Pittsburgh Business Times unveils redesign

Alan Robertson, the publisher of the Pittsburgh Business Times, writes about the redesign of the American City Business Journals paper.

Robertson writes, “In a recent series of focus groups with readers of the Pittsburgh Business Times, we heard some pretty remarkable — and sometimes contradictory — things.

• Readers see us as their primary source of local business news.
• Digital users in rapidly increasing numbers rely on our Twitter feed and email newsletters to keep them up to date. Both digital platforms enable them to quickly scan headlines.
• Longtime subscribers, who spend almost 45 minutes reading the weekly edition, prefer to get their news once a week. They’re looking for the answer to the question: What does it mean?
• Consumers of news are switching platforms at least 20 times a day — from mobile to desktop to tablet to print.

“Those focus groups reminded us that change is a constant and our success must be continually earned. As innovation is reordering our industry, we must be willing to take big risks to stay ahead of the curve. We must constantly reinvent ourselves.”

Read more here.