Building a successful, sustainable publishing company can feel like a moving target. After 30 years in the industry, working with hundreds—if not thousands—of media companies, I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t.
I’ve worked with private-equity-backed companies, publicly traded corporations, and small, family-owned publishers. The ones that succeed consistently demonstrate seven core characteristics.
They Have Committed & Engaged Leadership
This is the most important element. The best digital media strategies will struggle, or fail entirely, if the CEO, owner, or ownership group is not committed to a digital-first strategy, and excellence in executing it.
The company culture comes from the top. The ones that succeed are the ones where ownership is engaged, involved, and driving the change.
This doesn’t mean the CEO needs to be involved in every single decision. But they must keep their finger on the pulse, stay informed, and push for progress and accountability. If I don’t see committed leadership, I won’t even consult with a company, because I know it’s not going anywhere.
They Create Content Readers Actually Want
Content is still king, even in digital. It’s the foundation. If you are not creating content that delights your readers, everything else falls apart. Your web traffic, SEO, social media, email readership, and paid/controlled subscriptions—all of it hinges on great content.
This doesn’t mean you can’t use AI to assist, but you can’t just rely on it to “barf out content” and expect long-term success. The content must be valuable.
For B2B Markets: Your content must drive professional value. Does it help your reader do their job better? Does it help them advance their career? Does it help them stay current in their field? If not, why are you doing it?
For Consumer Markets: Your content must fuel your reader’s passions. Whether it’s a hobby, their local community, or a source of inspiration, it must trigger that passion in them.
Above all, your content must be unique. If you don’t have something that only you can deliver, you are just a commodity, and you will be fighting for every page view and subscriber.
They Adopt a “Website-First” Publishing Model
Believe it or not, I still see publishers who are print-centric. They publish a monthly magazine and maybe drip a few articles onto the website. That model is completely backward.
Successful media companies make their website the center of their universe.
You must publish your content to your website as if you didn’t have a print publication. When you do this, your content is instantly available to:
- Search Engines (Google, Bing, etc.)
- AI Engines (ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.)
- Content Distribution (Google News, Apple News, Nextdoor, etc.)
- Email Newsletters (which can be automated)
- Social Media (Facebook, LinkedIn, X, etc.)
- Native Apps & Push Notifications
Then, once a month, you aggregate the “best of the best” content, put a unique cover story on it, and ship your print publication. You are delivering great content when and how your readers want it.
They Keep It Simple
Complexity kills revenue. This holds true for both advertising and subscriptions.
On the advertising side, ask yourself: “Could one of my sales reps explain all of our digital offerings to an advertiser in under 60 seconds?” If the answer is no, you are too complicated.
I’ve seen media companies with 20 or 30 different digital products for just their website, let alone email, social programmatic, sponsored content or lead gen. How can a rep possibly explain all of that in a 5-minute call?
Whenever I work with a company to simplify their media kit, we typically see digital revenues double in the next year.
On the subscription side, look at your subscription page. Are you offering one, two, and three-year options? A print option, a digital option, and a print-plus-digital bundle? You’re just confusing the user. They get “analysis paralysis” and drop off.
Keep it simple. Offer one subscription, make it auto-renew by default (if you’re not doing this, you’re missing the boat), make it simple on mobile, and make it easy to pay with options like Apple Pay and Google Pay.
They Execute Effectively
Companies that are successful online just get stuff done. They prioritize, focus their efforts, and get projects to market quickly.
The most important part of this is prioritization. The companies that fail are the ones trying to do 20 things at once. They spin their wheels, make a little progress on everything, but never complete anything.
Focus on the one priority that will give you the biggest return for the least amount of effort. Hammer it out and get it done. Then move to the next thing.
They Watch Digital KPIs and Use Them
Successful companies continuously look at Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for their digital media operations.
They look at more than just Google Analytics (which is a web-centric), but also KPIs for email, social media, subscription, advertising, app, podcast, etc.
Reporting on KPIs and looking at them isn’t enough, however. You must analyze the data. Why did this go up or down? Is it a trend or an anomaly? Are there external or internal factors that we’re not considering? What are the caveats around each of these KPIs?
KPI analysis should then regularly feed back into your strategy.
They Stay Current, But Aren’t Trendy
The digital media space is changing constantly. You must stay up to date, but you must be just as careful to avoid “shiny object syndrome”.
In my 30-year career, I’ve seen countless technologies that were supposed to “revolutionize publishing” but fizzled out. I’ve seen publishers pursue technology out of fear of missing out instead of making strategic business decisions.
On the other hand, I’ve seen many publishers who are afraid to innovate even when a technology or strategy is proven or makes logical sense. This is especially true in markets with strong associations. Publishers wait for someone else in the association to do it first.
Successful media companies find the right balance of being innovative, but pushing back on the pressure to be on the “bleeding edge” of change.
NOTE: Artificial Intelligence is not a shiny object. It is here to stay. AI is going to radically change the media landscape, just as much as the internet itself did. You absolutely need to be getting on that curve.
Master the Fundamentals
Building a successful digital media company isn’t about finding one secret or a silver bullet. It’s about the disciplined integration and execution of all the fundamentals mentioned here.
It demands a digital-first commitment from leadership, a relentless focus on creating unique value for your audience, and the strategic agility to execute effectively and get stuff done.