Dear Minot Shareholder:

There’s a phrase common in computer science that goes “garbage in, garbage out.” It’s a simple concept that says the outputs of a system are only as good as the inputs.

It’s an idea that translates beautifully beyond computer science, too. Consider diet and nutrition; we understand and accept that the quality of the food we put in our bodies impacts our health. Or maybe you’re a wine drinker; have you ever heard that it’s the vines and the grapes they produce that make the wine?

If there’s an idea central to why TheMinotVoice exists, it’s garbage in, garbage out. I’m one of those people who sees the world as systems, and when I look at Minot, I see – at our core – a simple system of inputs and outputs. The inputs are the decisions we make as a community. The outputs are our performance as a community.

Now, decisions are made with the information at hand. As such, they are only as good as the information that goes into them. If we put shaded or incomplete information into our decisions, what are we likely to get back? It will be something sub-optimal. It will be an outcome not as good as it could have been. 

We can afford a few sub-optimal decisions. But what happens if we stack a lot of them together over a long period of time? We’ll feel it; we’ll know something is broken; we’ll compare ourselves to other places and see that we’re falling behind. But the scary part is we won’t know where the problem is. We’ll look for a single fault, but there won’t be one.

Are you starting to see it? The information we consume on a daily basis is the grease that makes everything work. It goes into the decisions our elected leaders make. It goes into the decisions we make when we vote. It shapes our opinions and frames the conversations we have every day at work and at home. And if it’s not pushing us forward, it may be – insidiously and with no fault or ill intent – dragging us back. 

That’s the entire concept of TheMinotVoice. In a sentence, it’s information for our place, to inform our decisions, to push us forward. It’s information ForMinot. Today, we’re asking for your support as an advertiser to help us launch it. Please follow the tabs from left to right to learn more, and give me a call if you have any questions.

Respectfully,
Josh Wolsky
Publisher & Editor, TheMinotVoice.com & ForMinot Network
(701) 340-1763

We’re doing advertising differently.

1. For Locally-owned, Minot Businesses. The success of a place depends on the opportunities it creates to prosper. But not all successful businesses support the place in the same way. Some mine prosperity from a place; they take it away. Some add prosperity to place by investing in it. We know the difference, and we’re focusing our advertising on the businesses contributing the most to Minot’s success!
2. Respect for our Readers. Our advertising is designed as a compliment our content. It loads quickly, it doesn’t obscure or pop up in front of anything. These practices are uncommon, but long overdue in the world of digital advertising. And it’s these signs of respect that will generate reader loyalty and reflect positively on our advertisers.
3. Limited Space. Delivering value to advertisers is about delivering impressions. To ensure your advertising dollars provides a return to you, we’re limiting the number of advertisers with access to our readership.

What we’re developing is much more than a single website. It’s a network of websites each designed for a unique Minot audience. It’s part of our plan to expand the reach of your advertising investment and the benefit we deliver to our readers.

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