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7 Things I Have Learned About Local Media

After a 20+ year career in B2B media, I made the leap earlier this year to local media.  Why?  Two things drove my decision: 1) Business transformation in the media space is my passion and while consumer and B2B are well on their way to new, sometimes radically different business models, traditional local media is still struggling with the basic transformation issues of business model, culture, talent, technology and investment.  2) While many view local media through the lens of the newspaper business and its multi-year decline into revenue oblivion, I view local media through the lens of the incredible opportunity presented by the interaction of social-local-mobile media, the strong revenue growth of a $150 billion a year business, and the non-stop innovation of companies like Google, Facebook, Groupon, Foursquare and others.  Just as in consumer and B2B, the legacy companies in local still have the opportunity to transform and compete with a large paid subscription base, significant national & regional advertising partners and a local merchant community that is becoming more and more digital savvy.  So as a digital guy parachuting into a newspaper company, what have I learned? (hint: you’re not in Kansas anymore).
 

1. Hope is not a strategy

I am a big believer in hope.  If you have hope, no matter how small, you have a shot.  If you have no hope, you’re done.  But hope is not a strategy.  You can’t hope that the print revenue decline is cyclical, not structural.  You can’t hope, that the economy will rescue you.  You can’t hope that your customers will buy digital products from you just because you have been a long time “trusted partner” in print.  If you are going to budget for digital growth, you better understand that what drives success in the digital media world can be very different than the print world.  Audience development is different, product development is different, performance measurement is different.  You need to have a clear plan for each, you need to have the talent to execute, and you need to move fast, fail fast, and change course fast because you will need to often.  In my 100 days in local media, I have yet to have someone convey what they believe this business will look like in 12, 24 or 36 months.  How will it fundamentally change?  What is the plan?  How will you leverage your unique strengths and minimize your inherent weaknesses?  How will you stay one step ahead of the market, your competitors, your customers?  Strategy is not a math exercise.  Hope is not a strategy.

2. Culture eats strategy for breakfast

A great line from Peter Drucker.  Even if hope is not your strategy, the greatest strategy in the world will be crushed by a crappy culture.  As a legacy media company you can talk about your new, digital focus all you want, but if you don’t transform your company culture first to mirror that of successful, employee focused, truly digital companies, you have no chance to succeed.  This starts from the top.  Employees want basically 5 things from management: 1) To be treated with respect.  2) The truth, even if it is difficult. 3) To have a plan and articulate it clearly 4) Passion for what you are doing.  I’ll following you anywhere but show me that you care.  5) Accountability.  When things go right, all credit to the employees, when things go wrong, it’s on you.  Not hard stuff and something that any true leader ought to be able to deliver on.  You can’t transform a company if you don’t leave your office.  You shouldn’t have to introduce yourself at all-employee meetings.  You need to get out and talk to the people.  All the people.  Take them to lunch, buy them a beer, ask their opinion.  You never know where the next great idea might come from (Hint: probably not you).  When you make decisions, make them fast, like in hours not days, weeks or months.  Minimize forms, processes, approvals and procedures.  How much time do you spend in internal management meetings compared to conversations with employees, partners and customers? How many meetings and conference calls that just lead to more meetings and conference calls?  Entrepreneurial companies don’t do these things, your new competitors don’t do these things, they can’t afford to.  They are focused on talent, product, and customers.  That’s it.  The rest is just noise that defines a failed company.

3. Local media begins and ends with community

My 71 year old Mother called me a while back and told me that she was calling to cancel her local paper.  When I asked why she said, “they keep raising the rates on me.  I don’t care about the money so much but there is nothing in the paper any more about my local community.  They used to write about people I know, places I know, and businesses nearby.  Now there is none of that”.  Nothing speaks louder to the failure of local media than a long, slow disconnect from the communities they serve.  In trying to become more efficient, they have become irrelevant to many.  Even with the financial challenges we face,  this doesn’t have to be the case.  We can engage the community in producing content through local blogs and social media.  We can ask their opinions on what we cover and how we cover it.  We can tear down the walls and point them to quality content wherever it may reside, even with our competitors. While it is easy to criticize the business model of Patch, most people I know in my community get their local news and information from “The Patch”.  Every merchant knows the local Patch editor because she is out in the community on a daily basis.  This is not just an editorial issue.  The business side of the house has lost touch as well.  Every week there are local events in most towns, farmers markets, fairs, oktoberfests, etc.  We should be taking the opportunity to get out in the community, sponsor these events, introduce ourselves to local merchants.  We do some of this but not in a strategic, comprehensive way.  We need to re-connect with community non-profits, government agencies, business groups, etc.  Truly become a vital part of the community again.  Oh yeah, my Mom kept her subscription, ….after negotiating a 50% discount.


