The document discusses 6 critical challenges that print media companies face in efficiently scaling digital content production through freelance writers: 1) Recruiting qualified writers, 2) Onboarding new writers, 3) Managing internal and freelance writers, 4) Facilitating editorial review, 5) Streamlining payment administration, and 6) Leveraging metrics and analytics to optimize audience engagement. It proposes that print media companies require automated solutions to address these challenges, recruit and train writers, manage the content creation process, pay writers, and analyze content performance. Skyword is presented as a platform that can help solve these problems by connecting media companies to writers and providing tools to manage the entire digital content workflow.

1. 6 Critical Challenges Sabotaging
Quality, Cost-Effective
Digital Content Production
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CHALLENGES
One of the biggest challenges facing media companies is how to efficiently scale digital
content production to reach and engage new audiences. Savvy media professionals
recognize the critical role of freelance writers to enable them to create the type and
amount of content required to be competitive in this new world.
T
he explosion of online information and changes in
consumer behavior have dramatically shifted the
print media business. Daily newspapers and weekly
magazines now compete with constantly updatable digital
information sources, such as websites and blogs that
aggregate free content from thousands of online sources.
Since 75 percent of adults turn to the Internet for daily
news, print media businesses must evolve to remain both
financially competitive and a first-source for breaking news
and information. This is a serious issue, since website
traffic is essential for print media organizations to generate
revenue. Newspapers, which have historically relied on
classified and display advertising and user subscriptions
for revenues, have seen business diminish as ad dollars
migrate to competing pure-play websites. A survey
by the Pew Research Center found that for every dollar
newspapers gain in digital revenue, they currently lose
$7 in print advertising. 1
This new reality has several implications for the print
media industry.
P
• rint media must drive new revenue streams by
innovating with digital content product offerings.
Innovators are offering new forms of digital advertising,
developing niche editorial products that include live
chats and video clips, creating digital marketing services
units, and offering enhanced services to capitalize
on existing merchant relationships through content
geared toward supporting top advertisers.
M
• edia companies must develop a plan for creating
a steady stream of relevant content for online
channels. Many organizations are skilled at creating
One media company found that it needed
four staff members to dedicate two full
days each month to processing payroll for
60 to 70 contract writers.
original articles, news, or blogs. Yet many organizations
lack sufficient resources to generate enough content to
feed online channels throughout the day and stay in
competition with constantly updating television reports
and social media feeds. To meet the new business
requirements, many organizations turn to freelancer
writers to supplement the in-house writing staff.
O
• rganizations must attract and retain a resource
pool of qualified freelance writers. Organizations
evolving to these new business models need to
augment their in-house staffs with qualified freelance
writers. Improvements to increase writer retention
include streamlining and automating the writer
payment and administrative processes.
As media companies turn to freelancers to generate more
digital content, a variety of challenges can bog down the
process. There are many moving parts to managing these
resources, and the traditional workflow processes to scale
digital content creation can be costly and cumbersome.
This report covers six challenges confronting media
companies today in establishing a robust and loyal
freelancer community to create digital content. It
addresses the required capabilities to solve those
challenges, as well.
25 Thomson Place | Boston, MA 02210 | 855-SKYWORD | www.skyword.com

2. The Challenges
Challenge 1: Recruiting Qualified Writers
Freelance writers are a cost-effective alternative to hiring additional staff when newspapers and
magazines need to develop fresh online content to attract new audiences and advertisers. As print
media companies run leaner organizations, they often lack sufficient internal resources to identify
and vet qualified writers. Many editors may have an abundance of freelancers submitting writing
proposals daily, but it is nearly impossible to review them all in a timely manner through email, and it
can be difficult to find writers who are qualified to write about specific niche topics. The recruitment
and review process can be onerous, particularly if the organization is looking for writers with new skillsets or a specific
subject matter expertise. The administrative work to create and post assignments, recruit potential freelance
journalists or bloggers, and review writer applications and writing samples can be overwhelming—particularly for
time-strapped organizations.
New Requirement:
To efficiently attract and manage writers, print media organizations require a new approach to streamline and automate
writer recruitment. Organizations require a single interface that provides access to communities of writers ranging in
expertise from enthusiasts, influencers, subject matter experts, and journalists. The interface should automate the writer
search, submission of qualifications, and application review process, eliminating the management of resumes from myriad
sources, phone screening, and long and cumbersome email threads.
Skyword has solved specific problems for us. We can now easily manage and pay our freelance
writers, measure the performance of our content, and increase the satisfaction of our writers
by providing them with a flexible, intuitive platform for writing, submitting, and promoting
articles.” – Scott Markle, Senior Manager, AutoTrader.com
Challenge 2: Onboarding Writers
Once freelance writers are hired, they must be trained in the media company’s voice and style guide,
introduced to staff members with whom they will collaborate, and provided project directives such
as deadlines, word counts, contact details for interviewees, and article submission procedures. Often
newspapers and magazines prefer for freelancer writers not to use their in-house content management
system, so another platform may be required. Writers also need to be informed of important concepts
related to writing web-based content, such as search engine optimization and social sharing. Bringing
new writers up to speed can take weeks of emailing, phone calls, and online chats.
New Requirement:
To enable efficient writer training during the content creation process, print media companies must adopt new techniques
to efficiently train and onboard writers. Ideally, media companies should have one repository where writers can access style
guidelines and writing standards. Writing for the web takes a different skillset than writing for print media, and writers
should have a system in place that provides guidance on how to create search-optimized content that maximizes
online engagement.
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3. The Challenges
Challenge 3: Managing Internal and Freelance Writers
Tracking articles using spreadsheets and word processing applications is an onerous process.
Typically, a staff member must track which writers have been assigned articles, ensure ongoing
coverage for key topics, avoid duplication of topics, and manage approaching deadlines. Keyword
glossaries correlating with online advertisers and hot news topics are essential to support search
engine optimization. These customized keyword lists represent a source of competitive advantage
for newspapers and magazines.
New Requirement:
Print media organizations need a new framework that streamlines and automates the entire content creation process to
gain operational efficiencies and produce content at the pace required in digital media. In a single platform, in-house staffs
need a view of the status of every piece of content at every stage of the process to ensure that assignments have been
completed and deadlines met. They also need a system with built-in tools that optimize content for search and social, and
ensure that content is original and properly sourced. To keep pace with the “always on” requirements of web content
production, they must be able to publish with a single click at a moment’s notice.
Challenge 4: Editorial Review
Developing compelling content is an iterative process. Using email, phone calls, and word processing
applications to communicate edits to each writer is time consuming, disruptive to the daily newsroom
workflow, and requires advance planning. These manual processes don’t provide adequate visibility
into writer communications or editing cycles.
New Requirement:
Media companies require a technology framework for managing the editorial review process of freelancers’ article
submissions. This framework should incorporate a detailed activity history of each writer’s articles and facilitate dialogue
between writers and copyeditors to reduce operational inefficiencies. This streamlined process eliminates a time-consuming
back-and-forth dialogue between freelancers and newsroom staff. Freelance writers enjoy the structured atmosphere of
submitting articles and tracking content from copyediting through the payment process.
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www.skyword.com

