"A new brand in the Beijing newspaper industry - written on the first anniversary of the founding of the Beijing Times"

A brand new brand in the Beijing newspaper industry - written on the first anniversary of the founding of the Beijing Times

Wang Xinmin, an intern of this magazine

If we talk about the first anniversary of the Beijing Times At that time, most people had a skeptical and wait-and-see attitude. In just one year

, the successful operation of the Beijing Times with a high starting point and a large amount of money made people have to look at it with admiration: 300,000 songs

The publication was a success, and reports in all aspects became increasingly mature. This "dark horse" in Beijing's newspaper market is attracting more and more attention. Beijing Times has become a brand new brand in the newspaper industry in Beijing. On the occasion of the newspaper's first anniversary, the reporter went to interview and was deeply impressed by the innovative spirit of President Wu Haimin and his colleagues.

Market research: the basis for scientific decision-making

Beijing Times is sponsored by People's Daily. Before the launch of the publication, people's worries and doubts were not unreasonable. Statistics

show that at that time there were more than 200 newspapers vying for supremacy in the Beijing newspaper market. This number was higher than that of Hong Kong, which is known as the "

airtight" newspaper industry. More than 3 times higher. At the same time, in the Beijing metropolitan newspaper market, the established Beijing Evening News, Beijing Youth Daily, and Beijing Morning News have reached considerable scale. Some people even believe that these three metropolitan newspapers have formed a market monopoly, and there is no gap left. Wu Haimin visited a newspaper in Beijing before the launch of the Beijing Times.

The director of its advertising department shook his head repeatedly when he heard that the Beijing Times was going to be launched. "Impossible, impossible." There was no adjustment

If you check, you have no say. With the care and support of the leaders of People's Daily, Wu Haimin and others conducted in-depth and detailed research on the Beijing newspaper market. The People's Daily also commissioned the Public Opinion Research Institute of Renmin University of China to conduct a sample survey of readers. The results show that behind the seemingly "intense" newspaper war, Beijing's newspaper industry still has considerable room for development.

Compared with the general standards of the international society, the per capita ownership of urban comprehensive newspapers in Beijing is still low. On average, more than a dozen people own one newspaper, and only every 9 households own one newspaper. Subscribe to a metropolitan newspaper. Even compared with some domestic provincial capitals

Beijing has only a small number of urban newspapers participating in market competition. Currently, there are six or seven urban newspapers competing in many provincial capital cities, and each newspaper has gained its own space for development in the competition.

In Beijing, apart from professional weekly newspapers, there are only a few comprehensive urban dailies that have truly formed a climate.

From the perspective of the expansion space of the readership group in Beijing, the current development level of the Beijing newspaper market is not high

. According to a sample survey, more than 30% of Beijing residents do not read newspapers on weekdays, and on weekends, this proportion rises to nearly 50%. In addition to factors such as education level and economic status, the fact that these people do not read newspapers is related to their judgment of the value of newspapers. In other words, existing newspapers are not satisfactory and do not really attract readers.

It is related to attention. This shows that as long as the newspaper is run well, nearly 3 million people in Beijing can be attracted to join the newspaper reading army.

From the perspective of advertising, the amount of advertising in the Beijing newspaper market has not yet reached saturation.

At the same time, the existing newspapers in Beijing have both advantages and disadvantages. Although the segmentation of the market has been completed to a certain extent, there is still room for other newspapers to survive. . As long as the newspaper's market positioning is accurate and its business strategy is appropriate, it can achieve success. Of course, the result of competition is not who eats who, but to achieve a win-win situation.

Together, we can make the pie of the newspaper market bigger.

Surprise win: 300,000 copies were sold in the first batch

On May 28, 2001, Beijing Times finally unveiled its mysterious "veil". 2,300 Beijing Times retail clerks were uniformly dressed in blue T-shirts and blue hats, and were located on various traffic arteries, pedestrian bridges, hospitals, shopping malls, and subway stations in Beijing. The entrance forms a beautiful scenery in the capital. “Beijing Times, 5 cents a copy

.” “Buy a copy of Jinghua Times and get a free bottle of ‘Huiyuan’ juice.

"

The fresh and unique distribution method gives readers a surprise and a sense of intimacy, and the initial release of 300,000 copies was an instant success!

In fact, before the newspaper was founded, "Beijing Times—— The slogan "Beijing People's Metropolis Daily" is hitting people's "eyeballs" everywhere.

In every subway station, there are two "Beijing Times——" "Beijing People's Metropolis Daily" billboards; outdoors, 800 billboards are spread across various traffic arteries in Beijing, and there are also mobile advertisements on the buses of three lines;

In the air, Beijing Traffic Radio, Beijing TV prime time, and CCTV's "Lucky 52" special program

all carried advertisements for the first issue of Beijing Times; in print media, People's Daily, Global Times, Beijing Youth

Annual reports, Beijing Evening News, boutique shopping guides, etc. all reported on the founding of Beijing Times.

