What PRs Need to Know About How Publishers Are Targeting Quality Content
New evidence that quality not quantity is the financial model that is working best for mainstream media.
The media landscape is changing at pace – and keeping up with the latest developments and moves will give every comms expert an advantage over their rivals. Every week take a look at the media business from mainstream and ‘legacy’ media to cutting edge tech and the latest trends and developments – and how you can use that know-how.
A stark contrast this week highlights what is working and what is not in mainstream media.
The good news first. Publishers who are concentrating on quality rather than quantity are starting to see success.
The Telegraph has been working on its portfolio of newsletters and has whittled down the numbers from about 40 to 26 brands over the course of an 18-month project.
The aim is to ensure the newsletters are “pieces of journalism that should provide quality within the inbox in their own right”, according to Maire Bonheim, head of newsletters at The Telegraph.
The focus has been on quality, keeping readers coming back, building brand loyalty and improving journalist recognition. The aim ultimately is to boost long-term subscriptions.
It’s a lot of hard work. Some newsletters scrapped, others revamped and then revamped again. But the evidence it is working is impressive with some newsletters doubling their open rates.
The joys of newsletters – and how they can be a real boost to the comms industry – is something that my colleague Steph looked at in her must-read Monday column.
But The Telegraph isn't alone. Across the industry, publishers are fundamentally rethinking how they decide what deserves to be published.