4. Diversity matters

This is a sensitive subject, but your company and your management team need to reflect the diversity of the business you are in and the markets you serve.  An effective management team should be represented by different backgrounds, skill sets, points of view, experience and demographics.  If in 2011, your management team is primarily made up of old white guys (and I say this as someone rapidly approaching old white guy status), I’m pretty sure you do not have the diversity that you need to compete effectively.  Diversity drives understanding and leads to better informed decision making.  Diversity allows you to connect with the multitude of communities you serve and employees you depend on.  Diversity is a strength of great companies.

5. Selling online is not the same as building a sustainable digital media business

Building a great digital business is not a math exercise.  It’s about building great products, growing audience in quantity and quality, and delivering unique, clearly measurable results for your marketing and advertising customers. Selling something once is the easiest thing in the world to do.  Selling it again, if it wasn’t the right product or didn’t deliver the results that the customer expected is very difficult. There is too much focus on “the sale” and hitting random revenue targets and not enough focus on the quality of the products and the performance and unique value they deliver.  This leads to moving money from the left pocket to the right pocket, not truly growing the business by tapping new, incremental budgets and taking market share on the merit of your products.  You can’t build a credible, sustainable digital media business on the cheap.  You can’t do it through a series of generic, “me too” white label products and “partnerships”.  Someone said to me the other day that one of our “partnerships” where we sell another company’s advertising product was “a strategic objective of the company”.  If it’s a strategic objective to give away 50% of your revenue, you’re in deep trouble.

6. Yes, you are a technology company

I read an email or something the other day that said “We’re a media company, not a technology company”.  Guess what, it’s 2011, if you are a successful media company, you ARE a technology company.  Look around at your new competitors, they all GET technology, technology is a competitive advantage, they will succeed or fail based on technology.  That doesn’t mean that you can’t outsource, go “off the shelf” or open source, but it does mean that you have to hire people who get modern media technology and you are placing bets on proprietary products and services that will give you unique competitive advantage in the marketplace.  It means you need to make the investments necessary to eliminate all of the old, slow, back office systems that kill your employees productivity so that these employees can focus on providing world class support to customers and identifying new ways to serve their needs.  You can’t be a great media company without being a great technology company. Period.

7. The answer is all around you (your people)

Whenever I have taken over a new business, I have made it a priority to get out and meet the people who work for me at every level of the organization.  I prefer to do it in a casual setting, lunch, coffee, whatever.  I like to take the opportunity to introduce myself, put names to faces and ask the employees their opinions on the business, what they like about their jobs, what they don’t like, what we could do to make the company better.  It’s amazing what you can learn when you actually ask employees what they think and solicit their honest feedback.  After doing this for a few months in my latest gig, I am blown away by the employees, many of whom have spent their entire careers and adult lives working in this business and in many cases their company.  They care deeply about the people they work with.  They care deeply about the company, the products, the importance of quality journalism, and the mission of the fourth estate.  They care about their customers and helping them succeed.  They take to heart when someone comes in to place an obituary and what that person and their family must be going through.  It makes them feel good to in some way make things just a little bit easier.  The employees of local media, yes the newspaper business, are some of the most amazingly caring and dedicated people I have met in my career.  I really had no idea.  What do they want?  Yes, Respect, The Truth, A Plan, Passion, and Accountability.  I have not met one person who didn’t understand the challenge or was paralyzed by fear of change.  The answer to the challenges of local media is all around.

15 years ago, on Fathers Day, my 5 year old son Ryan was diagnosed with cancer. Here is our story

On Father’s Day in 1996, my son Ryan was diagnosed with Leukemia. This year, to honor Ryan and his 15 year battle against cancer and the serious disabilities that his treatment left him with, my family and I are participating in the Leukemia Society’s Light The Night Walk.  You can find our fund raising page here http://pages.lightthenight.org/sj/OysterPt11/5OclockSomewhere  Please donate if you can or take this opportunity to donate to an important cause that has impacted your life.

