Hyper Local News Best Practices Spring 2019

Here’e a quick summary of best practices for those looking to succeed in the Hyper Local news & marketing space.

  • Cut costs to the bone. Boot strap everything.
  • Be cautious of vendors who re-package open source solutions. You will overpay.
  • Enabling local commerce is job #1
  • Sharing local news and info is important, but a close second in terms of priority. Without proper funding, your Pulitzer Prize winning journalism will be seen by no one.
  • WordPress as a CMS is mandatory. Modify where needed. Proprietary CMS’s are expensive and risky.
  • Online publisher must be a business manager, first. Letting editorial control business model is recipe for failure.
  • Aggregation still important. Automation reduces cost. Increases valuable content. Ads as editorial.
  • Leverage RSS
  • Grow & use clean email list.
  • Optimize content for SEO.
  • Leverage social media, but DO NOT rely on it. DO NOT use your sales force to re-sell Google and Facebook. Your ‘feet on the street’ should not be shared with those who want to steal your business.
  • Selling CPM commoditizes your valuable inventory.
  • Limit inventory. Place pressure on premium inventory to determine pricing sweet spot.
  • Invest & learn how to use best-of-breed smart phones for excellent pics, audio & video. ex: Galaxy Note 10.
  • Know when to use text, photo, video or audio to tell a story. Some stories need words. Others need visual or audio. Talking head reporters describing story is dumb. ( like old school tv ) Choose wisely.
  • The stuff you learned in Journo school can be leveraged to help local business too.

See Hyper Local News examples:

DownbeachBUZZ.com News from Margate and Ventnor NJ

ACprimetime.com News from Atlantic City, NJ

BrigantineNOW.com News from Brigantine, NJ.


Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *