Marine

How to find new ways to engage your audience ?

Presentation of Médianes

Marine Doux, co-founder of Médianes, took part in an IQ Media Lab masterclass to discuss how to develop a media outlet at a time when the press business model is in its infancy. Founded in 2020, Médianes offers resources, support and strategic advice to media facing challenges such as declining revenues, loss of trust, and the rise of AI and misinformation.

Click here to watch the masterclass video:

🗝️#1 Keys to developing your media

  1. Putting the audience first: Creating quality content tailored to the audience’s needs encourages engagement. To define this, you need to use tools to understand the audience’s needs and preferences (personas, surveys, analyses, feedback).
  2. Ask the right questions: For each editorial product, it is crucial to ask the right questions, such as:
    • Who is our audience?
    • What needs have we identified?
    • How will it bring them value?
    • Why should they care?
  3. Define clear objectives for each piece of content: for example, the team at Le Temps has institutionalised this approach at its editorial meetings: in a table, journalists make a point of answering this question: what objective does it serve? This approach fundamentally changes the way we approach a subject by putting the reader’s interest first.

📰 #2 Implementation examples

  • Politico: In 2023, Médianes supported a major overhaul of the Politico website in Europe, working with different teams to adapt the site to European countries and languages.
  • StreetPress: With the help of Médianes, StreetPress launched a newsletter in 2022 dedicated to coverage of the far right in France, including monthly issues and selections of weekly articles. In 2023, StreetPress raised 185,000 euros for this coverage, a sign that people were prepared to support the project financially. The editorial team also published a fortnightly newsletter giving a behind-the-scenes look at how news is made.

🔝 #3 Key principles for better content

  • Adopt a product approach: it’s not just about editorial.
  • Know your audience: this is the first thing you need to think about.
  • Framework: always ask questions and build your own framework.
  • Teamwork: the importance of teamwork.
  • Rigorous approach: maintain rigour in content creation and management.
  • Clear objectives: always have clear objectives for each piece of content.
  • Invest in the right formats to engage audiences effectively.

🖋️ #4 Additional resources

The Médianes website and a series of articles recommended by Marine Doux.

Newsletter, Médianes

Créer un média, Médianes

Mais à quoi peut bien servir mon article ? (Le Temps)

Guide du management de projet dans les rédactions — English version

Ralentir en misant sur les formats

Médianes x Streepress

Médianes x POLITICO