Moving ahead with changes for the BVD's future

There will be modifications coming to the way the Blackfoot Valley Dispatch does business, but like it or not, you're still stuck with us

Rather than pull the plug on the BVD before it reaches its 40th birthday this December, we decided in April to survey both our readers and advertisers, and to take some time to re-evaluate our business model and our future in the wake of the COVID-19 economic downturn.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to share your opinions in our surveys, which brought us a better response than we anticipated. The 165 reader surveys that came back to us represents about 25 percent of our total circulation and what we found is that the BVD is widely considered a valuable resource for the town that helps inform the community and tie it together.

That is good news in general. While we've always felt a local newspaper is important for this area (that's why we bought it), we had been wondering if anyone else felt the same way these days, given the prevalence of 24-hour news cycle and the social media sites like Facebook.

While we received more praise that expected, but we also received some criticism, some constructive, some...not so much.

One response was particularly disparaging. Yet the invective included some legitimate criticisms we need to work on. The author pointed out a tendency to run rather one-sided stories. In retrospect, that may be fair, but not intentional. Typos were another target. Again, that's hard to argue, since I don't like re-reading my old stories for fear of finding them. Oddly, the author also claimed I have the personality of a pickle, which was actually pretty humorous. After all, what is a pickle but a cucumber with personality and zest? So, as insults went, that one tapped a dry well.

Other criticisms from the surveys included concerns about the length of stories (some truth there. I'd write shorter ones, but I usually don't have time), "pointless" articles, "old" news and a perceived reliance on talking to certain individuals for some stories.

In the end, our key takeaways were that readers wanted to see more focus on local stories that include Lincoln Schools and students, the businesses community, Helmville and Ovando, long-time residents and local history.

We certainly intend to work those points, as well as we can, including diversifying sources for the news stories we cover when possible, but there may be some things we can't to do much about.

Our biggest obstacle to keeping the paper alive right now is that we rely primarily on a traditional revenue model based on advertising. Many people may not realize it, but to make money, we sell ads, not newspapers.

Like most businesses in Lincoln, the BVD deals with annual seasonal downturns in revenue, as every year local businesses and organizations pull back on expenses, including advertising during the winter months. In the last couple years, those months have been so tight we've nearly thrown in the towel, even going so far as to explore other job opportunities. Ironically, it was that fact that kept us from seeing any major changes to our business during the first month or so of the COVID-19 restrictions.

But as local businesses and organizations turned increasingly toward "free" advertising on Facebook during the pandemic response, and as summer and fall event cancellations mounted, it's becoming clear the advertising that normally saw us through probably won't be there this year.

Readers have suggested increasing - possibly even doubling - the price of the BVD. We did look at reader revenue models, which looked promising and work well for some newspapers. Just not small ones.

While we love the generous offer of those willing to pay more, we can't justify it for all our readers. However, since most of our readers indicated they're more likely to support businesses that advertise in the BVD, and newspaper advertising is still proven to be one of the most effective ways for businesses to connect with their communities, we'll focus more fully on the advertising end of things.

The bitter truth is that we haven't done a great job of talking to local businesses and selling the benefits of BVD advertising to prospective advertisers, nor have we really gotten the word out about the advertising options we have available. That has to be our focus first and foremost if we want to keep the BVD alive and growing.

Thank you to the advertisers who took the time to fill out the advertisers surveys as well.

And then a wild card

Just as we took time off to reevaluate our future, a wild card came our way. Gannett, the owner of the Great Falls Tribune, announced they would be moving their printing down to Helena on July 1. That meant the closure of our printer, River's Edge, as well. Since then, we've been evaluating our printing options, including the possibility of moving to a different format. For now, our printing will apparently shift down to Helena as well, but we're weighing some options. At the moment, we're waiting for additional information before we make a final decision on where and how we'll have the BVD printed.

We'll keep you posted on any changes.

As for those long, pointless stories, it looks we may have to work a little harder on that than I thought.