At Archant, we believe the opportunities that will be afforded to a modern, progressive and continuously relevant local media organisation will be significant. Sitting, as we do, at the intersection between local communities and local businesses provides us with a unique opportunity to enhance the lives of both – be this through great content or commercial propositions, or both combined.
As far as we are concerned, our goal is simple: we want to be the best local media company in the UK by the end of 2017. This piece is about one part of that journey that began in 2015 and the transformational effect it has had on the way we are making this ambition real.
Restructure
One Archant, as it is called, has been about changing the structure of the company, but also changing the way that we work together. Simply put, our company re-organised last year, moving away from sectioned-off individual business units to a functional structure, organised around commercial, content and marketing. Collaboration became the focus of this new way of working with a concentration on working together on a single plan, not many.
For a media business with many products (we have around 150 print products and associated websites, independent digital businesses, as well as a multitude of events and a local TV station) the effect of this approach has been pronounced. It has allowed us to recognise, prioritise and act on the big issues and opportunities facing local media in a way that we have never done before. Through collaboration, the marketing function finds itself at the heart of this, at times leading and at times supporting the process of transformation of our business.
The marketing function has broad responsibilities at Archant – with responsibility for circulation, digital strategy and product, events, data and insight, customer service and stand-alone online businesses. A ‘One Archant’ approach has allowed our company to make a strong start on its road to becoming the UK’s best local media business.
Core, of course, to what we do is to deliver the circulation and distribution plan. A single, aligned approach has allowed Archant to have a standout year in 2015 with significant revenue growth from circulation as well as industry leading volume performances. Our specialist magazine division saw circulation volume growth of nearly 2% and in total, 18 of our 35 titles experienced growth last year. Our newspaper division is above the industry average and two of our four daily titles are in the top ten best performers in the country and the Norwich Evening News occupying the top spot.
Our approach has been fourfold. First comes the product plan, making sure that our titles are as strong as they can be and tailored to their target audiences. Second is distribution. We have been forensic about availability, making sure that the products are available in the right volumes in the right outlets. The publishing industry has in recent years cut back on production to try and produce the fewest amount of copies it can in order to manage cost. Archant’s strategy last year was to reverse this; more copies in more stores was our mantra. As a cost effective strategy to drive incremental sale, it has no equal. Thirdly, we sought to rank and optimise all our tactical marketing activity. That meant a robust series of testing in order to establish the efficacy of everything we did from pricing to merchandising to promotions and we used the results of that to reorder our priorities. For our magazine business in particular and increasingly now for newspapers, we re-energised our promotional activity with nearly 250 major initiatives designed to add value. We are not arguing that we have fixed the circulation declines facing our industry, but we have better products and plans than ever before.
SME focused
The heart of a local media business also revolves around its relationship with SMEs. How it uses its vehicles and audiences to help local businesses reach local people is arguably its core purpose. The local marketing ecosystem has changed in recent years with the explosion of competitive online alternatives and the landscape is now chronically complex for local businesses. Our research into our current and potential customer base told us three key things: SMEs are time poor, they are looking for highly targeted ways to generate business and they want a visible ROI. Increasingly our efforts are tailored to solving these problems for our advertisers to ensure we service them in the best ways possible.
A further key function of a local media marketing department, feeding into the commercial development of the company, is safeguarding our advertising offering. Investment in digital is continuing to rise and marketing teams need to react to how it affects their businesses. Advertisers spent a record £8.61 billion on UK digital advertising in 2015 – up 16.4% – as ownership of internet devices increases, according to the latest Internet Advertising Bureau UK Digital Adspend report. At Archant, whilst digital investment is increasing from our customers, we continue to focus all our efforts in following our audiences and monitoring how they interact with our products as a priority – this could be digitally or in print.
A critical advantage that we have over online competitors is the relationships we hold with SMEs. Tens of thousands in our case. Our recent challenge has been due to market expansion and competition with other tailored SME propositions. At Archant, therefore, we have devoted an enormous amount of effort to reinventing our commercial offering for the SME market as well as bolstering our existing ones in order to stay ahead of the game.
We have been exploring brand new online commercial products in targeted display advertising, audience extension, content marketing and email. Products need to be bespoke and packaged, with the latter painstakingly created by geography and business sector. We are also increasingly providing marketing services and acting as the conduit between the SME and the complex array of marketing opportunities available. This we see as key to what makes a local media business relevant today.
Data and insight
Fundamental to everything a local media marketing department does is its use of data and insight. It is a major priority for Archant as we are increasingly using the insight provided by our data teams to inform the strategic direction of our commercial department – another example of why collaboration across the company is important. We now have strategies in new business generation and re-recruiting lapsed customers. Data is also helping us create the commercial products that we take to advertisers.
How we perform in the eyes of our SME advertisers is critical and we are continuing to measure this. Issues identified through this process have led to significant improvements in our services over the last twelve months. Research and insight is essential when it comes to proving effectiveness and to understand the continuously changing audience behaviour. Using this to be able to work closely with our customers and service their needs accordingly is something we take huge pride in.
Developing new revenue streams is also crucial for a local marketing department, especially in a changing landscape, and one area that marketing can expand on is events. Events are an increasing priority for Archant, as we seek to cement our position in local communities and diversify revenues. We currently run 40 consumer and B2B events in verticals including weddings, French property, food and drink, business and tourism and are increasingly interested in large local consumer events. Last December, we launched the Norwich Ice Rink close to our headquarters which attracted over 12,000 participants to a great new local event. The initiative was supported by a multi-platform campaign across our lead brands, the Eastern Daily Press and Norwich Evening News, as well as print and online advertisements running across titles such as the Norwich Advertiser, North Norfolk News and Great Yarmouth Mercury, and television ads running on Mustard TV. It was also run in partnership with our local airport – Norwich International Airport. It is a fantastic example of how a local media owner can act as a catalyst for connecting a local brand to local people through events managed by the marketing department.
These initiatives and more are all contributing to our journey towards becoming the best local media company in the UK by the end of 2017. At the heart of this journey is the marketing department – critical to the evolution and success of local media owners.
