Content verticals and franchises

Here’s an idea to steal and adapt: Consider your readers not just as political junkies or sports nuts, but as multi-dimensional people who love politics and are enamored with baseball (or both). When you do that, you can open readers to a wide range of different coverage they didn’t know you had.

Here’s an idea to steal and adapt: If you have the expertise to cover a topic with a robust audience, consider moving beyond a “destination website,” app or videos, and try producing a podcast on that topic. And give the podcast time to grow its audience.

Here’s an idea to steal and adapt: Consider reaching a national audience that cares about a topic your newsroom covers well. The national audience may not subscribe because the rest of your reporting isn’t as relevant to them. How could you get them to read, interact with, and most importantly, financially support your coverage?

Here’s an idea to steal and adapt: Choose an issue you’re already covering that’s of deep importance to your community. Go beyond the story and rally your newsroom and your viewers to make a concrete positive impact.

Here’s an idea to steal and adapt: When planning arts coverage, ignore the calendar and ditch stories pegged to upcoming performances, art openings, festivals and events. Instead, focus on news, people and what the arts say about your city.

As the website experiments with targeted content for specific audiences, it’s also testing out services that will serve its broader audiences.

Here’s an idea to steal and adapt: The Miami Herald in August 2018 created Sports Pass, a sports-only digital subscription plan, allowing sports diehards both in and out of market to subscribe at a lower rate than a full digital subscription.

Here’s an idea to steal and adapt: The Sacramento Bee used a SMART-goal setting process to find audiences willing to pay for its work.

Here’s an idea to steal and adapt: The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., created cross-disciplinary teams across the company — spanning the newsroom and the sales/marketing side — to launch new products in specific content areas like food, politics and real estate. The initiative resulted in nearly $900,000 in new product revenue and, in the past two years, an increase in digital subscriptions by 250 percent.

The Globe and Mail is launching a cannabis vertical after the country approved recreational use of marijuana. Nieman Lab digs into their plans for content and monetization.

Don’t attempt to create a new franchise vertical or niche site without this advice.

Niche content can be valuable to advertisers and readers alike.

Consider the variables tied to the success of a niche content vertical.

Email can be a very effective tool when targeting specific audiences and building sub-brands.

Think beyond your website when considering how to distribute niche content.