How The Palm Springs Post became the go-to news source in 4 years
The Palm Springs Post was first founded as a newsletter in 2021 by Mark Talkington while he was juggling a full-time job. Now, the news service reaches roughly half of the homes in the City of Palm Springs, population 45,000.
“We’re not quite four years old, and we’ve managed to become the source for news in Palm Springs,” says Talkington, adding they have about triple the reach of the local Gannett competitor.
While the growth in subscribers has slightly slowed, ending 2023 with 15,000 daily newsletter subscribers and 2024 with 17,420 subscribers, revenue from paying members and ads continues to shoot skyward, bringing in $154,000 gross in 2023 and $255,000 gross in 2024.
The success is due to various factors, some of which Talkington attributes to a unique demographic of educated older adults who are used to being well-served by news media.
The role of Indiegraf in supporting sustainable growth
Through it all, Indiegraf has provided the Post with the tools it needs to do what it does best.
“We don’t need to worry about ad sales, reader revenue campaigns, audience acquisition, the tech stack,” he says. “All we need to worry about is, are we doing the best journalism and serving our community the best we can each day?”
“It’s a combination of Indiegraf working away in the background and us utilizing the latest technology… and just the enthusiasm that the community has had for us in 2024 that allowed us to really, just really knock it out of the park.”
A 2024 investigation into a local non-profit has resulted in the county’s prosecuting attorney charging its founder with 54 counts of fraud. Talkington has nominated the series for a local Pulitzer.
Unlocking ad revenue potential
‘The power of the Post’ to reach advertisers’ target audiences
The term “the power of the Post” was coined by local advertisers to describe how effective ad placements are, Talkington explains. “They know if they’re in the Post, whatever they need is going to happen.”
They have now opened up inventory on the daily newsletter, the Post’s flagship product, to one feature ad and three additional smaller ads. This brings in up to $800 in ad revenue per newsletter.
With the growth of website traffic, they can now expand to selling website ad placements and even sponsored content. The Post uses Indie Ads Manager for all their display ads on the website.
Talkington specifically credits Indiegraf’s sponsorship sales manager Ramona Wildeman for the growth in clients and offerings.
“She is remote, but still manages to sell the hell out of this product and keep us sold months in advance,” Talkington says.
“It kind of evolved from just really hustling to sell one thing in the newsletter … to selling deals and making deals with advertisers,” he says. “People will come to us and say, ‘Well, I have $5,000 to spend. What can I get from you?’ And Ramona will make them a very attractive package.”
Wildeman credits the Post for creating a reliable product with a really clear purpose and audience. “[Mark] wants his product to be the product where people need to find out what’s happening in Palm Springs. And so now that’s his reputation.”
Building trust with advertisers and readers
The trust this has built with the readership makes the ads an easy sell. About 75 percent is now sold out each month because of long-term commitments, she explains. As the list of subscribers has grown, the team can charge more for newsletter ads.
In addition, she says reporting back to clients with performance results (reach, opens, clicks and additional feedback) also builds trust.
Wildeman also offers recommendations to improve the ads for clients. “We have a really frank discussion that it’s not too many words, has a strong call to action, very simple graphics — kind of walking people through what makes a good small ad in the newsletter, as opposed to a bunch of text.”
To boost sales and also boost the advertiser experience, Wildeman employs a series of incentives. If a client buys three small ads, they get a frequency discount. Website ads are also offered as a bonus.
Building flexibility on rates for repeat clients or local non-profits helped the Post build a reputation as a strong community partner.
“Depending on the client, we’ve given them a discount to do a second ad, because we’re building good faith in the community,” she says.
Meanwhile, the Post’s command of the local news market continues to catch the attention of business owners and non-profits, increasing demand for ad placements.
“It’s all kind of cyclical, right?” Talkington explains. “The more money we made, the more journalism we could do. And the more journalism we did, the more satisfied our audience was. The more satisfied our audience was, the more they trusted us, and the more they engaged with advertisers.”
Read more: “How to Develop Sponsor-Centric Messaging” – an Indiegraf Expert Guide by Ramona Wildeman and Allison McIlmoyl.
Events calendar: A win-win for readers and revenue
Local outlets often cover events and report back. But letting people know about events before they happen is a big part of adding value to readers.
To offer this service efficiently, the Post features a calendar in its daily newsletter and its website using an integration called City Spark. The calendar features today’s events in addition to a “save the date” section at the top promoting future events. Nonprofit rates were introduced, making event listings more affordable for community organizations.
“Over 80 percent of people who read the Post have gone to an event in our city that they’ve found in our newsletter or our events calendar,” Talkington explains.
He shares the story of covering a “very boring” city meeting about broadband access where, astonishingly, five people showed up alongside him. “And they’re like, ‘Oh my God, I’m here because I saw it this morning in the Post.”
“It’s valuable,” he continues. “City Spark costs us like $175 a month, but we make about a grand a month off calendar stuff.”
While the Post’s daily newsletter remains the primary product, Indiegraf Website has provided the Post with the flexibility to add integrations like City Spark, empowering it to become a source of income in its own right.
Finding efficiencies with AI
Technology is a big part of how Talkington credits the Post’s growth with so few people behind it.
He developed an AI tool called Satchel to do “10 times more news in a quarter of the time it used to take.”
It synthesizes hours of council meetings, and trained on the Post’s writing style and content.
First created to keep the outlet running during a period of time when editor and reporter Kendall Balchan was on medical leave, the AI tool speeds up the production of news stories and newsletters.
A new outlet on the horizon
The Palm Springs Post is now preparing to launch another local news product serving the community of Indio in the Coachella Valley, where Balchan lives and was born and raised.
Talkington and Balchan had previously worked to launch the Coachella Valley Reporter, which they ran for a brief period before deciding the timing wasn’t right to continue. While they had early success in subscriber growth and ad sales, it was too much for the tiny team to keep producing news stories for both outlets.
A new approach backed by technology and support
“So now we’ve learned all our lessons from the [Coachella Valley] reporter. We have technology in place, we have people in place, and we have a healthier Kendall, and we’re going to make a go of it with a second product.”
“I’m both excited and scared to death,” he says. Helping to calm the nerves is having secured Indiegraf’s suite of services alongside another part-time reporter local to Indio.
Talkington is also seeking partners to raise some runway before launch.
“I’m hoping at the end of 2025 that we will have two products, Kendall and [part-time reporter] Maggie are running, and I can start to look at retiring,” Talkington says.
“I’m hoping that my dream of handing this off to the next generation of newsroom leaders can happen.”
Indiegraf has helped over 120 publications across North America start, grow and manage an independent news business. Interested in joining Indiegraf’s growing network? We are happy to answer any questions.
