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How Hometown News Media is making news free and profitable

By Victoria Holmes

Selling local news — How Hometown News Media is making news free and profitable ..................................

W “e started as an alternative to the readers on the Treasure Coast, to the daily newspapers that were in the area at the time,” recalled Vernon Smith, the owner of Hometown News Media Group.

Smith says his team’s focus on local stories has been their key to success over the years. Daily papers started relying on national stories to fill their pages, leaving residents with less information to consume about their neighborhoods. The media group believed they could fill the gap left by nationally owned newspapers.

Hometown News Media Group is a regional publisher in eastern Florida that specializes in providing readers with the latest local news and information. Since its launch in 2002, Hometown has expanded to 15 different communities, from Volusia County south to Martin County. Hometown’s total coverage area spans about 200 miles of Florida’s coast.

“Obviously, in the last 20 years, we have seen that gap widen,” Smith said. There’s evidence to back up his observations. One study published in 2022 by the News Media & Society looked at the effects of corporate acquisition on local news.

The study’s authors found that corporate acquisitions are associated with a decline in the quantity of local content produced. The study also finds that corporate-owned publications’ articles published across regional hubs have a remarkably less local focus — and are decisively more national — than those published for a single market.

“What I feel is very important is that the message that we carry to the readers and consumers of our product is getting much more valuable as each year goes by,” Smith said.

Hometown continues to publish only hyperlocal content. So, when a reader looks at any of the company’s web pages, they’ll see stories about grocery stores opening, road closures and features about people and places. The stories are written chiefly by parttime staff and contributors. While the media group faces the same rising costs as any other paper — staff salaries, gas for delivery trucks, and so on — Smith believes that their readership will stay loyal, and businesses will recognize the value of what they are producing.

EXPANDING INTO DIFFERENT MARKETS

Hometown’s community-driven articles expanded the media group’s reach over the years into three different regions: Volusia County, Brevard County and the Treasure Coast.

“We are a true hyperlocal community newspaper. We publish nothing from the Associated Press,” according to Farris Robinson, the regional director of Volusia County.

Robinson joined in 2010 in a position under new business development. He was charged with

selling the product and gaining sponsorships. His pitch to businesses was that Hometown doesn’t publish anything outside their markets.

“Each paper is custom to your particular area,” Robinson would say to potential advertisers, a statement still true today.

This sales method successfully attracted advertisers to their product. Volusia county, the region Farris now directs, started with two publications, growing to five. Circulation is at 51,000, surpassing the daily newspapers in the area. Hometown’s coverage area also encompasses two of the top seven counties in Florida for per capita income.

The group gives advertisers several options to choose from when selling their products. Website banners, e-circulars, ad design and post-it notes are just some ways advertisers can reach the consumer.

The expansion also led to changes, such as adding a digital arm to the company.

“We’ve evolved from a community newspaper to a full-blown multimedia resource — an agency, basically. We now have anything and everything a business could need for marketing,” Robinson said.

The media group’s team has extensive marketing services. They help businesses create websites and improve organic reach through search engine optimization. They also strategize ways for businesses to rank at the top of the Google search engine by buying ads. In addition, companies can reach out to them for commercial production and social media marketing. The group also highlights how small and locally owned businesses can micro-target an area.

“I tell people we’re a daily news source with a weekly product,” Robinson said.

ATTRACTING ADVERTISERS

Although the group’s hyperlocal focus was a unique pitch to advertisers when they first began, circulation numbers have become an attractive element. The paper’s circulation numbers surpass competitors in five counties. This adds to brand visibility, and more circulation means more readers for advertisers.

Their readership demographics are also excellent for advertisers;

57% of their readers have a combined household annual income of $50,000 or more. Their top readers are people in the 45-64 age category, coming in at 45%. The next age category is 25-54, which makes up 32% of their readership.

Robinson said younger demographics tend to get news from their laptops or phones.

This observation, along with their demographic knowledge, helps the media group partner with businesses and advertisers to identify consumers and how to market to them.

“They really don’t care about what’s going on in their neighborhood until they get married, buy a house, and have kids. And that’s the market that we target,” Robinson said.

The group publishes a special section every other month, drawing local businesses to advertise. For example, in November, the publication has a holiday shopping guide featuring the best local, regional and national retailers. In January, the group publishes an “Outlook” section where businesses and organizations can tell readers what to expect for the upcoming year. These special sections align with when most businesses market their products around seasonal campaigns.

