The module provides a comprehensive overview of media strategy development and implementation in the contemporary landscape. It’s designed to be adapted by universities and colleges to meet local needs. Media managers attending the course will explore the most important aspects of strategic planning, audience analysis, content creation, and organisational management, focusing on adapting to evolving media environments. Through practical exercises and analysis of real-world examples, students will learn to develop and apply effective media strategies to ensure organisational success and sustainability.

Week 1: Foundations of media strategy

• Setting up a media business: four essential steps: This resource provides a foundational understanding of the initial steps required to establish a media business. It highlights the importance of market analysis, business planning, and resource allocation. This will be used to demonstrate how strategic thinking is needed from the very start of a media organisation.
• The value of thorough research for media organisations: Emphasising the critical role of research in informing strategic decisions, this resource underscores the importance of data-driven approaches. Students will learn how to gather and analyse information to understand market trends and audience needs.
• Identifying the target audience and its information needs: Understanding the target audience is paramount for any successful media strategy. This resource guides students in identifying and analysing audience demographics, behaviours, and information needs.
• Newspaper audience research: This resource provides specific insight into audience research for newspapers, which allows a student to recognise how different media platforms will require different research strategies.
• Discussion: The importance of research-driven strategy and initial business setup.
• Assignment: Students will begin developing a preliminary audience analysis for a chosen media organisation.

Week 2: Strategic planning and adaptation

• Preparing and introducing a media corporate plan: This resource details the process of creating and implementing a comprehensive corporate plan, which is essential for long-term organisational success. Students will learn how to define objectives, develop strategies, and monitor progress.
• Adapting to changing audience behaviour and monitoring the market: In today’s rapidly evolving media landscape, adaptability is crucial. This resource explores methods for monitoring market trends and adjusting strategies to meet changing audience needs.
• Vision, accountability, and transparency: This resource emphasises the importance of clear vision, accountability, and transparency in media organisations. Students will learn how these principles contribute to building trust and fostering a positive organisational culture.
• Discussion: About the need for a corporate plan, monitoring the market, and accountability and transparency.
• Assignment: Students will develop a preliminary corporate plan for their chosen media organisation.

Week 3: Content strategy and innovation

• Establishing a market differential with original journalism: This resource highlights the importance of creating unique and compelling content to stand out in a competitive market. Students will learn how to leverage original journalism to build brand loyalty and attract audiences.
• Newsroom evolution: from digital denial to digital first: This resource traces the evolution of newsrooms in response to digital disruption, illustrating the shift towards a digital-first approach. Students will learn how to integrate digital strategies into traditional media operations.
• Introducing a converged newsroom strategy: This resource explores the concept of converged newsrooms and its benefits, demonstrating how integrating various media platforms can enhance content delivery and audience engagement.
• Creating a converged news operation: This resource gives practical advice on how to create a converged news operation.
• Convergence workflows, roles and responsibilities: This resource helps to understand the management of a converged newsroom.
• Lesson – Newsroom convergence: This lesson provide further examples and practical knowledge of a converged newsroom.
• This free educational module is designed to teach media managers the essential steps needed for developing a successful strategy for their organisations.
• Assignment: Students will develop a content strategy for their chosen media organisation, focusing on digital integration.

Week 4: Organisational management and leadership

• Developing the potential of your staff: This resource emphasises the importance of investing in staff development to enhance organisational capabilities and foster a culture of continuous learning.
• Managing people and setting objectives: Effective leadership is essential for driving organisational success. This resource provides guidance on managing teams, setting clear objectives, and fostering a positive work environment.
• Discussion: The role of leadership in driving strategic initiatives.
• Assignment: Students will develop a plan for staff development and team management for their chosen media organisation.

Week 5: Project management and implementation

• An example of the media project management process: This resource provides a practical example of the project management process in a media context, illustrating the steps involved in planning, executing, and evaluating projects.
• The skills and techniques of media project management: This resource outlines the essential skills and techniques required for effective media project management, including planning, scheduling, and risk management.
• Basics of project development for a media organisation: This resource covers the fundamental principles of project development in a media organisation, from initial concept to final execution.
• Lesson – Project management: This lesson offer practical information regarding project management.
• Discussion: The importance of structured project management in media organisations.
• Assignment: Students will develop a project plan for a specific strategic initiative for their chosen media organisation.

Week 6: Sales strategy and evaluation

• How to develop a media sales strategy: This resource provides guidance on developing effective media sales strategies to generate revenue and ensure organisational sustainability.
• Final presentations: Students will present their comprehensive media strategies, incorporating all elements covered throughout the module.
• Evaluation and feedback: Peer and instructor feedback on student presentations.
• Module review: Summary of key learnings and discussion of future trends in media strategy.

