Like many other media outlets worldwide, Valor Econômico, Brazil’s leading financial and business newspaper, faced a significant challenge: attracting and engaging online audiences while preserving its quality news and its journalism legacy. 

Many of Valor’s 150 editors and reporters were on a journey to a digital mindset. They required an understanding of audience demands and the ability to produce articles that meet those needs.

In March 2023, Valor launched Growth Desk, an initiative designed to equip journalists with the skills needed to thrive in the digital world. Valor’s approach was innovative: no boring classes, no time-wasting Zoom meetings. Instead, we offered practical training focused on achieving a key principle: journalism on demand. 

How it works

During the year, 25 reporters and editors were chosen to leave their traditional roles and immerse themselves in the Growth Desk programme. The programme ultimately focused on improving Valor’s metrics on Google but also covered the entire digital content creation lifecycle, from story conception to online distribution. 

Journalists learned valuable techniques and became proficient in Google Trends, the platform that reveals how searches about topics of public interest are conducted. Reporters and editors began to understand what users were looking for when they made those searches, allowing them to address the growing issues of “news fatigue” and “news avoidance” identified by the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023. 

For example, Paula Martini, a Rio de Janeiro-based reporter who joined Growth Desk for two months, understood the needs of consumers facing new taxes on foreign purchases from companies like Shein. She wrote a piece about Shein refunds, which became a top story with 103,514 pageviews. 

Lucas de Vitta, a São Paulo-based assistant editor who also participated in the Growth Desk programme for three months, discovered that Google users couldn’t understand why Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro was deemed ineligible. He wrote an explainer on the subject, which also became a top story with 224,963 pageviews. 

Living up to its name

While Growth Desk content represented only 2% of Valor’s total news articles, it garnered a staggering 25% of pageviews in August 2023.

Every Friday, when all Growth Desk participants joined a quick discussion meeting, journalists were themselves impressed by the results. On average, Growth Desk content had 561% more pageviews compared to non-Growth Desk articles. 

Growth Desk also significantly impacted the source of Valor’s traffic. Content produced by the training centre helped elevate Valor’s authority on Google, resulting in more traffic coming from the search engine.

In 2023, Google accounted for 60.67% of Valor’s traffic to articles compared to 56.33% in 2022. This translates to a massive 2.2 billion impressions and 54 million clicks from Google users.

Don’t get me wrong. While those numbers matter, the most important outcome is the creation of a digital culture within a traditional print newsroom.

Growth Desk did not compromise on journalistic integrity; instead, it empowered Valor’s journalists to create content driven by user intent. Besides, all journalists who joined Growth Desk became a reference to their peers. 

The Growth Desk programme, which will continue until all journalists are engaged in Valor’s digital transformation, is a success story that showcases the transformative power of investing in journalist training. It illustrates how high-quality, audience-focused digital content can harmoniously coexist with the fundamental values of good journalism.

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