2011 October

V I S I T U S A T W W W . S A P A T O D A Y . C O M

Southeastern Advertising Publishers Association (931) 490-0400 (931) 490-0488 fax 1

SAPATodayAdvancing the free paper industry by providing resources for success and venues for sharing ideas.

Board of DirectorsThe leadership of SAPA is in good hands. The board of directors, director, and assistant are listed with contact information.Page 3

How’s YourPeripheral Vision?John Foust gives two great examples of how we often try to “cut corners” with our customers.Page 3

Conference ScheduleWe just had an amazing conference in Birmingham, Alabama. Now, prepare to join us in New Orleans, LA September 2012.Page 8

Graphics Series Ellen Hanrahan shows how Vertical Type can add some fun and excitement to an ad, without a lot of work.Page 5

USPS UpdateIf you don’t know what an Exigent Rate Remand Case means then read this article to understand this complex subject.Page 6

Setting Priorities CorrectlyRichard Clark guides the classified ad department and its supervisors on how to set correct priorities.Page 9

by Bob Berting , Berting Communications

How should your advertising sales-people approach their customers to discuss holiday advertising and to maximize their role as a marketing consultant? More specifically, how do they create a major role for their pub-lication in the customer’s media mix campaign?

Too many times management and their advertising salespeople are caught up in one time promotions in the fall such as Harvest of Values, Building and Home Improvement sections. Football sponsor pages, and a host of other one

How To Get Ready ForHoliday Advertising

time promotions. They are all wonder-ful promotions but in many cases, they interfere with preparing the customer for the big holiday season. Suddenly it’s early November and time to get the creative juices going for holiday adver-tising campaigns—but it’s too late.

Many retailers spend 25% of their yearly budgets on holiday advertising. Hopefully many will have an advertis-ing plan which will lock in a majority of their budget with your publication. Let’s take a look at a plan which will help you to prepare for this important season.

EVALUATING RELATIONSHIPSWith so much emphasis on regular advertisers, we sometimes forget our inactives—the people who once ad-vertised with you, but dropped out. What better way to get them advertis-ing again than to show them how you can creatively design an effective holi-day advertising campaign for them. Another group are your prospects who aren’t sold on your publication so your holiday ad campaign plan can be the reason for their start with you.

Southeastern Advertising Publishers Association

THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FOR THE FREE PAPER INDUSTRY OCTOBER 2011

continued on page 2



The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.

Walt Disney

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strenth, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.

Vince Lombardi

The price of greatness is responsibility.

Winston Churchill

Partners in Printing Since 1900

David C. ZehPrint Sales Consultant

mobile: 770.722.0076 email: [email protected]

www.waltonpress.com

402 Mayfield Drive • P.O. Box 966Monroe, GA 30655

toll free: 800.354.0235 local: 770.267.2596 fax: 770.267.9463

Organizational SoftwareOrganizational SoftwareTools you need to be more effi cient.

Software Developed by: Little Fish Big Ocean, Inc.

Lead Developer & Founder

[email protected]@[email protected]@MaxProPublishing.comwww.MaxProPublishing.comchris@[email protected]@MaxProPublishing.com

407-656-2777

THE FARMER THEORYThe key issue for your regulars, pros-pects, and inactives is that you plant the seed of thought before the start of the season. That means right now—in early October. Talk about holiday advertising with every contact you make. The irrigation and cultivation are the spec layouts you bring to them and the final close to convince them your publication is the key medium for their holiday program. This farmer approach is a consistent, ongoing re-lationship while the opposite is the hunter approach which is a one time, quick kill event or one time ad. Which will be the predominant group you develop—farmers or hunters?

CREATIVE STRATEGY PLANFirst of all, what are the customer’s goals for the holiday season? How can you help fulfill those goals? These goals can be transformed into benefits for the consumer and they also can be converted into the headings for the ads in the holiday campaign. The overall plan is based on the fact you have spent the early part of October preparing all your customers and get-

ting commitments for the program. Although you can try to start people on the program yet in October, it may be prudent to push for a November start. November could have 3 mod-erate size ads, each with a separate idea, followed with a large dominant ad which can summarize the content of the 3 previous ads. December can have a pre-print insert as the kick off, followed by 3 moderate size ads. The use of color is really important and should be part of the package, at a re-duced rate. Be sure and tell your ad-vertisers about this reduced color rate.

