Experiment with a product-thinking mindset

The most successful Table Stakes organizations have a product-thinking mindset, whether they use those words or not. They root their journalism in their audiences’ and communities’ needs, using data to guide their strategies. They use a variety of platforms and create journalism specific to those platforms. And they have a culture of experimentation and learning with a willingness to fail along the way to success.

The successful digital transformation of a news organization is the sum of many smaller experiments.

Experiments have many benefits. They allow you to test your assumptions, isolate tactics and strategies to see what works, get more people involved in creating and testing ideas, iterate based on what you learn and build resilience as you overcome failures and mitigate risk. Breaking down a larger challenge into smaller steps makes significant change manageable.

A culture of experimentation can also help more people feel invested in organizational success and foster innovation, as you have more people contributing their ideas.

The Kansas City Star, an alum of the Gannett-McClatchy Table Stakes program, designed coverage experiments that were fun for both its journalists and readers. Experiments included a “Let’s Dish” series highlighting a journalist’s favorite dish at a local restaurant; service journalism stories published in the months leading up to the Taylor Swift Eras and Renaissance tours to help concert-goers navigate the city and the experiences; and concert coverage that highlighted the unique experience rather than reviewing it.

The Star added this coverage without adding staff, instead inviting everyone in the newsroom to participate in the experiments. That was a much-needed break for some reporters who typically cover traumatic topics. Stories from these experiments saw more local readership and often higher numbers of direct conversions than average. Coverage related to the Eras and Renaissance tours also led to record-setting engagement with the Star’s social media accounts with a younger audience.

Try it out

As you embark on experiments, set clear, measurable goals, so you can be sure whether your tests are successful:

• Identify the gap or problem. Why are you doing this experiment? What gap/problem are you hoping to address?
• Define your experiment’s vision. Write a few statements that describe the current state with that gap and then the ideal future state once that gap is addressed.
• Set a goal. What outcomes do you want to see to know your experiment has been a success? Name things that demonstrate outcomes or impacts (e.g., more audience, revenue), not things that are activities (e.g., coverage published or meetings held).

Use this worksheet to help plan your experiment and identify the resources, timeline and outcomes you’re striving for.

Do you want help developing an experiment? API offers customized training on designing experiments, better understanding your metrics and goal-setting, among many other topics.

Want to know more about the Digital Transformation Guide from API? Register for our virtual session at 1 p.m. ET on May 1. You’ll get the chance to talk to organizations featured in the guide and learn more about how you can bring these strategies to your organization.