By Diane Sylvester
Understanding what metrics matter – and how to leverage them – is essential for any news organization, but charting a smart course relies heavily on the stage of your publication’s lifecycle. That was the central message of a recent Tiny Vitals workshop led by journalist, newsroom consultant and Tiny Vitals coach Sarah Day Owen Wiskirchen.
Drawing on her experience founding Raleigh Convergence, a local news startup in North Carolina, Wiskirchen walked participants through lessons she learned as a solo publisher, along with strategies she now recommends for emerging outlets.
When Wiskirchen launched Raleigh Convergence in 2019, she moved quickly – spending a month talking to potential readers, gauging interest among her target audience, 25- to 44-year-olds (many of them new parents), and publishing a minimum viable product. Early signs were promising, with email sign-ups and social engagement, but challenges soon followed. Securing sponsorships while juggling both publishing and business duties proved tough. In 2022 when news came that Axios was going to enter her market, Wiskirchen, then herself a new mother, decided to close the site and carry forward the lessons to help other founders.
Her main takeaway: Dedicate more time upfront to market research and relationship-building, for editorial clarity and for securing critical longer-term business partnerships. These early conversations test assumptions, refine coverage priorities and build anticipation in the community. They also seed your email list and open doors to lining up dedicated advertisers or sponsors before launch.
Wiskirchen warned that postponing this work until after launch often backfires. Once publishing pressures kick in, outreach gets sidelined, especially for small teams, weakening long-term sustainability. Building a supportive network with long-term commitments nailed down early creates a foundation of community allies, sponsors and ambassadors who can champion the publication from day one.
She encouraged participants to start by identifying their total addressable market – the largest audience that could benefit from their work. Tools like the U.S. Census’s American Community Survey or local Chamber of Commerce data can help publishers understand demographics, map potential readership and pinpoint businesses that might partner with them.
Understanding these metrics early helps align editorial focus with community needs while also surfacing opportunities for sponsorships, advertising and other revenue streams.
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Community engagement is central to Sasha Horne’s pre-launch strategy as she develops The Beaufort Blog in South Carolina, expanding from a mostly events-focused Facebook page into a broader news offering for the community, which is generally underserved by other publications about critical civic issues, like elections, community resources and emergency events.
“The thing I keep consistently hearing is, ‘I just wish there was one place where I could get all this information,’” Horne said. “That’s what I’m trying to build – something for people here who don’t have a local paper anymore and are stuck relying on Facebook.”
Horne has been spending time at local events, talking with residents, surveying her likely audience, and distributing flyers to increase engagement before she launches. “I’ve been going to farmers markets and hanging up flyers in coffee shops so people can see a sample of the events calendar and scan a QR code to subscribe,” she said. “Since that’s what we’re known for now, I’m hoping it will carry over as we start to do more news coverage.”
Horne’s strategy of engaging with potential readers at and with local businesses can have a two-fold benefit: connecting with audiences and also making deeper connections with businesses that could become partners or advertisers down the road.
Wiskirchen suggest publishers can take several practical steps to set themselves up for editorial and business success:
By combining audience research, community engagement and early revenue planning, publishers can create a strong foundation for sustainability — long before publishing their first issue.
As publications mature, the focus shifts to retention and deepening engagement, with the hope of creating a sense of loyalty, habit and a shared commitment to the organization and its mission.
Wiskirchen shared a simple funnel, something retail marketers use to track the relationship between a publication and its audience. Her model is adapted for mission-oriented newsrooms to better understand and adjust to their target audience and community’s needs and interests.
Newsroom audience funnel
Despite the name, funnels aren’t necessarily – or even optimally – a one-way track. New readers, occasional visitors and loyal subscribers often move back and forth depending on the experience you create.
Metrics show where people are in that journey and help guide decisions about how to serve them. But the key, according to Wiskirchen, is to measure with purpose and dig deeper for the meaning behind the data. “You don’t want to just collect numbers for the sake of it. You want to ask: What’s changing, and what does that tell me about how I can serve people better?”
Using this framework, publishers can pinpoint gaps in their audience journey. For instance, if people are coming to your events (awareness) but newsletter sign-ups are low (conversion), the issue may be friction in the sign-up process or unclear calls to action. Conversely, strong newsletter engagement but low website traffic may indicate that the content strategy needs broader visibility.
Wiskirchen notes that loyalty does not always mean monetization, but for mission-driven news organizations, advocacy or repeated engagement can be just as valuable as paid support.
During the webinar Mark Swartz, publisher of Aging in America News, posed a question about how best to capitalize on a viral moment. He shared how one article he wrote about caregiving suddenly spiked thanks to a LinkedIn share from a well-connected CEO. Traffic soared beyond anything his site had seen before.
His question: Should he start chasing stories tied to people with large followings?
Wiskirchen cautioned against seeing it as a shortcut. Instead, she advised thinking through all of the potential ways to take advantage of the unforeseen opportunity. She suggested one way was to think about how to add more to the page people are coming to and bring them deeper into your publication. “That page can function like a homepage for new readers,” she said. Linking to related stories, offering an easy subscription option, or prompting for newsletter sign-ups can help convert one-time visitors into loyal readers.
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Tiny Vitals’ study of metrics for tiny newsrooms highlights how building in a regular practice of measurement – even with limited resources – can provide clarity about audience growth patterns, content strategy and monetization opportunities. These insights help small publishers prioritize thoughtful efforts that can have the highest long-term impact.
Once a publication begins publishing, analytics become more actionable and help build and fortify a newsroom’s audience in key areas:
During the webinar Sheila Reinecke of Ottawa News Network in Michigan described a launch rooted in deep community research. Before publishing a single story, her team spent months talking with residents, identifying gaps in local coverage and securing enough funding to guarantee at least one full-time editor for a year.
The strategy paid off with early traction. A year in and she is looking at her historic data to help sustain growth, stabilize web traffic and convert daily small gains into reliable revenue.
Wiskirchen pointed out that as a publication matures, metrics take on new roles. They’re not just internal tools for experimentation but also external proof points for supporters, funders and sponsors.
“These numbers can become part of your public impact reports or fundraising campaigns,” she said. “They tell the story of your organization in a way that connects with funders and readers alike.”
For Reinecke, that’s the next frontier. She’s preparing to use data not just to benchmark success but to demonstrate value to donors and to their audience to encourage them to grow in their commitment to the mission and work of the newsroom. “Metrics can help you show you’re equal to or even surpassing the reach of legacy outlets,” Wiskirchen told her.
Even small efforts – like creating a dedicated subscription page or embedding a newsletter sign-up form in multiple places – can reduce friction and increase conversions. Wiskirchen emphasizes that thoughtful design combined with consistent measurement helps publishers make the most of limited resources.
Wiskirchen outlined some of the ways to measure and communicate impact:
Wiskirchen highlighted several practical strategies for using metrics to inform decision-making:
Metrics are most powerful when used to inform decisions and tell stories. Combining quantitative data – such as newsletter open rates or website traffic – with qualitative insights from conversations with community members helps identify gaps, refine your work and craft sustainable engagement and revenue strategies.
Wiskirchen emphasized that metrics are tools to tell a story about your organization and audience, not just numbers to track. When interpreted thoughtfully, they can guide both editorial and business decisions and help publications articulate their impact to funders, readers and the wider community.
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