Timetable:

• Week 1: Foundations of media strategy
• Week 2: Strategic planning and adaptation
• Week 3: Content strategy and innovation
• Week 4: Organisational management and leadership
• Week 5: Project management and implementation
• Week 6: Sales strategy and evaluation

Summary:

The ‘Media strategy’ module is designed to equip media managers with the essential skills and knowledge to navigate the complexities of modern media management. Over six weeks, those attending will delve into the core principles of strategic planning, audience engagement, and organisational adaptation. The module emphasises the importance of research, innovation, and effective leadership in driving media organisations forward. Attendees will learn to develop comprehensive media strategies, manage projects effectively, and foster a dynamic and responsive media environment.

The post Module: Media Strategy first appeared on Media Helping Media.

Knowing your audience and understanding the issues they face are essential factors in developing a compelling editorial proposition.

In the module about “Identifying the target audience and its information needs”, we looked at why it’s necessary to be thorough in researching who we aim to serve with our content.

In the module Establishing a market differential (with original, in-depth journalism), we touched on the need to set up focus groups to help us learn how to improve what we produce and find out what worked and what didn’t work.

Both steps require talking to the audience asking their opinions on our output, finding out about the issues that we might have neglected, and then analysing the results and feeding all the information back into our overall strategy.

The purpose of audience research is five-fold.

1. It helps us produce better content that is more focused on audience need.
2. It helps us continually improve what we do so that we remain relevant.
3. It generates new ideas for producing audience-related programmes and material.
4. It offers our sales and marketing team the information they need to try to monetise the content we produce.
5. It highlights new business development opportunities which can help ensure we are more accessible to more people.

Surveys need to be factored into our overall strategy and plotted on a calendar so that we can make regular comparisons about our performance and how the audience is changing.

Some media organisations have the luxury of being able to afford research teams whose job it is to plan campaigns to monitor the audience response, but for many the research has to be provided using existing resources.

For example, the news department might be set the objective to break seven original news stories a week.

To achieve that objective, each reporter might be set the objective to break at least one original news story a month. Please see our training module on “Managing people and setting objectives”.

To help both the journalists and the news department achieve their objectives, the editor might decide to carry out audience surveys to try to find out more about the issues that most concern viewers, and explore ways of investigating those stories.

It might be that a monthly survey, carried out during the busy rush-hour by reporters with clipboards, will produce a list of stories that have not been covered before, or which have been inadequately covered in the past.

You might want to invite members of a focus group in for coffee and cake, show them items you have published in order to remind them what was broadcast, and then ask them what was missed, what worked, and what could have been done better.

You could also set up an online survey using one of the many free online tools.

It doesn’t really matter how you do it, what matters is that you continually assess your performance and measure it against audience appreciation.

Asking the right questions

Research is not about asking closed-ended questions, it’s about asking the right open-ended questions. Closed-ended questions can be answered with ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Sometimes such answers are useful. However open-ended questions, which require the interviewee to expand their answers are better for our purposes.

For example, you might ask a closed-ended question such as “Did you like the in-depth news item about the flooding?” The answer will probably be yes or no. However, if you ask “What did you like and what did you dislike about the in-depth news item about flooding?”, the answer is probably going to be more helpful.

You might ask the closed-ended question “does our news output meet your needs?” to which the answer will probably be yes or no. Or you could ask the open-ended question “what issues could we cover better and why?”, to which the answer will probably be a list of issues that you can follow up on behalf of the audience.

These issues can be used in your content planning strategy, please see our training modules on establishing a market differential and forward planning.

The information gained from asking the right open-ended questions is essential for developing your media strategy and ensuring you are on the right track. It will also help you grow your audience.

Ideally, you want your news output to be their preferred source of information, and you want to create a dependancy and loyalty that makes the audience members you talk to ambassadors of your brand.

Getting the scheduling right

You might want to ask the audience about scheduling.

Perhaps farmers and agricultural workers are an important segment of your target audience. You might have some great programmes that have been well-researched, are based on earlier feedback, and address the needs of those working on the land.

However, if that programme is broadcast at a time when the farm workers are in the fields, or late at night when they have already gone to bed, it’s been a waste of effort.

the right content is fine, but if it is not delivered at the right time it’s not being strategically delivered.

Getting the platform right

You might have some great TV programmes aimed at teenagers and young adults. You might have decided that such programmes are best broadcast late in the evening when, you think, they will be watching.

