Going Hyperlocal: A Q&A With Edible Communities' CEO Tracey Ryder

The Yale Publishing Course, founded in 2010, is an intensive program offering knowledge and skills to mid- and senior-level professionals in magazine and book publishing. YPC brings in experts who address various topics, trends and issues pertinent to the rapid development of publishing in this day and age. One of the speakers at this year’s magazine program (taking place July 14-19) is president and CEO of Edible Communities Inc., Tracey Ryder. Ryder co-founded Edible Communities in 2002, and it is currently the largest publication company dedicated to the local food movement in the U.S. In her speech, Ryder will address hyper-local publishing, as well as her business model, which has been very successful. Here she answers some preliminary questions for Publishing Executive regarding her upcoming YPC presentation. Publishing Executive: Edible Communities Inc. focuses on local food movements across North America. What would you say are the main distinctions between hyper-local publications versus wide range publications? Tracey Ryder: Our publications are able to devote all of their editorial pages to their local communities. The reach each of them has into the food artisans, farmers, and all other linchpins of the local foods movement is pretty incredible. That is the #1 best aspect of hyper-local publishing. Wider ranging publications simply can’t do that. Many of them (at least in the food space) are trying to do features on aspects of the local foods movement but they really aren’t able to capture it or make it as personal to each community as we can.PE: Edible Communities Inc. publishes across North America, including large cities such as Philadelphia, Atlanta and San Diego, as well as regions such as Blue Ridge, Front Range and Michiana. Is there any difference between hyper-local publication in large cities and regions? TR: As of today, we have 81 titles across North America. This is one case where size of community (or population) really doesn’t matter in terms of how profitable an Edible magazine is. We find that the most successful Edible magazines are those with the following characteristics: 1) publisher really knows their own community well or else is eager to learn it, and they are comfortable being “the face of the magazine” at events and wherever there are other public opportunities; 2) the territory the magazine covers is not too big. For example, [we had] Edible Chesapeake, which was too big and more “regional” than hyper-local—but now we can have Edible DC, Edible Richmond, Edible Baltimore (in the same area), which works much better. We find that it’s critical for the readers of our magazines to really be able to identify as being a member of the community the magazine serves. So titles such as Edible Manhattan, Edible Queens, Edible Brooklyn, Edible Boston, etc. all do very well because our readers in those areas all identify with a very specific community.PE: Much of America is undergoing a “grass-roots” movement, which emphasizes supporting local businesses, especially in terms of food production, distribution and consumption. Has this had any effect on your business model? TR: Yes, it absolutely has had an impact on our business model and it’s been very positive. Consumers are much smarter than a lot of publications give them credit for. Additionally, in all of our reader’s surveys, they tell us they are willing to pay more for a product if they know who produced it and if there is a story behind it. Another thing that hyper-local publications like ours are able to do is to directly connect consumers to the producers within their own community and that is what people today are literally “hungry” for. Advertisers in our magazines know that our readers are highly motivated consumers who want to support them. That is a powerful message to send to an advertiser. Lastly, national advertisers love our magazines and have helped us double our national ad sales revenue year over year for the past 4 years because they can reach consumers in a completely different way through our magazines than they can with national magazines. For example, they can target their creative for a specific region or community—it doesn’t have to be the same nationwide. Being able to craft their message to readers in specific regions is something they really love to be able to do.PE: Have you noticed an increase in hyper-local publishers in the U.S.? TR: No, we really haven’t noticed very many others although I have been asked to consult for one-off regional magazines in other verticals that would like to use our business model. To date, none of them has a very large footprint at all.PE: What have been some of the benefits and challenges of hyper-local publishing? TR: The benefits are really outlined in the answers shown above. Being able to directly connect consumers to producers within their communities, attracting advertisers in a whole new way, having a community of publishers that all support one another and freely share information and experiences, etc. The challenges are that we are largely a print company and are in the process of becoming a much larger, multimedia company — TV, online, digital, mobile, etc. It’s almost like reinventing ourselves yet we believe that having more of a balance between being a hyper-local print company and a larger multi-media company, is the ultimate business model for both Edible Communities and each of our local publishers.PE: What key points would you hope that your audience takes away from your speech? TR: That building a hyper-local media company is possible. It has value, especially in today’s world. That staying connected to readers is something we do very well and that pays off for us each and every day, and that there are tons of ad dollars out there and they don’t all have to be $500,000 accounts coming in through ad agencies — there is an incredible number of small to mid-sized companies who are eager to spend money in quality publications!

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Going Hyperlocal: A Q&A With Edible Communities' CEO Tracey Ryder

Geoffrey Knight

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