Hyperlocal, a ‘Brilliant Business Plan’
“A brilliant business plan, I wish I had thought of it”.
Anchorman Hank Stolz from local tv-show “Wake Up Worcester” is praising the entrepreneurship of Central Mass News’s Jack Schofield.
Wormtown Taxi’s Jeff Barnard is even more jubilant:
I’d venture to guess that Jack Schofield definitely “gets it“… The future of online local news reporting is now here in Worcester County. And it’s the fastest growing business I know of.
I’m not familiar with Stolz nor Barnard, but their enthusiasm is exemplary for the comments on any hyperlocal news business these days. Which is quite encouraging for someone who – like me – is building a hyperlocal news and information network.
The recipe, according to Schofield, is relatively simple: “Everything that’s going on in your town and you like to know about, is on our websites. ”
In the past couple of weeks I found out that there is a little bit more to it. Especially if you’re doing this within a large legacy media company and want to convince all the inside forces that are already working with local news (mostly print oriented) to cooperate in your new model. That’s something Schofield doesn’t have to worry about. Moreover, his authenticity is probably one of the unique selling points. Living in the community you are writing about, gives you a headstart if you want to go hyperlocal.
That’s different with initiatives like Everyblock, Outside-in, and Patch, to name just a few of them. And mine. Apart from all the advantages, capital to invest being one of them, larger media companies that are rolling out hyperlocal networks from outside the communities themselves, have to do a couple of extra steps to remain trustworthy. He who doesn’t succeed in that effort, doesn’t succeed in the hyperlocal business. Even if there’s a “brilliant business plan” like Schofield’s.
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