But an audience survey or a focus group might reveal that the audience you have identified no longer watches scheduled TV. They might be out socialising and using catch-up services for the media consumption.

It could be that they want news and information on-demand and on the move. You might conclude that you need a YouTube channel to be able to deliver your content to smartphones so that this important segment of your target audience is able to access the information they need, when they need it and on the devices they are currently using.

All this information is invaluable as you develop your strategy for the evolution of your media business.

It’s also valuable for being able to focus resources better, identify internal training needs, and spotting new business development opportunities.

Usability and accessibility

Most broadcasters have websites.

Some are sophisticated offerings which add real value to the material broadcast on TV and on radio. Others are fairly basic sites with video and some text often mirroring what was broadcast on air. Whatever format you have, you must test it with audience focus groups.

One way of doing this is to invite representative from your target audience groups in to the TV station to test the website. Ask their permission to film them.

Try to find someone who is new to the web, someone who is comfortable using websites, and someone who is an expert in the field.

Sit them down in front of your website and ask them to click around, talking out load as they do. Film them and then watch the film.

You will learn a great deal from this, and the information will help you improve the usability of the site and the quality of the content you produce.

Maintaining standards

Another important function of focus groups is to help journalists to remain true to their pledge to deliver accurate, fair, objective and impartial journalism produced with integrity. Please see our ethics training section for more on this.

The audience might ask some searching and, at times, uncomfortable questions about why a story was covered, why we asked the questions were posed, why a particular group wasn’t approached for comments, and why how those interviewed were selected.

This is all extremely valuable material if we are to be transparent and accountable.

We can’t find that information if we sit in the newsroom looking at the world through computer screens. We have to talk to people.

And who better to talk to than representatives of our target audience groups on who we depend for our validity and our survival.

The post The value of audience research first appeared on Media Helping Media.

A converged newsroom operates like a ‘content factory’, with a centralised ‘command and control’ desk responsible for all news intake, production and output.

It gathers and processes raw material, creates different products, and then ensures they are delivered to the target audience. In this module we look at how it is done.

This module is about the workflows and roles and responsibilities that make a converged newsroom run smoothly. You might want to read our article on the strategic thinking behind newsroom convergence.

Central to the whole operation is that ‘command and control’ area, often called a ‘superdesk’ or ‘news hub’. The name you give it doesn’t matter as long as it performs the role of centralising all operations.

Below is a graphic setting out what a typical superdesk might look like.

The superdesk

• Both intake (everything that comes into the news operation), and output (everything that is delivered from the news operation to the audience on multiple devices) need to be close together.
• Ideally, representatives of both will sit around the same desk.
• If space is an issue, and one desk can’t be set up, then they need to be sitting close together.
• They need to be able to communicate and collaborate at all times in order to respond swiftly to changes in news priorities.

People give this desk different names. Some call it the news hub, some the news cog; it doesn’t matter what it’s called, what matters is what it does. For this series of training modules we are calling this desk the superdesk.

• The superdesk is the newsroom’s central command-and-control.
• It’s where all the main news decisions are made.
• It serves as a responsive, dynamic focal point for everything to do with the smooth running of the news organisation.

Seats at the superdesk

• Those sitting around the super desk need to be breathing the same air, hearing the same news alerts, and be taking part in impromptu news meetings, called to deal with the unexpected.
• Choosing who sits at the superdesk is up to you. That decision will depend on your overall strategy and who the main decision makers are in your news organisation.
• It will also depend on where you need to prioritise effort, the most popular platforms/devices used by your target audience, and the resources available to you.
• However, there are a number of important roles that should be represented on the superdesk.
  • These are roles, not necessarily individuals.
  • For example, the intake editor role will probably need to be covered 24 hours a day for a large news organisation. In that case, the intake editor position on the superdesk should be a seat, populated by different people as working shifts change.
  • The exceptions might be the planning editor and the cross-promotions roles. They might be positions that need to be filled during the daytime only.
• Intake editor role: This is the person who is responsible for everything coming into the building.
• Output editor role: This is the person who provide the quality control for everything going out of the building and who liaises directly with production.
• Interactive editor role: You will need someone from the interactive team. They need to ensure the website and all digital platforms are publishing all breaking and developing news updates. They will also report to the superdesk regarding all developments on social media.
• Resource manager role: You will need someone to manage resources, and someone representing planning.

There are other roles you could add, but let’s start with the main ones.

