The ABC’s Of ROI—How To Rescue The Viability Of Your TV Listings Tab

When it comes to your TV Listings Tab, we feel your pain.

If you’re planning on keeping your printed TV Listings Tab around awhile, you’ll still need it to do everything it’s always done—including ROI—but you have no extra time, money, staff, or resources to devote to it.

Again, we feel your pain. So, we’ve come up with some ways to make that ROI happen without any extraordinary invasive measures—especially for those who are still looking to maximize their print efforts as they transition to digital.

Always improve the product—without pain.
Improving the product doesn’t require changing the earth’s rotation. But, your first step is a simple one. Make sure the product is addressing the way readers use TV listings in today’s environment.

It’s not 1972 anymore, and today’s audience uses listings in a brand new fashion. And, they’re using listings to sift through dozens and dozens more channels. If your TV listings offering isn’t playing by the new rules, you’re not giving readers what they want the way they want it.

For example—consider converting and expanding your print listings with link backs to an expanded digital version. And, consider your entertainment articles to do the same thing, online and offline. Whatever it takes to tailor your current offering to the current format readers are demanding. It can yield big results with just a little effort.

So get current, get improved, and get more ROI.

Bring insights with a Reader Survey—ROI straight from the customer’s mouth.
Want ROI? Why not get it right from the source—your customers.

Readers are most anxious to tell you just what they want from a paper—and they’ll demonstrate it with actions, too. Therefore, a simple and easy way to execute a reader’s survey could yield a bevy of important insights, observations, and responses.

But perhaps you’re thinking a reader’s survey is too complex, far-reaching, and resource-draining for your operation to implement? If so, think about how valuable user information could be to illuminating your efforts and where they’re really paying off. And, how much it will cost to continue in the dark.

Then, think about the fact that a reader’s survey doesn’t have to be difficult. Remember, these suggestions are here to remove pain—not add to it.

Readers surveys don’t have to be invasive. They can be quick, targeted, and painless. There are partners out there—FYI would be one of them—who can handle the heavy lifting and have good feedback for you in less than a couple of weeks.

Construct a “programmatic” approach—and then get with the program.
Turnkey. Automatic. Programmatic. That’s the way to think of your TV Listings Tab.

Instead of viewing it as a series of cumbersome, time-consuming, and resource-hogging events (and experiencing the lesser results such a viewpoint is likely to produce), view your TV Listings Tab as a program. Where weekly listing data is supplied, then handed off to a source who can format it to your liking.

And that formatted listing is then handed off to the printer. Who implements and prints it. So, all you’re doing is approving, suggesting, tweaking to your reader’s content. Without a giant time commitment. Without allocating staff. Without tying up resources.

That’s turnkey. That’s automatic. And that’s how to eliminate headaches while generating that all important ROI.

Designate outsourcing smartly—maximize resources, not overhead.
Outsourcing for outsourcing’s sake is not recommended. To remove the pain and increase the ROI, outsourcing must be done in the smartest way possible. Like everything else you do to keep things running.

The key aspect of outsourcing is that it should maximize resources without cannibalizing profit—or increasing overhead. Outsourcing printing could be a good idea—unless doing so cuts into your revenue stream beyond the necessity of cutting overhead.

It’s a fine line. And every single situation is different, so you must choose your outsourcing partners wisely. Gravitating toward those who bring a variety of skills and executional abilities to the table with the minimum overhead.

If an outsourced service doesn’t make your life easier, better, and more productive? Then why have them at all? Outsource with those who bring the most benefit to your operation—with the least allocation of resources.

Everywhere you can—localize, localize, localize content.
Everybody says that newspapers are small. Local. Not big enough for this day and age.

So use that perceived weakness as what it really is. A strength.

The more local TV Listings Tab content is, the more specific it is to a newspaper’s readership. And, the more local and exclusive content is, the more it differentiates itself from more generic national offerings.

Also, when content is localized, it appeals more to a local reader’s lifestyle, knowledge base, cultural awareness, and a myriad of other things. Local content allows you to maximize the relationship you have with your reader.

Finally, give us a call. Soon.
Admittedly, one of the best things you can do to maximize your TV Listings Tab ROI is to call FYI.

We’ll get our expert, John Dodds, on the case quicker than you can spell R-O-I. He’ll show you plenty of “programmatic” ways to make your TV Listings Tab sing without giving up a ton of notes.

And best off all, there’s no commitment. Just some invaluable advice from the industry’s leading expert that understands the past, and is ready to talk about your future.