The publication is free. Robinson explained that this gives them an edge in sales compared to the daily newspapers in the area.

“When times get hard, people cancel subscriptions, publications and so forth. The fact that we are free is what gravitates people towards us,” Robinson said.

According to a survey conducted in 2021 by Nieman Lab, the numberone reason people canceled their newspaper subscription was money. The most canceled subscription sources were local news publications.

Robinson emphasizes that staying away from national stories is vital to their growth because it makes them different from the nationally owned papers that rely on syndicated content.

“At the end of the day, the people that live in a particular area, that’s what they care about, what’s going on in their area. They can hear what’s going on in Washington and overseas on the TV and their phone. They’re bombarded with it,” Robinson said.

Robinson said the publication stays away from an “if it bleeds, it leads” mentality. The group purposefully goes in the opposite direction, often using photos of businesses, kids, and families. The group’s philosophy is that stories about the latest high school football game or city council meeting may not be as exciting as an article about

a murder investigation or car crash. Still, they are just as important to the community at large.

Advertising partners include local businesses and national retailers, such as Ulta, Dollar Tree and Petsmart.

MEETING READERS WHERE THEY ARE

The paper is subscriber-based and includes delivery and an e-newsletter sent out twice a week.

“If you would have told me 10, 12 years ago that email marketing with newsletters and email blasts and advertisements with email blasts would still be a thing in 2022, I would have laughed in your face,” Kirk Dougal said. He is Hometown News Media Group’s publisher.

Dougal said, back then, email marketing was dying, but with the advent of demographics and microtargeting, it has come back in full force. He feels news leaders need to know where people want to get their information and meet them there.

“I was always agnostic about how we got news and information to our audience. If they wanted it in print, I was always more than happy to give it to them in print,” according to Dougal, whose background includes working as a group editor and in circulation.

Dougal reported that the demand is now turning towards audio services.

“If that’s how they want it delivered to them so that they can, let’s say, multitask as they’re cooking dinner and listen to the day’s stories, then it’s up to us to make sure to deliver it to them in that fashion,” he said.

Dougal also encourages other publishers to take risks, even though there’s plenty of hesitation in this day and age. The media group is beefing up its audio services by producing Ai-generated voice podcasts which read headlines and highlights. The group is also working on expanding that service to read entire articles.

Publishers like Dougal are seeing the benefits of incorporating podcasts that can engage audiences on a deeper level than traditional media, offering an intimate, immersive experience for the listener, but there are some drawbacks.

“Does that make it harder to quantify what the audience is?

Sure. I mean, 25 years ago, if you wanted to know how many people read your stories that day, you’d go to the circulation manager and ask,” Dougal said.

Now, there are more steps to try to gather that data. Paper circulation, website analytics and podcast numbers often give the media group a more holistic understanding of how many people they reach.

“You have to kind of look at those niches and pull them together. And, in many cases, once you do that, you have as many people in your audience today as you had, you know, years ago,” Dougal said.

GAINING TRUST

The group has won numerous awards from the Florida Media Association, Association of Free Community Papers and the Independent Free Papers of America for editorial, photography, and advertising accomplishments.

Dougal says the rising distrust in national media pushes advertisers to leave national publications. Hometown emphasizes that its hyperlocal focus has kept many loyal readers, which in turn, keeps advertisers.

Research shows that traffic to locally focused newspaper sites is increasing. According to data collected by the Pew Research Center, local news websites have seen an average increase in unique visitors of 44% since the fourth quarter of 2014, the first time since the Center collected this data.

“As an industry, we’ve had bad players who have tried to sell access, and things like that, so we’ve done a little bit of this to ourselves,” says Dougal about the distrust among readers.

“Your readers and your audience have to be able to trust that what you’re trying to do is give them the facts,” Dougal continued.

He believes that to do that, publishers need to keep editorial and sponsored content as separate from the newsroom as possible, even with their own expansion of digital solutions. Dougal says readers should never know what the reporter thinks about the interviewee or their opinion on content.

Robinson also speaks to the need for community-based reporting.

“If we lose local, true local content, you’re losing the heart of America,” Robinson said.

Smith has always had a background and interest in community-oriented projects. Local news reporting is just another avenue he expresses his passion. He said the company focuses on helping people stay connected to their communities.

Smith says his team is always looking to expand their sales department while keeping a close eye on all advertising opportunities. This includes increasing and innovating advertising opportunities while exploring how to meet the reader where they are. 

INSIDE

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