FINAL THOUGHTAny plan has to be sold with enthusi-asm. It’s up to you to now move for-ward on your holiday advertising ef-fort. Remember to sell with emotion and justify with logic.

Bob Berting is a professional speaker, newspaper sales trainer, and publisher marketing consultant who has conducted over 1500 seminars for newspaper sales staffs, their customers, print media asso-ciations and trade associations in the US and Canada.

Berting’s new E-Booklet “Dynamic Ad-

vertising Sales and Image Power” can be ordered on his website www.bobberting.com or by sending your e-mail address and phone number with 21.95 check to Bob Berting who will send it to you as a download. Bob also conducts tele-semi-nars and webinars for advertising sales-people, print media management, mer-chant groups, and trade associations.

Contact Bob at 800-536-5408 and [email protected]. He is located at 6330 Woburn Drive, Indianapolis, In 46250.



PresidentRussell

QuattlebaumSoutheast Sun

Enterprise, AL 334-393-2969

Vice PresidentTony OnellionBargains PlusSlidell, LA

985-649-9515

Past PresidentGreg Ledford

Shelby Shopper & Info

Shelby, NC 704-484-1047

TreasurerAlan Lingerfelt

The Piedmont Shopper

Danville, VA434-822-1800

Board MemberWill ThomasExchange, Inc.

Fayetteville, TN 931-433-9737

SecretaryCaroline

QuattlebaumSoutheast Sun

Enterprise, AL 334-393-2969

Executive Director

Douglas FrySAPA Headquarters

Columbia, TN931-490-0400

Board MemberBill Derby

Johnson City News & Neighbor

Johnson City, TN423-979-1300

Past PresidentGary Benton

Peddler ADvantageParis, TN

731-644-9595

Administrative Assistant

Vickie BeldenSAPA Headquarters

Columbia, TN931-490-0400SA

PA

Lead

ersh

ip Integrity is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership. Always keep your word.

Brian Tracy

By John Foust, Raleigh, NC

Burt is a real estate agent who told me about a call he received from a telemarketer. “It was a company that was selling advertising in some kind of print and online directory,” he said.

representative who will keep your best interests at heart. Burt understands the intricacies of buying and selling. From his first day in the real estate business, he has been focused on customer service. And over the years, he has developed a strong network of contacts in the banking, construction, and relocation industries. Whether you’re interested in buying or selling, Burt is the right person to help with your real estate needs. Customer service is his number one goal.’

“Ridiculous, isn’t it?” he said with a laugh. “Now, I’m not blaming the lady

Touch AllThe Bases

continued on page 4

“A minute or so into her spiel, she asked if I wanted to hear the ad copy they had prepared for my listing. That really took me by surprise, because I had never talked to anyone at that company before. To be honest, I had never heard of them.

“As far as I remember, the copy went something like this: ‘In today’s ever-changing real estate market, you want a



who called me, because she was just doing her job. But it was obvious that her company uses generic ego copy to try to close sales in short phone calls. They probably have one template for real estate, one for dentists, one for attorneys, and so on.

“How in the world can anybody create effective advertising without learning something about the advertiser?” Burt asked. “It was obvious that they were skipping a step in the process.”

That telemarketing call reminds me of

an old baseball story. Jake Beckley, who played for the Cincinnati Reds in the early 1900s, was running from second to third when he noticed that the home plate umpire’s back was turned. Not one to miss an opportunity, Beckley skipped third base altogether – missing the bag by fifteen feet – and sprinted to home plate. He was emphatically called out, and when he complained, the ump replied, “You got here too quick.”

Like Jake Beckley, Burt’s telemarketer

tried to skip a step – and was called out at the plate.

Spec advertising can play a valuable role in the sales process, as long as it is based on relevant information about the advertiser. “I have bought spec ads before,” Burt explained. “One thing that set those ads apart was that the people who created them learned something about my business before they presented ideas. They studied my previous advertising, and they asked questions to learn what sets me apart from my competitors. That put them in position to create ads that weren’t generic, boilerplate ramblings like I heard from that telemarketer.”

