McQuillen Creative Group launches The Aberdeen Insider
Case Study: McQuillen Creative Group launches The Aberdeen Insider with Bluefin Technology Partners Print and Online Advertising Platform
Troy McQuillen, owner of McQuillen Creative Group, a regional multimedia based creative agency had a bold vision: to launch a new weekly newspaper in his hometown of Aberdeen, South Dakota. For this ambitious project, he selected Bluefin Technology Partners to handle their online and print classifieds. We had the chance to chat with Troy about his incredible journey in creating a fresh and dynamic newspaper that’s set to become a major player in local journalism. Click the video to watch the full interview and learn more about his inspiring story
Enjoy!
Steve Rosenfeld
Troy: I transitioned from a career direction in the movie business to graphic design. I worked in Los Angeles as magazine art director then as a graphic designer for a boutique firm. I moved back to my hometown in 1995 and started doing freelance graphic design I got busier, hired people, etc. We specialized in graphic design, website development, and video production. Those are still our core three areas today.
Troy: I started formulating the notion to start a competing weekly paper in 2011 because I did not appreciate the civic aggression in their editorial tone and wanted media that told a better, more positive story about our town. When people looked at our town through the eyes of hotel local paper, we appeared corrupt, racist and unwelcoming. That idea morphed into a bi-monthly magazine that allowed us to tell uplifting stories about the town. In 2022, after Gannett dropped the ball on local reporting, I was confronted by numerous people to publish my magazine more frequently. After chats with our development corporation, the lone reporter at our daily, we decided to pull the trigger on a newspaper in December of 2023. We launched our online platform a month later in January 2023. Then begin printing in April.
Troy: Understanding the process to become an official paper of record was a nightmare, also piecing together a host of third party platforms for subscriptions, website, classifieds, accounting, sales tax was troubling. But the weirdest, completely unexpected thing was excess revenue. People threw money at us. If we printed more papers, there’d be more waste, if we hired more people, we couldn’t sustain things. The thirst for local new was intense.
Troy: The walk-in traffic to our non-discript B to B business threw us for a loop. We were never a business that dealt with walk-in retail customers. We were forced to hire a front desk person, who ultimately became subscription manager, classified manager and public notice processor (and notary public).
Troy: We wanted classifieds from day one. But we knew we needed a very flexible system to handle all the different forms of ordering an ad. Walk-ins, call-ins, mail ins, and online self-creation. Then having a payment platform at every level was confusing.
Troy: Bluefin had all the options we needed for a turnkey solution for our needs.
Troy: The market has been spotty. Our biggest day was a half page worth of ads, but, we don’t mind. Our costs are covered and we’re able to respond to those who want them. The most popular ad is the happy ad or personal announcements about anniversaries and milestone birthdays.
Troy: The future is amazing. The community loves what we’re doing. My challenge will be keeping staff and managing printing costs. We are launching another newspaper in September in Watertown, SD almost an identical publishing operation in a nearby South Dakota community as our Aberdeen Inside. So far their is a distinct buzz about our efforts.
Troy: Focus only on hyper local. People need to stay connected to their communities. And they seem willing to pay for subscriptions. Smaller towns will have trouble with ad sale support, but with a hybrid of online and print, a profitable solution could be maintained.