The Wall Street Journal and Business Weekly in the United States, Japan's *** Dosha and Asahi Shimbun, and the UK. The Financial Times

Many Chinese newspapers in Singapore and Hong Kong have reported on the founding of Jinghua Times

In order to ensure smooth distribution channels, Jinghua Times was established before its launch. 40 distribution stations have been established to form a

distribution network covering the whole city; 2,300 retail clerks have been recruited and uniformly dressed; promotional activities have been carried out to buy a

newspaper

Giving a bottle of "Huiyuan" juice, the promotion lasted for 5 days. It was this intensive distribution strategy that made readers aware of the Beijing Times and quickly occupied the Beijing News. They laid the foundation for the industrial retail market. Then they made several good moves: expanding distribution and seizing high ground. Promotional activities have their effects, but they also have limitations. The founder of The Times estimated that the circulation would drop below 100,000 copies after the promotion ended. In fact, when it dropped to 160,000 copies, it had already stopped falling and rebounded, with several thousand copies every day. According to Wu Haimin, by July last year, more than a month after the newspaper was first published, the Beijing Times had become the newspaper with the largest retail volume in the Beijing Morning Post market. >Paper.

——Control distribution, reduce costs, target the target readership, reduce the retail team, increase the intensity of distribution, and increase the price of distribution from 0.25 per copy. 0.3 yuan, and then to 0.35 and 0.38 yuan, and

increase distribution in property communities to target the target readership

——Strategic shift, large-scale capture. Subscription collection. The retail clerks were replaced by subscription clerks, and a series of readers' day activities were carried out at the same time. Readers' day activities were carried out in various communities every weekend for two consecutive months.

< p>On-site subscription collection and Q&A, newspaper leaders, editors, reporters and readers had on-site communication, and cultural entertainment and on-site lottery activities were carried out.

Newspaper leaders also led editors and reporters to go to residential buildings to knock on doors for distribution. Through a series of activities, by the end of last year, the subscription volume of Beijing Times had reached nearly 100,000.

Since the beginning of this year, the distribution work of Beijing Times has entered the stage of professional management. The distribution organization has implemented

professional division of labor. The distribution center consists of a wholesale and retail center, a logistics center, and an operation center. In addition to delivering Beijing Times to more than 2,000 newsstands in Beijing, the wholesale and retail center also acts as an agent for nearly 60 newspapers and periodicals.

In addition to delivering newspapers to subscribers, the logistics center also provides services such as water delivery, movie tickets, books, and electronic products

Business strategy: high starting point, big operation, one step to get the job done

The salient features of China’s newspaper competition at this stage are large-scale operation, high investment and high output. Beijing Times

Follows the objective laws of the development of the newspaper industry, and based on the actual competition in the Beijing newspaper industry, adheres to a high starting point, big operations

and achieves success in one step.

Wu Haimin said that they achieved seven "one-stop solutions": First, the collection and editing methods were in place in one step. From the beginning

they built a modern collection and editing platform and office platform. The paperless office has been implemented since the beginning; secondly, the paper quality of the newspaper has been reached in one step, and it will be a higher-quality newspaper for the first time; thirdly, the publishing scale has been reached in one step. It started with 32 pages, printed in color, and the first issue actually published 40 pages, and now it has expanded to 56 pages on Friday. Fourth, the publication period is in place in one step. Once the issue is launched, it will be uninterrupted every day in accordance with the requirements of the daily newspaper. Continuous publication,

will still be published on weekends; fifth, the distribution scale is in place in one step. Before the launch of the publication, 40 distribution stations were established in various districts of Beijing

and 2,300 publishers were recruited. Promotional activities were carried out simultaneously at more than 100 points across the city on that day, and 300,000 copies were initially issued; sixthly, the advertising operation was done in one step, with an advertising order of 15 million yuan signed 20 days before the publication was launched.

< p>There will be a large number of effective advertisements and cash income on the day of the newspaper's launch; seventh, the media function is in place in one step. On the day of the newspaper's launch, the Beijing Times website will be launched at the same time. Such a large-scale operation is rare in the history of the development of China's newspaper industry.

Product positioning: regionalization, citizenization, marketization, comprehensiveness

Whether the positioning is correct or not, is related to the prospects of a newspaper. Before the launch of the publication, they made a clear positioning for Beijing Times

that is, regional, citizen-oriented, market-oriented, and comprehensive. In one year of practice, they followed this positioning, strictly implemented it and made steady progress.

