SoGlos reveals plan to expand into Bristol, Cardiff and Oxford

An unbiased publisher has unveiled options to broaden into neighbouring areas following launching a new publishing design it thinks will “revolutionise regional media”.

SoPublishing suggests it is hoping to transfer into territories including Bristol, Oxford and Cardiff as it marks 15 a long time of jogging Cheltenham-based mostly business enterprise and way of living information title SoGlos.

To coincide with the occasion, SoPublishing has unveiled a new information administration method known as SoCMS, which it thinks will “save person journalists a total working day each individual for every week”.

The firm hopes the growth of the technologies will help it to launch new brand names throughout the country.

Handling director James Fyrne instructed HTFP: “Our emphasis for the previous 12 months has been earning the So product – like the model, SoCMS publishing method and entrance-conclude web page design – the extremely best it could potentially be in Uk regional media.

“It was built with swift scalability in thoughts, but with this now effectively powering SoGlos, our awareness can turn to enlargement to further more utilise the aspect-prosperous know-how we have invested so extensively in.

“While SoGlos addresses the full county of Gloucestershire, it is a product that can operate correctly throughout cities much too – with Bristol, Oxford and Cardiff reasonable future techniques in the So expansion.

“Bristol will surely be up coming, as this is a city we presently have strong editorial and business connections with. We’re genuinely enthusiastic about the coming months and 2023 in particular.”

SoPublishing previously expanded into Bristol in 2016, but exclusively as an entertainments system.

Added James: “We comfortable introduced SoBristol a several yrs again with the goal of this becoming our second brand as part of SoPublishing, but as SoGlos continued to expand in conditions of equally viewers and professional income, that took all of our consideration.

“The pandemic then presented a exclusive opportunity to push forward with pivoting our model – with the introduction of a business- together with a life style-aim – and we’ve considering the fact that been fully centered on the new SoCMS.

“We’ve invested so much time and money resource in this, and it was crafted with suitable expansion in head, so the 1st port of call will unquestionably be Bristol once more.

“We’re at this time in the process of migrating the previous-search SoBristol to the new SoCMS system. We’ll then want to recruit a SoBristol editor and company development supervisor, although we’ll also start out to be capable to delight in economies of scale for the initially time – by drawing upon our central admin and design useful resource in place right here in Gloucestershire.

“Bristol arguably has a far more experienced and centralised business enterprise and life style scene than Gloucestershire, and so we’re self-confident this could be an even more profitable location for us – both in conditions of audience and business possibilities.”

James and co-founder Michelle Fyrne have designed the CMS, which involves characteristics this kind of as a “seamless writing to subbing to publishing workflow” and “AI-powered material administration automation”.

Michelle reported: “Bespoke created with our 3 essential stakeholders in thoughts from the offset – audience, advertisers and our journalists – we’re assured the all-new SoPublishing model is exceptional to just about anything else in British isles regional media, and we’re enthusiastic to now see its possible realised.

“The So brand name is flawlessly positioned to embrace article-pandemic positivity and our tech-initial approach will empower SoGlos – and long term titles – to regain reader confidence and current market share in excess of national news makes and social media platforms.”