Click on the link below to view photos from the Key Executives Mega-Conference. Photos by Al Cupo of the Local Media Association.

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Developing on In-House Digital Ad Agency

Reprinted from the SNPA eBulletin

When the newspaper business model began to wobble uncontrollably in 2009 and 2010, executives at The Kingsport (Tenn.) Times-News held a strategy summit to try to predict where the market would be for its core businesses in the next five years. The goal was to determine how the paper could leap-frog ahead of that and have a market lead position by the time 2015 arrives.

A key direction that came out of this planning was the development of Times Digital Group, a design and programming staff that focuses exclusively on outside business customers.

Keith Wilson

On the opening afternoon of the Key Executives Mega-Conference, Keith Wilson, vice president and publisher of The Kingsport Times-News, talked about the journey that led to the development of the paper's in-house digital agency and lessons learned along the way.

Wilson told conference attendees that he thinks the in-house agency is the business category that offers the greatest "up-side" over the next four to five years. "We expect to place more emphasis and more work in that area," he said. "The competition is tough, but it is an area where the need is."

He cited as an example an ad that a bank placed with his newspaper a number of years ago. The bank's agency mistakenly included its bill – for design and composition work – with the ad that it sent to the paper. "The agency was charging more for this little bank to design and compose the ad than I was charging to run it," he said.

He said, "This bank was willing to pay – apparently – double my rate to run that ad in my paper. Another way of looking at this: I was losing 50 percent of the revenue before the ad ever got to me."

He responded by hiring some really talented graphic designers to work with his sales staff.

In addition to the in-house digital agency, the strategy summit identified two other core businesses for the paper:

Employees of Times Digital Group currently serve about 60 clients. Those employees are free to call on any business, regardless of whether they are a current newspaper customer. Wilson admits that this sometimes causes tensions, "and we live with that."

The staff is physically located outside the paper's offices and is developing its own unique culture. See box below for a list of services offered.

Lessons learned along the way:

How to Go From Successful Print Sales
to Successful Online Sales

Reprinted from the SNPA eBulletin

Online advertising has proven itself to be recession-proof and to also be strong when markets are good, Zach Ahrens told attendees last week at the Key Executives Mega-Conference. "The bottom line," he said, "is we have – in all of our markets – audience that people are wanting to reach." He addressed the conference from the perspective of someone who has sold advertising, someone who manages groups of salespeople and someone who has been the publisher at different operations.

Zach Ahrens

Ahrens, advertising director at the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, said that research shows that, even while the economy was struggling, local online spending continued to rise, with the strongest growth coming from small to medium-sized businesses. "That’s encouraging," he said.

But he warned that newspaper employees need to become better ambassadors for the industry. "Frankly," he said, "we’re not telling a very good story. ... We are acting like we are already defeated."

He said it is key that industry executives believe in their products.

"The power of print and the power of digital is explosive," Ahrens said. "Think about digital for just a second. Think about the things that we can do better with digital and some of the other platforms that we have available that we can’t do completely in print. We have the interaction, the engagement of people through blogs, video and maps. It’s constantly updated. It’s easy to archive. We have quality readers. Ninety percent of newspaper website readers make purchases online. … Wouldn’t you love to be in that spot as an advertiser?"

He quoted David Hallerman, an eMarketer principal analyst, as saying: “For 2012, eMarketer projects ad spending on Internet platforms to reach $39.5 billion in the U.S., trumping the $33.8 billion it believes will be spent on newspapers and magazines.”

Ahrens said he wasn't advocating foresaking "our first love" because – for many of our properties – the vast majority of revenue still comes from print. "But, look at the opportunity that we have through online."

When customers don’t buy advertising, Ahrens said their decision typically boils down to one of these three sales barriers:

To combat this, he talked about the five Ps of selling online advertising:

He said two of the most important questions sales representatives should be asking advertisers are:

He warned: "The most complex part of the sale should be understanding your customers' business goals – not your rate card."

Sales documents should support campaign recommendations or introduce clients to potential audience segments. Without fail, he said, date-driven decisions are: the most certain, last longer, make the customer/prospect better advocates, improve the paper/advertiser relationship and are easier to close. (view Pulse Research data that analyzes Grand Forks Herald readers in his PowerPoint presentation)

Quality sales training is essential, Ahrens said. He holds mandatory digital sales training meetings with his staff every week.

And, he advised executives at the Mega-Conference to begin with a good look at their own attitudes. "What is your attitude as a CEO? What is your attitude as a vice president? What is your attitude as a publisher, group publisher, regional publisher? That trickles down to the property level. How you react and your attitude will trickle down."

Before implementing a training plan, he said it's important to ask yourself the following questions:

Digital training sessions should focus on:

Questions digital managers should be asking themselves:

Finally, some general training recommendations:

Newspapers: Don't Fear Paywall Plunge

Executives from the Tulsa World, The Ottawa Herald and the Columbia Daily Tribune – three newspapers that have shifted their content behind paywalls – speaking at the Key Excutives Mega Conference in San Antonio told newspapers that the shift to paid content was nothing to fear, offering up their papers' success as the benefits of paywalls. (read the full story)

Weekly Publishers Optimistic About Future

By Mike Jenner
Houston Harte Chair
Missouri School of Journalism

Despite an unfriendly economy and changes in reader and advertiser behavior, most weekly publishers are bullish on the future of community newspapers. In a recent survey, 72 percent expressed optimism about the future of newspapers. And while they see some promise in digital revenue, they believe print will play an enduring role: Two-thirds don’t envision a time when they’ll no longer produce a print edition.

While weekly papers haven’t moved as quickly as the dailies into creating mobile phone and tablet apps, they have kept pace with smaller dailies in the adoption of paid online models.
The survey of publishers shows that 42 percent of non-daily newspapers now charge users for digital content. A similar study last April showed that 46 percent of publishers of dailies under 25,000 circulation require payment for at least some of their online content. Of weekly newspapers that don’t now charge, one quarter of their publishers say they plan to launch a paid program in the next 12 months; another 48 percent say they may begin charging after that.

The extensive survey of publishers was paid for by the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association and the Missouri School of Journalism’s Houston Harte Chair. Using the database of non-daily newspapers provided by the National Newspaper Association, more than 400 in-depth telephone interviews were conducted in October by the Center for Advanced Social Research, the research arm of MU’s Reynolds Journalism Institute. The survey had an 85 percent response rate.

The survey results were released Tuesday afternoon at the Key Executives Mega-Conference in San Antonio. The conference is sponsored by SNPA, Inland Press Association and the Local Media Association (formerly Suburban Newspapers of America). (read the full story)

Deals Build Longer Term Ad Biz For Papers

Executives from Shaw Media, Deseret Digital Media and the Omaha World-Herald told attendees at the Key Executives Mega Conference Tuesday that local media companies are better prepared to take advantage of the daily deals space than companies such as Groupon and Living Social because of their connections to the local community. (read the full story)

Execs: Collaboration Key to Newspapers' FuturePapers

Local newspapers starting to navigate the murky waters of paid content need to develop a good strategy that puts content on the free side and the paid side of the wall – and perhaps come up with a better word than "paywall" – if they want to drive revenue in the digital world, according to executives speaking at the Key Executives MegaConference in San Antonio, Texas. Excutives also emphasized the need for increased collaboration in the industry, as well as taking advantage of various digital platforms – especially tablets. (read the full story)

Second Street executives tell newspapers: