replaced in the age of Twitter. Hardly. Let’s face it, only newspapers and a few magazines, such as Vanity Fair, can investigate and write the kind of in-depth stories that make newspapers so relevant. And in spite of the modest success of products like Kindle, the readability of the newspaper is far superior to anything available electronically to date.

Two paper towns may be a thing of the past. That probably is a good sign for the small local papers that are important sources of local stories, particularly high school sports. But for newspapers to go away serves no purpose, particularly when we need serious journalism to keep Wall Street and government in check.

As newspapers begin the process of reinvention, let me offer a few strengths that any positioning exercise should include:
• In-depth investigative journalism with a strong focus on any public and private funding (isn’t that what freedom of the press is all about?)
• Streamlined product offering (news and sports are probably a must ,but do newspapers really need to offer the same decorating story that can be found in any shelter publication?)
• Differentiation between online and print coverage (i.e. long and short story format)
• Local search (newspaper archives are a goldmine of information and Google still can’t do local search well)
• Database marketing (newspapers must offer the kind of packaged products that trade magazine publishers know work well)

One last point from an old PR pro. Newspapers understand the importance of a good tip or story pitch. Keeping the door open to those who believe their survival is critical may be not be such a bad idea.

Posted in Marketing Mentor |

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