As we reflect on 2018, here are 12 valuable strategies (with the link to where they appeared), one from each month of SIPAlert Daily articles:

The late, great novelist Pat Conroy—author of The Prince of Tides and The Water Is Wide (made into an excellent film titled Conrack with Jon Voight)—said that "the most powerful words in English are, 'Tell me a story.'"

"We need to rethink the relationship we have with paying readers," writes Jim Brady, CEO of Spirited Media and public editor of ESPN, in NiemanLab's wonderful Predictions for Journalism 2018 series. "It's not enough for us to say, 'What we do is important, and you to help fund it.' We need to listen to and engage with those who we're asking to support us. Put another way: We can't just be of the people; we need to be with them."

“Innovation isn’t just a tool to grow, it’s a survival tactic,” said Greg Hart, director of marketing for PSMJ Resources, during a session on Building a Company-wide Culture of Innovation at the recent SIPA Annual 2017 Conference. That innovation can take on many forms, he said. “You can take an existing product and give it new life. We put on a two-day project management boot camp. It went over budgeting, scheduling and other important areas" that were in their information arsenal. "It proved to be one of our most popular products! The market actually took it on itself to be PMSJ-certified. We would get calls, 'How do I get PMSJ-certified?' "We had been looking for another recurring revenue product." Instead of doing the heavy lift of building something from scratch, Hart said building from something you already have will often be the answer. Here are more ideas from that session: “Have a think tank where you can bring people t ...