It’s not easy to change all four tires while the car is moving, but that’s the equivalent of what Vance Publishing faces in transitioning more than two dozen trade publications to a “Web-first” publishing strategy.
Just a year ago, Vance was facing what many other publishers, especially those in the B2B space, have struggled to address: Websites that were drawing visitors but were still operating mainly as online extensions of a print-publishing model. Vance President Peggy Walker had identified the need for a cultural shift across all of its B2B titles to a Web-first publishing model – a dramatic shift for a 72-year-old company that had always been structured around weekly or monthly print deadlines.
“We were bringing more digital talent into the company,” says Walker. “But it became apparent that if the content didn't change and wasn’t appropriate for our audience, we’d get a ‘C’ instead of an ‘A’ for our efforts.”
Most of the brands already had an established Web presence and were “well past the point of just putting print material on the Web,” says Paul Conley, an independent B2B consultant who was brought in to help Vance with the transition. Culturally and operationally, however, the publications were still decidedly brand-centric, which meant each maintained separate online production teams.
Considering that two-thirds of the company is dedicated to covering the agriculture industry, this silo approach led to some “incredible duplication of effort,” says Conley. A prime example: 30 staff journalists from various Vance publications were covering some aspect of the US Department of Agriculture.
Operating like a daily
One of the first steps of the Web-first initiative, which kicked off in April, was to merge the editorial teams from the 10 titles in Vance's Protein and Produce group based in Lenexa, Kan., into a single newsroom. The goal was twofold: to get the team operating like a wire service or a daily newspaper, and to share resources across publications.
“We thought the concept of an open newsroom would go over like a lead balloon,” says Walker. “But I was amazed at how the editors and writers embraced it. People who didn’t know each other are now collaborating. There’s a sense of purpose and real energy.”
The next step was to pump up the output. “If you’re producing the volume of content from the print days, you won’t make it on the Web,” says Conley. Instead of researching and writing a lengthy print article, then repurposing it for the Web, the new process would run in reverse: posting a first take of breaking news at 200 words, following with an update at 400 words, then producing a longer second-day story, which would subsequently be repurposed for the print publication.
Key metrics show growth, engagement
The positive results began flowing quickly. Stories per author doubled in the first three months. Page views per author tripled. When the project began in April, only one site was averaging more than 100,000 page views a month. Since then, five sites have passed the 100,000 PV mark, with one – thepacker.com – surpassing 200,000 PVs (see chart).
The management team also worked a new, proprietary metric into the mix: engagement.
“We looked at all the things that can take place that we consider an active engagement – comment, forward, bookmark, subscribe to a newsletter, etc.,” says Conley. “We assigned different weights to different brands depending on the business goals. We established some baselines, then began to push for growth.”
The goal was to increase engagement by 10% by the end of the year. In four months, the team had blown past that mark, increasing engagement by more than 58%.
Lessons from training
The transition was not as simple as flipping the proverbial switch. The editorial process for many brands had to change dramatically.
For example, at one weekly, all copy – both for print and the Web – had run through the copy desk, creating a massive bottleneck. The workflow was changed to have reporters and editors post Web content directly to the site. Importantly, the workflow changes were supported by a series of formal and informal training programs.
“Everyone’s roles changed significantly,” says Conley. “Brands that for decades had done monthly news analysis were now doing daily reporting. A lot of the staff had never done breaking news, so we had to walk them through Journalism 101.” Other key training subjects included search engine optimization, writing for the Web, and using a new content management system that Vance is implementing across the brands.
Pockets of resistance
Walker and Conley admit that not everyone was – or is – completely on board with the changes. At one brand, the top editor still insists on seeing all copy before it is published.
“There are still some people who disagree fundamentally with the idea of doing products on the Web,” says Conley. “They would prefer a different strategy.”
Overall, however, Walker and Conley feel the bulk of the editorial staff has embraced the new mandate, along with a new accountability for producing content that drives traffic and engages the audience.
"There’s no secret sauce here, but very few companies have been able to do it,” says Conley. “It almost always boils down to addressing the culture. And part of that is addressing the workflow, which serves the culture.”
