Shaking off the losers and looking ahead to 2026

Here we are quickly approaching the end of 2025. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’m in a time warp and 10 months flew by at light speed.

By Lisa Chappell, 2025-26 TPA President

As I work on planning and budgeting for 2026, I am sure many of you are doing the same. Every year I review our sales promotions – cutting the ones that fell flat and coming up with new ones to take the place of the losers. Every year there seems to be more losers than the year before, and 2025 was no different for us.

So often we have great solid revenue projects that deliver year after year and then suddenly they start to slip little by little. That’s when it’s time to shake things up and shake off the losers. Now I hear Taylor Swift in my head. If you know, you know.

I also look back at my newspapers to grade the past year. Did we stay connected to the community and give our readers what they deserved? Or did we read like a Cliffs Notes version of mundane meetings from a reporter who cannot take another boring four-hour council meeting? That’s a sign of a reporter or editor that clearly is overdue for a vacation.

So that’s where my head is right now: what will it take to make 2026 better than 2025? Here are a few things on my list:

Community Involvement 

As staff sizes shrink, it’s become harder to attend every event and volunteer opportunity. But giving back is just as important as covering every fundraiser, meeting, parade, etc. We have to stay visible and engaged.

Building relationships 

Are we making every effort to connect with business owners (advertisers or not), new elected officials, civic leaders, and — most importantly — our readers? When is the last time you picked up the phone to call a reader who cancelled their subscription? Talk about getting valuable honest feedback – they will usually tell you like it is.

Editorial or Reader Advisory Boards 

I have had great success with both, especially in communities where our readership was slipping. These boards help us connect, listen, and learn what readers really want. And they help readers understand how we operate.

Community Surveys 

It’s scary to ask, “How are we doing?” But surveys show the community that we care and that we are listening.

Showing appreciation 

Leaders often get caught up in the day-to-day grind and forget to express gratitude to the team. Happy employees = better newspapers. Be creative and find ways to have fun in the office, celebrate the wins small or big and just say “I appreciate you”.

Revenue 

This is by far the hardest one on my list. Once upon a time revenue came easily. Now it’s arguably the hardest job in the building. 

How do we grow revenue in today’s climate? 

We cannot only rely on what worked in the past. Let’s face it, advertisers are not calling us to run ROP or classifieds in the newspaper – at least not many of them. We have to work smarter, expand our marketing options and think outside of the box we lived in for so many years.

Let’s start with events: Food Truck Expos, Health or Senior Expos, Ladies night out, Best of the Best award banquets, sports banquets, the list goes on. Big newspaper groups have the staff to do these, but trust me, a three person team can pull it off too. How about joining with a newspaper in a neighboring county and doing it together? A bigger event and a bigger team to do the work. Shared revenue is better than no revenue.

How about billboards? I know a small newspaper owner in another state who bought one billboard and built it from there. Now he has a total of six and it’s as easy as selling ROP and building spec ads.

Chamber directories are another solid revenue stream. If you already do one, consider expanding into nearby counties. One of my newspapers produces six directories a year with a staff of three (technically four but I don’t count since they do all the work!)

What revenue ideas do you have? What are you doing to improve on the quality of your newspaper? Let’s share ideas through our TPA email thread. And if you want to try something new, ask for help. We are all in this together, and helping each other is the backbone of TPA membership. 

I, for one, appreciate all the help I can get.