How hiring a local manager for our newspaper helped us understand our readers
In March 2018 we decided to hire a manager for our longest running paper, Waltham Forest Echo (est 2014).
Up until then managerial duties, such as invoicing, distribution and membership management, had been shared between myself (Community Media Manager) and David (Managing Director). Our community engagement was suffering from our low capacity and the pressing need to get the paper completed each month, with some advertising in place, and into the hands of local people. Although community engagement will always be baked into the heart of our practice, since our content is written by local people, we found that we didn’t have sufficient time left over each month to attend community events, forge meaningful local partnerships and get feedback from our readers as well as take care of the many admin tasks that come with producing a paper.
We were looking for a local person who was already embedded in the community to take the role, which is why we were delighted when Penny applied! Penny lives in Waltham Forest and with her family. She’s an amazing photographer and is already involved in many community groups — from appearing in local plays to managing social media accounts for local businesses!
She works with us one day a week and has been a wonderful addition to the team, bringing light and enthusiasm into the office as well as a wealth of community knowledge and connections.
Since appointing her we’ve developed a greater understanding of how the paper is received, how efficiently our distribution system works and have been able to promote our membership scheme, resulting in an increase in sign ups.
Here’s Penny with some reflections on her time in the role and her wishes for the future:
I oversee the distribution of the Echo across the borough which is a constant challenge and keeps me on my toes! However, it can be very satisfying, when people say they love the paper and really appreciate the excellent journalism and different, more independent take on local news! My day-to-day role is varied, covering some essential admin tasks, like getting papers and tote bags out in the post to our loyal members, invoicing our advertisers, and posting on social media. One of my favourite responsibilities is managing the photography page, as I am a photographer myself. We’ve had some excellent submissions so far, and look forward to receiving lots more in 2019! Another exciting role is getting out and about in the community and attending events to spread the word about the Echo.
I was really excited to be given the role of Echo manager back in March this year, and it has been great being involved in this truly independent local paper. Improving the membership scheme has been another challenging process for all of us, but we have had a good response so far to our call out for new members, and it has been really enlightening hearing how people have come to it via so many different avenues…
I hope all 3 papers will continue to thrive in 2019 and the readership and membership increases. Can’t wait to see what the new year has in store for us!
