As more and more of our shops wrestle with decreasing space – and increasing online expectations – I wanted to pass
 |
| An example of a state championship basketball poster. View a larger version. Check out the most recent state wrestling posters, available to preview, print or purchase. |
along something we’ve been doing more and more at the Des Moines Register.
On our biggest events, including the current high school state tournaments held in downtown Des Moines, we’re producing "instant posters/pages" as keepsakes and possible revenue generators.
The advantages:
■ NO NEWSHOLE NEEDED. It feels like content, though, if you promote prominently on print pages with visuals/icons to "show" what it is, as well as tell what it is.
■ ALMOST NO TIME/RESOURCES NEEDED. Once the original poster/page shells are built. All you need to do: Plop in a picture, results, headline, a fact or two and it’s done. And you can use those shells year after year.
■ POSSIBLE REVENUE. We’re building more of a culture of purchase-able things online, such as the wrestling posters. Whether they sell depends on the topic and the appetite of your readers/market.
■ SPECIAL, A HIT WITH READERS. At a time when they complain we’re doing less and less.
■ BUILD ONLINE TRAFFIC. Projects like these help build habits with online readers that special things will be on your site – things your competitors in TV, radio will not offer.
We produce the posters/pages in the most timely way possible so the moment isn’t lost in the haze of print work.
Register copy editor Jeremy Gustafson, who originally pitched the idea for "instant" state basketball championship pages online, drops in the photo, headline and words in the moments following his print shift and hands them off to online, so they’re on the site by the time readers see our print refers in the morning.
The projects have been a hit in-building and out. Hopefully the idea is helpful in some of your markets, too.
