EDITOR'S NOTE: In June 2004 I began a new venture as managing editor of both Northfield News and Faribault Daily News. This column originally appeared in the Northfield News on Feb. 16, 2007.
The local business scene is one of the most important sectors of the community that we cover each week. In fact, it's hard to imagine a city without a vital business sector, whether it's manufacturing, service-oriented or retail. Local businesses provide jobs, a large percentage of the local tax base, donations to charity and opportunities to shop for local residents. There's really not a segment of our lives that isn't touched by local business. I was reminded of this this week when I had the opportunity to join a local writers' roundtable to discuss how the News covers local businesses and what is and isn't acceptable business news. I met about a half dozen local entrepreneurs, all whom work from their homes and don't have a store front that you'd recognize. They had good questions and it was a fun session. The session also got me to thinking that business news maybe is one of the least understood aspects about the newspaper. Each week we publish a page, and sometimes two, of business news on Wednesday. It's important enough that we think local business news deserves its own page each week and we regularly devote the staff time necessary to tell at least one business story per week, whether it's a story about a new business or a feature about an industry trend. But we know that we're not telling all of the local business news that is happening and that's where we look to you all for help. We do write staff stories about local business, but often much of the business news we publish is submitted to us. We appreciate that and wish more people would take advantage of the opportunity. You don't have to be a large employer to make news. Small businesses win industry awards, promote people or hire new managers, too. These are all important local stories that can be told. We cannot guarantee that a reporter will write a story about every tip we receive, but if you submit something noteworthy, we'll certainly publish it. Some small business people may feel it's daunting to actually write what we call a press release for their own business, but we can make it a lot easier than that. There is no formal way to submit your business news to us; a simple phone call or e-mail to myself or Publisher Sam Gett or reporter Emily Zimmer, who covers many of our business stories, is enough. We really just need the basic information - the five Ws if you will ... who, what, where, when and why. (Well, OK an occasional "how" is necessary as well, but that's not as literary.) If you've got some news to tell, we can help you fashion it into some coherent paragraphs and we're more than happy to do so. Of course, there are also times when we choose to write a staff-written story about a business. I guarantee that there is rhyme and reason to the stories we do. It's not because we like some businesses more than others. For instance, we try to do a story about every new business that starts in town. Sometimes it's not immediately because the owners are unavailable or busy with their store opening, or sometimes we have several new businesses that begin at the same time. Then we try to get to each of them as fast as we can. But if we hear about a new business, we will do a story about you. We also will do staff-written stories when other developments occur: It's important to chronicle when businesses change hands or significantly expand their services or offerings. We also will mix in business stories that are about trends in an industry and then we try to contact at least several local businesses in the industry to help expound upon the story. This is a way to cover more than just one business in town. And finally there are times we'll do a story about some unique business, someone offering a service or product that is unique to the area and isn't duplicated by anyone else. This type of story makes for a great read and there's no way it favors one business over another because there's just not another example like it in the community. Those are the most frequent stories our staffers will write, but far more often there is local business news that doesn't require a full story to explain, and we call those business briefs. This is where local business people could really help us out, gain some exposure for their business and spread the news about your developments. Send us updates when you or your employees receive some sort of new certification or training, tell us when you hire someone, and send of photos when you remodel or significantly change your business. Don't be afraid that what you send may be incomplete. If it is we'll fill in the blanks by calling and asking the questions we need to. And don't forget to send us photos of the people you want to brag about. Readers want to know what the new manager looks like or put a face with the name of the employee who just received a new certification. Photos do matter and we encourage you to submit them along with your news. We also encourage you to send your business story ideas to us. We can't cover every story suggested because of limited time and space, and sometimes out of fairness to other local businesses. However, if you don't suggest your story ideas, we'll never know about them and there's no possibility we'll do a story. Sometimes we even save a story we can't get to immediately for another time. There are lots of possibilities. We know how important your businesses are to you and we want to help you spread the news to the community. Help us help you by submitting your business news. - Devlyn Brooks is managing editor of the Northfield News. He can be reached at dbrooks@northfieldnews.com.
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