What are we going to bring to the party?
So we’ve done it! After some deliberation and plenty of discussions, and a small element of trepidation, I finally decided to take over the helm of the beloved Kruger2Canyon newspaper. We clearly have a long history to uphold but we as the team are all excited at the prospect and look forward to adding an alternative breath of fresh air to the publication.
It is difficult stepping into someone else’s shoes – it takes time for the shoe to fit snuggly. Whilst I am very wary of changing too much too soon, I do believe that the publication needs a revamp and a structure that will make it more enticing for you, our reader.
Of course, we as the team, must not forget that we are in Hoedspruit, for Hoedspruit, about Hoedspruit and largely by Hoedspruit. The communal glue is something that we want to nurture and develop going forward. We must never lose sight of the fact that it is for the community that we publish our paper, to challenge, to excite, to reveal, to promote, to enjoy, to help, and most of all to have fun. We will do our best to be impartial, accurate, and have a level of journalism that will make you all proud.
In this light, I am very happy and thankful to have David Batzofin on board to join the team as the Editor. He brings with him a wealth of journalistic knowledge and experience on which, I have no doubt, we will lean heavily.
What was surprising in our research within the community is the fact that most people enjoy a printed copy – it’s my personal preference too. With that in mind, what I want to ask of you, the community is to please tell us what you want to hear. It would be remiss of anyone venturing
forth on this road to not ask our readership what they want. And we certainly don’t want to focus on the bad news, there’s enough of that going around. We want to celebrate the good news – the personalities, the companies, the newbies, the achievements, the good stuff! Stories that gives you the warm fuzzy feelings – and we all know that’s in short supply right now.
The other part of what we are going to do is concentrate on local – ‘local is lekker’– and with this mouthpiece, we hope to promote and support ‘local’ as the prime focus in our intent to produce a wonderful publication for all to read.
Besides bringing a new structure to the publication, a cornerstone that will allow us to build what we want to achieve is the biosphere – who knew that the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere was voted the eleventh best biosphere in the world!? I believe that this should be the foundation on which we build – with the people, by the people, for the people whilst conserving our beautiful natural resources and environments that we are so privileged to be part of. We are blessed to live in this paradise, so let’s ensure that we support it and nurture it to the very best of our abilities.
Besides local contributors (which we would like to encourage) we will tap into other experienced and respected sources, that can give us insight and comment from an outside perspective, that may ignite a spark to make us look at ourselves to see how we can improve, develop, initiate and prosper.
Our structure will target the community, the biosphere, nature, and wildlife, personalities, businesses, agriculture, lifestyle and leisure, things to do and see, places to go, achievements of individuals and companies and organizations, always promoting ‘local first’. As a team, we want to be proud of what we do, what we can do, and what we will do, to make our piece on this rock hurtling around the sun, the paradise we all want and strive for.
We look forward to your ongoing support, as we will support you. Please tell us if we are delivering the goods, tell us what you want, and we will strive to deliver.
Here’s to a fantastic journey ahead. Thank you for your support and for welcoming us into the community. May all South Africans return to a semblance of normality in our day-to-day life soon and we here at Kruger2Canyon are filled with excitement for the adventures that lie ahead.
Newspapers boost business after lockdown
Mark Bishop
I was browsing through the Internet the other day, looking at and reading interesting articles. One of the subjects that interested me was how people and businesses have reinvented themselves and their processes since this pandemic hit us. Some of the ideas that have developed have been inspirational others very much off the “beaten track” – but the common denominator was that all those that I read about were successful.
One that really caught my eye dealt with newspapers and how these were now being used to boost business! Yes, believe it or not but the pen seems now to be stronger than the gadget!
Brands are now repositioning themselves for the future and marketing spend is expected to rise by 14% in 2021 worldwide! There has been an increased demand for transparency and above all for authenticity and turning to newspapers has struck the cord of the tricky balance between “fresh” and “familiar”. Print is a welcome change to screens that we have all become accustomed to because it’s an accessible and agile format. It also affords creativity in a physical rather than a “virtual” medium.
The advertising in print gives an element of the company being tactile and tangible, a really important component of any brand. There’s nothing better than sitting over a cup of coffee and reading the paper – its something physical after all this online stuff! We are too used to digesting everything in bite-sized chunks on social media – much better to spend time discovering a newspaper (of course with content!).
Now is a great time to re-evaluate how you’re showing up to your community and get a new perspective. Think about what you love about your brand and experiment with ways of communicating that through print!
Local newspapers like the Kruger2Canyon gives the local community the chance to celebrate the small things that have a big impact on people and nurture that community ethos that we are all seeking. It’s nice to belong! Here’s a toast to the continuation of our beloved print.
