2012 February

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) 223-5708 (888)450-8329 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.

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The 40-40-20 Rule of MarketingRemember the 80/20 Rule of Sales? John Foust explains the 40-40-20 rule of marketing.

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Conference ScheduleWe just had an amazing conference in Birmingham, Alabama. Now, prepare to join us in New Orleans, LA September 20 - 22, 2012.

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Graphics Series Ellen Hanrahan shows us some great ways to improve the look of our ads so that we’re ready to be judged by our readers.

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USPS UpdateDonna Hanbery with the Saturation Mailers Coalition outlines so many changes and topics there just isn’t room here to explain them all.

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Three Sales TypesAre you a “Sausage Grinder?” There are three types of sales approaches. Bob Berting explains each.

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The NewsosaurAlan D. Mutter describes how daily newspapers have declined and what lays in wait for them. Thank goodness free papers are growing!

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by Dr. Joey Faucette

FI walk in and out of our backdoor every day. I see this door a lot, but I learned recently that I don’t really look at it.

For some reason, I noticed how dirty the glass was in this door. But it was like I saw it for the first time, or the first time in a long time.

I sprayed and wiped the window, then wondered, “Why hadn’t I noticed that before?”

Walking through that door is a habit. Once something becomes a habit, it’s

Clean Up YourDirty Business Practices

familiar. That means we assume we know how it looks or acts without re-ally looking.

Take your business, for instance. You have certain business habits. They’re familiar. Based on your assumptions. Most of them are about you. And they’re strangling your profitability.

Here’s some familiar business dirt that could use a good cleaning.

FEATURES AND BENEFITSWhen you talk about your company, what words do you use?

Do you focus on the company itself,

the key features it offers? As you listen to yourself, do you hear, “I” or “Us”? Or, “You” and “Your”?

It’s a familiar habit to extol the virtues of your company. You work hard and you’re proud of your business. It’s a familiar door. However, your business features have value only as they benefit the customer.

What problems do you solve for them? How is their work accomplished more quickly or pleasantly by your services?

It’s not about you. It’s about your cus-

Southeastern Advertising Publishers Association

THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FOR THE FREE PAPER INDUSTRY FEBRUARY 2012

continued on page 2



If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.

Jim Rohn

Money will buy you a bed, but not a good night’s sleep, a house but not a home, a companion but not a friend.

Zig Ziglar

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tomers and what you do for them.

Clean the “me” from your feature-driv-en conversation and let “thee”-benefits shine.

SELLING AND BUYINGWhich do you do—sell to your clients or remove the obstacles to their buy-ing?

Your habit may be to sell, which fo-cuses more on why your widget is the best one in the world. But what if that customer isn’t interested in a widget? No amount of selling will close the deal.

I heard a story about a furniture store sales rep who attempted to sell a cus-tomer who wanted a round coffee ta-ble. The rep showed her every square and rectangle table in the store. Ex-asperated, the customer asked if he could order her one. “Of course,” he said. “I’ll email you a picture and the website.”

You guessed it. The picture was of a rectangle coffee table.

Accurate listening is the difference be-tween selling and buying. Ask the right questions with a smile, listen carefully,

and you’ll discover everything you need to know to help convert the cus-tomer into an advertiser for life who sends all of her friends to you to buy.

Spray and clean the “selling,” listening until it sparkles with “buying” and you form a mutually beneficially relation-ship.

TRANSACTIONS AND TRANSFORMATIONS

Such mutually beneficial relationships are transformative, not just transac-tional.

Who do you take your vehicle to for repairs—someone who just keeps re-placing parts and charging you for it? Or, someone who accurately diagno-ses and fixes your vehicle’s problem, and you drive away confidently?

Your customers give you far more than their money. They give you their trust. They return when they trust you be-cause you transformed the relation-ship. They never come back if you don’t because you simply transacted business.

Spray and clean your business prac-tices until they sparkle with more than money. Trust is the currency of doing business today.

Clean up your dirty business habits and you’ll see clearly more profits than ever before.