Burt wants his marketing to stand out, not blend in. And I think it’s safe to say that the advertisers in your hometown want the same thing.

It all starts with knowledge. That’s one step that is too important to skip.

(c) Copyright 2011 by John Foust. All rights reserved.

John Foust has trained thousands of newspaper advertising professionals. Many ad departments are using his training videos to save time and get quick results from in-house training. E-mail for information: [email protected]

In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self discipline with all of them came first.

President, Harry S. Truman

Tight Economy? Revenue Down? You need More Than Just Content!

2005: 80,000

2009 Kidsville News! Circulation 1.1 millionnationwide!

Award Winning Editorial • Educational Worksheets CVC Audits • Website • Online Edition • Truman, the dragon

New revenue sources, higher profits, solutions & opportunities

2007:806,125

FOR INFORMATION ABOUT BRINGING

KIDSVILLE NEWS TO YOUR COMMUNITY CALL

Bill Bowman, [email protected] or 910.391.3859

Kidsville News! is NOT a franchise, insert or special section.

Find out why the Kidsville News! educational resource and children's newspaper is the fastest growing publication in the nation.*

www.KidsvilleNews.com

“ReadKiddoRead is about getting the very best books into kids’ hands, the ones that will create life-long readers. Kidsville News! understands how important this

is — they have a solid, entertaining paper that gets kids and parents reading together. What a great place to showcase a taste of what’s going on

at ReadKiddoRead.” — James Patterson, Author

The Nation’s Fun Family Newspaper

“Kidsville News! is a unique publication that is not only well read in the classroom, but CVC research shows the editions are brought home and shared with parents and

siblings. Each month nearly 60% of Kidsville News! editions are still in the hands of child & adult readers when the new issue is distributed. This high retention

rate allows sponsors a unique opportunity for their message to have an impact in communities.”

— TIm Bingaman, CVC



the best, but a solution. You must make it easier to read and turn it into a fixed-width face. Capital letters are easier to read because the x-height is somewhat similar, so we will start there. SALE in all caps has letters that are almost the same.

I increased the type size so it is easier to read and created a box around each letter to create

the illusion of a fixed-width area. The background is now uniform and creates a defined space for each let-ter uniting the group. A strong, simple typeface works the best for readabil-ity. Go as bold as you can and as large as you can.

I also think white type on a darker background (in the 3rd example the screens are 70% and 100%) also adds a bit more unity by creating a more cohesive element and enabling the group to be read as a “whole.” This is where the idea of “negative space” is critical.

Vertical TypeTOP TO BOTTOM… A GREAT WAY OF MAKING A LIST, BUT NOT SO GOOD FOR READING—AT LEAST IN THIS CULTURE. AND ONCE I SEE AN EXAMPLE, I START TO SEE IT EVERYWHERE. SO TRY TO AVOID…

I’ll see something, in this case, theuse of vertical type on a flyer or a building, and then pretty soon, I am seeing examples almost everywhere. I don’t know, maybe it just runs in streaks but that’s just the way it seems. Anyway, it started when I saw the name Mineshaft on one side of their building (this is a very popular restaurant in the Hartford area). I guess I had never really paid much attention to it before because their logo and all other print media never uses the vertical format. I started to look for sources that talked about vertical type or “stacked” type, but it wasn’t easy—and I pretty much came up with nothing! Especially when almost all the software programs offer this feature (remember, just because you can do it, doesn’t make it the right thing to do).

The Bottom LineVertical type is a beast to work with. The best scenario is not ever to use it! That being said, you may be forced to at some point in your career. So go bold and see if you can add some unity by developing a visual fixed-width element. One of my favorite phrases is ”impedes read-ability,” when confronted with issues that actual-ly impede readability! Feel free to use this phrase if the issue of vertical type arises!

