While many believe that the print industry is dying, we see that print industry is not going away but it is going through a major transformation. As we at Locable say, Print isn’t Dying – Print-Only businesses are! Those companies that refuse to transition from being a publishing company into thinking of themselves as a media company will inevitably be forced to close their doors, but for those that are brave enough to embrace the world of digital, the future is as bright as ever. Nowhere is this truer than with magazines. In fact, according to Pew Research, local magazine [...]
KISS and Pause for Applause – the need for clear calls-to-action
I was at a theater event last week here in Folsom, CA where I live and while it was a fun event one things stood out: During the first 10 minutes or so there were 3 different times when I was compelled to clap but I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to… so I didn’t! It made me think of that old adage “Pause for applause.” Sure enough, later in the show they did a better job of signaling to the crowd when it was time to clap but there is a lesson to be learned from all of this – when [...]
Contests and an Engagement Approach
As I talk with publishers one thing often becomes very clear, they think website content is all about articles and revenue is all about banner ads. It’s not! It’s understandable of course, these are the most direct corollaries to your existing print product and they’re also the most obvious parts of any website but they are just the tip of the iceberg. So, what else is there you ask? We estimate that the average local community magazine website will see only 50% of its content coming in the form of articles with the balance split between things like directory listings, reviews and supplements as [...]
What does a new Locable Affiliate actually get?
We’ve talked before about Locable providing a complete solution for publishers, that we’re not a service provider not merely a technology provider and surely not a vendor but what does that mean? In a nutshell, it means we have a completely turnkey website solution for publishers – you can go from a magazine to a media business in a week and we hold your hand as you grow. We even make money with you by splitting digital revenue rather than from you. If you haven’t done a demo with us then fully appreciating the breath and depth of our program [...]
5 Reasons Why Waiting to Embrace Digital is a Mistake
It’s interesting to talk with publishers all over the country and hear a common sentiment that they want to “do something with digital but now’s not a good time.” Oh, how this pains me. As someone who has dedicated the last 4 years of my life trying to figure out how local publishers can avoid being replaced irrelevant digital-only businesses it makes me cringe to here that the very publishers I’ve been working tirelessly to support and empower don’t want to help themselves. It’s never clear what exactly is the higher priority – or should I say, appears more urgent – but [...]
Would you make a good Locable Affiliate? Here are our 3-R’s
It’s a funny world that we live in here at Locable. We have a laser-like focus on building community, as our tagline says “Main Street for the 21st Century” and to do so we rely on great local publishing partners. We’re also not a vendor and this means that for us to be successful our great local publishing partners need to be additive to our business – if we merely relied on big fees to grow our business publishers could fail miserably but as long as they paid their bills we’d be happy. So, what does Locable look for in [...]
The Irrational Hatred for All Things “Cookie Cutter”
As people who know me will tell you, I love a good analogy. I love bad analogies. I just love analogies – analogies are like pictures and worth a thousand words… see what I did there? Well, today I’ll talk about the analogy of the cookie cutter. It seems everyone hates anything that could be labeled as a cookie cutter. Sure, we all want to be special and unique and love the idea of hand crafted but sometimes something just works. Cookie cutters fill an important role in making cookies, they help your cookies all look good, enable you to [...]
Isn’t Digital a Lot of Extra Work?
Ah, the ever persistent concern of publishers longing to extend their business but at a loss to determine how. With most local publications the publisher/owner/editor/salesperson is stretched thin and the notion of adding more work sounds like just about the worst possible thing even if it means adding revenue. We understand, we run lean too, and that means making sure any activity that isn’t extremely valuable has to be improved or removed and replaced with things that deliver more value. Of course, digital can’t wait and failing to embrace digital effectively could not only render your advantage moot but could result in [...]
Reader’s Choice Meet Our Directory
By our non-scientific estimate approximately 40% of local magazines conduct some sort of annual Reader’s Choice or “Best of” contest. The vast majority of which utilize some level of archaic ballot process. Many of the folks that don’t run a contest do so for fear of people gaming the system or claims of impropriety. We understand, we’ve been there with our affiliates, and we’ve evolved. The Directory Powered by Locable is becoming a powerful tool for local businesses to grow their reach and presence online while collecting reviews and testimonials that benefit them on our Affiliates site’s, on the business’s site, [...]
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