Dr. Joey Faucette will be the keynote speaker and presenter at our upcoming conference in New Orleans. He stimulates and coaches you & your organization to redefine reality and achieve your business dreams using everyday stories that define how to Work Positive.

continued from page 1



PresidentTony OnellionBargains PlusSlidell, LA

985-649-9515

Vice PresidentAlan Lingerfelt

The Piedmont Shopper

Danville, VA434-822-1800

Past PresidentGreg Ledford

Shelby Shopper & Info

Shelby, NC 704-484-1047

TreasurerCaroline

QuattlebaumSoutheast Sun

Enterprise, AL 334-393-2969

Board MemberAmy

Hollingshead Atlanta Thrifty Nickel

Marrietta, GA 770-971-8333

SecretaryWill ThomasExchange, Inc.

Fayetteville, TN 931-433-9737

Executive Director

Douglas FrySAPA Headquarters

Columbia, TN931-223-5708

Board MemberBill Derby

Johnson City News & Neighbor

Johnson City, TN423-979-1300

Past PresidentRussell

QuattlebaumSoutheast Sun

Enterprise, AL 334-393-2969

Administrative Assistant

Vickie BeldenSAPA Headquarters

Columbia, TN931-223-5708SA

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

Ed Mayer was a giant in the direct mail and direct marketing world. Throughout his career, he worked tirelessly to promote the industry and educate others. Perhaps his most

execution (copy, design, color, paper stock, format, etc.).

The direct marketing industry was built on research and number crunching. When someone of Mayer’s stature has a marketing formula, we would be smart to pay attention. His concept can be easily applied to newspaper advertising:

Audience, 40 percent: The best ad in the world won’t work if it doesn’t reach the right audience. Direct mailers figured this out a long time ago, and they applied sophisticated

40-40-20Rule of Marketing

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famous concept is the 40-40-20 rule, which states that an effective marketing campaign is 40 percent list, 40 percent offer, and 20 percent creative.

In other words, 40 percent of success depends on targeting the right audience (mailing list), 40 percent depends on the offer you make to that audience (incentive to buy), and 20 percent depends on the creative



demographic targeting techniques. Online and social media marketers have taken the process several steps further. No doubt, you’ve noticed companies that track your interest in certain products, then send related pop-up ads and messages to you.

Today’s print sales people should demonstrate that they can reach relevant numbers of an advertiser’s potential customers. Making blanket statements about having 50,000 or 20,000 or 5,000 total readers is not

enough. Provide plenty of details on demographics, zoned coverage, and numbers of readers within specific mile ranges of prospective advertisers.

Offer, 40 percent: Ralph Emerson wrote, “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.” That advice worked in the 19th Century, but it doesn’t work today, because the marketplace is crowded with all kinds of mousetraps, and consumers are bombarded with information about those mousetraps.

In order to motivate consumers to choose your advertiser’s brand of mousetrap over all the others, you have to give them what I call an RTB – a compelling Reason-To-Buy. That’s why the right offer is crucial.

Image ads can help an advertiser build brand identity over an extended period of time. But if you – like direct marketers - are looking for immediate response, provide readers with incentive to act now. Not next month or next year. Now.

Consider discount tactics. Or rebates. Or free delivery. Or open house specials.

Creative, 20 percent: After you’ve targeted the right audience and developed the right offer, the next step is to package the message so it will be noticed, read, and acted upon.

Many campaigns die because of inadequate efforts on this 20 percent. The audiences and the offers are on target, but the messages are clouded with puffed up claims of “best deal ever” and “fantastic service.” Or the layouts lack white space and have typography that is hard to read.

As long as the advertiser’s offer is a strong one, simply tell the truth in a simple, uncluttered way. That will put the percentages in your favor.

(c) Copyright 2012 by John Foust. All rights reserved.

