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Like any sales person, I hate to hear a prospect tell me “no.”  But, I’d much rather hear an outright “no” than have someone tell me, “I’ll try an ad and if I get some business, we’ll take it from there.”

I prefer the “no” because I will have a chance to sell that customer another day. The “buy an ad” response is a trap that sets me up for long-term failure. In most cases, a “one shot” program will not produce noticeable results. One of the most challenging objections to overcome is, “I tried advertising in the past and it didn’t work.”

When I probe these prospects further, almost always I find that when they “tried advertising,” they had run just one or two ads. This would be equivalent to taking a dip in the pool once or twice a year and then being surprised when you don’t make the Olympic Swim Team. To be successful a sales person needs to sell their prospects on the benefits of advertising frequently.

Elements of effective advertising programs

There are three components of an effective advertising program: Reach, Frequency and Message. Reach is easy to understand; advertisers know they must get their name in front of a potential customer if they want a chance to sell them. Likewise, they must reach these people with a compelling message that will entice them to patronize the advertiser’s business. The importance of reach and message are relatively easy to explain. Maps and spec ads provide tangible examples of these aspects of a well-crafted advertising program. The importance of consistent advertising is much harder to demonstrate because frequency does its work inside the human brain.

Why TOMA matters

Advertising sales people have talked about TOMA (Top of Mind Awareness) for many years. Recent psychological and economic research has explained the mechanism behind this concept. Sociologist Niklas Luhmann stated that, “Familiarity is a pre-condition of trust.” Researchers found that the more familiar a person is with a firm, the more likely they are to make a purchase from that firm. One of the senior reps that I work with tells his customers, “My job is to make you famous.” Frequent advertising does just this. By staying in front of the customer, a business makes their name familiar to potential customers. When making a buying decision, consumers prefer to spend their money with a company whose name they know and therefore, trust.

The thin market—I’ll be right here when you need me

America is the land of the microwave pancake. We are an impatient people. Consumer research has found that most sales are made within 24 hours of the decision to buy. Another 25 percent of sales are made within a week of the decision to buy. This means 75 percent of sales are made within seven days of the moment when a consumer decides to make that purchase. If a consumer decides he or she a pair of shoes in a week when Jones’ shoe doesn’t advertise and Smith’s shoes runs a sale, guess who gets the business? 

The “Thin Market Concept” describes the distribution of sales throughout a certain period of time, a year for most products, shorter for seasonal items. For example, if consumers in a certain market purchase 200 washing machines in a year, appliance dealers in that area will sell about four machines per week. If an advertiser decides to skip just one week per month, and taking consumer behavior into account, they will miss the opportunity to make 48 sales (12 weeks X 4 machines per week).

These opportunities can never be recovered. In addition to the lost revenue, these businesses have lost the chance to build a relationship with a new customer. The “Thin Market” highlights the risks businesses take when they do not advertise consistently.

The sale is in the eye of the beholder

I work with an advertiser whose ad is virtually invisible to most of my readers. He runs a large display program 52 week a year, but most people simply don’t notice his ad. This customer owns a business that specializes in emergency water heater replacement.  He doesn’t care that most people pay no attention to his ad, because he knows that it screams at the people who need his service. Neuroscientists have named this phenomenon “Reticular Activation,” after the reticular cortex in the brain. The job of the reticular cortex is to protect the brain from information overload. To make sense of a complex world, our brains are conditioned to filter out all but the most interesting and important data. This is why if you decide to buy a Honda Civic, suddenly you start seeing Civics everywhere. By advertising consistently, my plumber customer made sure people would have access to his ad when they needed him.

Selling frequency

As a sales manager, I also told my reps that I never wanted them to sell an ad.  I wanted my people to always sell programs. Even a fire station advertising their annual carnival benefits from frequency. They can generate interest in their event by running a series of ads in the weeks leading up to the event. I encouraged my reps to refuse single ads. This is not easy for a commissioned rep to do, but it is in their best interest. Consistent advertising produces results and leads to solid customer relationships. Here are some ideas to help you sell advertisers programs that will make them (and their rep) successful.