I welcome your input and suggestions. I entered the publishing business after nine years as a high school art teacher and taught software programs at techni-cal school. I also write for The Independent Publisher, and I’m still learning. E-mail: [email protected] Hanrahan ©2011

This is just a little weird… last month I wrote an article about glyphs and their usage. The strange thing… after I wrote that article, Before and After—one of my favorite web sites— had an article on “Fun with Glyphs.” Talk about great minds, well the stuff by John McWade is always better, but still who knew! If you want to learn more about the glyphs and a demo, go to the October issue of the Independent Publisher at www.ifpa.com and select TIP Online. If you have problems or would just rather have your own copy, you can always e-mail me at the address below.

Vertical

Mineshaft

VERTICAL

MI

NESHAFT

Sale

SALE

The aforementioned process would probably not work with longer words, ( S A L E can still be read as a group) because readability should be easy, not contrived, not cute, not an impedi-ment… you want the message to be remem-bered. So when in doubt–don’t!

Another option…OK… let’s use the Mineshaft as an example. The customer wants the name of their business to be as big as possible and they want to place it in a one column ad. Fortunately, they only want a few words. What to do?

Readability is negligible as you have to look at each individual letter—you can’t just read the word as a group. All letters are centered to avoid even more confusion and even making the letters all caps doesn’t help very much. The problem is that our alphabet contains a variety of character sizes—skinny, wide and everything in between! And use of a serif typeface?

That adds even more distractions and problems. However, sometimes a small word, like the word “Sale” could be made to work. We deal with a lot of “Sales” in our ads, and never enough space so sometimes it may be a solution—not

Sorry, not my best but this ad is for

demo and I do have to use vertical type! See how difficult

it is to read the name and it seems

to be a jumble of boxes and text.

The name is set in Helvetica

Neue Black, 28 point on 21 point

leading with -5 letter spacing.

MINESHAFT

The best place for fun, food, family

and friends.See our great

menu offerings for breakfast,

lunch, and dinner.

Located in downtown

Hartford

Address & Phone on two lines

Restaurant and Bar

MIN

ESH

AFT

RE

ST

AU

RA

NT

AN

D B

AR


and friends.See our

great menu offer-ings for breakfast,

lunch, and dinner.

Located in downtown

HartfordAddress & Phone

on two lines

The direction to rotate is up to you, but generally, it will look better if the baseline is facing the edge of your interface, in other words where headline and text interact. I also did a little changing of the general text area and narrowed the entire ad to create more dimension. “MINESHAFT” is now easier to read… granted a little head tilt is neces-sary, but it will be easier to remember the name.

But wait, there’s more…Take a close look at the word itself… it can be “stacked” with the syllables, in this case “mine” and “shaft” (we got lucky!) Keeping a similar look from the last ad, we keep the same point size for the name, but mod-ify the “Restaurant and Bar” portion… a little smaller, less letterspacing and still placed on two lines. The general text has remained the same in all three ads, just positioned a little differently. The size of the ads is the same, except where noted, but as you can see, there’s a bit of difference in the looks.So which ad is the most effec-tive?


and friends.See our great menu

offerings for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Located in downtown Hartford

Address & Phone on two lines

RESTAURANT AND BAR

MINESHAFT

SALE

SALE

SALE

The following may offer a better solution!

Rotate! To keep unity, I placed

“Restaurant and Bar” under

the name and moved the

general text over just a bit.

The name is easier to read

but still may not be the best.

Same typeface, but it’s 34 point.

Leading does not matter because the other line is smaller

with -20 letter spacing, in reverse.

Back to Helvetica

Neue Black, 28 point on 21 point leading

with -5 letter spacing.



USPS Update:Taking It To The Topby Donna Hanbery

In August 2011, the Co-Chair of the Saturation Mailers Coalition Albert Braunfisch of MailSouth, and Ex-ecutive Director Donna Hanbery, at-tended meetings with Postal Service officials to discuss ways the Postal Service could grow and maintain the business of saturation program mail-ers like free papers, shared mailers, and coupon magazine and envelope products. Gary Reblin, Vice President of Domestic Products for the United States Postal Service, and David Mas-tervich, Product Manager of Satura-tion Mail, took time to discuss current products and promotions, the com-petitive landscape, and what is – and is not – working with incentives. The meeting also presented an opportu-nity for Donna Hanbery to share the results of an SMC-member survey where mailers were asked to discuss what the Postal Service was doing right, wrong, and the percentage of revenues that mailers were spending on postal distribution with the USPS.