As always, that year I was really looking forward to Father’s Day.  I was going to spend the day with Ryan, my daughter Nicole 10, and my Dad at Lake Berryessa. Berryessa is a gorgeous lake in the Napa Valley of California where I spent my Summer’s growing up and where I met Ryan and Nicole’s Mom Tami when we were 14.

It was a great day on the lake but something wasn’t quite right with Ryan.  He had been to the doctor twice in the past few weeks when we noticed some bruises and a lot of fatigue for a 5 year old. His doctor passed it off as typical kid stuff. On the boat that day, Ryan kept falling asleep in my Dad’s arms.  When late in the day I noticed his nose bleeding, we headed home.

Ryan’s Mom and I had divorced the year before and sadly were locked in a nasty custody battle.  When we arrived at home that night we had the stereotypical “handoff” of the kids and I told their Mother that she would either find another doctor or I would have a judge do it for her.  Typical nasty divorce stuff. After Tami left with the kids, I started searching the web for Ryan’s symptoms and everything came up Leukemia. I remember calling my Dad and he calmed me down convincing me that wasn’t the case.

A few hours later on my way out to dinner, I called Tami to find out how Ryan was doing.  When I couldn’t find her, I called her sister who told me she had taken Ryan to urgent care. I immediately drove to the urgent care facility and was told that Ryan and his Mom were at the hospital next door for blood tests. When the doctor was told I was the Dad, I could tell by the look on his face that something was wrong. We went into his office and I said “it’s Leukemia isn’t it”. He said he thought it was.  Before I knew it, we were rushing to Stanford Hospital and our life was changed forever.

The next few hours were a blur.  I tried to find a computer to learn more about Leukemia while trying not to leave Ryan for long.  I tried to call my family but when they answered I literally couldn’t get the words out. The next thing I remember was sitting in a small windowless room, holding hands with Ryan’s Mom, the same person I had been battling it out in court with less than 48 hours before, and waiting for a doctor to come in to tell us whether our son was going to live or die.

The next six weeks in the hospital were a blur of chemo and tests and more chemo.  As if battling the cancer wasn’t enough, during his first weeks of treatment, Ryan had a allergic reaction to a blood transfusion and stopped breathing but was saved by some amazing nurses.  He later contracted a fungus that attacks the vital organs and is almost always fatal.  They had never seen this at Stanford and Ryan is in a published medical book for beating it.

During those first six weeks in the hospital all Ryan would keep asking me is when could we go to the golf course.  Before his illness, Ryan had fallen in love with golf and would spend literally hours at the course near our house chipping and putting. He would be coming out of the anesthesia from his latest spinal tap and would ask me, “Dad, can we go putt now?”.  I promised him we would. When we finally left the hospital 6 weeks later, with his IV port still in his arm for treatments at home, we went straight to the golf course.  Ryan hit a few putts and said “Dad, I’m tired, can we go home”. Ryan weighed 28 pounds.

Ryan’s treatment for leukemia was 2 1/2 years.  During that time there were a lot of ups and downs, a lot of rushed drives to the hospital, and the incredible anxiety and fear of every test to see if the cancer had returned. During this time, Ryan’s Mom and I worked very hard to put our issues behind us.  It’s amazing how your child getting cancer can straighten out your priorities very quickly and make you realize that there are very few things in life worth arguing about.  During this time, Tami and I both got remarried and Tami and her husband Steve had a little girl, Julia later to be followed by her sister Melissa.  To celebrate the end of Ryan’s chemo, we all took a trip on the Disney Cruise.  This was now our family of 7, soon to be 8.

For most cancers, you are considered in long term remission after 5 years.  While that was certainly a time to celebrate, the fear and anxiety never really leaves you.  Another thing that never leaves are the long term affects of the nasty chemicals that are required in chemo to save someone’s life.  Ryan, unfortunately has been left with severe developmental disabilities. At 20 years old, he struggles to read and write, struggles to tell time or do any kind of math, is unable to tie his shoes, and has a hard time walking down stairs without help.  When he was 16, he was diagnosed with Epilepsy, likely caused by brain damage from the chemo, and now takes daily medication to reduce seizures.

Despite all his challenges, Ryan is truly the happiest and most appreciative person I have ever known.  He still loves golf and last Summer when we spent a month in Scotland, he got to realize his dream of playing the Old Course at St. Andrews shooting a smooth 93 on a beautiful day.

