Want Revenue Growth For Your Publication? Focus.

After a recent round of publisher interviews, audits and coaching sessions, I noticed a straightforward piece of advice repeatedly popped up as I sought to help publishers reach sustainable revenues.

Focus.

One publisher had just launched a podcast and YouTube show, admitting that he didn't like advertising sales and that most of his (too few) contracts came from inbound calls. His site has impressive monthly traffic for a one-man show, but it's nowhere near fully sold. He needs to convert more newsletter subscriptions. But instead of focusing on those, he opened up another channel—arguably two channels—of content.

Instead of finding more work to do on the editorial side, I suggested hiring for the parts of sales he doesn't like to do. Even an appointment-setter or sales assistant would be a better use of time and resources than starting a podcast. At least, not right now.

Another publisher is sure her publication model could expand to other markets or follow a franchise model. I saw that possibility, too, because the model is targeted at city-dwelling professionals and shows a lot of revenue potential. But before worrying about how the rollout to new cities would go, I suggested digging in and showing that the first publication could be profitable, with better-than-average margins.

A local media outlet can limp along successfully for years as a "low-profit" business if it has other goals, such as making the city a better place to live, holding the powerful to account and improving the lives of its readers. But if the model is meant to leap to other cities because you've got a publication in an attractive vertical with strong monetization strategy, the "flagship" needs to be highly profitable.

And in either case—whether you franchise or not—you're better off with a systematic, provable revenue machine (think eMyth) if you're going to manage expansion efficiently.

What's the takeaway? Avoid shiny objects. If you've got traffic and haven't entirely sold your digital advertising inventory—or if your newsletter subscription rate doesn't reflect the traffic your site gets—then work on those. Work the funnel and monetize everything you're already doing. Then, add one new product at a time and work each over a few months or more to entirely sell and monetize, ensuring it's a success before you go "horizontal" and add more work on the editorial or creative side of the business.

Set goals, work toward them, achieve them, call it a success, and then move on to another growth area—always remember that you'll need time and resources to maintain the success you already have.

In a word, focus.