Albert and Donna were mindful that the Postal Service has been post-ing losses and will be seeking a rate adjustment in the fall. Forefront on their minds was making the point that the rates for saturation program mail are already too high. Saturation

flats have a cost mark-up of approxi-mately 250% one of the highest mark-ups in the system. Co-Chair Albert Braunfisch repeatedly made the point that mailers could do more business with the Postal Service, and could add circulation or increase frequency in under-served markets, if postal rates were lower.

Gary and David were both interested in the market response to Postal Service incentives. Gary Reblin commented that the Postal Service was looking for more leverage to increase frequency and wanted to spark growth. Reblin was encouraged about the recent bar code promotion. “We want to show there are ways to make the mail more valuable.” Reblin pointed out that the bar code promotion made it possible for the mail to be used to complete a transaction. With a quick response code, a shopper could interact with the mail and use a smart phone to do impulse shopping while looking at a mail piece.

SMC’s representatives made these comments about Postal Service pro-motions:

Our members universally like and are using the bar code promotion. Any time a mailer has an opportunity to save 3%, it will jump at it. Most mail-ers are using the bar code to send con-

sumers to their own sites. More lead time would allow mailers to present the bar code to existing or potential advertising customers and use the program as a way to stimulate cre-ative advertising or opportunities for unique customer promotions.

The saturation volume incentives of the past two years were helpful, but they did not help enough. Albert ex-plained that growing new programs or adding frequency required 24-36 months to “ramp up.” A one-year promotion ends just as advertiser contracts are coming to an end. This makes the mailer vulnerable to com-petition from newspapers and private delivery carriers at the worst possible time. Reblin and Mastervich both commented that they heard more lead time and a longer promotion period for adding circulation and frequency might be important.

The SMC representatives and postal officials both agreed that some of the incentive programs were too complex and required many hours of time to determine if a mailer qualified and to compute threshold numbers and rebates. One of the Postal Service of-ficials that has been working on the saturation/high density incentive pro-gram commented that his office spent many hours performing calculations that only produced a $70 rebate for one mailer. This equation of staff time for new business does not make sense for the Postal Service.

The SMC representatives commented that the adoption of simplified ad-

CreativeOutlet.comYour new art & ad destination.

continued on page 7



dressing for city routes had produced some savings for mailers that helped hold the line on prices.

Much of the meeting was spent dis-cussing the competitive environment that mailers and the Postal Service are facing. It appeared that the Postal Service believed that declines in cir-culation for traditional newspapers and print media would send more retailers and advertisers to the mail and bring business to SMC programs. Albert Braunfisch made it clear that the Postal Service and mailers could not assume they will be able to cap-ture traditional print business or FSIs leaving daily newspapers. Albert ex-plained that advertisers were working with various agencies to seek alterna-tives to traditional daily newspapers. Although the mail had an opportuni-ty to compete for this business, there were other networks and agencies that were bundling retail and grocery circulars to seek the lowest cost op-tion. Albert stressed that the Postal Service and mailers faced a number of competitive problems when vying for FSI business against private car-riers. The number one problem was the additional postal rate charges re-quired for weight. Private carriers can

offer advertisers a fixed price based upon frequency. Many retailers are doing heavier pieces, or even mul-tiple pieces, in the 4th quarter. They want a fixed price for their advertis-ing all year. A mailer needs to charge more for heavier pieces because of the pound rate charges. The mail cannot currently compete with daily newspapers or private delivery when it came to heavier-piece promotions. Although mailers need to match com-petitive conditions and give retailers more favorable rates for frequency, mailers get no price break with the Postal Service.

We also discussed the desire of many retailers to have a sale that breaks on Saturday or Sunday. The Postal Ser-vice is already at a competitive disad-vantage with the absence of Sunday delivery. Discussions of moving to 5-day, and the potential loss of Satur-day for advertisers, is another action the Postal Service is pursuing that will help private carrier delivery, PCD, companies compete against the mail.