John Foust has conducted training programs for 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]

Southeastern AdvertisingPublishers Association

By Bob Berting, Berting Communications

In the real world of advertising sales, many publications could fall into these broad categories:

SAUSAGE GRINDERThis publication pushes immediate in-come and has their salespeople push one time promotions and bring ads in on a crash basis. Their salespeople are perceived as order takers. All activity is on a treadmill and there is a great deal of stress and turn over on the sales staff. The publication lives from week to week.

STEPPING STONEThis publication is obsessed with de-signing beautiful specialty tabloid covers and ads that are works of art. Since the emphasis is on ultra-creative ad design, there could be a lack of at-tention to content of campaigns and long range programs. Response to ads could be diminished.

PRO-PRINCIPLEThis sales staff is highly trained to be advertising professionals. Their cus-tomers are committed to long range

programs because they perceive their salespeople as trusted advisors who want to tell the story of their business in a creative, thoughtful, and purposeful way. The customers are committed to the publi-cation as a major player in their media mix strategy.

HOW ADVERTISING SALESPEOPLE CAN BE PRO-

PRINCIPLEPrimarily they must be believed and trusted in the customer’s eyes. They have to be a trusted advisor and coun-selor, not an interviewer who drones on and on with progressive question-ing tactics. They must know competi-tive media. How can a contract or long range program be sold to a prospect if the prospect doesn’t believe the paper is a key player in their media mix. The pro-principle salesperson has to know the advantages and disadvantages of all competing media and be able to make precise comparisons accordingly.

Sausage Grinder, Stepping Stones, and Pro-Principle

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This month I get to see what Wisconsin papers are producing in the way of advertising. It almost makes me want to go back to work… almost! I miss the challenge of taking information and creating an effective ad. It’s always interesting, educational and fun to see what the designers come up with. When I evaluate, I do have a short list of certain criteria that I look for. Here are a few of the guidelines that I automatically include in any evaluation: ■ Text running too close to the border. This causes a distraction in smooth eye flow in read-ing the copy. Remember that the thicker or more ornate the border, the more space you need be tween the border and the copy. See examples in column three.■ Color for the sake of color. The idea behind the use of color is to act as an attention-getter. If the entire ad seems engulfed in color, or even gradi-ents, the less im pact the color has. Use the color sparingly and use it only to call attention to the most important information in the ad. Yes, I do understand that the customer pays for the color and wants his money’s worth, but explain that too much of a good thing dilutes the impact they are going for.■ Be picky about typefaces. Learn all that you can about type. Most advertising that I see can be made better by adjusting the type or choos-ing a more appropriate typeface for the mes-sage. Don’t use too many different typefaces in one ad and be consistent in size. Type that changes in size or weight from line to line is dis-tracting and unity in the ad is compromised. ■ Using a text wrap or run-around can be tricky.

Make sure you leave enough room between the art and

the text. Too often I see text almost bump into the art and that will end up being a distraction. However, hav-

ing your word spacing inconsistent can also distract. Too much

space between words creates “rivers”, so plan the text wraps carefully.

I HELP TO JUDGE ADVERTISING FOR THE WISCONSIN COMMUNITY PAPERS IN FEBRUARY. BUT “JUDGING” SOUNDS SO… JUDGEMENTAL. I PREFER TO THINK OF IT MORE AS AN ADVERTISING…

I welcome your input and suggestions. I entered the publishing business after nine years as a high school art teacher and taught software programs. I also write for The Independent Publisher, and I’m still learning. E-mail: [email protected] Hanrahan ©2012

Evaluation

…’till next month!

Very heavy or wide bordersThe wider or more decorative the border, the more you need to increase the margin. This twelve point border is quite heavy, but so is a border that contains artwork. Treat them the same. This is a 6-point inset, but the border is soooo powerful that it’s hard to keep your attention focused on the words. Your attention is focused on the heavy border.

You can see a differenceHowever, increase the margin area (I’ve set an eighteen point inset (one-pica, 6-points). The reader’s attention is now drawn back into the text area. So the moral of the story…if you want to use a really heavy border, make sure that the ad space is great enough to accommodate the thick rule line!

