With offices in Bryn Mawr, Pa., Media Vanguards provides the vendor side of the business a variety of services including outsourced publisher relations, post sale support and managed introductions. We’re already working with a number of companies and thanks to a great team, have the bandwidth to add more. And at the same time, we’re continuing to talk with publishers and learning what issues they are struggling with and offering them solutions that meet their needs. At the core of what we do is our simple goal of helping vendors be more successful, ensuring that their products are being used effectively and helping publishers fill holes in their product and revenue strategies.

If you sense that this is something I’m excited about and deeply believe in, that is because I am and I do. I think this an interesting time for the industry and I’m excited to be able to play my own role. I am pleased to already be working with some great companies and am excited by those opportunities still to come.

As part of this transition in my life, I’m going to transition Editor on the Verge from a blog site focusing on newsroom and reporting issues to a site where I can share what I’m seeing in the digital media industry. The tips that I have already written, that are still used by and referred to by journalists around the world will remain here and available.

Thanks for your support and I look forward to sharing more news and tips in the coming months and years. Please visit Media Vanguards and if you think I can help your company or know a company that would be a good match, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.

Kevin Sablan of the Orange County Register and Bill Adee of the Chicago Tribune and myself (representing Philadelphia Media Network) are trying to get our panel “Survivalist News: How Far WIll You Go for Readers” accepted for SXSW 2012.

Organized by Sheigh Crabtree of Perfect Market, this is one of a bunch of panels attempting to focus on the news industry, but in my unbiased estimation, the very best. Here’s a description of what we’ll attempt to do:

The Survivalist Newsroom: How Far Will You Go to Get Readers? In today’s frenetic media world, it’s never been more difficult for media companies to attract readers. They’ve used sophisticated search technologies, content seeding, social media, promotions, and splashy homepages to try to lure the most eyeballs possible to their sites. But how far would you go to get readers? In this session, hear from one newspaper that decided to sell Android tablets with its content pre-loaded at a massive discount, juts to get readers in the door. Hear how they also used games, giveaways, and sophisticated data-mining content management techniques to successfully increase readership.

Not bad, right?

Well here is where you come in. This year, with nearly 4,000 sessions submitted for the week (March 9-18), your votes and comments will account for about 30% of the decision-making process. The balance of the decision comes from the SXSW Advisory Board, which is a group of industry professionals from across the US and around the world and finally, the input of the SXSW staff. So please, vote. You can learn more about how to vote here. You can see the full description of our panel here.

So do Kevin, Bill and me a favor and show your support and vote and, while you’re at it, feel free to express your enthusiasm about the session on the comments portion of the page

For those of you not familiar with DCM East, it is “a multi-stream summit incorporating only the most senior strategists and decision-makers in Film, Sports, TV, Publishing, Games and Music” … “DCM East helps you to sort out the best short and medium terms strategies for delivering revenue through digital content.”

While I don’t yet have all the details (such as the when and where), I can tell you that it’s not a panel, but my own session. More details to follow, but if you’re thinking of attending, here is a link to register. And let me know if you’re going to be there!

I am pleased to announce the promotion of Yoni Greenbaum to Vice President, Product Development.  This move is reflective of Philly.com’s commitment to build and maintain a strong and dynamic management team.

Yoni is an outstanding team member, totally dedicated to the growth and success of our company.  Since the inception of the product team last year, Yoni has demonstrated an ability to scan the outside market for ideas, bring new concepts to Philly.com and quickly implement change while building consensus.

This move makes official the unofficial mentorship Yoni was already carrying out in the product team.  Under Yoni’s leadership we successfully launched several new products including the new sports product.  Yoni will continue to report to me.   The Product Managers will report to Yoni.

In his new role, Yoni will focus on managing development of new products and services that will benefit both our users and clients.  He will continue to seek out and manage strategic relationships with partners that can augment and accelerate our revenue and audience growth objectives, as well as work closely with our other properties to ensure that Philadelphia Media Holding’s broader strategies are supported with digital components.

Yoni joined Philly.com on March 17, 2008, as Executive Producer overseeing the day-to-day operations of our site.  Most recently he served as the Executive Director of Product Development where he did an outstanding job of supporting our content and advertising initiatives.  Prior to joining Philly.com, Yoni had an extensive editorial, print and online background with major newspaper companies such as Gannett, Dow Jones, and North Jersey Media Group. Yoni was also President/Executive Editor of JNJ Media Group.

Yoni and his new bride, Tracy, live in Melrose Park, PA.

Please join me in congratulating Yoni on his promotion and we look forward to his continued leadership in this new role.

Ryan Davis
President
Philly.com

Now, for those of you who have previously read my blog, you know that I’m a proponent of transparency and when it comes to an issue like monetization, I think companies need to increase transparency to lessen the impact of employees who believe that making money isn’t their problem.

Years ago, I worked for a company that had a gainsharing program.  The idea was that when the company was successful and earned revenue above a certain target, the results were share with employees. When business didn’t go well, those results were also shared with employees who wound up referred to the program as “painsharing.” More then anything, the program made it clear to all employees that everything had a cost and that if there was an expense, there needed to be revenue.

Now that didn’t make reporters report any less, nor did it make editors assign fewer stories or photographers shoot fewer photos, but it did make nearly everyone pause and think.  For example, editors asked if there was someone else already on duty instead of a reporter working overtime to cover a meeting and designers took a closer look at how much space they needed for a special section. But don’t get me wrong, the program did not suddenly erase waste nor make everyone more frugal.

With the economy being what it is, one would be hard pressed to find a company still running a gainsharing program. But I think the broader lessons are just as relevant in these difficult times.

I’m not proposing that everyone should follow the Dallas model (and yes I know that they say advertising is not really setting strategy), but I do think a better job needs to occur with making building revenue everyone’s problem and where that is already successfully happening in print, it needs to be extended to online.

So if I’m not calling for a Dallas approach, then what do I mean?

Simply put, I think there needs to be an approach that provides a seat at the table for all relevant parties not just advertising and/or content. I would suggest that from the start you involve people from your tech, business development, advertising and content and design teams. Make it clear not only what the goals are, but also what are the expenses. And make sure not to overlook any expenses, for example even the use of open source software can have associated expenses.

How often does advertising come up with an idea for a special section that content readily can’t fill? Or how often does content decide to create a special package that ignore advertising or sponsorship opportunities? Occurrences like those and many others happen in many different types media companies.

While an approach that treats everything as a product and is inclusive in its creation doesn’t guarantee a revenue positive effort, the alternative just doesn’t seem to be working.

What’s the approach at your company? Drop a comment and let me know.