It was clear to SMC representatives that the Postal Service was not aware of the growth of PCD companies and the opportunities for advertisers to choose another print distribution me-

USPS Update:Taking It To The Top

continued from page 6

dia besides mail or daily newspapers.

Gary Reblin and David Mastervich both commented that the Postal Ser-vice might be able to work with the industry on weight. They commented that the Postal Service currently col-lects approximately $200M a year in revenue on pieces weighing 3.3 - 3.5 oz. It would be difficult for the Post-al Service to raise the breakpoint, or lower the pound rate, without find-ing another way to get this revenue. Donna commented that our members are already paying too much for mail distribution. Pointing to the survey results she delivered to the Postal Service, SMC members already pay the USPS anywhere from 25-50% of every dollar collected from advertis-ing customers in postage. The Postal Service might make more money, and increase its volumes and revenues, with a pricing policy that does a bet-ter job of rewarding its loyal, regular customers.

Other topics covered at the meet-ing included the Postal Service an-nouncement of a structural change that would allow it to charge two separate rates for the detached ad-dress label (DAL). The Postal Service commented that there was an auto-mation processing cost associated in handing DALs and that it appeared some mailers were able to use the DAL like a separate postcard piece. They commented: “We don’t want to hurt mailers that need to use the DAL

continued on page 10



SAPA Annual Conference: New Orleans, LA, September 2012: SAPA and IFPA joined together to have one of the best joint conferences ever in Nashville in 2010. We are joining forces again in 2012. This time we’ll get to visit one of the most dynamic and interesting cities in the South —New Olreans, Louisiana. The theme of the

Conference Schedulesconference is “Rolling On The River.” You can expect great speakers, local cuisine, and enjoyable activities to make this a conference to remember. Watch this space for more information as plans progress. Call Douglas Fry at 1-800-334-0649 for more info.

IFPA Annual Conference, Reno, NV September 30 - October 1, 2011: Valuable seminars, open forums, a vendor showcase, awards banquet, design contests, luxurious settings, and plenty of entertainment. Seminar topics include: sales, new revenue ideas, how to make money online, classified ad program development, ad layout & design, and how to compete with broadcast media. Call Gary Rudy at 609-408-8000 for more information.

Display & Classified Ad Sales & BillingCirculation Direct Mail Payroll Accounting

Integrated Management Software designed by publishers for publishers

MERRIMAC SOFTWARE ASSOCIATES INC.TAMWORTH, NH 603 323 8811 WWW.MERRSOFT.COM

in·san·i·ty [in-san’-i-te]

“Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein

So why do you keep spendingtoo much for your ad building?

888-491-2221 • www.ckpsolutions.com

Complete Graphic Design Serviceswith fast turnaround, superb creativity, low cost

NO MINIMUMS • NO CONTRACTS • NO DEPOSITSALL WORK DONE IN THE U.S.

• ROP Ads• Special Sections• Spec Ads

• Coupon Books• New Product Prototypes• Marketing Material



Justin Gerena, President, Director of Salesp: 888.592.3212 x710e: [email protected]

JB Multimedia, Inc. P.O. Box 704 N. Bellmore, NY 11710 888.592.3212 phone/fax www.jbmultimedia.net

M a k i n g p u b l i c a t i o n s i n t e r a c t i v e.

It's time for a new business venture…Needing new Revenue for 2011?

theBOOKcreators.bizCONNIE GIBBS

[email protected]

JOEL [email protected]

620-947-1923

It's time for a new business venture…Needing new Revenue for 2011?

theBOOKcreators.bizCONNIE GIBBS

[email protected]

JOEL [email protected]

620-947-1923

Setting PrioritiesCorrectlyby Richard Clark

Clearly the toughest challenge faced by most Classified Supervisors is set-ting priorities correctly. Most classified supervisors get little or no training in time management. They take the reins of the new position and are bombard-ed with “zillions” of things that must be done right away. Most of these is-sues involve human resources, com-puter systems, accounting, produc-tion, or other processes that have little or nothing to do with getting someone to purchase an ad.