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■ Lots of razzle-daz-zle will not make up for a poor design lay-out. Make sure the ad copy is organized and the artwork supports the copy. And always organize. Unifying the information will always

help the reader make sense of and, most of all, remember the information.

Don’t Touch Me!Keeping your distance helps improve readability. The samples with the wide border help demon-strate that text that runs too close to a border is distracting. I also used the example of the flowers to the left to demonstrate keeping an appropriate amount of space between the copy and the art in a run-around or wrap. Make sure the text still appears to have the same amount of word spac-ing. Too great a gap between words, especially in justified text, is also just as distracting. Edit or hand-break the text if necessary and yes, I had to do that to the text wrap—I adjusted the wrap. The amount of space between text and bor-der is up to you. If your eye tends to stray or “jump” to the border, the text is too close. After a while, you will get a feel for the appropriate amount of spacing.

You’re Not My Type!Be particular about typefaces. For example, the Topsoil ad ran a while back. There are only five lines of type, but there are four size changes. (The top line is Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk, while the rest of the type is Franklin). Bonus—the type is too close to the border! Did I get lucky or what? In an ad this size, introducing a different type-face can make a difference. It garners attention, but in a space this small, you don’t need that attention. In the bottom Topsoil ad, I went back to the Franklin Gothic Family for a little more cohesive look. Anyway, with a minimal amount of changes, and even maintaining the four size changes in the type, I’ve made it appear to be closer togeth-er in size and to have equal value in the mid-sec-tion. I did change the word Topsoil to Franklin Gothic Medium Heavy in a smaller size, while pulling the text away from the border. I also felt a solid border was less distracting than the two-rule border. It looks a lot cleaner. When in doubt, stick with a family of type. I use a lot of Myriad Pro because It gives me a number of options while keeping a consistent feel to the text. The letters work with each other.

InDesign CS 5.5 Corner Options!The bottom box is just to show off the Corner Options under the Object Menu. In InDesign CS4 I had to run a script to change the corners (it was a simple change…straight and round). This is cool and I’m glad I found it. Be thankful I changed only two corners. Imagine if I decided to go crazy!

Hint: February 14th is Valentines Day…flowers are always good!

Happy Valentines Day…and Groundhog’s Day and President’s Day …but Valentines have cooler artwork!



USPS Update:Changes that Matterby Donna Hanbery

UPDATE ON “IN HOME” DATESOn November 29, 2011, the Postal Ser-vice sent letters to customers, and made an announcement, that it would no lon-ger process mail based upon mailer-re-quested in-home dates but would stick to the applicable service standards that will vary with the type of mail, the entry location, the time of entry, and applicable service standards. The announcement was also subject to a heated discussion at the quarterly meeting between Postal Service representatives and industry at the Mailers Technical Advisory Council (MTAC).

SMC shared the announcement with members. SMC received substantial feedback and concern that this change could erode decades of effort by local newspapers and free community papers, including weekly and monthly shared mail programs, to develop relationships with the USPS where mail is entered at local post offices (DDUs) to obtain an expected day or two-day window of de-livery for advertisers. SMC’s Executive Director, Donna Hanbery, promised to take up the issue with the Postal Service during its next monthly meeting be-tween Association leaders and the Postal Service Executive Team.

On December 21, 2011, Donna Hanbery asked postal leadership to discuss the an-

nouncement about in-home dates. Han-bery explained that many SMC members have weekly programs that have been built around an expected in-home date. Hanbery explained: “Our members have worked to coordinate delivery of our mail deep into the system with the ex-pectation that we will have delivery on a regular in-home date or in-home date window. SMC members are worried over unintended consequences and, in light of talk about Saturday closure, our ability to make promises to retailers, like grocers, that are sensitive to sale break dates.”

Postmaster General Pat Donahoe person-ally fielded the question. He promised that clarification would be issued on this subject and said: “Tell your members to feel free to keep putting an in-home date on the materials.” Where mail is be-ing brought to local post offices and is drop-shipped, particularly mail like free papers and shared mail packages, where automation is not necessary, the Postal Service will continue to honor requested delivery dates. The PMG said, “If you drop-ship to the DDU and you have had Tuesday delivery, you will still get Tues-day delivery.”

