The Seven Table Stakes
The term table stakes is a poker metaphor and refers to the amount of money a player must bring to have a seat at the table. In this case, the “table stakes” are seven essential skills required for journalism enterprises to thrive in the 21st century. Developed in collaboration with some of the country’s most important news organizations, the in-depth program helps news enterprises find a path to a sustainable future by teaching them how to change their practices, develop new products, reach new audiences and better engage their communities.
All are predicated on the belief that putting the audience at the center is the key. The “table stakes” are:
1. Serve targeted audiences with targeted content and experiences
Think and act audience first. Be audience-driven across your enterprise. Identify and focus on particular, target audiences with needs, interests and problems that you can address well and derive revenue from. Use your local market knowledge, perspective and presence to serve these audiences far better than competitors. In doing this, don’t trap yourself into serving individuals alone – don’t overlook businesses and organizations as potential content customers you can serve.
2. Publish on the platforms used by your targeted audiences
Go to your audiences rather than expecting them to come to you. Take responsibility for publishing and promoting on the platforms used by each of your chosen target audiences. Do so in ways that serve their needs and interests in using each platform and take best advantage of the particular features and dynamics of the platforms themselves. In other words: Be platform optimal, not platform agnostic.
3. Produce and publish continuously to meet audience needs
Organize to provide an “always on, always there” flow of digital-first content matched to the life rhythms and habits of your target audiences, their time and attention availability, and their particular moments of need, interest and problems they need solving, across the platforms they use. Put differently, publish at the convenience of your chosen audiences instead of the convenience of the newsroom and print schedule. End fruitless either/or battles between digital versus print by emphasizing digital first, print later and better.
4. Funnel occasional users to habitual and paying/valuable loyalists
Guide your audience through the stages of a “funnel:” from random/occasional use, to increasing use, to habitual use, to paying for your content/products/services – and to valuing your brand and content enough to recommend it to others. Use the same step-by-step funnel approach to maximize value you get from advertising as well as any other ways you earn revenue from users/customers. Do this through the focused use of data and analytics, technology, content and platform tactics, multiple types and approaches of “offers” and “asks,” and continuous testing.
5. Diversify and grow the ways you earn revenue from the audiences you build
Innovate, test and develop as many ways as possible to gain revenue from the audiences you build, and the relationships you develop. Avoid the search for silver bullets – for the answer to the new business. Do this by collaborating across all functions of your enterprise with a focus on innovating to growing consumer revenue and advertising and creating, testing and growing a range of new products, services and businesses of value to your target audiences and community.
6. Partner to expand your capacity and capabilities at lower and more flexible cost
Use partnerships, third-party services, shared resource arrangements and flexible staffing to expand your capacity and capabilities across all areas of your enterprise: content creation, marketing and distribution to target audiences, new services and products, access to needed skills, technologies, tools and data, and more. Do this in ways that lower investment requirements, reduce and add flexibility to your cost structure, increase speed, and better share risks compared to doing it on your own.
7. Drive audience growth and profitability from a “mini-publisher” perspective’
Drive growth and profitability in your chosen target audience segments and key publishing platforms by developing cross-functional “mini-publisher” teams and team leaders who use a general management perspective and strong sense of ownership and accountability to drive performance. Expand the scope of these teams’ responsibility beyond content creation, content distribution and audience development to include revenue generation, financial contribution and brand development.
The American Press Institute manages the core activities of the program and the major market version. For more information or to contact us: