Here’s a guide to the technical tools you need to have in your newsroom

Your mind is likely shifting to next year at this point, daydreaming a bit about all of the opportunities and possibilities that are before you.

I will write a newsletter at the start of 2025 with some thoughts on the areas where I see the biggest opportunities — and while new stuff is all very exciting — I think spending some time ensuring you have the right tools in place to be successful next year is incredibly important.

In each of these areas below, we have recommended vendors to use (just ask me).  An important thing to keep in mind is that not all of these tools will cost you money and in many cases, you may be able to get more out of your current provider. But it all starts with evaluating what your tools currently help you do.

Do you have the right tools?

This is a simple question to ask across each department: Do you have the right tools to do your job as a publisher in 2025?

This isn’t a question if you have a Porsche in each department, but do you have a solid Toyota that is dependable and is helping you — or could help you even more — do your jobs better.

To me, there are a few things to evaluate when it comes to tools:

• Can it make me more efficient?

• Will it create a more engaged audience?

• Will it lead to revenue?

• Can it help me do something I’m not doing today?

Maybe that’s a helpful framework as you evaluate what you need. You have to prioritize the importance of all of these but here are a few areas I’d encourage you to look at:

1. Artificial Intelligence

What you should be doing: Using AI to improve editorial workflows, such as fast newsletter creation, video production, image generation, summarization, headline suggestions, SEO guidance, editing recommendations and social media posts.

What do you need? Something beyond a free version of ChatGPT that makes the production of all of these areas more efficient. Opposed to an AI tool here and there that does this job and that job, seek a wider solution that does many of the things above and that integrates into your CMS (this does exist). It’s creates the ultimate workflow and efficiency.

An important question to answer: Do you have clear guidelines in your organization on what you will use AI for? The general standards are important but laying out the specifics (like some of the areas above) will help you establish if you truly need a tool and honestly, if you are ready for one.

The bigger goal: AI can make you more efficient but it can also help you create more content through gained time (generate briefs faster) and by using tools that summarize takeaways from meetings (that you can use to create more content). Shifting that time to more and better content should be the message to your teams.

2. Content Management System

What you need: A modern CMS that is easy to use, has AI-enhancements, is efficient, and designed to support multi-platform publishing.

An important question to answer: Does your CMS make it harder on your editorial team’s life to publish content than it should, and will your system actually help you achieve your 2025 goals?

User experience is everything: I think about user experience in two ways: Is it enjoyable and easy for readers to navigate and can your staff (and newly hired staff) easily find their way around the backend? If you think both of these could be better, it may be time to shop.

Build an RFP: To make this decision, lay out what it currently does and what you want it to do. This process can help you evaluate what more you need and if you decide to shop it around, will make your needs clear to the companies you’re visiting with.

+ Collaboration tools: While a CMS will help with managing your content, they aren’t necessarily solutions for project management. Being able to have a single system to see all of the work — and keep up with it all — can be really helpful, regardless the size of the organization. If you are having trouble knowing the status of a project or don’t know where to look to find a file, you may need a platform.

I got the chance to lead a rollout last week of a new data tool for a newsroom in N.Y.

3. Audience Engagement & Analytics

What you need: A tool that provides real-time analytics, reporter-level performance insights, and actionable data to inform coverage decisions.

This is different from Google Analytics: Media companies absolutely need Google Analytics for reporting purposes, but GA4 isn’t exactly the easiest tool to understand or work in. For editorial teams, having a simple dashboard that provides insights that you can take action on is critical and I don’t believe that is GA4.

Why is it worth it? If you aren’t looking at your data to decide what you’re going to do more or less of, you are probably missing out on opportunities to provide your audience more of what they actually want. I still believe there is an important balance of news judgment and data when it comes to coverage decisions, but you have to have the data.

A real world example this week: Earlier this week, I was on site with a client, rolling out a new real-time data tool to their editorial teams. We focused on how to identify story ideas the audience was interested in, how and why to extend those stories another day and how to integrate the tool’s AI capabilities into their decision-making process. It went from having a cool tool to applying it.

4. Multimedia Production

What you need: Ability for your team to produce and edit videos for social media, create YouTube-level content, and collaborate with the right partners for podcast production.

Video workflow: If the person shooting the video in the field is not the same person who is going to build the Reel, you definitely need to have a workflow that efficiently delivers the content to those producers. This can be as simple as a Dropbox workflow or some other tool that supports delivering it quickly.

Tools to produce: The actual video production for social video should really be done through a tool like Canva or Capcut. This allows for a common place, templates and processes to be followed, as well somewhere for you to store it all.

+ Social media paid tools: I believe that paid campaigns — organic and for advertisers — will be of critical importance next year and beyond. Yes, you can do much of this yourself, but as your volume increases, you may very well need a tool. We have several clients who are experiencing major efficiency and the ability to do more with their social media tools, by partnering with someone.

5. Newsletter Creation

What you need: A dynamic newsletter platform with the ability to create amazing emails, segments, welcome series, and re-engagement campaigns.

What to avoid: RSS-like newsletters that have no aggregation and are auto publishing. There are lots of ways to approach newsletters — and they really can change by niche and need — but a blend of narrative storytelling with headlines and guides, I think, will be a good blend for the future.

Way more than sending an email: As you look at the tool you need for a newsletter, look way beyond just what your newsletter product looks like, but the backend tools that allows you to create segments, develop a variety of welcome series and re-engagement campaigns.

We can help find you the right tools

We know who to use for all of these tools and can make introductions, create strategy and help you implement them. Feel free to email me at David@davidarkinconstuling.com or call me at 832 407 0188 anytime.