“If you’re not optimized for mobile you’re missing the boat.”
Instead of being stranded on shore clinging to your print platform as a life raft, newspapers need to jump on board the ever-growing online and mobile vessels where ad revenue and audience diversity promise to keep a paper afloat.
At least that’s what Kirk Allen believes.
The Reshift Media co-founder and former Postmedia executive spoke to a room of attentive delegates on May 2 at the INK+BEYOND newspaper conference, where he discussed the necessity of multi-platform advertising strategies as both a tool to grow sales, and to engage new audiences.
The targeting capabilities available when a newspaper is optimized for mobile and online are so much stronger, said Allen. “The rich pool of data you can tap into through harvesting the analytics of social media, Google searches and mobile usage can grant a wealth of knowledge.”
The cross-platform media sales expert said that digital data can provide a wave of insight into the demographics, geographies and behaviors of your audience which can benefit editorial content and provide newspapers with a commodity they can sell to advertisers.
“Own that relationship and be platform agnostic. Don’t just work your own properties, you have to open up the blinders to see what else is out there, to arm your sales reps to sell a bigger, more engaged audience,” said Allen.
“As a publisher or editor, the one takeaway from this presentation needs to be going back to newsroom and asking if social media insights are being used on a daily basis.”
By getting both a newspaper content and advertising onto platforms that make sense, the combination can have a multiplier effect towards brand awareness. However, Allen cautioned to avoid the ‘do-it-yourself’ model, and encouraged finding a partner that can arm your team to sell across multiple digital platforms in attempt to reach as many of the fish in the sea as possible.
