TAKEAWAY: Here is a recruitment tool that accomplishes that while showing us a lesson about how to approach the digital first philosophy in the newsroom without neglecting the print edition.
Selected pages from the new ACBJ recruitment document
While the intentions of Jon Wile, the talented creative director at the American City Business Journal, may have been simply to create a recruiting tool to use at the recently concluded SND (Society of News Design) function in Louisville, he did much more than that.
The moment I reviewed a pdf of the document, I knew that we were looking at an incisive, well focused, explanation of how digital first has worked at the ACBJ‘s Pinstripe Project, of which are honored to have been a part.
We at Garcia Media have worked closely with the ACBJ team, including Jon, as well as Emory Thomas, chief content officer for American City Business Journals. Over the course of a year, and a half-dozen workshops, we have created a formula that is flexible enough to allow for the specific and unique features of each of the titles, while establishing a foundation that ensures a similar style for telling stories and for adapting to a digital first philosophy in the presentation of content.
ACBJ includes 40 business journals across the United States and the clock is ticking as each launches with the new look and the digital first approach.
“We have been pinstriping like crazy over the past month,“ Jon writes me. “Since you last blogged about ACBJ, we’ve launched in Phoenix, Denver, Honolulu, Columbus, Dallas and Houston. Pittsburgh, Tampa and Boston launch in the next few days, which will mean we are exactly halfway through!“
Recruiting with the facts at hand
What I like about Jon’s recruitment document is that it is visual and explanatory. If I were a reporter, editor, designer or web producer working for a job (and, by the way, Jon has openings!), I would be delighted to read that:
ACBJ business journals now have their biggest audience in their 30-year history—-as of latest count: 10,164,246 visitors to their web sites who viewed 46,213,860 web pages.
The result of ACBJ’s sweeping product initiatives are readily apparent to any reader, and to anyone who works at the company. Our products today aren’t simply more timely than ever before. They’re also more visually engaging, more vivid, more elegant, and more relevant. We are a company filled with people who thrive in an atmosphere of constant change and innovation – all in service to an audience that has no parallel inits influence on people, businesses and communities.Whether you’re a longtime subscriber, a potential advertiser, a first-time user or a prospective employee, there’s never been a better time to engage with the products and the people of ACBJ.
—Social media surge
The business journals made large gains in social media this year, increasing monthly instances by 72%:
Subscribers for both print and digital
Paid subscriptions — print and digital from the business journal properties — have been on the rise over the last decade, growing 15% during that time frame:
How the digital first philosophy works
In terms of breaking news:
DESKTOP WEB
All day, every business day, our newsrooms are constantly posting breaking stories, bringing information to our audience first, and enhancing it with the kind of authoritative perspective that only business journal reporters can provide. It’s an exclusive news experience that can’t be duplicated, because no one is more single-mindedly committed to covering the local business leadership.
MOBILE WEB & APPS
The local business intelligence that flows from business journal newsrooms throughout the day is available wherever busy executives and consumers want it. Our mobile website elegantly converts the desktop experience to a hand-held environment. Meantime, the Bizjournals app provides robust and easy-to-navigate news feeds from each of our 43 cities, allowing readers to move easily from city to city.
NEWSLETTERS
Morning, Afternoon, Industry Newsletters
Business journals strive to be an essential part of every local business leader’s wake- up news experience. Each day, our newsrooms prepare a well-planned email edition for distribution early in the morning. Readers of the Morning Edition can start the day with the confidence that they’re well informed on the most urgent news topics in their community, and well prepared to confront the day ahead.
By 3 p.m. every afternoon, our business journals have assembled and covered the top stories of the day, and they package it all in a robust Afternoon Edition. Delivered by email, this edition is filled with scoops and interpretive analysis filed by our award- winning reporters.
Technology, Energy, Health Care and other topics unite our audiences from city to city. As such, with certain key industries, ACBJ publications have banded together to provide targeted publications for critical vertical audiences. Some of these products are distributed daily, some weekly. As with our local business news, each of these newsletters harnesses the best reporting in the business to inform top executives.
Doing print happily and efficiently
FRONT PAGE
The covers of our weekly editions serve as vivid, informative gateways to the content our newsrooms have assembled and assimilated. They are, as our design consultant Mario Garcia has said, “maps to the journey.” Visually rich, digitally inspired and packed with news, our Page 1s showcase the best of what business journals have to offer: exclusive news, informed perspective, actionable data and useful introductions to the people who drive the local community day in and day out.
CENTERPIECES
The lead story of our weekly edition is a signature feature of the business journal experience. A business journal centerpiece offers a deep dive into a topic or news event of critical importance and significance to the business community at large. Here we tell you not just what is happening, but what it means. These are the stories behind the headlines that every informed leader must know about.
“The key for us right now it is to make sure designers see the great work ACBJ is doing and help them understand where ACBJ is heading. We’ve made some very strong design hires this year and I want to build on that momentum. Great things lie ahead in 2014 for the ACBJ design community,“ said Jon Wile, the ACBJ creative director.
For more information about positions available at ACBJ:
EDITORS
Contact Joanne Skoog Editorial Consultant
704-973-1065 @ACBJroadie
REPORTERS
Contact Beth Hunt
Manager of Editorial Operations
704-973-1072
DESIGN & PHOTO
Contact Jon Wile Creative Director
704-973-1055 @ACBJdesign
WEB PRODUcERS
Contact Huntley Paton Online Executive Editor
704-973-1820 @ACBJ_hpaton
Our previous blog posts on ACBJ’s Pinstripe Project:
Charlotte Business Journal: it’s new look, new digital focus as part of Project Pinstripe
Pinstripe Project: Albany, St. Louis launch new look digital first approach
A total rethink for Cincinnati Business Courier
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/pits_a_total_rethink_for_cincinnati_business_courier_p
It’s a new Washington Business Journal
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/pits_a_new_washington_business_journal_p
The design of the Silicon Valley Business Journal, from prototype to reality
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/the_design_of_the_silicon_valley_business_journal_from_prototype_to_reality
Silicon Valley Business Journal: Creating the ultimate multi-platform operation
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/silicon_valley_business_journal—creating_the_ultimate_multi_platform_opera
Lessons learned from Silicon Valley, and a look at some details of SVBJ
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/lessons_learned_from_silicon_valley_and_a_look_at_some_details_of_svbj