New supervisors are anxious to make a good impression, so they try to get all of those things done. Somehow, the business of creating ways to grow rev-enue gets lost in the act of managing all the processes. The problem is that classified supervisors get most of their day-to-day feedback based on how well all the processes are managed, rather than how much advertising is sold. Managers get into the poor habit of focusing primarily on the processes. All too often, the concept of using in-genuity to maximize revenues either takes a back seat or is lost completely.

Ok, classified supervisors and man-agers, here’s the deal: “Your number one priority is to grow revenue!” Ev-

erything and anything else that isn’t directly focused on growing revenue hurts your sales performance.

The other departments you work with are primarily interested on accom-plishing their individual primary ob-jectives. They will siphon off as much of your valuable sales time as you al-low them to take. Their objectives are met, which makes them look good. Your sales don’t grow, and may even dip, and upper management wonders if you have the right stuff. You simply cannot let these objectives from other departments keep you from achiev-ing your department’s primary goal of growing sales revenues.

Does this mean that classified doesn’t have to do those “other” tasks? For most, of course you still have to do them. Be willing to work with those other departments, just not under them. The question is the priority. If something is missed because you are short on time, it has to be one of these “other” activities, and never any of your department’s sales activity.

There is a steady supply of people that will do clerical and production duties for less money than most salespeople make. Good salespeople are the hard-est employees for any business to find.

It just doesn’t make sense to take away from sales time for clerical and produc-tion tasks. Keep your sales staff selling. If you have someone in your depart-ment that just can’t seem to grasp the concept that their job is sales, give that person all the non-sales duties so the salespeople can spend time selling more ads.

Just to be clear, as a Classified Supervi-sor, you must accomplish your prima-ry goal of maximizing revenue genera-tion every day, or else you have failed. This is true no matter what else you may have accomplished that day.

This means that Ad-visors always ef-ficiently make the most out of every inbound call. Ad-visors make their re-newal callbacks every day; even things are really busy. Clear plans, objectives and schedules for maximizing out-bound calling for special pages, pro-motions and directories must be im-plemented.

In addition to outbound calling for special items, the department must spend time staying in touch with exist-ing advertisers that haven’t run recent-ly. It doesn’t do much good to add new customers if there is a steady stream of them falling away. The same is true of advertisers that you find in other me-dia that should be advertising in your classified products.

There are many priorities in the classi-fied department, but any that get ahead of selling more advertising are simply out of order. I once saw a sign above

continued on page 10



Setting PrioritiesCorrectly continued from page 9

a business manager’s desk that read, “A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” This is pretty sound advice. An-other department’s top priority doesn’t change your department’s top priority. If you will make this your philosophy, you can be sure you’ll be rewarded for meeting your primary goal.

Richard Clark’s unique blend of “aw

shucks” and “do it or die” delivery of classified advertising advice has brought success to well over 300 classified de-partments across America. His “Clas-sified Development” program includes rate structuring, sales training and man-agement coaching. To learn more about improving your classified numbers call 423-929-2243, or e-mail [email protected].

USPS Update:Taking It To The Top

continued from page 7for addressing, but we’d like a way of getting more money from a DAL if the mailer is able to sell it like a separate piece.”

The SMC survey revealed that the DAL was still important to many mailers both for addressing and for revenue. One free paper publisher wrote that his company had drastically reduced circulation in recent years due to high postage costs and the economy. He said:

We have competitors that are distrib-uting in mail tubes attached under the mailbox. Their costs are half of our postage. Without the DAL we could not compete and remain in the mail. It is a proven vehicle for customers be-cause it works. It covers a substantial portion of our postage. Any change in the DAL surcharge would be the straw that forces us out of the mail.

This sentiment was echoed by several SMC members that publish mailed free papers or offer shared mail pro-grams.

Albert urged the Postal Service to look at the DAL in a holistic manner. It gives shared mailers and free papers another product to offer customers. It can be a gateway product that helps mailers persuade advertisers to test the mail. If the advertiser is pleased with the response, it is likely to grad-uate into a shared mail program or do an insert or ROP ad with a free paper.

