In this post, I will show you how to start newspaper company in Nigeria. Running a newspaper company is a very lucrative business in Nigeria, especially if you know your onions.
Many persons have different reasons why they want to start Newspaper Company, however, to embark on this adventure, there are certain things you need to know and put in place in order to succeed in newspaper business.
People start or engage in newspaper business because they want to share ideas and information, some fellows want to build reputation and credibility, because much of what people read in Newspapers, they also love to discuss about what they read.
Some others too, start Newspaper company because they want to make money. Whatever the reason is, to succeed in Newspapers business, you have to build more loyal readers, as well as make money through advert placement.
Having said that; you need to consider the steps you want to take in setting up your newspaper company in Nigeria? These steps are very crucial, should you want to succeed in Newspaper business in Nigeria. Before we consider these steps, let us look at the meaning of newspaper.
What is a newspaper?
A newspaper is a print media published daily or bi-weekly or even weekly in folded papers with pages divided into different subjects or content of interest, where some important news headlines are displayed on the cover page.
In a newspaper, there are articles like features, opinion, as well as news stories that will be of interest to the members of the public coupled with advertisement, sports, particularly football and entertainment.
Steps to start Newspaper in Nigeria
1. Planning
You should know what information and ideas you want to convey to the public, in doing this therefore, you should be sure that there are people out there, who are interested about such information, because it is this, that will give you the idea of what people are eager to read about.
In Nigeria, for example, people are interested in reading about entertainment, sports, like football, politics etc. Before starting Newspaper Company, it should occur to you that there are a number of newspapers at the news stand.
Those companies, over time have build reputation and credibility by proving information that keeps loyal readers to keep patronizing the Newspaper, so competing with these companies that were already in the market will be no small task.
To have a place in the market, what you need to do is to be specific and unique. Take for example, if one of your topic is sport, say, football, what you need do to have edge over other Newspaper Companies is to be specific as said earlier, that is, be concerned about a particular team for example.
Any newspaper that is unique will be able to build reputation and credibility hence, attract loyal readers faster. More important thing again is to decide on the number of pages you want your newspaper to be.
Do not follow all those companies that publish less or more pages because those pages perhaps, depend on what they are publishing. So you have to choose your own number of pages.
Another thing that is utmost important in starting Newspaper Company in Nigeria is content definition. Do not ever forget this! You should define your content because to keep people interested in reading your newspaper is not an easy task. People will only be interested in reading your newspaper when you offer something unique.
Now, how many times will you publish your newspaper in a week, is it going to be on daily basis, bi-weekly, or weekly? This is what you should decide on and work towards that.
Business plan is very important too. It should contain detailed information, your company and the future expansion of your company among other things.
2. Take action
After planning, the next step is to take action by building your workforce.
You cannot do it all alone, you need a team. People who share with your vision will be of immense benefit, starting from news Editor, article writers, graphic designers, photo Journalist, printers, sales and distributors, etc. other key persons that will help your newspaper company to succeed will include; managers, such as production manager, marketing manager, sales manager, etc.
Your newspaper should be such an interactive type, for example, those columns that people will like, and it could be sport, relationship and so on.
A good number of newspapers do not include these columns, but once young people who love these columns find it in your newspaper, they will keep on patronizing your newspaper, and also know the number of advert you publish in your paper, they should not exceed the content. In subsequent, financial implication should be taken into consideration. Prices could fluctuate depending on where you operate from. Just know that prices changes.
Persons that will help your newspaper company to succeed
1. Article writers
The work of article writers is to make research findings on areas that will be of interest to the members of the public, and then write on those interesting topics that will build readers’ loyalty.
Their jobs are to provide relevant information that will help build your newspaper’s credibility and reputation. Sometimes at the onset, you may wish to recruit freelance article writers to help research and write on some of the topics that will be of interest to your reading public, because a good number of those freelance article writers are experienced writers, who know the work very well, though in most cases, their charges are always on the high side, but the fact remains that they will help by their writing build your newspaper reputation fast.
2. Marketing personnel
Marketing personnel played an enormous role in marketing your newspaper company, and make it successful. They are responsible in marketing the newspaper company, spreading the news of uniqueness of you newspaper to the members of the public.
Any successful newspaper company should rely on effective publicity, and without which, many people will not be aware of the newspaper.
Therefore, marketing personnel in your newspaper company is duty bound to spread the message to private organizations, government departments and agencies and ministries, shopping malls, stores etc.