Making money Part IV: Events build your brand

Last weekend I spent a day and a half participating online in NewsU's Revenue Camp for Journalism Entrepreneurs, an intense session on some of the new ways journalists are making money on the Web. (The entire course will be available to view online in a few days; Twitter comments from the course are at #revcamp.)


If you have a digital news organization that has built a community, you can create profitable events. Your loyal audience is something like a fan club and wants to meet other members. They will pay to attend, they will bring friends, they will be an attractive audience for sponsors and they will spread the word about you.


A digital publication with a small but devoted audience might not generate enough from advertising alone, but events can plug the gaps. 

Making money Part III: How journalists can do ad sales

This weekend I spent a day and a half participating online in NewsU's Revenue Camp for Journalism Entrepreneurs, an intense session on some of the new ways journalists are making money on the Web. (The entire course will be available to view online in a few days; Twitter comments from the course are at #revcamp.)

The biggest mistake that journalism entrepreneurs can make in selling is assuming rational behavior on the part of the client, says Mike Orren, principal of Just Be Amazing, a consultancy on content, sales and marketing. 

We might think the client will buy based on the traffic numbers or the audience profile, but often the decision is an emotional one: the client likes the sales rep from your publication more than the rep for a competitor, Orren says. (My own experience as publisher of a business journal is similar to Orren's.)

Making money Part II: custom content at MedCity

This weekend I spent a day and a half participating online in NewsU's Revenue Camp for Journalism Entrepreneurs, an intense session on some of the new ways journalists are making money on the Web. (The entire course will be available to view online in a few days; Twitter comments from the course are at #revcamp.)

Chris Seper, a digital media entrepreneur who started MedCityNews.com, a portal covering innovation in the life sciences and healthcare, talked about how to make money from custom content. He defined it as any content made to order for a client -- it could be a research paper, a blog entry that runs on the site, a video, an event, or an article. 

"We'll create content for anyone with a vested interest in innovation and health care," he told attendees. The publication's audience is C-level executives, entrepreneurs, investors and other stakeholders in those fields.

Making money Part I: Mark Briggs

This weekend I spent a day and a half participating online in NewsU's Revenue Camp for Journalism Entrepreneurs, an intense session on some of the new ways journalists are making money on the Web. (The entire course will be available to view online in a few days; find Twitter comment at #revcamp.)

One of the key presenters was Mark Briggs, director of digital media at King 5 TV in Seattle and the author of Entrepreneurial Journalism: How to Build What's Next for News.

Briggs has used a case-study method that is perfect for this new world of journalism in which the models are still being invented. 

Warren Buffett bets on value of local news

Warren Buffett's decision to buy 63 daily and weekly newspapers from Media General confirms the market value of organizations that build a strong community around local news.

That value is precisely what digital news entrepreneurs like MinnPost, Texas Tribune and Voice of San Diego are counting on as they build their organizations.

Buffett, CEO of the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, is not betting on newspapers, so all of those bankrupt organizations out there that are looking for capital had better look elsewhere. Buffett is betting on the value of community news, especially in smaller communities where newspapers are the primary source of news and information.

Social media are transforming Chinese journalism

The Tsinghua University School of Journalism and Communication recently celebrated its 10th anniversary with a conference on international journalism curriculum for an audience of
200 journalism professionals, deans and professors from China and around the world. Some highlights:

• Qu Yingpu, deputy editor-in-chief of the state-controlled China Daily, noted that social media are spreading news so rapidly that is no longer possible to control the flow of information. The response of China Daily has been to provide more information to more audiences, with editions targeted for Africa, Asia and Europe, among others. 
• Shi Anbin, associate dean of Tsinghua's school, said digital journalists should learn from Andy Carvin's one-man newsroom at National Public Radio in the United States. Carvin covered the Middle East during the Arab Spring upheavals in 2011 by relying on numerous local activists, bloggers and reporters through social networks such as Twitter.

Building your audience: tips from a pro

Mi Li, audience development manager for Fiscal Times in New York, recently spoke via Skype to my multimedia business journalism class at Tsinghua University about how to build an audience.

The online publication, which focuses on fiscal, budgetary and economic issues, launched in March 2011 and has grown to 1 million unique visitors and 6 million page views monthly.

One of the key elements of her strategy when she started at the publication a year ago was to develop a daily newsletter to create audience awareness and drive traffic to articles. This was a strategy that also worked well at American City Business Journals, a chain of weekly business publications, where she was previously marketing manager.