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Beginning Jan. 9, we will launch a new feature available to each of our three papers – the Detroit Lakes Tribune, Perham Focus and Wadena Pioneer Journal – called Business Announcements.
It’s a feature already in place at many of our sister publications around the Forum Communications Co., and it’s proved to be a popular way for local businesses to share news such as new hires, promotions, internships, professional development, corporate donations, and many other items.
You might be thinking to yourself, “Wait, don’t I already see news like that about our local businesses in the paper and on its website?” … And you’d be right. Yes, we do already publish news like this in our paper.
So what’s the difference?
Well, we’re going to make it easier for businesses to publish their news in their own way. Let me explain.
When a local business contacts us about publishing something in the paper, we traditionally run the submission through a kind of a checklist to determine if we are going to publish it. First, does the submission belong in the news? In other words, is it actually advertising? If so, we probably tell the business to contact one of our media consultants about advertising in the paper.
Also, we may decide that the submission doesn’t warrant an entire staff written story about the topic. Instead, we may decide to publish a condensed version of the release, something we call a “brief.” We also make decisions about whether we’ll include a photo, and when the piece will be published.
All of this means that we make a lot of decisions about how the news you are submitting to us will be published, if at all, and when.
But with Business Announcements, all of these decisions will be made by you, the businesses submitting the news. You will decide how long the story will be, and how many photos you want to include, and you will pick the print date that the news will publish.
I like to say that Business Announcements means publishing your news, your way.
We will be using a service called Modulist to manage this new feature. Some of you may already be familiar with the service, as we also use it for content such as obituaries, weddings, birthdays, retirements, etc. These folks make their submissions through Modulist as well. The service has a proven track record, and offers excellent customer service.
There will be a fee for this service. After all, if we’re offering the ability to publish as long of a story as you want, we have to be able to make it financially viable. But the fee is nominal, and a reasonable way for smaller businesses without large marketing budgets to share their news too.
You can find all the information you need about the service at modulist.news. The bonus to this service is that you’ll be able to make a Business Announcement submission to each and every one of the Forum Communications Co. newspapers if you like, with the click of only one button. For instance, you’ll be able to publish the same business story in all three of our papers, if you wish – the Tribune, the Focus and the Pioneer Journal – and many others.
The next logical question you may want to ask is: Will I be able to still submit my business news to the paper for consideration to be published free. And the answer is: absolutely!
I’ve talked at length about this issue with our newsroom that serves all three papers. If they receive a business news submission they feel is newsworthy, they have the permission to publish it however they deem best. So, nothing will change in that department.
However, I also know that there are a lot of businesses who would like the opportunity to control how, when and how much of their business story is published in the local newspaper. And I know this because I’ve seen Business Announcements flourish in other Forum Communications papers.
We’ll be writing and promoting Business Announcements heavily in all three of papers as we roll out this new feature in January. If you have any questions about any aspect of this new feature, please reach out. I’m here to answer your questions as best as I can!
We’re excited to offer this new feature to our business communities! You are the backbone of each of the communities we serve, and we want to partner with you to share your stories!
Devlyn Brooks is the publisher of the Detroit Lakes Tribune, Perham Focus and Wadena Pioneer Journal, and their associated websites. He can be reached at dbrooks@dlnewspapers.com or at 218-844-1451.
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