Scaling Up Digital at O’Rourke Media Group-issue #3
Digital revenue growth at OMG isn’t just helping the business — it’s fundamentally reshaping our future. It has also helped us fund and invest in community journalism, people, marketing, debt service and so much more.
What I love about our approach is that we don’t debate over what type of digital growth we’re out to achieve. Zero politics, and we don’t posture for any outsiders on trying to tell or justify our story. And the % of digital revenue is not increasing mainly because of rapid print declines.
Our strength is a combination of focus on, of course, our own audience and platforms–local web ads, sponsored content, newsletters, social media while also providing digital agency services, which now includes AI support for advertisers. And it’s important to note, print is included in a very high percentage of our digital sales, and I expect that this will be the case in many of our markets over the next five years.
Overall, at OMG, digital advertising represents 29% of our total company revenue. Our top performing market this year has a YTD net income margin of 25% (yes, that’s including the historically much lower Q1 revenue). Digital is 52% of total revenue!
The debate, friction and whatever other doubt lingers about what our future looks like, should just stop right here, period.
Several additional market snapshots: NI 11%/digital 59% of total revenue (we’d take all this day every day). NI 17%/digital 36%. One of our least profitable markets (very borderline profitable) has a total digital % of 12%. A breakeven NI market, total digital 17%.
I just wanted to highlight a few key initiatives at OMG that we have or are in the process of moving forward to help build our next phase of digital advertising growth.
Earlier this year, we invested in Teamwork, a project management and collaboration platform built specifically for agencies, client service businesses and professional services teams. The software helps our digital fulfillment and finance team organize projects, manage client work, improve team collaboration, track profitability and streamline operations from project kickoff through invoicing. Teamwork is designed to centralize all project activity in one platform, including:
- Project planning and task management
- Team collaboration and communication
- Time tracking and billable hours
- Resource and workload management
- Budget tracking and profitability reporting
- Client communication and approvals
- File sharing and workflow automation
- Project timelines, Kanban boards and Gantt charts
- Integration with tools like Slack, HubSpot, Google Workspace and QuickBooks
One of Teamwork’s biggest differentiators for agencies is its focus on client services and profitability management. Unlike general project management systems, Teamwork combines project delivery, time tracking, budgeting, resource planning and client collaboration into one system. For us at OMG specifically, we use Teamwork to manage:
- Website development projects
- SEO and digital marketing campaigns
- Creative design workflows
- Client onboarding
- Content production calendars
- Social media management
- Internal approvals and communication
- Sales-to-production handoffs
- Agency team capacity planning
- Monthly recurring client deliverables
Megan Ivey (Director of Digital Fulfillment) and Sally Shepherd (Operations Director) spearheaded the Teamwork launch and implementation with many others contributing. I’m really proud of our entire team for making this happen. We have essentially flipped what we were doing upside down, including our sales and production activity. And it’s ridiculously impressive that we have grown advertising revenue 24% vs prior year along the way!
Back in February, we increased the size of our digital fulfillment team by 40% to help support digital revenue growth as we increase the number of active campaigns monthly with a sharp focus on advertiser retention and profitability. These added resources also help with maximizing Teamwork.
We’re now aggressively recruiting six Digital Strategists to help build OMG’s next phase of growth. You’ll be part of the Company’s “2nd Track” that we’re developing to fuel more growth in 2026 and over the next five years, while our amazing team of managers and AE’s continue to drive and grow core advertising revenue. We just require that to be considered, you need to live in one of our OMG markets. Travel will be required and funded of course. You can check out the job post here: Careers – O’Rourke Media Group. Or, here’s is a summary of the job outline:
BUILD YOUR BOOK. LEAD THE TEAM. WE’RE HIRING:
DIGITAL STRATEGIST
- Help grow our full-service digital agency and total revenue.
- Develop and pitch full funnel campaigns across Google, Facebook, YouTube, CTV, and our own local audiences.
- Coach sales teams and join client meetings.
- Close bigger opportunities and drive real results.
WHY YOU’LL LOVE IT HERE
- Own your growth like it’s your business.
- Anti-corporate, creative, and fun.
- Stay on the forefront of digital, AI, and AI agents.
- Base + Commission
- Unlimited Upside
- Full Benefits
- 401(k)
- Freedom to Lead
- Room to Grow
If you want to be considered, you should contact Chief Digital Officer Joe Paul at jpaul@orourkemediagroup.com or feel free to reach out to me directly at jorourke@orourkemediagroup.com. You’ll find that Joe or I will be willing to meet with you any day, any time.
Local media companies can absolutely grow, evolve and thrive — but only if they’re willing to move fast, rethink legacy assumptions and embrace operational change.
We’re nowhere near finished at OMG. In many ways, we’re just getting started.