(Steve Duke)

Can the all-things-to-all-people newspaper be a niche publisher in the era of target audiences and customization? It can on the Web, with some imagination.

Unfortunately, too many newspaper publishers view the Web simply as an electronic platform on which to replicate what they do in print. Yet by developing a portfolio of Web products, newspapers can expand their current audiences and reach new ones.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was one of the earlier newspapers to develop a portfolio of sites. The paper leveraged its deep knowledge about the Green Bay Packers into a paid fan site, Packer Insider. They broadened their portfolio with OnWisconsin, a portal and search site, and more recently added MKE, a young adult lifestyle and entertainment site. Of course, they also have a news site powered by the newspaper, JSOnline.

The Journal Sentinel did what every smart newspaper should do: look at the market, identify some specific audiences and create Web sites specifically targeted to those audiences, using the deep content resources of the newspaper to drive them.

Gannett, with its Local Information Center approach, is driving the same sort of multi-portfolio approach in each of its markets to develop niche products for target audiences. The mandate for the Custom Content Desk at each of its papers is to identify audiences and look for ways to repurpose or develop content specifically for them on all platforms.

The most popular and profitable are the "mom" sites, according to Michael L. Maness, vice president for strategic planning in the Newspaper Division of Gannett. Take a look at Indymoms, created by the Indianapolis Star and Cincymoms, created by the Cincinnati Enquirer as examples.

Note how the mom sites drive online user experiences we identified in our research, especially "helps and improves me" with Today's 5 things to help moms, "connects me with others" with the Mom-to-Mom discussion groups, "makes me smarter" with lots of informative content. The sites are designed to be "sticky" and to bring users back again and again.

Indy has expanded its portfolio with IndyPaws for pet owners with all the same experience attributes of Indymoms.

Gannett isn't alone exploiting the "moms" idea. Scripps-owned Knoxville News Sentinel has Knoxmoms. It too drives many of the key user experiences we found in our research, and is especially successful at enabling users to connect with each other. Take a look at the Knoxmoms "Mom Talk" section and look at some of the more active forums, such as "Stay at home Knoxmoms," "Working Knoxmoms," and "Natural Parenting," to find the rich exchange of information, support and advice that takes place.

All of these sites use what Gannett's Maness calls the "pro-am" approach. Professional journalists contribute multi-sourced, researched stories, tips and guidance. The amateurs contribute knowledge and expertise based on their own experience and training. The combination is richer than either could create alone.

In retrospect these sites seem obvious, don't they? Of course moms are a niche audience. Of course, newspapers have content that is important and appealing to this audience. And of course, moms have a lot to contribute to each other.

Other newspapers have created niche sites or parts of their main site for youth league sports, high school varsity sports, local college sports and other targeted audiences. What niche audiences have you created sites for? Let me know at s-duke@northwestern.edu.


By Steve Duke (s-duke@northwestern.edu)
Steve Duke is managing director for training at the Media Management Center and Readership Institute, and lecturer at Medill.