Average weekly revenue increase
235%
Paid supporter revenue increase
107%
The background: The Journal is the Kansas Leadership Center’s nationally award-winning multi-platform civic issues magazine. It is both a print and digital magazine that highlights important civic leadership issues in Kansas and beyond through in-depth reporting, investigative journalism, innovative writing, graphic design, photography, multimedia, and public discussions.
Executive Editor of The Journal and KLC’s Civic Information Officer, Chris Green, joined the team because he was inspired by KLC’s mission. He loves the way KLC brings together people across differences in pursuit of leadership for the common good.
An example of that is the event KLC put on after The Journal published a story about Afghan refugee resettlement in Manhattan, Kansas. They worked with volunteers and the refugee community to host a block party in May 2023. The event drew more than 150 people and celebrated Afghan food and culture. KLC provided a reason for people to come together across divides — one that resonated enough that local groups brought the block party back again this year.
Green and his team identified a number of opportunities to improve The Journal’s reader engagement and revenue funnels when they participated in the Google News Initiative Fundamentals Lab audits through the Institute for Nonprofit News.
When working with Newspack’s support team to capitalize on the opportunities identified in the GNI Lab, the support team recommended Newspack’s Revenue Development Program to help The Journal optimize its reader revenue strategy.
The bottom line: After the initial six-week sprint of the RDP’s Reader Revenue Track, Green and his team increased The Journal’s weekly average revenue by 235% and their paid supporter revenue by 107%.
The big picture
Green has a team of four people who manage The Journal and KLC’s civic information efforts. Together, they manage everything from journalism to reader engagement to subscriber growth.
He and his team have been using Newspack since 2022 to run The Journal’s website, publish articles, and manage newsletters through Newspack’s integration with Mailchimp. They made light use of the Newspack Campaigns tool to apply persuasive calls-to-action on their website, but they only used the tool for special events and donation campaigns.
That’s why Green was hesitant about participating in the RDP. He considered The Journal’s footprint to be smaller than other Newspack publishers and questioned whether they were ready for something more “advanced.” He sensed there were more basic tools they weren’t putting to use.
Getting to the next level: He was pleasantly surprised to learn there were publishers in his cohort who felt they were in a similar position. “You can start in a place where you’re not very confident,” Green said. He emphasized the value of the six-week sprint that kicks off the year-long program. The RDP team carefully review each applicant to identify the track and cohort that will help them make the most progress. They’re intentional about placing publishers together with others who are in comparable circumstances and have similar goals. By working with their coach, Blue Engine Collaborative’s Dustin Block, along with the other publishers in his cohort, Green became more confident about his ability to use Newspack more effectively.
“We don’t consider ourselves experts by any means, but we certainly got more confident at being able to use Newspack to generate revenue.”
During the sprint, Green and his team stopped waffling about whether they were ready to use certain tools they felt were too advanced for their needs. They built the confidence to “put a stake in the ground” as Green puts it.
The result: Green and his team increased The Journal’s weekly average revenue by 235% and their paid supporter revenue by 107% during the initial six-week sprint.
The sprint provides publishers with guidance they can use to establish clear goals and a strategy to help them reach their goals. Each publisher develops a Goal Getter to help them monitor their progress. Green and his team now use the Goal Getter in their day-to-day work beyond their use of Newspack. It helps them understand the adjustments they need to make to hit their revenue targets.
Green also learned how to calculate a new metric during the sprint called Customer Lifetime Value, which is a metric that estimates the total revenue a business can expect from a customer over the course of the business relationship. He’s incorporated that metric into The Journal’s measurements to maximize the value they’re providing for their audience.
“We want to emphasize to our readers the value of supporting our site and maintaining that value over time. I’m not sure that there’s a better measure of that than the Customer Lifetime Value,” said Green.
Working together to find solutions
By combining their newfound knowledge of Newspack’s Audience Management tool, the Data Dashboard, and the Customer Lifetime Value metric, the team at The Journal has implemented strategic changes that continue to drive revenue.
“I love the Data Dashboard. When we got that up and running we could see the number of newsletter signups we were getting, the number of registrations that were coming in, how our different campaigns were working, and how the audience management system was helping us drive donations and newsletter signups,” said Green.
“The value of the RDP is being able to try things in real-time and get feedback in the form of your data. Without the Revenue Development Program, we could have tried things, but we wouldn’t have the structure or support to push us to try as much in a short period of time.”
Green was excited to apply what the team learned from the RDP, including how to use Decision Desk HQ embeds to increase reader engagement in major events like their election coverage. For the first time, his team tried tactics like live blogging during Election Day. He also learned how to optimize traffic from their NewsMatch campaign and launched an expanded live stream during Giving Tuesday.
They used what they learned from the RDP to be more strategic about reaching the right donors at the right time.
“We’re seeing the emergence of donors that we didn’t know existed donating because they’ve registered on our site and they see our campaigns and prompts persuading them to donate,” said Green.
Newspack’s Revenue Development Program is application-based and open to any current Newspack publisher in the United States. Current publishers can apply for either the Reader Revenue Track or the Newsletter Track. Prospective publishers can get in touch with our sales team to learn more.
