Hopefully you’ve all read the great news that View Newspaper Group is growing again! The announcement was made earlier this week by Owner and President Rick Burrough that our group will acquire J-Ad newspapers, which includes the weekly publications Hastings Banner, Hastings Reminder, Lowell Ledger, Lowell Buyers Guide, Battle Creek Shopper News, Marshall Advisor & Chronicle and The Sun and News that covers Middleville and Caledonia.
View Newspaper Group has grown through startups or acquisitions nearly every year since Burrough founded the company in 2003, which means I’ve written quite a few press releases on our growth. As I discovered when I sat down to write the latest release last week, the thrill never goes away. I felt something magic course through my fingers as I typed.
While there’s no doubt about the magical feeling our team has right now, the reality is, there’s no sleight of hand at work when it comes to growing a business. It takes a lot of brain power, a lot of people power and a lot of time. There are so many things a business must do as a whole to prepare for growth. From updating technology and infrastructure to ensuring the right policies and procedures are in place, there are hundreds of steps to take to ensure success. Luckily, we have a team of experts in place to handle each of those jobs.
My job is to keep our brand strong and poised for growth, because a company cannot grow without a strong brand. I don’t do this alone, it takes every View Newspaper Group team member to make our brand what it is today.
If you’re looking to grow your business, building your brand is a great place to start. Below are tips to help you do just that.
Clearly define your brand: Before you can grow your brand, you must define what exactly your brand is. You do this first by conducting a brand audit to determine a number of things, including where your brand stands in the market versus where you’d like it to stand. It’s a lengthy, but valuable process. Once the research portion is done it’s time to create a strong brand identity, which includes a mission, vision, logo, tagline, colors, brand standards and more. With those items in place it’s important to keep them consistent, which over time helps to clearly define your brand.
Ensure each team member is a brand ambassador: Your team members are the best ambassadors a brand can have. They talk to friends, neighbors and family members daily and help your brand grow with every interaction. It’s important to ensure each member knows the brand inside and out. Everyone on the team should have a practiced 30-second elevator speech about the brand and their role in it. As an added bonus, a growing business means more perks — like opportunities for advancement — for team members. Happy brand ambassadors are the best brand ambassadors
Advertise your brand: Your brand can’t grow if no one knows it exists. There are two keys when it comes to building any brand — consistency (see item No. 1) and frequency. Achieve frequency by exposing your brand the community in as many advertising and marketing avenues as possible as frequently as possible.
Deliver on your brand promise: A brand promise is a one-sentence promise that matters to your audience, is unique to you and above all – believable. This promise should indicate what your product is and who it’s for. View Newspaper Group’s brand promise reads: “View Newspaper Group is a locally-owned newspaper group committed to making meaningful connections for our readers and our clients.” The fact that we deliver on that promise every.single.day leads those like the J-Ad newspapers owner and publisher to seek us out when looking for a company to continue an 80-year legacy. Delivering on our brand promise leads readers to pick up our papers and attend our events and it leads clients to us when they have a need to reach their consumers. All of those items add up to growth.
Give back: Whether through time, talent or treasure, it’s important that your organization’s brand is associated with giving back. It’s proven to be good for business, and more importantly, it’s the right thing to do. View Newspaper Group is dedicated to giving back to the communities we serve. In 2023 we gave back more than $150,000 in cash donations, as well as thousands of dollars more in trade advertising space and editorial coverage of nonprofits events and fundraisers throughout our entire footprint. Many of our team members serve on local nonprofit boards and volunteer in their communities. Giving back is an important part of our brand and, in turn, our growth.
If you’re looking to grow your brand to grow your business, we can help. Email me at ecaswell@mihomepaper.com to learn more.

Emily Caswell is the Brand Manager for VIEW Group, the branding division of View Newspaper Group.