by: Sean Ang

You have just started a small blog or perhaps a small online news portal with just 2 volunteers. So, how do you move from where you are right now? How do you chart your organizational growth and what are the important elements that will ensure you will achieve your goal to become an important media player in your country or amongst your targeted community?

I guess the first thing that anybody will have in their mind is money or resources. Yes, you are probably right if you say that financial resources are very important. It is important, but what we want to do here is to be a little more explicit about it and provide you a framework that takes into consideration other factors as well, whereby you can use it a compass to start your journey.

The 5-Stages Model

Our most important assumption here is that you will not obtain sufficient resources to begin with. Most likely you will start with volunteers while slowly work your way to obtain more financial assistance, experiences and skills, and support from the public. We have developed a 5-stages model, whereby your organization will progress based on this 5-stages gradual process.


Stage 1- Initial Stage

• Motivation of the founder is the main driver of the organization
• Strong nucleus, but clear institutional weaknesses

Stage 2 - Growing Stage

• More involvement in team members in driving the direction of the organization
• Strong content is achieved through teamwork
• Emergence of institutional ideas such as financial management, forward planning.
• Understanding of market demand

Stage 3 - Institution Stage

• Institutional foundations are laid- Less dependence on founders or individuals
• Significant awareness among target group - Content has made some impact
• Clear financial sustainability objectives and activities in place.

Stage 4 - Sustainability Stage

• The organization take into consideration multi-stakeholder context
• News were frequently cited by other organizations
• Strong footing in all new media dimensions (editorial, technology, finance, marketing)
• Near profitability

Stage 5 - Advanced Media Stage

• Stable and successful new media organization
• Global citizenship- Playing leadership role in new media domain
• Looking an opportunities to expand, diversify into new areas.

As can be seen from the description above, each of the stages will have its on characteristic and driving forces. The first thing you can do is to assess your current readiness level, and once you have identified your present level, the next step is to move towards the next level based on certain action times. These action items can be benchmarked against the SEACEM indicators for each level of readiness.

The 4-Factor Indicators of Readiness

In order for any online media organization to be successful, it has to have the ability to master and execute the 4 success factors of online media organizations. The 4 factors or components are: Content, Technology, Finance and Reach.

Content Indicators: Content here refers to the articles and the editorial policies that will attract readerships. It refers to the subject matter expertise, news angle, or editorial strategy that differentiates it from other news portal.

Technology Indicators: As technology changes, the ability of media organizations to quickly adopt new technologies will create new value proposition for its clients. The technology issues ranges from the use of simple CMS to the use of emerging technologies.

Reach Indicators: This refers to effort by the marketing department to promote the websites, or services. An important aspect of Reach is the deployment of online marketing methods or Web 2.0 toolkits which is still lacking amongst early stage online media.

Finance Indicators: As agreed by most, financial resources are important. Financial sustainability is a goal that all media organizations should seek to establish in the level 3 of the readiness.

Development of e-Media Roadmap

By using the SEACEM Capability development model, then you will be able to identify each action item for your organization to progress to next level. For example you if are using a simple CMS, then the next logical thing for you to do is use a more advanced CMS. And if you do not have an editorial policy, then you need to develop one to progress to the next level. The full list of the indicators can be downloaded from the SEACEM Resource section.

Based on the indicators, then you need to set up a team consisting of 4 members representing each functional unit to develop a 2 years roadmap. Divide each year into 4 quarters and identify activities are achievable based on current resources, and another group of activities that requires external resources. If you need to apply for grants or loans, then you need to build skills for writing grants or loans. Once you have completed the roadmap, be committed to deliver the action plans to ensure the growth of your organization.