Regionalization - Beijing Times does not follow the path of national distribution, but concentrates its distribution in Beijing, implementing intensive coverage of urban areas in Beijing, fully reflecting the proximity of news; citizenization ——Do not follow the "narrow audience" route,

but adopt the "broad audience" route, try to win over the broad public readers as much as possible, of course, the target readers are culturally educated

Young and middle-aged citizens with high income and relatively stable income; marketization-determine their status by fair and open market competition

At the beginning, they focused on the retail market and the family market, and every newspaper was a reader Voluntarily spend money

to buy it, ensuring its effective distribution from this point of view; Comprehensive--providing all kinds of news that citizens care about

and what citizens need most Rich information, sports and entertainment information that citizens appreciate most, to maximize the richness of content

.

Content is king: creating a brand new newsprint

Beijing Times is committed to creating a brand new newsprint to provide readers with authoritative, exclusive and high-quality news

< p>Quality news information.

Good at planning and reporting on major international and domestic events. Beijing's bid for the Olympic Games was successful, and the Beijing Times launched the 8

0 "Golden Edition of the Olympic bid," which covers on-site news about the bid, Beijing's bid process, and Beijing's preparations for the bid.

, Olympic Games history, etc., with detailed content, pictures and texts, the newspaper was sold out as soon as it was launched, and it has the potential of "Luoyang paper is expensive". Many readers treasure the "Olympic Gold Edition". This report shows the strength and level of Beijing

China Times and has been well received by the media industry and readers. In the report on China's accession to the WTO, the Beijing Times made full use of the resource advantages of the People's Daily and named my country's only People's Daily reporter who accompanied the Chinese government delegation to Doha for interviews as " "This newspaper's special correspondent" sent back an exclusive report with the delegation.

At the same time, the People's Daily's foreign correspondents' special articles were published in the international edition, all signed as "our special correspondent." This is something that other

city newspapers cannot do, highlighting the It has enhanced the authority and exclusivity of Beijing Times.

Highlight financial news and improve the level of news. On March 15 this year, the Beijing Times expanded from page 32 to page 48, and on Friday it was page 56. The newspaper was divided into three stacks: A, B, and C, with financial news making headlines on stack B. This expansion will also expand Beijing News from 8 pages to 10 pages, and add 5 pages of consumer news, further strengthening the accessibility and practicality of the news

performance and service functions.

Starting from May 28, the Beijing Times will expand to pages 64 to 72 during the World Cup, of which 24 pages will be dedicated to the World Cup.

The World Cup is the focus of the news war between newspapers. The Beijing Times has made careful preparations and plans for this. In addition to sending reporters to the competition area for interviews, it also has the largest circulation in Japan. The Asahi Shimbun and the Dong-A Ilbo, which has the largest circulation in South Korea, have joined forces. These two newspapers will exclusively provide detailed event reports and other related reports for the Beijing Times. "The World Cup news

war will lock in a new pattern." Wu Haimin is confident.

In addition to being good at planning and reporting on major international and domestic events, the Beijing Times pays great attention to the lives of ordinary people

and discloses exclusive news in daily life.

On March 25, Beijing Times reported on reporters Yang Wei, Li Qian went to Shiliuyuan Community in Fengtai District for an interview. During the investigation, there were disputes between the property management company and community residents and multiple community residents were injured. Reporter Yang Wei was actually grouped by the property management company.

Beaten to the point of perforation of the tympanic membrane of the right ear. This incident caused strong social repercussions. Beijing Youth Daily, Beijing Evening News

, China Youth Daily, Beijing TV, and CCTV all reported on this. Residents of Shiliuyuan Community, leaders of the Chinese Journalists Association, People's Daily and all walks of life went to the hospital to visit Yang Wei and expressed their appreciation for the reporter's approach in standing up to the evil forces. Highly rated.

On April 20, the Beijing Times reported on a foreign man who acted wildly on public transport under the title "A foreign man who beat a driver, beat a passenger, insulted a pedestrian and threatened a reporter

The ugly behavior on the No. 359 bus was published, and many photos captured by reporters

were published. On the same day, the editorial department received more than 100 calls from readers, hoping that relevant departments would deal with it seriously.

Advertising management: treat advertising as advanced sales

While running a good newspaper, Beijing Times also pays attention to advertising management and strives to make the newspaper on a good track

< p>Sexual cycle.

Before the launch of the publication, the newspaper held an advertising investment meeting and got an order of 15 million yuan and 2 million yuan in cash

at once. After the launch of the publication, they quickly divided the classified ads into categories and were represented by a group of advertising companies. Last fall, we conducted another major promotional campaign, and advertising increased significantly within three months of publication. They also adjusted advertising prices in a timely manner, reduced agency fees, streamlined all links, and stabilized the market order.