Last but not least, we discussed ideas for the Postal Service and mailers to reach under-served market areas. MailSouth has expertise in mail mar-kets that serve more rural areas where a monthly shared mail program is of-

fered. Albert explained that there are areas of the country where there are no shared mail programs or newspa-pers offering a total market coverage option. Many advertisers would like to reach consumers in these areas, or to have a more frequent (weekly) ad-vertising vehicle. Certainly the Postal Service has capacity in many areas where its carriers must still serve a route with few pieces. We encour-aged the Postal Service to develop an approach to pricing that would stim-ulate and encourage mail volume in these under-utilized markets.

As the meeting came to a close, Don-na and Albert stressed the efforts of SMC and its members to improve the postal partnership. Albert challenged the Postal Service officials to think about ways to grow incremental rev-enue and appreciate the challenges that mailers face with stiff competi-tion from newspapers and private de-livery in the areas of pricing and their ability to control delivery dates. Al-bert stressed that our members were serving as the Postal Service’s sales force and need ways to bring retail-ers, large and small, to our programs and the mail. Albert commented that our members spent a lot of time nur-turing small business and creating mail advertising that would work for them. He said, “We found Chinese restaurants to be a fast-growing cat-egory. Even if your language is Man-darin, you understand math.” If the Postal Service can help get the price right, and give us the delivery win-dows we need, we can grow our busi-nesses and bring more advertisers and consumers together in the mail.

Donna E. Hanbery,Executive Director

Saturation Mailers Coalition33 South Sixth Street, Suite 4160

Minneapolis, MN 55402(612) 340-9350 Direct Line

(612) 340-9446 [email protected]



TWO POWERFUL STATEMENTS ABOUT

SRDS1 Greg Birkett wanted to share a per-sonal success story regarding SRDS. “We just received (2) 1/4 page ads at $528.00 for a pharmaceutical compa-ny and the order came from Pennsyl-vania. An agency we have never dealt with before so I emailed them to ask how they found us...they used SRDS.

I know that we have not had funding to do much lately, but I truly feel our SRDS partnership has been a positive thing for PaperChain, and a reason we all need to ask our boards to continue funding this important member ben-efit.”

2 Jack Guza responded to Greg’s email with this story. “Speaking of

SRDS…I received a Request For Infor-mation last Friday, August 26 from a Media Planner at The Integer Group. She noted that she found our associa-tion via SRDS Newspaper Advertising Source!”

FYI - Jack

Jack Guza - Executive Director – Com-munity Papers of Michigan

Report

HERE IS WHAT PAPERCHAIN STANDS FORP is for pride. Free paper publishers

have pride in their products, their staff and the community they serve.

A is for audits. Audits are the first step in gaining the much needed rec-ognition of media buyers.

Pis for perception. The perception of community papers is not the reality of the papers.

E is for enthusiasm. The free pa-per industry is extremely enthusiastic about PaperChain.

R is for results. Advertiser across the country have been using commu-nity papers for years because they get results.

C is for customers. We serve both customers as readers and clients.

H is for help. Community paper people are always willing to help each other.

A is for action. We are always will-ing to take action to help our custom-ers, offering suggestions, encouraging customers in how to increase their bot-tom line.

I is for integrity. The integrity of the community papers is proven time and again with the audits.

N is for never giving up. Commu-nity papers are persistent in striving for excellence.

You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.

Brian Tracy

The most important thing about a quote is to hear what it says.

Anon



Free PapersWorking For You

New technologies change many things. But not everything. You may tweet, blog, surf, shop, or search online but you continue to read your free community paper. You just proved it.

Readership of free community papers is now higher than paid daily papers and continues to grow. Rather than being replaced by “instant” media, your local free community paper has become an important part of our neighborhood.

Th e reason, which sometimes is not heard

because of all the noise about the Internet, is pretty obvious: your free community paper does what the Internet doesn’t. We promote connections at a local level. Free papers join readers and advertisers in ways digital media doesn’t.

In fact, the local content and power of your free paper makes advertising even more eff ective. We are the number one medium for driving purchases. Th at’s important in every product category.

Including potatoes.

Will the Internet kill your free community paper?Did instant potatoes kill potatoes?

2011 October

Documents

Transcript of 2011 October