The first Tiny Vitals cohort tested new ways to grow audiences and revenue — and discovered their own resilience along the way.
By Diane Sylvester
Understanding data is one thing. Knowing what to do with it is quite another. The first cohort of hyper-local news organizations in the Tiny Vitals coaching program bridged that gap, pairing data-driven insights with personalized guidance to experiment with audience development and integrate data into daily workflows to connect editorial efforts with revenue strategies.
As part of the Tiny Vitals Metric Lab, the program paired each newsroom with a coach who guided them through experiments, shared best practices and helped track measurable outcomes.
For many, the program started with modest goals but quickly expanded into deeper explorations of how data and structured experiments could inform decisions, strengthen workflows and connect audiences more intentionally to their reporting. After completing their coaching, the cohort came together to present Lightning Talks, where participants shared lessons, discussed emerging challenges and celebrated early wins.
When Spotlight Schools founder Jeannette Andruss began the program, her goal was simple: figure out how to use data to support her newsroom in Orange County, California. She admitted she had never looked closely at analytics, even though her newsletter and reporting were reaching engaged readers.
“I am baby stepping into this … and it’s been really helpful,” she said.
Her coach, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Haitian Times Vania André, encouraged her to start small, creating a daily data snapshot email that dropped into her inbox each morning. The task linked easily to her existing habit of checking email, and Andruss soon found herself looking at metrics regularly for the first time.
One early win came when she noticed a sudden spike in traffic to an older story about a high school gymnasium. Readers were revisiting her coverage because the gym was about to open. “I immediately was like, ‘OK, I got to get something up here fast.’ And I was able to,” Andruss said.
Originally, her goal was just to “pay attention.” By the end, it had evolved into building routines for growth — using data to boost subscribers, automate publishing and better understand how readers discover Spotlight Schools.
That same spirit of experimentation guided Emily Christensen, co-founder of The Shout in Wichita, Kansas, who set a bold goal of reaching 2,500 newsletter subscribers — a 150% increase. With coach Sarah Day Owen Wiskirchen, Christensen updated her “subscribe” page and printed flyers and bookmarks. She also attempted to use QR codes and launched an automated welcome message for new readers.
Christensen shared that some tactics fell flat. “Almost nobody has scanned our QR code,” she said. But their other tactics helped raise visibility, especially distributing materials at libraries and community events.
By the end of the program, Christensen acknowledged she might not hit the 2,500 mark, but she added 100 to her tally and reframed her definition of success. Instead of focusing solely on numbers, she shifted to building a process of steady experimentation and patience. “I’ve learned to focus on one thing at a time,” she said. “And to be more willing to experiment and tolerate uncertainty.”
Amy Bushatz, founder of Mat-Su Sentinel in Alaska, started with a specific aim: create effective calls to action (CTAs) that would bring in three new paying members each week. Her larger goal was to test a system that might help her save time by automating tasks and decreasing her administrative workload.
Working with mentor Phillip Smith of Journalism Growth Lab, Bushatz tested CTAs through Outpost and Ghost, tracked clicks in Google Tag Manager and even ran targeted Facebook ads. She gained 10 new paying members in early September, but most joined because of direct appeals in her newsletter rather than on-site CTAs.
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The experiments showed that members were most responsive to direct newsletter outreach, rather than standalone website prompts. That wasn’t part of Bushatz’s initial plan, but it became the biggest takeaway to guide her focus going forward. She isn’t giving up on CTAs, though. Instead, she is using the understanding gained through her work with Phillip to leverage them more effectively — and will use the data she collects to drive that experimentation further.
For some of the Tiny Vitals cohort, bigger challenges presented themselves during their coaching journey. Nora Hertel, founder of Project Optimist in Minnesota, began her coaching sessions with goals to improve newsletter performance and monetize events. But midway through, an unforeseen gap between grant allocations forced her to furlough staff and rethink her entire business model.
“I was in survival mode with the organization,” she said.
Using data, Hertel took stock: more than 7,000 newsletter subscribers, strong engagement with TikTok videos, but weak website traffic and events that drew different audiences than her newsletter. She realized she could no longer afford to fund reporting and events the same way.
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Instead, she pivoted. Hertel shifted away from freelance reporters, started serializing her own reporting into newsletter chapters, and started packaging multimedia bundles for sponsors.
“These content bundles are meant to meet our audience where they are, align better with sponsors, and also work for my schedule,” Hertel said. She credited coach Jos Duncan Asé of Love Now Media with helping her define a streamlined strategy and the team at the Tiny News Collective with providing ideas and crucial support that enabled her to maintain audience engagement while navigating significant organizational changes with limited resources.
Cara Kuhlman of Future Tides, which focuses on maritime issues in and around Seattle, leveraged the coaching program to link her maritime walking tours to audience growth and membership objectives. Initially, her goals included doubling tour attendance, growing newsletter subscriptions and converting participants into long-term supporters.
“With guidance from my coach, I treated the tours as an experiment in audience funnel-building: How could a one-time experience translate into a lasting relationship with readers?” Kuhlman said.
She tested Instagram ad boosts, tracked sign-ups and used follow-up surveys to better understand what attendees valued. The results were promising: She attracted 69 participants — including 8 dogs — and 36% of attendees became new subscribers to her newsletter. Participants also contributed $330 in one-time donations or tips using a tip jar feature from Outpost.
“These were things I was doing, but I just thought about them with a lot more intention,” Kuhlman said.
Her initial goals evolved as she discovered the potential for a structured pathway from events to sustained engagement.
“The coaching helped me envision a roadmap where in-person engagement, newsletters and donor contributions feed into each other, strengthening the newsroom’s connection to its audience,” she told the group.
The coaching program is also supporting Planeta Venus in expanding its Latino audience in Wichita, Kansas. Founder Claudia Amaro attended the sessions with a clear question: How could she grow beyond her initial base of Latina women to reach younger and more male readers? She suspected her audience could grow but needed better data to decide how.
Working with coach Vania André, she designed a bilingual survey to hear directly from current and potential readers. The results confirmed that an English-language newsletter might reach new audiences without abandoning her Spanish-language core.
“I’m really excited about our original content because I feel like nobody else is having the perspective we have,” she said.
Originally, her goal was simply “grow audience.” By the end, it had sharpened into a concrete plan: test an English-language product and expand audience data collection.
Across the participants, the Tiny Vitals coaching program emphasized establishing routines, intentional experiments and data-informed practices. Initial goals often evolved over the course of the program, and each newsroom emerged with actionable insights and a clearer understanding of how to connect readers to reporting in meaningful ways.
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