Growing e-mail databases is not only important - it is also a potential source of easy up-sell revenues that is often overlooked. This report is a step-by-step strategy Schurz used to develop advertising sales directly on emails with small markets already generating about $30,000. Included are samples of a variety of monetizable e-mail newsletters that are easy to create, and in demand from local advertisers. more

Morris Publishing Group's digital services agency, Main Street Digital, launched in 2012. The new company is now generating several million in less than 2 years. Here are lessons from the the first two years of starting and growing a digital agency with an average sale of $400 to $600 a month. more

This case study looks at Shaw Media's small market strategy combining one big weekly deal, with a certificate store on the Planit shopping sites. Includes a look at unique promotions such as publishers personally backing each deal and significant on and offline campaigns. See how a $78,000 deal, named Top Recreational Deal of 2011 by Second Street Media, was created and promoted. more

Video contests are often difficult to do because they require editing and extra technology. But this high school lip dub contest has the right formula to attract major sponsors, school support—and participants. Here's a step-by-step how-to, with the FAQ sheet and recommendations. more

A new kind of sports app that combines tweets from players and coaches with comments from analysts won 500 downloads the first day... and 5000 in six weeks. And that's before the season has kicked in. Here's how the platform was developed, what it looks like and the sales strategy. more

At Schurz Communications, 89% of the mobile dollars are sold by broadcast sites, even though company-owned newspaper sites are more numerous. What are the secrets to success? This case study shines a light on five key ingredients at Schurz' most successful mobile sales effort, closing in on $200,000 in mobile revenues for 2012 in a mid-sized market of Springfield, Mo. Use these real world strategies - along with our ten steps for creating a winning mobile sales strategy - to launch a mobile sales effort - or amp them up to stellar performance. Included are pricing, packaging, target accounts and sales organization issues. more

Creating a "Best Of" deals store is considered best practice for media companies that already have a deals program. Here are two successful case studies from the Miami Herald and The St. Louis Dispatch that show exactly how to put a "Best of" store together on the Second Street platform. Included are key tips that make the store work, deal criteria and mix, number of deals required, promotions, and a simply, sure-fire go-to-market strategy. more

The Minneapolis Star Tribune has published a series of popular e-books, including reporter Curt Brown's true life history about the U.S./Dakota War, In the Footsteps of Little Crow, and a cook book, The Cookie Book: 10 Years of Winning Recipes from our Holiday Baking Contest. The latest book, Giving Up the Ghost, by a local novelist was first serialized in the paper. Here is their step-by-step strategy to publishing a serialized novel and ebook, from selecting the right author to promotion and distribution channels. more

Second Street Media selected two newspapers and one television station to share their best practices for gaining more revenues from their daily deals. Included is insight from KY3.com television site's top digital executive, Kent Olglesby in Missouri; Kelly Klein, director of sales at STLtoday.com, owned by the St. Louis Post Dispatch; and Courtney Caldwell, Digital Sales Manager of the Statesboro Herald in Georgia. Here is a summary from the webinar presented to Second Street's partnering media companies. more

the330, a branded entertainment site, is the brainchild of the Akron Beacon Journal's marketing, sales and online team, led by Amanda Carroll, Marketing Director. After launching on a WordPress template, the new site, owned by Black Press, increased entertainment traffic by almost 50% in the first 30 days and acquired 16 new advertisers, including the art museum. It uses a novel approach to spotlight restaurant advertisers, more