• Think contract from the first contact. When approaching new prospects, plan to sell them a program. Build your presentation around the benefits of consistent advertising.
• Get the client thinking long term. When probing for information, ask prospects about their goals and long-term plans. Ask them where they want the business to be in five or 10 years and what must happen for them to achieve their goals. This will put them in the right frame of mind to discuss long term advertising.
• Don’t take the quick sale. As discussed above, customers who run an ad now and then are unlikely to get measurable results. If a customer suggests doing this, defend your program recommendation. Concentrate your efforts on building your territory, not on making a quick sale. This will pay dividends in the long run.
• To sell a program, plan a program. Develop a marketing plan for your prospects. Talk to them about different approaches for different aspects of their business. Talk to them about how to promote their business in different seasons. This approach will help them see the benefits of long-term programs.
• Advertising agreements are more than a discount. If your publication offers a discount to advertisers for making a commitment, do not try to sell the program on price. Position the program based on the benefits of consistent advertising. If the customer is not totally sold on the value of the program, it is not likely that the discount will motivate them.  If the focus is on simply saving money, they can accomplish this by simply cutting back on their advertising.
• Manage the customer’s expectations. Don’t promise the customer immediate results, remind them that they are building a program that will produce long term results. Stay close to the customer and help them develop their ads and reassure them that they made the right decision. One of my reps tells a customer not to expect any increase in business for three months. When advertisers begin getting results in a month or so they are pleasantly surprised.

Be committed to selling advertising commitments

Selling long-term programs is always difficult. The recession has made this even more challenging. In an uncertain economy, customers are nervous about making a commitment. The key to overcoming this objection is reminding customers that they committing to the success of their business. Business owners have already made many commitments — they have financial commitments, commitments to their suppliers and to their employees. Committing to an advertising program is a minor commitment which protects all of their other commitments.

As a professional advertising salesperson, my job is to help my customers to be successful. My training and my experience tells me that the best way to help my customers is to keep them in front of their customers. Selling ads is easy; selling advertising programs requires a professional.

Professionals must sometimes tell people things they don’t want to hear, but need to hear. Professionals help people understand what is best for them. We show our commitment to our customers by convincing them to commit to their own futures. I’ll finish with the words of Edwin L. Artzt, CEO of Proctor & Gamble:  “No company that sells products or services to the consumer can remain a leader in its field without a deep-seated commitment to advertising.” 

Reporting Texas is based in Austin, but as its name conveys, its journalistic reach goes beyond the state capital. And its mission is greater than gaining exposure for the University of Texas journalism students who write for the site.

“Reporting Texas is the University of Texas’ investment in the future of journalism,” said Tracy Dahlby, the UT professor who founded the site after receiving a grant from the Carnegie-Knight Foundation. That investment has expanded from giving students the opportunity to practice their craft to providing content to publications across Texas.  We’d like to become a state feature wire that complements local coverage. Sometimes, the goals intersect – a feature about a Texas State professor was picked up by the San Marcos Mercury.

The journalism students, most of them in the master’s professional track, feed the site with enterprise and features about a variety of subjects. This semester, we’ve written about the controversy over chicken industry in Central Texas, the water lily expert in San Angelo, Alzheimer’s disease and the barefoot running trend. Our work also mirrors the news cycle, with pieces about the state’s new climate normals, a story suggested by and published in The Austin American-Statesman; the increase in Bastrop home sales since the fires and the link between the Occupy movement and Bank Transfer Day.

All these articles, which are professionally edited, are available to media in the state. There’s no charge, but that’s not because we don’t value what we do. We’re a startup, and we want to get the word out about our product.

If you want use our features (and the multimedia with it) or want to suggest a story for your publication, contact me or Mark Coddington, the web editor of Reporting Texas. Our main requirement is that the reporter gets a byline and Reporting Texas shares credit. ([email protected]; [email protected])

If you’re interested in newsy features (how flu shots are made), evergreen pieces (an Austin version of storage unit wars) or hidden stories about the state (a multimedia piece on rodeo clowns), look to Reporting Texas. We also distribute a weekly budget via e-mail, so let me know if you’ve like to receive it.  We’re proud of our reporting, and we think your readers will enjoy reading it, too.

In today’s struggling retail environment, garnering advertising dollars, whether online, in paper, special sections or niche publications continues to be an ongoing challenge.

Coupled with the evolving and changing advertising media (Consider the Internet’s impact on other media!), the media choices for many retailers may, at times, be overwhelming.

“No money to advertise!” Simply stated, this is an all-too-frequent objection refrain from a potential advertiser.

However, when business is tough to get and the retail or service provider sector continues to be challenging, “No money to advertise!” may be reality, from the potential advertiser’s point of view, rather than an objection.

