This blog post from Civic Edition, a site looking at new and innovative business models for community news, considers whether local businesses offering discounts via local newspapers could be improved as a revenue stream for both the papers and the merchants.
Via the paper’s website users could opt in to receive information about offers from local businesses by text message – but most importantly, says Civic Edition, these offers could be sent out in real time and instantly updated by the merchants to reflect their business needs.
Using an imaginary pizzeria, Julie’s Pizza, as an example, the post explains:
The new system allows her to adapt in real time to business circumstances, and give her customers information that they can actually use. This ultimately creates far more value for the merchant, making it something that she will actually want to pay for. As more merchants catch onto this far more efficient marketing model, it will provide a way for the newspaper (turned newshub) to monetize its pre-existing community base.
If your paper is already doing this, do drop us a line.