A newsletter for everything
Plus: The changing nature of media (Chris Maguire gives his life lessons) + what's driving subscriptions for a diverse range of publishers
Good afternoon,
It’s been one of those bright and breezy weeks here in Lancashire and that feeling Spring is well on the way. I’m writing this week’s digest ahead of heading to an event this evening we’re co-organising about the future of the ‘In-Between Places’ in Preston.
One of the things we’re trying to do with Blog Preston at the moment is do more things in the real world. As a digital-based brand then having a large online reach and engagement is great, but it’s important as a Community Interest Company to remain rooted and grounded in the community and city we report on.
The event will bring together, hopefully, a mix of architects, creatives, civic leaders, developers and more to discuss ten sites in the city (not the mega-developments which often catch the headlines) but the smaller/mid-size buildings - many of which have been empty for a long time.
I’m certainly no events expert, but hopefully it’ll be an interesting discussion - there’s very much a workshop feel for those coming along - and you never know where the conversations and ideas may lead. But to me
And now, back to the usual digest…
News companies meet user needs with premium content, podcasts, community newsletters - INMA - a media subscriptions summit took place last week and there were lots of good insights shared, which are rounded-up in this piece as three diverse publishers give their verdicts on what is driving people to pay for their news products. One of the key takeaways for me is consistency, if you’re going to encourage people to subscribe for a science-based column then it has to hit the mark on the day & time you’re saying it’s available. Likewise
and the is metronomic consistency. It’s something we’ve done with Blog Preston for years - we try and ensure we’re hitting the mark several times a day with quality, Preston-focused news.The changing face of Business Journalism - with Chris Maguire - PR In The Real World podcast - the discussion in the podcast with Chris is wide-ranging and touches very briefly on business journalism. In reality it’s a good insight into how a B2B-focused business is using digital insights to help it grow. There’s also some good reflections about how the media landscape has changed - Chris is as honest as always. One of the key things he said was ‘what insight are you adding’ and this cuts across journalism, PR and all digital content. If you’re adding some context and insight that can’t be had elsewhere, then there’s value in what you’re creating.
NTM increases audience engagement with hyper-local newsletters - Michelle Palmer Jones, INMA - this is focused on NTM in Sweden who have been using automation to create a portfolio of hyper-focused newsletters. These could be around geography or special-interest or sports. This is a really smart way of growing pockets of small, highly-engaged audiences, to support publishing and output across lots of different topics and geographies. Their tool automatically collects up stories, based on tags applied, and delivers the digest of stories to those subscribed for it.
And that’s this week’s digest for this week. Hope you’ve found these insights useful and you’re having a good week. As always if there’s something you’ve read, seen, heard or listened to recently you think I should be including then drop me a line on ed@almaonline.co.uk
All the best for the rest of the week. Keep going.
Ed
Thanks for the shout-out, Ed! Always a thought-provoking read!