Financial review and new business lines for a local magazine with over 40 years of history
Summary
ST strategy helped the company review its business, decide which activities made sense and define new growth lines.
For decades, local print media have been the showcase for neighbourhood businesses. Today they face digitalisation, an ageing readership and the need to reinvent their relationship with advertisers.
LocalMedia* is a family company that publishes a free classified-ads magazine delivered door to door in its region, complemented by mail and leaflet distribution and design and printing services.
ST strategy supported the company in the financial review of the business and in defining its future.
A local business reference
From print to a local ecosystem
Preparing the succession
The full story
Opportunity
After more than four decades in business, the company faced a management succession and a changing advertising market.
It had no clear pricing policy, some services were not invoiced and its reliance on print limited growth. It needed to know which business lines added value and which had to be rethought.
The owners wanted to keep the business and prepare it for a new stage.
Axes of change
With the owners’ trust, ST strategy analysed the results of each activity, interviewed the team and defined a three-phase plan:
- Stabilising the current business: Financial review by business line, clear pricing, invoicing of additional services and support for the new management.
- Rationalising activities: Profitability analysis of each line to decide where to focus resources.
- Growing into a local ecosystem: New business lines leveraging relationships with local businesses and the magazine’s brand beyond print.
Recommendations
New lines and recommendations proposed by ST strategy included:
- Networking events for the local business community.
- Gift products with local producers and shops.
- Digital marketing and management services for local businesses.
- A local marketplace linked to the brand.
- New organisational chart and a tool to track results by business line.
* The confidentiality of our clients is a priority of the company. Although we have changed their names, the information is real.