Even with what has happened to Ryan, our family realizes how lucky we are.  Many of the friends we met in those early days in the hospital lost their son or daughter. Out of this tragedy came many great things and great lessons. Tami and I are truly each others best friend again, Ryan and Nicole have amazing step-parents in Steve and my wife Catey, we have two amazing girls in our lives with Julia and Melissa, and most importantly, we cherish every single day together and enjoy every vacation and holiday together.  All because of Ryan.

If you read this far, good for you.  Go out and enjoy and appreciate this day.  If you are a Dad, Happy Father’s Day, take the time to give your children a big hug. As you can tell by the name of our Light The Night team, “It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere”, we celebrate every single day.

http://pages.lightthenight.org/sj/OysterPt11/5OclockSomewhere

Ryan on the 18th tee at the Old Course

Reflections on using Twitter after my first 1000 tweets

I looked at my profile the other day and low and behold, I had composed my 1000th tweet.  This got me thinking about why I had joined Twitter way back when, how I had benefited from it, and quite frankly, was I spending WAY too much time on it.  Here is the story:

Back in the RBI days we were pushing very hard to change the editorial culture of the company.  Led by @danblank, we were evangelizing a new editorial strategy that emphasized not only being great creators of content but also great analyzers of content, great aggregators of content, and strong proponents of utilizing social media to more effectively engage with our audience.  I wanted social media leadership from my more than 200 editors.  It occurred to me however that if I was going to talk the talk, I needed to walk the walk, so I began my own journey on Twitter.

The question of “what exactly do I Tweet” is the first thing everyone struggles with.  It is a particularly difficult question when you are an executive running a business with more than 500 people working for you that you don’t want to offend, put to sleep, or intrude on.  I remember sitting in a meeting with Dan and asking his advice on Twitter style and content.  He said write about what you are passionate about, share things that will help others, and show some of your personality.  I still try and follow that advice today.

To this day, I sit in meetings with really smart business people who, when I disclose my obsessive use of Twitter, look at me and say they just don’t get it.  I then rattle off a list of reasons why embracing social media is so important:

- In almost every article I read that quotes a CEO leading the “transformation” of a legacy media company, they talk about the importance of embracing digital.  Yet, very few of them actually use social media to engage with their employees, partners, and customers. As a business leader, you have to walk the walk or you have no credibility.

- Almost immediately once I began using Twitter and started following my employees, I began developing relationships deep in the organization that simply, despite my best efforts, would not have happened without Twitter.  Most importantly, the Twitter exchanges led to face to face meetings, cups of coffee, a beer after work, etc., that gave me much greater insight into the challenges my staff was facing and the great ideas that many of them had for growing the business.

- Media consumption habits are changing and as a media company, we needed to be out in front of that.  Using the power of twitter and other social media platforms to engage with your audience was no longer optional, it was a priority.  If I could demonstrate that as the leader of the business, this is how I was consuming media and engaging with the community, it would hopefully lead to an acceleration of the acceptance of change.

- More than anything, Twitter just makes me smarter and a better, more informed leader.  I am consuming a wider variety of content and being exposed to new people, companies, products and ideas much more quickly than ever before.  I have developed relationships with people in the media and Internet communities over Twitter who I have never met yet feel I know well and have benefited from.  That is very, very powerful.

I can’t say that there hasn’t been a downside.  The time commitment can snowball with so much useful information and engagement, both personal and professional.  At one point I had added a golf focused account but eventually closed it because of the time spent on the endless great follows and links.  I must say though that I miss my Twitter golf “friends” who I spent so much time exchanging banter with, discussing great courses or golf trips, or pulling an all-nighter watching the Ryder Cup from Wales exchanging tweets, etc.  Shutting it down was kind of like moving out of a neighborhood you loved.  Weird.

As a business leader, you have to be careful in how you engage, especially with your employees.  Some employees use Twitter as a way to vent about their job and that is fine.  There are times when you should jump in and try and solve a problem or make things better, and there are times when you just need to let them vent and not be intrusive.  It’s a fine line that took me time to learn.

The bottom line is that joining Twitter, making it a part of my daily life, and making it an important part of running a company has been a tremendous asset.  I have become a huge evangelist of its power to transform the company dynamic and I have become equally skeptical of those who don’t use social media as a critical business tool.  With that said, I am always on the lookout for the next Twitter, Tumblr, Quora etc.  The great thing about our business is that these tools are always improved but never perfected.