The panelists discussed their key learnings from attending multiple Innovation Missions over the past five years. They identified six important themes: the importance of culture, thinking bigger about digital strategies, changing content strategies, doubling down on support for SMBs through digital agencies, leveraging big and small data, and the need for local media executives to actively engage on social media. Creating an innovative culture requires changes like open workspaces, empowering employees, and prioritizing collaboration over silos. SMBs are increasingly seeking help with digital tools and native advertising, representing an opportunity for local media companies to expand their digital agency services. Data was highlighted as the new currency for understanding audiences and identifying opportunities.

1. FIVE YEARS OF INNOVATION MISSIONS - WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?
Nancy Lane, President, Local Media Association, Mark Poss, CEO, Big Fish Works, Edwin Ruis, Integrated
Revenue Director, Swift Communications and Shannon Kinney, Client Success Officer, Dream Local Digital

2. 12 Innovation Missions for Our
Panelists – What Stands Out?
Nancy Lane – Led five IM’s: 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
Mark Poss – Attended three IM’s: 2012, 2013, 2014
Shannon Kinney – Attended two IM’s: 2013, 2014
Edwin Ruis – Attended two IM’s: 2013, 2014

3. Collective Top Six List
• The Importance of Culture
• Think Bigger When It Comes to Digital
• Content Strategies Must Change
• SMBs Need Help More Than Ever; Double Down on Digital Agency
Services
• The Importance of Big and Small Data
• Local Media Execs Need to Be More Engaged/Active on ALL Social Media
Platforms

4. Culture Matters
Creating a Culture of Innovation Requires Major Changes:
• Open & Transparent Work Space
• Importance of teams/collaboration – no silos

5. Culture Matters
• Non-traditional perks (food, creative
days off, etc.) Fun atmosphere!
• Importance of vision/mission (posting
on the wall; employees know it and
can recite it)
• It all starts with leadership; must be
INNOVATION MISSION 2014
visible & accessible
• Trust & investing in staff –
empowerment! Test and learn then
scale.

6. Open & Transparent
First step to building innovative culture

7. The importance of culture
What’s up with the #honeybadger?
http://dreamlocal.com/our-culture/

8. Think Bigger When It Comes to Digital
• The IM gave our panelists the “strength/courage to think bigger and put a
greater emphasis on all things digital”
• More hiring of digital-only reps (integrated sales teams don’t work!)
• Bigger commitment/investment in digital agencies
• Think bigger/think together – networking among IM attendees among the
most valued part of the experience

9. Content Strategies Must Change
• BuzzFeed is “a lot more than cute cat videos”
• Shareability is the new KPI
• Russmedia dual strategy to reach “the heads down generation” (shorter,
larger photos, made for mobile)
• Native advertising is in demand
• Visual journalism – visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain
than text (BuzzFeed, Russmedia, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, eBay…)

10. Become the Local BuzzFeed for Your
Market

11. SMBs Want Native Advertising
Opportunities; Create Them
• Native was a focus during EVERY visit of this year’s Innovation Mission.
• Facebook, Twitter & BuzzFeed’s entire business models are focused on
native.
• SMBs want and need local opportunities.

12. Native Case Study: Hampton Inn
Shows as ‘Promoted by’ on their home page; Slide show features 19 awesome
vacation images with the ‘Stay with Hampton’ slide at #20. Ave campaign cost is
$100,000. Think about the many applications for local/regional advertisers (top
10 ways to lower blood pressure – sponsored by local hospital for example!)

13. SMBs Need Our Help More Than Ever
“They are going to find someone to help them – it better be us” – Edwin Ruis

14. Double Down on Digital Agencies
• SMBs are going to get more and more confused with the new technology and tools entering
the market
• This is great news for local media companies that have or will launch digital agency services
• Google+ is much more than a social network; it's an SEO play and is a must for SMBs
• YouTube is second largest search engine in the world; videos need to be presented there
• LinkedIn's new Sales Navigator tool is about to disrupt sales prospecting; 'social selling' is the
new buzzword

15. Double Down on Digital Agencies
• WordPress platform is perfect for SMBs but they don't have the time or inclination to
build the site or post blogs
• PayPal is about to make the mobile device the wallet of the future; serious implications
for SMBs (Apple’s recent announcement will trump these efforts)
• Native is exploding and SMBs don't know where to start
• Mobile is about to explode; 18% of local searches result in a purchase. SMBs need
strong, compelling mobile presence
• Offline shopping is becoming a new trend with eBay leading the way
• "Propel's growth has been extraordinary; we are investing even more" - Kirk Davis, CEO,
GateHouse Media

16. The Importance of Big and Small Data
• “I appreciated seeing how the different companies are using data. At Google,
it’s very much about watching everything. At eBay they said trust is the most
important thing when it comes to data. It is clear to me that data is the new
currency and it will be interesting to see how companies spend it.” – Ruth
Presslaff, President, Presslaff Interactive
• “I am going to shift a position in our company to analyze data after attending
this year’s Innovation Mission” – Terry Ward, COO, KPC Media Group
• “Big data has dominated the scene for a long time now but small data is
where you can leverage and innovate” – Eric Bright, VP E-Commerce, Deseret
Digital
• “Proper use of data was a big takeaway for me. Our editors are not using data
in the right way (BuzzFeed has a criteria on how they approach stories – we
need to implement something similar). BuzzFeed is obsessed with
shares/engagement and we can learn from that as well. The CBS Local visit
also touched on data and I particularly like the tailgate videos.” – David Arkin,
VP Content, GateHouse Media

17. The Importance of Big and Small Data
• Measuring/using internal data to identify opportunities, better understand your
audience and make good strategic decisions
• Metrics/analytics for SMB clients – the focus is shifting beyond traffic to
conversions
• Client dashboard is a must! Measure, share, learn, tweak.

18. Our Social Media Challenge to Industry
Executives
We believe that you can no longer run a local media company without being engaged and active on
social media. It is no longer a luxury; it’s a requirement of your job.
• Our recommendation is a minimum of five social media networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and
Google+. From there, you can and should experiment with others: Pinterest, Foursquare/Squarm, Tumblr,
Snapchat & more.
• Minimum goals: tweet three times/day; engage on your FB page; post stories/articles to G+; maintain all-star
profile on LinkedIn and use the platform to engage with others; post photos on Instagram.
• “Walk the walk; our clients and consumers are using these channels; we can’t ignore them!”

19. It’s Like Being a Publisher & Never
Reading the Paper!
This post had nearly 1,700 views; 170
shares on LinkedIn & 29
likes/comments.
Here’s what people had to say:
• Thank you for saying what some of
us cannot say...at least not directly
:-)
• This needed to be said!
• "If I look at a person's LinkedIn
account and they haven't taken the
time to add a profile picture, I don't
do business with them” – owner of
large car dealerships

20. LinkedIn Publisher Tool

21. Goodbye Cold Calling…Hello Social Selling

22. Local Media Innovation
Mission June 1-6, 2014
Report includes 11 top
takeaways, suggested
action plans and other
resources.
Order at
www.localmedia.org

23. Questions?