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Don't ever forget who runs your newspaper

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Rudy Petross, Oct 7, 2010.

  1. flexmaster33

    flexmaster33 Well-Known Member

    especially when he owns a big local car dealership and has the publisher's ear because the pub used to handle his advertising account...ughhh
     
  2. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    Their web site doesn't seem to list prices, but I'm betting Wal-Mart does it cheaper.
     
  3. MacDaddy

    MacDaddy Active Member

    It might do it cheaper, but not better -- Les Schwab has sensational service.
     
  4. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    Well that's kind of the point. You can beat Wal-Mart at customer service. You can advertise more. But I doubt you can do both of those and match them on price, too.
     
  5. I Should Coco

    I Should Coco Well-Known Member

    The proper response from the editor, of course, is to tell the advertiser, "Good luck advertising elsewhere. Put your ad in the Madision newspaper, reach way fewer local readers, and pay way more money."

    In the real world, unfortunately, money wins.

    Hopefully somewhere down the road, the displaced columnist will be a manager at some retail business. The hardware store owner, having gone bankrupt trying to keep his overpriced and uppity business open, will be desperate for a job. And the displaced editor will laugh in his face as she tears his application to pieces.
     
  6. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    Never understood why more local newspapers don't drive home their dominant position in local advertising. In the average small town, what else is there when it comes to being able to target a local audience with relevant information?

    TV? Expensive, burdened with crappy production values and not narrowly targeted at all.

    The Yellow Pages? Sure, if you want one ad for the whole year. And not targeted of course.

    The Internet? Yeah, right.

    Direct mail? People love junk mail.
     
  7. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    You guys ever met a small-town local business owner?

    "We're the only advertising game in town, bwahahahaha" will be met with "I don't need advertising, really, everyone knows who I am."
     
  8. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    To which I would counter, "And you don't have any new products you need to advertise? Sales? Expanded opening hours? No? Well, no wonder Wal-Mart's kicking your ass."
     
  9. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    Which would probably feel pretty good, but wouldn't actually sell the ad. :)

    Small-town ad sales involve an incredible amount of dick-sucking. There's just no way around it.
     
  10. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    Every time I see a one-column, one-inch ad, I wonder who was the ad person who convinced the business that the ad would be effective. I just wonder how much work goes into trying to talk the owner into trying something different, maybe a bigger ad with less frequency, or switching around what page the ad is on.

    Too often, we're just content as an industry to take the nickels thrown to us, just like the poor picking up spilled pieces of coal on the sidewalk 100 years ago.
     
  11. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    Well, there's a reason my name isn't adslave. :)
     
  12. WolvEagle

    WolvEagle Well-Known Member

    At our shop, the ad director's office is next to the publisher's office, and the ad director acts as if they're running the paper when the publisher is out of town (which is moderately often because the corporate office and his extended family are in other states). Man, we really have to walk a line at times. It sucks, but it's reality.

    When the ad director wants something, they walk straight into the editor's office or stop a few steps shy at my desk because I coordinate the business coverage. I've gotten good at nodding my head and agreeing, but not saying much.
     
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