For mail that is brought to the DDU and does not need to be automated, it appears that the Postal Service will continue to honor in-home date requests as it has in the past. For mail that is entered at an upstream location, and needs to be trans-

ported for local delivery, or mail that is automated, it appears the Postal Service may still follow its service standards and not a mailer’s request for specific in-home dates. In a follow-up request to the Postal Service seeking written clarifica-tion on the in-home date policy, Hanbery was advised that the Postal Service will be putting out a letter and a color coding chart that would clarify its service stan-dards. It is expected that the letter will state that mailers bringing saturation flats to a DDU for local delivery may con-tinue to have the Postal Service honor its requested in-home dates.

The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) issued a number of orders or opinions of interest to free paper publishers before the end of the year.

PRC ORDER “BACKBURNERS” EXIGENCY FILING

On December 20, 2011 the Commis-sion issued an order finding that the Postal Service’s submission of materi-als to support an exigent request, re-lating to the Postal Service’s alleged re-cession revenue losses of $2.3 billion, was not sufficient to allow the PRC to conduct further proceedings. The PRC stated “if the Postal Service wishes to pursue its exigent request, it must complete the submission of its entire case to the Commission. A complete case would include all information, materials, and testimony on which the Postal Service would rely to demon-strate that its Exigent Request satisfies the causal nexus of ‘due to,’” as inter-preted in a prior Commission ruling. Further, the submission would need to

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include a schedule of proposed rates harmonized with the Service’s most re-cent CPI price adjustments.

In a meeting between Postal Service executives and association leaders, the Postmaster General reiterated the promises he has been making throughout 2011. He stated he does not want to increase postal rates in 2012 beyond the CPI adjustment al-ready scheduled for January 22, 2012. Although Postal Service leadership be-lieves that it cannot solve its revenue and cost problems by price increases, it cannot risk alienating Congress or the Administration by taking any op-tion, including exigency, off the table.

The PRC ruling did not set a deadline or schedule mandating the Postal Ser-vice to file further paperwork to keep its exigency option “alive.” The com-ments the Postal Service continues to make to the industry are that the Postal Service does not have any plans to complete the paperwork and filings that would be needed to complete the submission of exigency case.

So what does that mean for mailers? For now, it seems the odds are that the Postal Service will not be moving for-ward to seek an exigent rate increase in 2012.

PRC Not Pleased With Postal Service PO Closure Plans

On December 23, 2011 the Postal Rate Commission (PRC) issued a lengthy advisory opinion that basically gave the Postal Service a “D−” on its plan to close thousands of retail outlets. The PRC critiqued the Postal Service’s plan as not optimizing the retail network, failing to use good data and analytical tools to identify and evaluate closure candidates, and not doing enough in advance, and after closures, to provide consumers and business with suffi-cient alternative access.

Although the PRC analysis is advisory in nature, PRC Chairman Ruth Gold-way, in a separate concurring opinion, noted that Congress apparently shared the Commission’s concerns about public access and mandates to require national service. Goldway noted that Congress recently enacted appropria-tion legislation that would continue the 6-day delivery requirement and prohibit appropriated funds from be-ing used to consolidate or close small post offices in 2012. Goldway wrote “I urge the Postal Service to incorporate the recommendations presented by the Commission in the advisory opin-ion to ensure that the legally required

USPS Update:Changes that Matter


national level of service is maintained” and made more efficient.

Although postal leadership continues to affirm its commitment to seeking 5-day delivery, reducing its processing and retail facilities, and doing what it can to right size its network, it con-tinues to face significant pressure and pushback from the PRC and Congress.

POSTAL POLITICSOn December 13, 2011, the Postal Service issued a press release that it had made an agreement with mul-tiple US Senators to delay the closing of post offices and mail processing fa-cilities until May 15, 2012. The same announcement continued that the de-lay would not stop the Postal Service from pursuing all actions necessary to review facilities previously announced for closure and to take all steps neces-sary to help the Service reduce costs and increase revenue.