Wu Haimin has his own unique insights into advertising work. He said that advertising is essentially sales,

a high-level sales. What is sold is not only the newspaper itself, but also some intangible things, such as influence, brand, etc.

Some scholars believe that newspapers have gone through two sales. The first time, newspapers were sold to readers as special commodities at a price lower than cost. The second time, newspapers were sold to readers, readers’ purchasing power, The brand and influence of newspapers are sold to advertisers. Wu Haimin believes that there is actually a third sale of advertising, that is, sales

to enterprises, because there is still a distance between advertisers and enterprises, and enterprises are the final customers. Under the guidance of this theory,

Beijing Times organized a strong promotion team to promote directly to enterprises.

They did not have the task of contacting advertisements. They mainly publicized and promoted to enterprises. Beijing Times. After these companies got to know Beijing Times, they still used advertising agencies to publish advertisements.

New mechanism: implement true enterprise management

Beijing Times implements thorough enterprise management and cancels all administrative levels. Set up a small but refined organization according to the newspaper's production process

and main links: news center, editorial center, distribution center, advertising center

, finance department, human resources department, office .

In terms of personnel management, a labor contract system is implemented for all employees. All middle-level cadres are recruited through competition, and the bottom cadres are strictly eliminated.

With these systems as a guarantee, people can come in and out, and cadres can be promoted and demoted.

In the distribution system, in accordance with the modern enterprise system, salaries are determined according to positions, rewards are paid according to work, the good are rewarded and the poor are punished, the diligent are rewarded and the lazy are punished, and performance is linked.

It is this mechanism that inspires the creative enthusiasm of employees and provides them with a broad stage where "the sea is vast and the fish can jump, and the sky is high

and the birds can fly". Here, you don’t have to worry about not being recognized for your talent. As long as you have talent, you can find a place to put it to use and get rewards commensurate with your efforts.

Team and talent: the guarantee of career success

What is the greatest wealth of a company? It's talent, it's human wisdom. In the final analysis, all competition is the competition of talents. Beijing Times is well aware of this and has gathered a large number of outstanding talents from "all over the world" since its inception. A leadership team with complementary strengths has been formed. Executive deputy editor-in-chief Zhu Defu, former editor-in-chief of the Information

Times, who brings southern newspaper running experience and newer newspaper running concepts; deputy editor-in-chief Li Hongyang,

long-term Working in the editor-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army Daily brought with him the standardized operation, rigorous style and mature layout awareness of central-level newspapers; Liu Mingsheng, deputy editor-in-chief, once worked in Beijing Youth Daily and Beijing Morning Post After that, he brought

experience in the market-oriented operation of Beijing newspapers and the resources of regional news; Deputy General Manager Tan Junbo, known as

"Publishing Strange Man", was formerly a Southern Metropolis Deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper, he once expanded the circulation of Southern Metropolis Daily from 3,000 copies to

500,000 copies; Deputy General Manager Shi Jiayou was the head of the Hunan reporter station of China Youth Daily and served as a company

The general managers have rich experience in corporate management... They gave up their administrative level and salary in the original public institutions to contribute their talents to Beijing Times.

We have a group of young and energetic middle-level cadres who are capable of both promotion and promotion. The middle-level cadres of Beijing Times are all recruited through competitive competition. None of them are appointed by the newspaper leaders. The average age is 28 years old, and the youngest is only 23 years old. He graduated from university and worked Stand out in one year.

We have gathered a group of editing and editing teams who have undergone strict military training, strong discipline and creative spirit. The editorial staff and distribution backbones of the Beijing Times all receive strict military training, live in soldier dormitories, and undergo closed training in the wild. I get up at around 5 o'clock in the morning and train until evening. I also conduct business training at night, thus cultivating an editorial team that is highly disciplined, able to endure hardships, and more importantly, full of team spirit.

In April last year, Yu Guoming, director of the Public Opinion Research Institute of Renmin University of China, published an article on Qianlong.com.

The title was "Beijing Newspaper Industry, Who Will Build a Billion-Yuan Business?" A big player? 》. He believes that the soon-to-be-launched Beijing Times is a "catfish" that will surely disrupt the entire Beijing newspaper market and start a reshuffle of the market.

He predicted that within two or three years, there will be a billion-dollar advertising giant in the Beijing newspaper market. This big newspaper, if it’s not the Beijing Youth Daily, the Beijing Evening News, or a new urban newspaper like the Beijing Times. This

prophecy has caused various discussions in the Beijing press. Regarding Professor Yu's prediction, Wu Haimin said frankly: "To be honest, we didn't dare to think so. But since the press and advertising industry have such expectations, we will definitely double down.

"Efforts."