The rise of the micropolitan newspaper: Seven takeaways

After interviewing four micropolitan unicorns for a series on print-centric success stories in the newspaper industry, I asked what lessons are there to learn about local media? In case you missed it, the newspapers we studied include The Miracle in Jackson Hole, The Vail Daily,APG's start-up in rural Idaho,and the mysterious growth of the Conway Daily sun.  Here is a summary of seven key takeaways: 

1. In the market versus management argument, It’s clear that the market matters more than anyone understood a couple of decades ago. 

Small markets have unique, qualitative advantages: Lack of broadcast competition, less dependence on inserts and national advertising, a stronger interest in local news than more transient areas, and a circulation size that makes affordable rates for small businesses sustainable. 

2. Newspapers in growing economies do better than ones in waning economies. What’s a good economy, however, can look different to different people. They can be anywhere in the country, have economies driven by resort towns, be edge cities near or between land-bound and higher-priced metropolitan areas, or selected as destinations by government enterprises and corporate headquarters. 

3. Good management has a new definition. There was no agreement on the ideal frequency or paid versus free circulation models.  Nobody mentioned stellar sales management, perhaps because a newspaper’s market dominance has been found to be the true driver of sales.

However, the super-publishers I talked to were especially clear about objectives. All are frugal, but none are planning to cut their way to increased profits.

They know when to take a pass or fight for a new initiative based on simple criteria. They do not need a company retreat to tell themselves what business they are in. 

Rather, they are investing in and driving forward objectives of increasing “audience, content, and revenues”.

Revenue initiatives that did not build on the core - content and audience - need to meet a high ROI standard to make the cut.

4. They are surprisingly entrepreneurial. 

Print-centricity does not mean asleep at the wheel. 

Adams Publishing Group started a daily in rural Idaho this summer while opening a statewide news bureau in Boise. A group of publishers at Swift are launching online-only visitor’s guides with a year or two window for significant profits. The Jackson Hole Daily News & Guide bought a local digital agency. Even the “I’m a print guy” in Conway purchased the local home and cannabis show to add some high margin dollars and lauds interstitial ads in the e-edition. All have at least one big revenue-producing event. No one is “coasting” on Main Street. 

5. They are mission-driven.

I’ve been interviewing publishers about ten years now - and these small market publishers stand out in expressing an almost messianic sense of purpose about the role of the local newspaper. 

6. They consider family-style ownership to be critical. Top management of these super successful outliers consider the flexibility and leadership of family-style private ownership to be part of their success. 

7. They feel lucky to have escaped public companies.

The other side of that coin is that all agreed that consolidation by public companies  - “the hundreds of newspapers model” as one publisher put it - does not create real value in communities and that short-run tactics fail to preserve long term value. 

A brief glance at the stock charts, one pointed out, shows the stock price of Gannett, McClatchy, and Gatehouse down 50% or more from a year ago.  

Conclusion 

The future of independently-owned local media does not look as much like a long slow decline, as the ebb of a river only to reveal a variety of smaller, but thriving informational hot springs. The super-powers of these unicorns have not even changed over the years: Providing exclusive local news that people want and need in order to understand what is happening in their community.

You can sell it. You can run ads against it. You can raise donations for it. You can power other models with it. That is the business we are in.