The pressure for the delay came from a group of Senators from states with significant rural geography and ties to postal labor groups. Postal experts commenting on the agreement noted that the Postal Service was presumably promised that the delay would give the Senate time to pass postal legisla-tion. If legislation is not completed by the end of the moratorium on May 15, 2012, the Postal Service could move forward with its closure and consoli-dation plans.

The Postal Service Senate agreement and press announcement led to a flur-

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SAPA Annual Conference: New Orleans, LA, September 20-22, 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 Orleans, Louisiana.

Conference SchedulesThe theme of the conference is “Rollin’ 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 1-931-223-5708 for more info.

AFCP Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA April 19 - 21, 2012: This years conference will be held in conjunction with the International Classified Media Association (ICMA) Conference and Trade Show providing a unique opportunity to share some of our programs and events with publishers from around the world. For more information please call Loren Colburn at 877-203-2327.

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Daily Papers Going The Way of the MilkmanPublished first in Editor & Publisher

Daily newspaper delivery will go the way of the milkman in a growing number of communities in 2012 and beyond.

Barring a miraculous turnaround in the economy, a sea change in the think-ing of media buyers or a late-breaking proclivity for print in the sub-geezer population, publishers in ever more communities are likely to reduce the number of days they provide home delivery – or print a newspaper alto-gether.

Nowhere is the demise of daily deliv-ery more dramatic than in Michigan, where more than two-thirds of the households will be unable get seven-

day service after the end of January.

The rationing began with a bang in 2009, when the two Detroit dailies, the Free Press and the News, stunned the industry by cutting home delivery to just Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Al-though the Motown metros continue to print every day of the week, anyone wanting a paper on non-delivery days has to fetch one at a retail location.

Unsurprisingly, the Monday-Friday circulation of both Detroit papers plunged between March, 2008, and March, 2011, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The daily cir-culation of the Free Press in the period fell 54.7% to 168,985 and the daily sale of the News tumbled 51.7% to 90,914. Even though Sunday home

delivery continued without pause, the circulation of the Freep (the only title publishing on that day) is down 21.6% at 475,543. The Freep, which is owned by Gannett, and the News, which is owned by MediaNews Group, are partners in a joint operating agree-ment.

The daily drought is scheduled to widen to other Michigan communities in February, when the Grand Rapids Press, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle and Jackson Citizen Patri-ot reduce home delivery to Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday from their cur-rent seven-day schedules. Just as in De-troit, single copies of each newspaper – all of which are owned by Advance

continued on page 9



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.

Daily Papers Going The Way of the MilkmanNewspapers – will be available to con-sumers who take the trouble to track them down. In cutting back home de-livery, the Advance emphasized the intention to attract more traffic to its statewide digital portal, MLive.Com.

While determined readers for the time being still can buy a daily paper in De-troit and Grand Rapids, there has been no such option since mid-2009 in Ann Arbor. That’s where Advance replaced its seven-day Ann Arbor News with an “online digital media company” called AnnArbor.Com, which puts out print editions on just Thursday and Sunday. Since the change, daily circulation for the print product has slid by 30.8% to 30,422, according to ABC.

If Michigan is ground zero of the un-daily-ing of newspapers, it is far from alone. Johnson Newspaper Group knocked two days off the seven-day print cycle of some of its titles in Up-state New York. Media General cut the publication of its smaller seven-day papers in North Carolina to three days a week. GateHouse Media did the same in Kansas.

Anecdotally, we know there are many more cases across the country. We just don’t know how many. Although you would think that ABC, the industry-supported group that audits circula-tion, and the Newspaper Association of America, the industry’s principal

trade group, would want to keep an accurate count of something as impor-tant as the dwindling number of daily newspapers, they profess not to know.