4. The Challenges
Challenge 5: Payment Administration
As newspapers and magazines manage multiple writers, they’re tackling the management of
numerous invoices, payments, and tax reporting, which creates additional work for the finance and
accounting teams. One media company, for example, needed four staff members to dedicate two
full days each month to processing payroll for 60 to 70 contract writers. Despite this level of effort,
manual accounting processes resulted in lost invoices and dissatisfied writers. This can lead to low
writer retention rates and additional costs in onboarding new freelance writers or paying staff
writers overtime wages to complete last-minute assignments on deadline.
New Requirement:
To efficiently manage writers and reduce administrative time and costs, media companies must streamline and automate
writer payment and tax administration. Organizations must institute a system that eliminates invoicing and ensures timely
and regular payments. Freelance writers appreciate the scheduled pay cycles. The cumbersome exchange of invoices
becomes obsolete, making the payment process quick and reliable.
For The Trading Deck, we knew we had to manage the writers and editorial process
differently than we do for our staff writers. We could not have accomplished this without
the Skyword Platform.” – Jonathan Krim, Editor, MarketWatch.com
Challenge 6: Metrics and Analytics to Optimize Audience Engagement
Creating digital content isn’t enough. Newspapers and magazines must measure how well
different pieces of content perform and continually revise their publishing schedules accordingly.
Print media organizations need expert insight into online keyword effectiveness, as well as the
types of content (e.g., articles, videos, blog posts) that users share in social media. This information
enables media organizations to rapidly identify trending topics to optimize audience reach and
engagement. Gathering this type of data requires generating reports from multiple databases and
analyzing the data for valuable insights.
New Requirement:
Staffs need at-a-glance dashboards to deliver content performance metrics for writers and their authored content, as well
as tools that easily facilitate the social sharing of content. They also should have the ability to create new assignments
based on topic or focus areas that perform well or are trending.
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www.skyword.com

5. Skyword
How Skyword Can Help
To efficiently manage digital content, print media organizations need a framework that streamlines and automates digital
content creation, publishing, payments to writers, and dashboard analytics. Skyword enables newspapers and magazines
to gain operational efficiencies, resulting in the scaling of relevant, targeted content, stronger business performance, and a
greater competitive advantage. Skyword offers access to:.
•
➢ network of 3,000 active writers, ranging in expertise from subject matter experts to influencers, journalists,
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and enthusiasts
•
•
➢A solution to handle ongoing writer training and queries during the content creation process
•
➢ built-in editorial process that incorporates an activity history of each article and facilitates dialogue between the
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writer and Skyword copyeditor
•
➢ etrics tied to each writer and piece of content, as well as tools that facilitate social sharing of content to increase
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visibility for the client across the web
•
➢ ata in one centralized place that allows teams to forecast their content budgets more accurately, based on the
D
articles they want to produce and the writers they want to use
➢ ools to manage the administrative aspects of hiring and evaluating outside writers, streamlining and automating
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writer management, and optimizing keywords for greater online engagement
To see for yourself how Skyword for Media can revolutionize your digital offerings,
contact us today at http://www.skyword.com/.
WEB
www.skyword.com
PHONE
855.SKYWORD (855.759.9673)
EMAIL
sales@skyword.com
Reference
Newspapers Turning Ideas Into Dollars. February 11, 2013. Journalism.org.
Retrieved from http://www.journalism.org/analysis_report/newspapers_turning_ideas_dollars
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