Soccer Laduma's success is attributed to listening to the readers.“We continue to build our brand despite the market, while also establishing a massive digital readership. Success in business is simple – talk to your customers, or in our case, our readers. By giving our readers a voice, we enable our advertisers to speak directly to their market,” says CEO and founder, Peter du Toit.
Soccer Laduma has grown to become the biggest soccer publication in Africa and one of the top soccer publications in the world, with a digital footprint of 1 312 504 unique browsers on web and mobile. These numbers are also supported by over two million Facebook fans and 370 000 Twitter followers.
Clint Roper, head of content marketing, has worked at the publication for 18 years, and says, “We have always put the reader first and made sure that our content reflects their views. We diversified our media offering into digital at a time when conventional wisdom told us that our readers did not access the internet. This is what has led to our phenomenal success, and why we are stronger than we ever have been, 20 years on.”
One of these digital offerings is SL Radio, launched in October 2016. Within three months, Soccer Laduma has seen 1.5-million podcast downloads and is set to rival the biggest digital radio players. “Within a week of posting, our interview with Quinton Fortune was downloaded 200 000 times. We have been overwhelmed with the response and look forward to serving our readers as listeners as well,” says Jason Acar, editor at SL Radio.
The newspaper’s current editor, Vuyani Joni, says he is looking forward to being part of what comes next for the publication. “I achieved a lifelong goal by becoming editor of a newspaper that I am passionate about, and it is passion that drives the team here at Soccer Laduma. We can only keep growing.”
For more information, visit www.soccerladuma.co.za. Alternatively, connect on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.