There is no doubt, however, why pub-lishers are throttling their once-prized print products:

A relentless decline in newspaper ad-vertising sales has halved industry revenues since a record $49.4 billion was collected in 2005. Although final ad figures remain to be calculated for 2011, projections based on year-to-date performance suggest that sales last year probably didn’t top $24 bil-lion. This has been catastrophic for publishers historically accustomed to hefty, double-digital bottom lines.

In five-plus years of ever more vigor-ous retrenchment to salvage some de-gree of profitability, publishers have trimmed staff, crimped newsholes and outsourced everything from call cen-ters and accounting to production and delivery. With scant behind-the-scenes economies left, publishers now are be-ing forced to make the most conspicu-ous cuts of all: Reducing the number of days they publish or deliver papers.

The good news, given the increasing shift of consumers to digital media consumption, is that de-emphasizing print necessarily forces publishers to focus on their web, mobile and social efforts. The bad news is that most of them to date have not made impres-sive strides.

On average, the industry reaps less than 14% of its ad revenues from digi-tal media, according to the NAA. That’s not nearly enough to keep publishing companies healthy if print revenues continue shrinking, as they seem like-ly to do in the immediate future.

Publishers cutting daily delivery real-ize the strategy works only if they can build their digital divisions faster than their print businesses shrink. While publishers know this is risky business, the smart ones know there is no Plan B.

Alan D. Mutter is perhaps the only CEO in Silicon Valley who knows how to set type one letter at a time. Mutter began his career as a newspaper col-umnist and editor at the Chicago Daily News and later rose to City Editor of the Chicago Sun-Times. In 1984, he became No. 2 editor of the San Fran-cisco Chronicle. He left the newspaper business in 1988 to join InterMedia Partners, a start-up that became one of the largest cable-TV companies in the U.S. Mutter was the COO of InterMedia when he moved to Silicon Valley in 1996 to join the first of the three start-up companies he led as CEO. The companies he headed were a pioneering Internet service provider and two enterprise-soft-ware companies. Mutter now is a consultant spe-cializing in corporate initiatives and new media ventures involving journalism and technology. He ordinarily does not write about clients or subjects that will affect their interests. In the rare event he does, this will be fully disclosed. Mutter also is on the adjunct faculty of the Graduate School of Jour-nalism at the University of California at Berkeley.


Southeastern AdvertisingPublishers Association



USPS Update: Changes that Matter

continued from page 7ry of comments from others in Con-gress and the Postal Service commu-nity. Representative Darrell Issa (CA Rep) and Dennis Ross (FL Rep) criti-cized the Postmaster General as cav-ing in to political pressure. Issa has in-troduced a bill that would give a to-be created agency the power to take over the Postal Service, and run the agency as if in a receivership, under circum-stances where it was in default on any amounts owed to the federal govern-ment. Senator Carper (DE Dem), also an author of a pending postal reform bill, acknowledged the concerns of his fellow Senators about Postal Service plans to cut costs by closing facilities and reducing headcount, but stated it would be irresponsible for Congress to prevent the Postal Service from mak-ing the operational decisions it needed to downsize its operations.

Practical commentators stated that the moratorium would only mean a post-ponement of four to six weeks of time before the Postal Service is free to re-sume, once again, its announced mea-sures of closing retail and processing facilities to cut costs. Some commen-tators noted that Postal Service man-agement had little choice but to yield to Senate pressure. The Agreement was reached on the same day that the Senate passed its appropriations bill to pay the Postal Service almost $80M for revenue foregone on free and re-duced rate mail. An expert on postal matters, Alan Robinson, calculated that “the delay in closures may in-crease the Postal Service’s costs by any where from $150 to $450 million.” Others commented that the delay al-lowed elected officials to tell their con-

stituents they “did something” to stop the Postal Service from downsizing” but speculated the senators would do little to help bridge the gap between the vastly differently proposals pend-ing in the House and Senate. Seasoned cynics and postal watchers predict that the likelihood of this Congress pass-

ing any consensus legislation to help the Postal Service in an election year seemed dubious at best.