When a small business owner feels (rather strongly) that she has no money to advertise, your selling opportunity shifts from one of overcoming an objection to one of education. To secure any ad dollars for your newspaper, you must first help her understand where to look and where to find dollars that may be utilized to invest in her business through advertising and promotion.

Within her business and without increasing her budget or without additional cash input, ad dollars do exist to invest in her business. Here are six areas to consider in your search for those elusive ad dollars:

• Explore reducing overall salary expense, by reviewing her business’ hours of operation. Opening an hour later or closing an hour earlier without impacting customer service or revenue generates 20 hours (one hour/day x 20 days) of saved expense that may be converted to a $200/month ad budget (20 hours x $10/hour in payroll expense).
• Bring her vendors and suppliers into the conversation. Inquire from each and every business that she does business with, if co-op advertising or extra promotional dollars exist to support their product placement in her business. Leverage enhanced product placement in her store or in her ads for those vendors willing to contribute to the promotion of their product or service.
• Review her current inventory and purchasing habits and controls. Is it possible to tighten her inventory without impacting customer service or revenue, and shift those savings into an ad dollar investment?
• Take a look at helping her initiate a joint neighborhood marketing effort. Inquire locally at the Chamber of Commerce or other city agencies to see if neighborhood promotional dollars or marketing opportunities are available for the asking. This strategy may also open the door for additional and new advertisers for you.
• Challenge her to review her own remuneration schedule (e.g. her salary!). Remind her that a small reduction in her personal income this year make reap big benefits for her business and subsequently to her next year and down the road!
• Last, but not least, help her clarify where her business dollars are going in support of her local community. Do some services or charities or groups duplicate others? Would a realignment of her dollar commitments maximize results while better allocating those funds?

“No money to advertise!” may simply be a challenge offered to you by an advertiser to find the money! Good luck and have fun!

We have more information about news consumption than ever before.

Problem is, we’re not sure what it all means, or how it will impact the future of community journalism.

Let’s take something that came out just this week: The Pew Research Center tells us that tablet computers are exploding in popularity. For instance: it took the iPad one quarter to reach the same rate of unit sales that DVD players took five years to achieve. Which is not to say that we were slow to part with VHS and move to DVDs. In fact, it was considered a phenomenally quick transition for a nation where so many people already had a VHS player next to their TV sets.

Phenomenal, that is, until the tablet came along. Now 11 percent of American adults have Internet access via tablets. At its current rate, the iPad will pass gaming hardware and cellphones to become the fourth biggest consumer electronics category next year.

And what does that mean for news? Of tablet owners, 77 percent read the news on their device once a week, and 23 percent have a print subscription that gives them free access to tablet services.

That’s the good news. On the other hand, only 21 percent of those who don’t have news access would be willing to pay $5 a month to access their favorite tablet news site.

It’s just one more confusing part of the media future into which we’re rushing headlong. The bottom line for community journalism? Nobody knows how all of this will shake out, but we have to stay abreast of the issues and trends, so that we won’t be starting from scratch when it’s time to make some critical decisions that will affect our newspapers and news sites.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/39501308/iPad_Adoption_Rate_Fastest_Ever_Passing_DVD_Player
http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2011/10/the_tablet_-_a_saving.php
http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2011/10/get_on_the_tablet_bandwagon_quickly.php

The new Walter Isaacson bio of Steve Jobs is probably something every publisher and editor in community journalism should read. 

As Politico’s Playbook tip sheet pointed out this morning, the main message of the book is this:  Know how to cut to the essence.  Jobs was a master at focusing on a few things – the most important things.  It’s a lesson we must learn in community journalism.

For years, we’ve focused as much on the medium as the message.  I can still remember my mother’s reaction when I first told her I had decided to become a journalist, back in 1966.  Her small-town Arkansas experience was exclusively with community newspapers, and she looked at me and asked a question I’ll never forget:  “Does this mean you’ll have ink smudges on your hands for the rest of your life?”

She was serious.

For mom, what she knew of journalism was inextricably wrapped up in that ink-on-newsprint product. It never occurred to her that they could be separated.

That was 40 years ago, but that world could as well have been 200 years ago.  Then, we called even the news by the name of the medium on which it was printed—the news was “the paper.”

