Journalism has always been a business. But as the public continues to broaden the mix of methods and sources they turn to for news information (podcaster, creator-style journalists, social networks and more), it is essential that journalists who wish to be a part of that mix execute strong business strategies. The era of legacy gatekeepers “deciding” what the public needs to know is long over. Audiences today think differently about journalism and who is a journalist. They want news from sources that have earned their trust and that serve them in formats they like and voices they relate to.

Earlier this year, the organization I lead, the Center for News, Technology & Innovation, reported that 74% of U.S.-based respondents believe “people who are not journalists can produce journalism.” And 73% said anyone can be a journalist. More recently, a study by the News Literacy Project found 45% of teenagers in the U.S. feel journalists do more to harm democracy than to protect it. Even more tellingly, publics again and again report convenience, relatability, and content itself as the main drivers of their choice in news.

One terrific outgrowth of the internet was lowering the cost barrier to entry for journalism producers, thereby enabling a much more diverse mix of news providers and voices. This allowed audiences to find those that share their backgrounds and serve their needs. News creators responded. There is now tremendous competition — both to be the go-to source of news information and to court advertising dollars. There is still a societal need for journalism and a public that is consuming more news information than ever. But journalism producers must have a business proposition to address this societal need, and then create a product that will deliver and draw people in.

The failure to prepare a business strategy that addresses a metric-supported demand for a particular news product played a large role in the demise of many news orgs that were started in the late aughts, following the Great Recession. Coming from newsrooms that operated under the idea of the separation of church (editorial) and state (business side operations), many journalists who took buyouts or were laid off launched small nonprofits based on their passion to report, but did not focus as much on the commercial analyses that would have better positioned them in the marketplace. That is not an option today.

Modern news producers and distributors — whether they are operating as a part of an organization or solo — who are adept at producing informative content that reaches consumers in new ways can avoid the mistakes of the aughts by becoming more business savvy. Doing so means they’ll need to continuously do market research, innovate their products, rigorously assess metrics, and more clearly define their role in people’s information ecosystem.

To be successful, news information producers will need to conduct a smart market analysis to determine the demand, demographics, economics, and startup costs to launch. They will need to continue to assess how the market, not just their current audience, perceives them. Then, they’ll need to think about benchmarking to assess their progress. Are you outperforming your competitors? What’s your return on investment, revenue per user, audience reach and engagement, and other KPIs to guide your decision-making? The good news is that there are established methods for this. Businesses across a wide range of industries follow this structure and can serve as models.

The public is, in many ways, already way ahead of us: receptive to innovative approaches in getting what they deem to be credible information that serves their needs in formats they like. The challenge is to meet them by learning the business skills needed to help you find each other.