Meanwhile, the Postal Service has stat-ed in industry meetings and in filings with the Postal Regulatory Commis-sion (PRC) that it will continue all nec-essary steps required for the review of post office closures during the interim period. For cases where a closure was previously announced, and an appeal before the PRC is pending, the Postal Service asked the Commission to con-tinue adjudicating appeals as provided in its schedule for each proceeding.

KNOW LAYOUT AND COPY BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS

The pro salesperson must be able to explain type faces, headline selection, overall ad design, creative copy, and how the flow of ads are developed into a strong campaign.

They need to get their customers in-volved in the creative process of their ads by getting them to participate in the design of rough layout sketches to be submitted to the layout artist. In regard to creativity, there might be several meetings to go over a concept, to thoroughly understand, customer needs, and see how their ego will play a part in the process. Patience will win out and the happy ending will be a strong, comprehensive ad campaign… and a very happy customer.

SELL LONG RANGE PROGRAMSFinally, ask the customer for all the reasons why people buy from them. These reasons can be converted into

headings for individ-ual ads in an ongoing program.

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.

Sausage Grinder, Stepping Stones, and Pro-Principle




A NEW YEARby Douglas Fry

I just returned from a PaperChain board meeting. Now, before you close your eyes and doze off let me tell you, it was a good meeting.

It was a good meeting because we dis-cussed and made plans to overcome the biggest misconception there is regarding PaperChain. Many publish-ers think that PaperChain will get ads placed in their papers. The mission of PaperChain is to increase recogni-tion of the free paper industry through branding, promotion and eduction.

How do we do that? It isn’t through trying to sell ads into your paper. PaperChain just doesn’t have the re-sources to do that for 2,000 plus pa-pers. So, let’s look each prong of our three-fold mission and see how Paper-Chain is increasing industry recogni-tion and helping your publication.

BRANDINGThe free paper industry has a trade-marked brand. It is PaperChain. The logo is directly above. We encourage

you to download the logo from the paperchainnetwork.net site and run it on your masthead. All SAPA members that are audited should have the Pa-perChain logo on the front of their pa-per. This logo already signifies that an advertiser is assured that the circula-tion claimed is what they get. As more and more of our papers place the logo on their mastheads and websites this brand will only increase in relevance and importance.

PROMOTIONPaperChain spends an impressive amount of money making sure when a media buyer looks for publications in your area they find YOU! SRDS (Stan-dard Rate and Data Service) is the pre-mier resource for media buyers when researching markets for ad placement. When they search for your DMA, City, Market, or Zip Code your listing auto-matically shoots to the top. The Paper-Chain logo is there as well.

Have you ever received an ad buy that you couldn’t directly attribute to some-one selling directly? Such as when a media company calls from “out of the

Report

blue” wanting information about your paper? Of course you have. Most like-ly they saw your listing in SRDS.

For example: one of SAPA’s directors is Bill Derby of the Johnson City News & Neighbor. He recently mentioned the following: “I forgot to mention we re-ceived a Lowe’s preprint order from Vertis for Feb. They’ve been out of our paper about two years. This is thanks, in part, to our listing in SRDS.”

EDUCATION: LINK & LEARNEach month you receive a copy of “Link & Learn” in your email inbox. Link & Learn is brought to you buy PaperChain and SAPA.

This monthly newsletter is filled with tips, techniques, and methods that will improve your sales abilities, increase your knowledge of our industry, and give you insights that will help you be a better salesperson. If you don’t open that email attachment and read the monthly Link & Learn you are miss-ing on one of the best educational op-portunities available to you.

Last of all is a new, quarterly piece, called “Link & Earn.” Link & Earn brings you ideas that will make you money. The ideas come from fellow publishers and are shared so that ev-eryone can benefit. For example: the last issue of Link & Earn contained timely information on Veterans Day promotions.

WORKING FOR YOUAs you can see, PaperChain has many ways it is increasing recognition of our industry. We can’t do it without the support of associations like SAPA. With realistic expectations and hard work we will become the brand adver-tisers look to for integrity, value, and results.



2012 February

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