And that worked for then.  It started changing when news started arriving by radio, then by television, then on your computer, and now on your mobile devices.  Steve Jobs started out as a computer guy, but he was one of the first to realize he wasn’t in the computer business – he was in the business of delivering information and entertainment … literally of bringing the world to your fingertips.

One of the stories in Isaacson’s book, according to Politico, is the story of when Apple execs were brainstorming the product that ultimately became the iDVD:  Jobs “jumped up, grabbed a marker, and drew a simple rectangle on a whiteboard.  ‘Here’s the new application.  It’s just got one window.  You drag your video into the window.  Then you click the button that says “Burn.”  That’s it.  That’s what we are going to make.’”

Jobs knew what business he was in – and that computers were the means, not the end.

This ain’t our fathers’ community journalism.  We do indeed publish a paper, and probably will for some time.  But that’s not our business.  Our business is news and information and entertainment.  Our business is putting people in touch with their community, and doing it so well that we provide an excellent platform for advertisers to reach that audience of news and entertainment consumers.  Our job is to be the go-to place to connect readers and viewers not only with events and news, but also with each other.

Our flagship is the newspaper.  But that paper product must now work in tandem with our website and with our social media platform.  Gone are the days when we thought only of getting something into the newspaper the next time it published.  Have you seen the commercials where these guys are playing with their tablets at football tailgate and someone comes up with a late news flash, and they respond, “That’s so 27 seconds ago”?

That’s not our current reality in community journalism, but that mentality is soaking into our audience – especially our young audience, our future – every time they turn onto a TV set or look at Facebook on their iPhone.

We have to realize what Steve Jobs realized, what made him a visionary; we have to figure out what our real business is, and to be relentless about pursuing it.

It’s scary, but it’s our future.

And besides, our hands will be a lot cleaner.

The Postal Service, reacting to worsening finances, and perhaps to get the attention of Congress on its need for legitimate relief, announced plans Sept. 15 to study closing more than half of its mail-processing facilities around the country.

As explained by Vice President Network Operations Dave Williams, the existing network was expanded over time primarily to serve growing First-Class volume. With that class in sharp decline, the network must be reconfigured. Therefore, the sad reality is that because First-Class Mail is declining, USPS thinks that it must make plant changes that will, in effect, ensure that other volumes face the same fate.

Although proposals on service standards would end overnight First-Class delivery, and on paper, only change Periodicals standards nationwide from one to nine days to two to nine days. Make no mistake: Service will decline for Periodicals and other classes of mail not entered at the office of delivery. USPS is effectively becoming a last-mile delivery agent only. Otherwise, it will not be a reliable “delivery partner.”

Reduction is Draconian

The proposed plant reduction can only be termed Draconian, and it holds special significance for community newspapers, which enter their mail mostly in or near small Sectional Center Facilities. Then it flows from those SCFs to many other ZIPs within the news coverage territory, or trade area where advertising is most effective.  In Salida, Colo., for instance, Publisher Merle Baranczyk gets next-day delivery to post offices in all directions via highway contract routes from his Salida SCF, which is on the closure-study list for merger into Denver.

The plan, expected to save $3 billion a year, would expand on existing Area Mail Processing consolidation studies that have been increasing in frequency the past few years. Judging by the sharp deterioration in service based on the AMPs put into place so far, the proposed changes, if implemented, would in most cases take newspapers much farther away for processing and handling.

In Kentucky, for example, a Bowling Green AMP sending mail to Nashville for processing caused delivery to degrade from two days to five days for a Periodical owned by Landmark Community Newspapers. When the customer paid an upgrade fee for First-Class, which has a three-day nationwide service standard, the delivery still took five days, infuriating the customer.

Similar stories have been heard from the National Newspaper Association members across the country. USPS management assurances that existing service standards will be maintained or only degraded one day under AMPs have been false. There is no reason to believe that the massive proposed changes would do anything but severely disrupt delivery of Periodicals and all other classes of mail.

Postalgeddon

Make no mistake about it: This proposal, while said to be necessary with USPS financial losses, will surely do nothing but hasten the Postal Service’s demise as a meaningful conduit of hard-copy commerce. NNA firmly believes the five-day delivery proposal will also back up mail, reduce delivery service nationwide, and notes with regret that the Obama administration proposal on USPS Sept. 19, includes shifting to five-day. Add the two changes together, and it’s no exaggeration to term it “Postalgeddon.”  (With 10-12 Monday holidays, there will be three days without mail delivery.)

