The panelists discussed their key learnings and takeaways from attending multiple Innovation Missions over the past five years. They emphasized the importance of culture in creating an innovative organization, thinking bigger with digital strategies, the need for content and data strategies to evolve, and providing support to SMBs through expanded digital agency services. Local media executives were challenged to become more engaged on social media platforms.

1. FIVE
YEARS
OF
INNOVATION
MISSIONS
-­‐
WHAT
HAVE
WE
LEARNED?
Nancy
Lane,
President,
Local
Media
Associa4on,
Mark
Poss,
CEO,
Big
Fish
Works,
Edwin
Ruis,
Integrated
Revenue
Director,
SwiE
Communica4ons
and
Shannon
Kinney,
Client
Success
Officer,
Dream
Local
Digital

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

4. Collec:ve
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/Ac4ve
on
ALL
Social
Media
Plaorms

5. Culture Matters
Crea:ng
a
Culture
of
Innova:on
Requires
Major
Changes:
• Open
&
Transparent
Work
Space
• Importance
of
teams/collabora4on
–
no
silos

6. Culture Matters
INNOVATION
MISSION
2014
• Non-­‐tradi4onal
perks
(food,
crea4ve
days
off,
etc.)
Fun
atmosphere!
• Importance
of
vision/mission
(pos4ng
on
the
wall;
employees
know
it
and
can
recite
it)
• It
all
starts
with
leadership;
must
be
visible
&
accessible
• Trust
&
inves4ng
in
staff
–
empowerment!
Test
and
learn
then
scale.

7. Open & Transparent
First step to building innovative culture

8. The
importance
of
culture
What’s
up
with
the
#honeybadger?
hSp://youtu.be
/CUrLlOa_AQc

9. 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
aSendees
among
the
most
valued
part
of
the
experience

10. 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
genera4on”
(shorter,
larger
photos,
made
for
mobile)
• Na4ve
adver4sing
is
in
demand
• Visual
journalism
–
visuals
are
processed
60,000
4mes
faster
in
the
brain
than
text
(BuzzFeed,
Russmedia,
Instagram,
Pinterest,
Tumblr,
eBay…)

11. Become
the
Local
BuzzFeed
for
Your
Market

12. SMBs
Want
Na4ve
Adver4sing
Opportuni4es;
Create
Them
• Na4ve
was
a
focus
during
EVERY
visit
of
this
year’s
Innova4on
Mission.
• Facebook,
TwiSer
&
BuzzFeed’s
en4re
business
models
are
focused
on
na4ve.
• SMBs
want
and
need
local
opportuni4es.

13. Native Case Study: Hampton Inn
Shows
as
‘Promoted
by’
on
their
home
page;
Slide
show
features
19
awesome
vaca4on
images
with
the
‘Stay
with
Hampton’
slide
at
#20.
Ave
campaign
cost
is
$100,000.
Think
about
the
many
applica:ons
for
local/regional
adver:sers
(top
10
ways
to
lower
blood
pressure
–
sponsored
by
local
hospital
for
example!)

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

15. 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
prospec4ng;
'social
selling'
is
the
new
buzzword

16. Double
Down
on
Digital
Agencies
• WordPress
plaorm
is
perfect
for
SMBs
but
they
don't
have
the
4me
or
inclina4on
to
build
the
site
or
post
blogs
• PayPal
is
about
to
make
the
mobile
device
the
wallet
of
the
future;
serious
implica4ons
for
SMBs
(Apple’s
recent
announcement
will
trump
these
efforts)
• Na4ve
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
inves4ng
even
more"
-­‐
Kirk
Davis,
CEO,
GateHouse
Media

17. 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
interes4ng
to
see
how
companies
spend
it.”
–
Ruth
Presslaff,
President,
Presslaff
Interac4ve
• “I
am
going
to
shi
a
posi:on
in
our
company
to
analyze
data
aEer
aSending
this
year’s
Innova4on
Mission”
–
Terry
Ward,
COO,
KPC
Media
Group
• “Big
data
has
dominated
the
scene
for
a
long
4me
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
par4cularly
like
the
tailgate
videos.”
–
David
Arkin,
VP
Content,
GateHouse
Media

18. The
Importance
of
Big
and
Small
Data
• Measuring/using
internal
data
to
iden4fy
opportuni4es,
beSer
understand
your
audience
and
make
good
strategic
decisions
• Metrics/analy4cs
for
SMB
clients
–
the
focus
is
shiEing
beyond
traffic
to
conversions
• Client
dashboard
is
a
must!
Measure,
share,
learn,
tweak.

19. Our
Social
Media
Challenge
to
Industry
Execu4ves
We
believe
that
you
can
no
longer
run
a
local
media
company
without
being
engaged
and
ac:ve
on
social
media.
It
is
no
longer
a
luxury;
it’s
a
requirement
of
your
job.
• Our
recommenda4on
is
a
minimum
of
five
social
media
networks:
Facebook,
TwiSer,
LinkedIn,
Instagram
and
Google+.
From
there,
you
can
and
should
experiment
with
others:
Pinterest,
Foursquare/Squarm,
Tumblr,
Snapchat
&
more.
• Minimum
goals:
tweet
three
4mes/day;
engage
on
your
FB
page;
post
stories/ar4cles
to
G+;
maintain
all-­‐star
profile
on
LinkedIn
and
use
the
plaorm
to
engage
with
others;
post
photos
on
Instagram.
• “Walk
the
walk;
our
clients
and
consumers
are
using
these
channels;
we
can’t
ignore
them!”

20. 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
4me
to
add
a
profile
picture,
I
don't
do
business
with
them”
–
owner
of
large
car
dealerships

21. LinkedIn
Publisher
Tool

22. Goodbye
Cold
Calling…Hello
Social
Selling

23. Local
Media
Innova:on
Mission
June
1-­‐6,
2014
Report
includes
11
top
takeaways,
suggested
ac4on
plans
and
other
resources.
Order
at
www.localmedia.org

24. Ques4ons?