Traditional publishing and media companies are struggling to maintain their footing in a shifting landscape. In the shadow of digital media corporations, circulation numbers have been falling for some time. Advertising revenues have dropped with them, creating a crisis even for secure, well-respected businesses.
But local media companies have an advantage over tech giants: authentic relationships with entrepreneurs and small-to-medium business owners who are eager for guidance around choosing digital solutions. By delivering informed advice and support, publishing and media companies can diversify revenue streams and restart sustainable growth.
The pressure is on for the publishing industry to evolve in new directions, and some businesses will answer the call. The only question is whether your company will help lead the transformation, or watch from the sidelines. Here’s the information you need to seize the opportunity.
The trust advantage
Publishing companies, particularly those serving local markets, possess competitive advantages that are nearly impossible to replicate. National corporations might pour money into connecting with SMBs, but there’s no substitute for relationships that have been nurtured for years and even decades.
Local journalists, media companies, and publishers have a deep understanding of their business community. They know its seasonal rhythms and regulatory challenges, and are often the ones who explain economic changes to their customers and connect local trends with patterns in the wider world.
This translates into more than brand recognition or marketing reach. Local publishers are respected as informal business advisors, and their recommendations are taken seriously. At a time when small businesses increasingly rely on trust relationships when making purchase decisions, these relationships form the foundation for successful digital service partnerships. Now they can be translated into recurring revenue that outstrips traditional advertising models.
Understanding the SMB tech landscape
The small business environment has changed dramatically in the last five years. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital transformation to an astonishing speed, with the result that today’s business owners (rightly) consider tech tools to be essential for their survival and growth.
Our SMB tech survey taken at the end of 2024, adds to the picture. We found that 59% of respondents use between two and four core digital platforms to operate their businesses, while 67% have integrated up to four new technological solutions within the past twelve months alone. We’re not even talking about basic tech like email, social media management, or productivity suites.
Small business survey participants told us that their top three tech use cases are payment processing, automated invoicing and billing, and customer relationship management. These are the most time-consuming processes when handled manually, so automation makes a big difference. It’s no longer just a shiny new object or something “nice-to-have”. SMB owners see their tech stack as mission-critical business applications that free them to focus on the bigger levers of profitability and growth, such as strategic planning and customer service.
But the wealth of tech options brings its own difficulties for SMB owners. Faced with so many tools, they are beset with app fatigue. It’s not surprising that 91% of SMBs told us that they would prefer an all-in-one solution that saves them from constantly logging in and out of apps. Consolidated platforms deliver a comprehensive solution without the need to juggle numerous tools.
This is where local media and publishing companies come into the picture. This preference for consolidation and need for tools that complete business-critical tasks presents a unique opportunity for them to expand their offerings and capture more of the small business market.
How to become indispensable to your SMB customers
Traditional media services like advertising placements, editorial coverage, or event sponsorships only deliver periodic engagement. SMBs only interact with publishers during specific campaigns or initiatives, leaving long quiet periods that create unsteady and unpredictable revenue.
inTandem by vcita fundamentally transforms this dynamic by embedding publisher and media company brands into the daily operational workflows of small businesses. Rather than competing for SMB attention on short-term projects or campaigns, publishers become integral to how SMBs manage their most critical business functions.
Lead management with real business outcomes
inTandem Connect addresses one of the most persistent challenges in small business marketing: lead conversion. While many publishers focus on generating leads through traditional advertising or digital presence services, the real value lies in following those leads throughout the funnel and turning them into paying customers.
The solution centralizes communications with prospects from disparate channels into a single, AI-powered lead management platform. Consolidating them in a single location and sending real-time notifications about newly received leads, prevents these from falling through the cracks.
AI capabilities streamline and optimize communication and acts as a pro-active business assistant – suggesting and drafting personalized responses for approval. We’ve seen how this helps ease the burden for overworked small business owners – reducing time spent on time-consuming tasks and increasing lead to client conversion rates.
Delivering such a branded app can be significant for media and publishing companies. Directly contributing to a 40% increase in revenue conversion means they’re no longer just an expense on the budget sheet. Now they are seen as local business growth partners.
The natural next step: An all-in-one business management platform
The true power of inTandem emerges through its comprehensive business management capabilities. Businesses that use the branded app to receive and manage their leads, can unlock digital business management tools, such as: CRM functionality, appointment scheduling, payment processing, and marketing automation under a single platform. Allowing publishers and media companies to embed their brands into every aspect of SMB operations.
This integration makes for a sticky solution, which creates what economists call “switching costs”. This refers to the barriers that make changing providers expensive and disruptive. When the SMB client uses one system to manage multiple business-critical operations — including lead management, payment processing, appointment scheduling, and marketing campaign management — changing to a competitor would be a serious headache.
And that headache is good news for publishers and media companies. It means that they can bank on predictable recurring revenue. As clients build up the customer data and customized workflows they’ve stored on the platform, they become more committed to the solution. Retention rates rise, without the stressful negotiations that accompany renewals for traditional advertising contracts.
Using data to improve SMB relationships
Another great aspect of an inTandem partnership is how integrating your current services into the platform enables data-driven upselling opportunities. When publishers have visibility into local business performance metrics, seasonal trends, and growth patterns, they can identify opportunities for local businesses to expand the services they consume, and do so contextually.
Traditional media sales often rely on broad market assumptions or generic seasonal patterns. The inTandem model replaces them with insights into individual business performance. This powers highly-targeted recommendations that address each client’s specific growth phase or operational challenges.
For example, imagine that the platform spots that a business consultant has increased customer acquisition rates by 150% in the past quarter. The media company can use this insight to suggest a targeted digital advertising campaign that showcases the consultant’s success and attracts similar business.
Or consider a law firm that raises bookings for initial consultations without pushing up conversion rates. A publishing company could then recommend content marketing that builds trust before the initial meeting. This consultative approach transforms sales conversations from pushing products to advisors helping small businesses optimize their growth strategies.
Leveraging proven SMB expertise
There’s just one thing stopping most media and publishing companies from taking this step: tech expertise. They would need great investment in talent and resources to build these capabilities in-house, not to mention the time and cost of testing and improving the platform.
The alternative is to a white-label solution like inTandem that is based on over 15 years of experience developing tech for SMBs. vcita’s expertise goes beyond software development, including a deep understanding of local business’ operational patterns, decision-making processes, and tech adoption.
By offering comprehensive support beyond the technology that covers implementation, optimization, training, and ongoing tech support, companies can expand their digital services portfolio without sacrificing their core business.
Leading the digital revolution for SMBs
Media and publishing companies face a tremendous opportunity. Offering an all-in-one lead and business management solution that delivers real value is beneficial for both them and their customers. SMB clients gain affordable, useful enterprise-level business management tools, while media and publishing companies cement their position as trusted advisors and enjoy sustainable recurring revenue.
The community relationships that media companies have been building for years are the springboard that allows them to move beyond traditional advertising to directly impact client profitability and success. The missing link is inTandem, which removes barriers to expansion like tech expertise, development costs, and specialist experience. This way, publishing and media companies can launch quickly and instantly showcase value.
With support from inTandem, media and publishing companies can quickly offer the integrated digital solutions that their SMB clients have been wishing for, solidifying their position as essential partners and advancing their own success.