Although the administration does ask for return of a $7 billion over-payment by USPS into the Federal Employee Retirement System (but over two years), it does not relieve the unfair pre-payment of $5.5 billion a year for retiree health benefits, something imposed on USPS as another “budget trick” to help the federal deficit in 2006.

It’s a shame that an agency supported only by mailer postage would be made a perpetual deficit punching bag because it’s part of the unified federal budget.

Obama also proposes to allow price increases above the rate of inflation, reversing the 2006 postal reform bill. Raising prices drastically, especially during a continuing nationwide recession with severe cuts in service, is a “perfect storm,” to continue the clichés (though true), for an ever-weaker USPS.

DDU entry a necessity

Clearly, newspapers can maintain local delivery by using Exceptional Dispatch privileges in DMM 707.28.3 to drop copies at the office of delivery using the paper’s transportation for “trade-area” offices that are critical to the success of readers and advertisers in the newspaper’s county and surrounding counties. That is one avenue for time-sensitive Periodicals not available to other classes of mail.

NNA is fighting hard to keep local-entry access and timely delivery alive in testimony filed Sept. 16 with the Postal Regulatory Commission in the post office closing review case. All newspapers in the country that are non-members of NNA should be begging to join to help preserve local access.

Unfortunately, distant subscribers could soon be a thing of the past, if all this comes to pass. While older subscribers who have moved away are loyal, they don’t always embrace the Web. But most newspapers are beginning to sell Web-based subscriptions. NNA’s effort since 2007 to get paid PDF facsimile subscriptions count on the postal Statement of Ownership, PS Form 3526, should be finalized in 2012.

What newspapers can do

First, go to nnaweb.org, then click on the article “U.S. Postal Service must make changes with community papers in mind,” and find the link to plant closings at the bottom of the article. If you are not a member, join us in this fight by finding the box to join NNA. We desperately need all the support we can get to engage Congress and get the best possible results for community newspapers.

Secondly, call your U.S. senators and representatives. Quickly! Let them know how severely you think these changes will affect delivery, and ask them to vote to approve returning both the $5.5 billion per year wrongly assessed USPS as well as the $7 billion proposed by Obama. Ask that USPS not be made a victim of the 2011 federal deficit fight, and risk destroying an important institution of commerce.

Thirdly, start moving more mail to Exceptional Dispatch DDU drops, or at least have plans to do so if the plant cuts proposed actually move forward (and the likelihood is high).

This blog post was used by permission of Publisher’s Auxiliary.

The Texas Center for Community Journalism is happy to welcome two new consultants who will help to provide answers for the questions Texas community journalists ask. Joining the Center’s group of specialists are Max Heath of Shelbyville, Ky., and Michael Sherrod of Fort Worth.

Heath is one of the nation’s best-known specialists in postal issues and Sherrod is a pioneer in new media business models. They join TCCJ consultants with specialties in law, publication design, writing, advertising sales, freedom of information and innovative approaches to community journalism.

TCCJ consultants provide answers to questions sent in by community newspapers to the Ask an Expert feature of the Center’s website, www.tccj.tcu.edu. They also advise the staff of the Center.

Heath is a semi-retired postal consultant for Publishing Group of America (American Profile/Relish/Spry), and for Landmark Community Newspapers, Inc., a division of Landmark Communications. For 21 years he was executive editor and for 23 years corporate circulation director as well.

Heath writes a monthly Postal Tips column for Publisher’s Auxiliary. He was named to the Postal Service Mailer’s Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) representing NNA in 1989 and is also on the national Periodical Operations Advisory Committee, and the rule-making Periodicals Advisory Group.

He received the National Newspaper Association’s President’s Award in 1989, 1997, and 2007, the Ambassador Award in 1992, and the Amos Award for service to NNA in 1994.The Postal Service presented him a Special Achievement Award in 1997.

Michael Sherrod has been a pioneer in the online world since 1985. At the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, he created and sold one of the world’s first electronic advertisements to AT&T through an innovative videotext news service he helped manage.

Sherrod founded or co-founded 10 companies, including DigitalCity.com. He served in senior management roles at AMR Information Services, AOL, Ancestry.com, and examiner.com where he was founding president & CEO.

He recently served as the first publisher of TexasTribune.org, a non-profit, non-partisan media site covering Texas government, politics and policy.

He is currently entrepreneur in residence at the Neeley School of Business at TCU.