The intake editor

• The intake editor acts as the eyes and ears of your news business.
• They are responsible for all the material that comes into your news production process.
• This will include the news gathering efforts of your own team of journalists.
• It will involve responding to stories that are being fed by wires services.
• It will involve monitoring the stories being covered by the competition.
• The intake editor has the authority to call an instant, stand-up impromptu meeting when there is breaking news, in order to help the output team adjust to new developments.
• They are, essentially, looking out of the building at all the elements that will inform and feed your news operation.
• They are not responsible for output. This is an important point. That role falls to the output editor.

The output editor

• The output editor looks after quality control.
• They are also responsible for ensuring deadlines are met.
• They are the defender of the news brand.
• Nothing gets past the output editor that could damage that brand.
• They ensure the material is accurate, that it’s objective, impartial and fair.
• Their job is to focus on production values.
• They need to ensure all platforms are served.
• They can’t afford to be distracted by watching the competition, keeping up to date with the wires services, and responding to input issues and logistics.
• That’s why those tasks are the responsibility of the intake editor.
• However, the two work closely together, although doing different jobs.
• They are in constant communication.
• Between them the main news decisions for the whole news operation rest.

Planning editor

• We discussed the strategic role of the planning editor in the module about forward planning.
• The planning editor is responsible for managing the news organisation’s unique editorial proposition of in-depth, well-planned, investigative journalism, which provides your market differential.
• The planning editor will attend all the main news meetings held at the superdesk.
• They will offer at least one piece of original journalism a day, probably more than that.
• They will listen to what is happening on the day and will ensure that all the major stories are followed up. The shared planning calendar will help.
• The planning editors role will not only take the pressure off the journalists working on the daily output, but it will also guarantee that there is a continuous stream of unique content produced on all platforms.

Interactive editor

• Having someone from the interactive team sitting on the superdesk means that the online and mobile coverage will be able to respond faster to breaking news developments.
• It also means that the superdesk will be informed about how the audience is responding to developing news, and it will provide a different perspective on newsgathering and how news should be covered.
• Similarly, having someone from the social media team, will alert the superdesk to developments on the various social media platforms used by the target audience.
• This will ensure that the online and other digital versions of your output are not just an after thought but are a central part of all you do.
• And that will show through in your production values, which, in turn, might encourage the audience to engage with your content more.
• This will also help with cross-promotion because your on air presenters can be briefed to drive audience traffic to the online and on mobile versions for any added value content.

Resource manager

• This role is sometimes called the production manager.
• This is the person who is responsible for all the resources required to produce the journalism.
• This could be the camera crews, the vehicles, and the edit suites.
• The resource manager needs to respond quickly once the intake editor has alerted the superdesk of a new story development, and the editorial team on the superdesk decides that information is so important that resources have to be shifted from a lesser story.

Cross-promotions producer

• Some newsrooms have a cross-promotions producer.
• Their job is to ensure that all output areas are aware of what others are doing and that content is exploited for the maximum benefit of the news brand and the audience.
• They will work across TV, radio, print, online and mobile where appropriate.
• In some cases they will design teasers, in other cases they will make sure the material is produced by others.
• Essentially, they will ensure there are no wasted opportunities.

Next we look at the workflow for a converged newsroom.

Converged newsroom workflow

The roles and responsibilities outlined above are just a guide. You will need to design your own version of a superdesk so that it makes business sense for your media organisation.

But do try to keep intake and output as separate roles. And do ensure that you have a planning function. Once you have reorganised, the workflow is fairly simple.

As has already been stated, the superdesk is your newsroom’s central command-and-control. All the main news decisions are made here. It is responsible for intake, planning and output.

As you will see from the graphic below, once those decision are made the instructions are sent to production – ideally via a representative attending the superdesk meetings.

The production teams then ensure that the appropriate platform-specific value is added to the story based on audience needs, device/platform capabilities, and strategic business logic.

That means that if they are working on the web or mobile versions they will add interactive timelines, infographics, photo galleries, video, and other digital assets, where appropriate.

If they are working on the TV version they will create TV packages that can cross-promote the digital assets being offered on the other platforms.

Production will no longer be carried out in isolation but as a part of a coherent and coordinated presentation on multiple devices.

Questions

1. What is the primary function of a converged newsroom?
2. Describe the role of the superdesk in a converged newsroom.
3. Identify and explain the responsibilities of the intake editor.
4. What are the key duties of the output editor, and how do they differ from those of the intake editor?
5. How does the planning editor contribute to the newsroom’s operations?
6. Discuss the importance of having an interactive editor at the superdesk.
7. Explain the role of the resource manager in the context of a converged newsroom.
8. What is the purpose of a cross-promotions producer, and how do they enhance the news brand?
9. Analyse how the workflow of a converged newsroom ensures effective news production across multiple platforms.
10. Evaluate the significance of keeping intake and output as separate roles within a converged newsroom.

