Would you make a good Locable Partner? Here are our 3-R's

It's a funny world that we live in here at Locable.  We have a laser-like focus on building community, as our tagline says "Main Street for the 21st Century" and to do so we rely on great local publishing partners.

We're also not a vendor and this means that for us to be successful our great local publishing partners need to be additive to our business - if we merely relied on big fees to grow our business publishers could fail miserably but as long as they paid their bills we'd be happy.

So, what does Locable look for in a publisher? Well, if you're a publisher and want to learn more about Locable ask yourself, do we have the 3 Rs?... and a C? That is, do we have readers, relationships, and relevance... and do you make community a focus?

While they likely speak for themselves I'll take a moment to expand on each of these items so you can better sense what we're after and, frankly, what you need to embrace to continue to be relevant going into the future.

Readers (or reach) - At Locable we're good at a lot of things but building a brand in a new market from scratch is tough, expensive, and frankly a poor use of time. Besides, there are plenty of media companies out there taking this approach and trying to poach your readers and advertisers.

Relationships - Like Readers, starting from scratch is not something we care to do. We focus on working with publishers to deliver NEW value to advertisers. The fact is, local businesses are seeking digital solutions (notice I didn't say ads) and the best way to meet their needs is through a media brand they already know and trust.

Relevance - The aforementioned media companies that are now competing with you often rely on a complex computer algorithm to determine what matters most to readers in your community - wherever you are. We don't think that's the best approach. So, we seek out publishers that focus on and know what their community is interested in when it's interested in it. For us, that means that a great partner highlights the best of what's local from stories about locals, to local athletics and school activities, great local events, and the like - the positive slice of life.

Community - This is nearly an extension of Relevance though it differs in that Relevance deals with "what you are" while Community is about "what you value" and thus what you will become. See, if you don't believe in your role as a community builder and make it a priority the other three items above will start to wain especially where digital is concerned. Caring about the community means caring enough to find new was to serve your readers. Find new ways to deliver value to advertisers and not fear the unknown. We love print, we're not a print is dying company, but your ability to run a print only business is coming to an end because both readers and advertisers want more - not different, more ways to connect. This also means that your advertisers want you to be an expert - including an expert on digital - and provide print/web/social packages that help them tell their stories.

So, if you have the 3 R's and value the big C then we should talk.