These are slides for a workshop for the Montreal Gazette on business models for digital-first success.

1. Digital First
Business Models
Steve Buttry
The Gazette
March 20 , 2012
#gaztrain

2. Read more about it
• stevebuttry.wordpress.com
• slideshare.net/stevebuttry
• @stevebuttry
• jxpaton.wordpress.com
• stephenbuttry@gmail.com

3. This change is tectonic, not
cyclical

4. Clay Shirky:
“Nothing will work,
but everything might.”

6. John Paton:
“You don’t tinker or tweak a
broken model. You start again
anew.”

7. Digital First principles
• Digital First & print last
• Put the digital people in charge
• Engage the community
• Core competencies: Local content & local
sales
• If it’s not core: reduce it, stop it, sell it or
outsource it

8. Foundation to build on:
• Strong brands
• Local content
• Local sales force
• Journalistic integrity

9. Engagement = value
• Computers & archives
for community use
• Open news meetings
• Blog network
• Classes
• Digital audience 5x print
• From loss to profit

12. Jim Brady:
“There's no silver bullet.
There's just shrapnel.”

14. Why not paywalls?
• We never charged for content
• When they “work,” benefit is marginal
• You need to spend that money & energy
developing a model for the future
• They attempt to protect a failing model

15. John Paton:
“’You’re gonna miss us when we’re
gone’ is not much of a business
model.”

16. Paid content opportunities?
• Premium content (specialized)
• Unique, high-value content
• Membership (get more than content for
your payment
• Mobile, tablet
• Even if people will pay, can you make
more money w/ larger free audience?

18. Mobile Opportunity
• 44% of U.S. adults have smartphones
• 18% of U.S. adults have tablets (up 50%
from summer 2011 to early 2012)
Source: State of the News Media 2012

19. Mobile-first strategy
• Text alerts
• Email
• Applications (phones & tablets)
• Social media (tweets, check-ins, tips)
• Location-based news, info & commerce
• Easy-to-use mobile websites
• Device-flexible (not device-agnostic)
• Games (phones, iPads great for games)

21. C3’s new relationships
For the public: We will be their essential
connection to community life — news,
information, commerce, social life. Like
many Internet users turn first to Google,
your community should turn first to C3,
whatever the need.

22. C3’s new relationships
For businesses: We will be their essential
connection to customers, often making
the sale and collecting the money.

23. Our current relationship
with business customers
• Huge expense line in budget
• Lots of inefficiency
• Ad rates dropping
• Ad revenues dropping
• Lots of digital competition

24. C3’s revenue approach
• Move beyond advertising
• Direct sales (tickets, reservations, gift
registries, gift certificates)
• Lead generation & targeted ads
• Sponsorships, memberships & events
• Mobile ads & applications
• Handle multiple needs (yes, competing ads)

25. The C3 relationship
with business partners
• Revenue line in budget (expense line,
too)
• Delivering high value, tailored to needs
• One-stop shop for connecting with
customers

26. Personal content
• Births • Divorce
• Youth milestones • Jobs, pets, holidays,
• School food, interests, health
• Graduation • Illness
• College life • Empty nesters
• Military service • Retirement
• Weddings • Reunions
• Parenthood • Obituaries

28. Life stories
• Commissioned obits (journalist tells life
story, paid by family)
• Obituary, website, booklet, video
• Not just obits: weddings, retirements,
anniversaries, milestones

29. Newspaper Next

30. N2 lessons for Digital First
• Jobs to be done = opportunities
• “Good enough” opens doors to new
avenues of excellence
• Potential markets exceed what you can
imagine (or what research can project)
• “Beware the sucking sound of the core”

31. Discussion question:
What are some social media
revenue opportunities The Gazette
might pursue? How?

32. Discussion question:
What is a mobile revenue
opportunity The Gazette might
pursue? How?

33. Discussion question:
What are some direct-sales
opportunities The Gazette might
pursue? How?

34. Discussion question:
What is a personal content
opportunity The Gazette should
pursue? How would it generate a
new revenue stream?

35. Discussion question:
How should The Gazette change
sales incentives for selling digital
products & landing new
customers?

36. Read more about it
• stevebuttry.wordpress.com
• slideshare.net/stevebuttry
• @stevebuttry
• jxpaton.wordpress.com
• stephenbuttry@gmail.com