Answers

1. A converged newsroom functions as a content factory, responsible for the intake, production, and output of news content.
2. The superdesk serves as the central command-and-control point in a newsroom, where all main news decisions are made and where intake and output are closely coordinated.
3. The intake editor is responsible for all incoming material, including news from journalists, wire services, and competitors. They can call impromptu meetings for breaking news.
4. The output editor ensures quality control, meeting deadlines, and maintaining the news brand’s integrity. Unlike the intake editor, they focus on production values and output rather than incoming news.
5. The planning editor manages the newsroom’s editorial strategy, ensuring a continuous stream of unique content and attending main news meetings to follow up on major stories.
6. An interactive editor ensures that online and mobile coverage is responsive to breaking news and provides insights into audience engagement and social media developments.
7. The resource manager oversees the resources needed for journalism production, such as camera crews and vehicles, and reallocates them as necessary based on news priorities.
8. A cross-promotions producer ensures that all output areas are aware of each other’s activities, maximising content exploitation across various platforms to benefit the news brand.
9. The workflow of a converged newsroom involves coordinated production across platforms, adding platform-specific value to stories based on audience needs and strategic logic.
10. Keeping intake and output separate allows for specialised focus on gathering and producing news, ensuring efficiency and quality in both areas.

Lesson plan for trainers

If you are a trainer of journalists we have a free lesson plan: ‘Newsroom convergence‘ which you are welcome to download and adapt for your own purposes.

The post Convergence: workflows, roles and responsibilities first appeared on Media Helping Media.

Identifying the target audience and discovering the information needs of readers, listeners and viewers, is essential for formulating an editorial proposition.

As set out in the first article in this series, “‘Setting up a media business’”, the first step is to identify the audience groups you plan to serve in order to achieve your goal.

You need to know about their information needs, their aspirations, their lifestyles, how they consume news, whether they share it or not, and why they rely on you for their news.

You can do this by hiring an expensive market research team, or you can do this yourselves by carrying out local audience surveys and talking to your audience. My preference is the latter.

In my experience this works well, and the exercise can be carried out in less than a day. Here is how.

Involve senior managers

Gather your senior team from editorial, sales & marketing and business development.

• Obtain some existing market data; it’s likely that the local audience segments have already been identified. If not, it’s not difficult to work them out.
• Focus on three or four of your target audience segments and aim to meet most if not all of their information needs.
• Try to imagine one character that best represents each group.
• Download pictures from the internet of people who fit the character profiles you have identified.
• Give these people a name, imagine them as real people; these characters will help you define your content strategy.

Ask the following questions:

• What are their interests and what stories would they read?
• What are their concerns? You need to find the answers they require.
• What stories would they probably not be interested in?
• What is their lifestyle, are they married, in a relationship, single, have they got children?
• Are you catering for their personal and lifestyle interests?
• What are they likely to buy and what are they unlikely to buy? Make sure you have the right adverts in your output.
• How do they consume news? Do they watch TV, listen to radio, access news online, or use smartphones and tablets? Are you publishing on all of these devices?
• Do they use social media to engage with content? If so, what platforms are they using?
• Are you stimulating those conversations and engaging with your audience? If not, why not?

Audience profiles

Once you have finished these profiles, share them with your senior editors and production journalists and reporters so they know who they are creating content for.

Print out the pictures of these character profiles and attach them to the newsroom walls.

Make sure every story is written for these audience groups and uses the language that they understand.

Encourage the journalists to look at the images when they are writing their stories to ensure that every fact presented and every question asked are of value to the target audience groups your media organisation has decided to serve.

Do the same with the sales and marketing team so they know what adverts the audience would be interested in seeing. Advertising throughout all output areas should reflect your users’ interests and aspirations.

Focus groups

Consider setting up focus groups representing the different audience profiles you hope to serve. Invite members of these groups in for snacks and a chat. Talk to them about your output and editorial plans.

Consider inviting representatives to join an audience panel to offer you regular feedback about what worked and what didn’t work.

Try to find out what you did well and where you could have done better.

Ask them what stories helped them and what stories they found uninteresting.

Use this information to continually refresh your unique editorial proposition so that it is always focused on the latest feedback from your audience panel.

The post Knowing your audience first appeared on Media Helping Media.