2015 June

V I S I T U S A T W W W . T E X A S N E W S P A P E R S . I N F O

Texas Community Newspaper Association (931) 698-4096 (888) 450-8329 fax 1

Monitoring YourSocial Media Feeds

TCNATodayTCNA offers connections—connections to information, trends, training and direct revenue opportunities.

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

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Graphics Series Ellen Hanrahan, our resident graphics guru, demonstrates how you can create Community Calendars that make a difference to your publications.

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Work PositivelyDr. Joey Faucette gives us the keys you’ll need to overcome a negative customer experience.

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Counteracting Media CompetitionBob Berting , Mr. Community Paper, gives us examples on how we can counteract competition from different media.

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USPS UpdateDonna Hanbery of the Saturation Mailers Coalition shows us the new rates effective now. Use these new rates to plan your business practices.

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by: Alesia Hsiao of Business.com

PEOPLE ARE TALKING, ARE YOU LISTENING? THE IMPORTANCE OF

SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORINGListen, can you hear it? People are talking about you.

In addition to print media, social media has transformed the way we market our businesses. But regardless of what we have to say about our products and services, people are going to have their own take on them, and they may be turning to social media to express that. What if you’re not there to hear (and respond to) their com-

mentary?

Numerous tools are available to help you listen in on social media. However, if you do not have a social media listening strat-egy they are pointless. Listening in on so-cial media is a great way to get ahead of your competitors and keep your customers coming back for more.

In order to help you come up with a social media listening strategy, we’ll be discuss-ing ten ways to listen in on social media.

ENHANCE CURRENT MARKETING EFFORTS WITH SOCIAL MEDIA

TOOLS

SERVING THE COMMUNITY MEDIA OF TEXAS JUNE 2015

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Obviously, you have a social media strategy. However, you have to listen in with social media tools. There’s a boatload of social media listening tools like Google Analyt-ics, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Icerocket, Social Mention, and Topsy.

By utilizing these tools, you can find out what your audience wants so you know what to provide them. This is akin to get-ting feedback from your audience without actually asking for it. Think about the pos-sibilities you can do to improve your mar-keting efforts by tapping into your audi-ence’s thoughts.

CWhat’s Now? What’s Next?John Foust teaches us how we can move our customers to the next level of advertising with your customers.

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In other words, tapping these tools will help you:

Garner invaluable feedback. Seeing your audience’s reaction to your latest market-ing campaign, product or announcement will help you immensely to improve your products or services, as you can better tai-lor them to the needs expressed.

Humanize your social voice. Making use of social media listening tools allows you to interact easily with your audience and makes you more approachable.

Negate harmful social buzz. Last year, a fire caused by a Keurig-brand coffee maker burned down an apartment in Oregon. At first, Keurig merely wanted to present the homeless family with a new coffee maker, resulting in cries of indignance across ma-jor social media channels. As a result of listening to the audience’s reactions, the company paid for fire restoration and the family was able to regain their home. This shows how effective social media listening can be when it comes to reputation man-agement and averting social media disas-ters.

SPY ON YOUR COMPETITORS You have to know what your competi-tors are doing in order to overtake them.

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What’s Now?What’s Next?by John Foust, Raleigh, NC

Not long ago, I was in the audience for a consultant’s presentation on today’s business climate. The thing I most re-member was listed in the bullet points on one of her PowerPoint slides – the words “What’s now? What’s next?” She spent all of 30 seconds discussing them.

Although these four words were not the main emphasis of her speech – and

although they were not used in a sales context – they provide a solution to a problem faced by many sales people. Let’s say you’ve worked with a new ad-vertiser to set long-term goals and plan a campaign, and now the ads have started running. Your strategy is to meet with your client on a regular ba-sis to discuss the state of the campaign and see if any tweaks are needed.

What do you say in those meetings?

It’s vague and repetitive to ask, “So how’s your campaign going?” in ev-ery conversation. That’s where these two questions can be a good alterna-tive. Simply establish the format in the first follow-up meeting by saying, “We both want you to get the best possible results from your advertising. So in or-der to focus our attention, let’s concen-

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With so many sneaky online tools (like these 25, via KISSmetrics) available to spy on your competitors, you’d naturally feel overwhelmed. However, the key here is to use and choose based on your intentions, which may include:

* Gather intel on the competition and eval-uate their efforts

* Finding new opportunities to overcome them

* Set new business goals based on the clos-est competitors you aim to beat

* Spying on your competitors allows you to learn more about their tactics, activity, and customer engagement. Doing so could very well lead you to winning over some of their customers.

IMPROVE YOUR EFFORTS BY MONITORING HASHTAGS

When something new is released by a mas-sive consumer brand, social media tends to viral on the subject. For example, on the day that Apple releases a new product, it’s not unusual to see a sudden slew of con-versation on Twitter with specific trend-ing hashtags around said product. Apple would naturally monitor these hashtags in order to discover customers’ likes and dislikes.

Some excellent hashtag-tracking tools you can utilize include:

Talkwalker: This online tool allows mar-keters to easily measure the impact of hashtags as a variety of metrics (general buzz, engagement, sentiment and poten-tial reach) are generated

Hashtagify: This tool lets you gain insight on top influencers and competitors and presents you with different inks between various hashtags.

RiteTag: You can instantly see if the hashtag you’re using in your Tweets are appropriate or not, and at the same time, it improves your hashtag usage to optimize reach.

LEVERAGE LOCATION-BASED SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING TOOLSWhen it comes to social media listening, most marketers fail to leverage on loca-tion-based social tools. Location-based so-cial media solutions such as Geofeedia can easily help marketers connect with their most important customers and under-stand what’s being said at specific events.

For example, if a New York company wants to listen in on trade shows, parties and events held exclusively in the city, Geofeedia may help in gaining the upper-

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PresidentAmber Weems 830-693-7152

PublisherVictory

Publishing

DirectorRandy Eiland806-793-2500

PublisherAmerican

Classifieds/Lubbock

Vice PresidentJonathan McElvy

713-686-8494Publisher

The Leader News

DirectorDennis Skinner 903-794-0996

PublisherAmerican

Classifieds/Texarkana

TreasurerRick Wamre 214-560-4212

PresidentAdvocate

Media

Executive Director

Douglas FryTCNA Office

931-698-4096

SecretaryNicole Morris 361-668-6397

Publisher/EditorReal Hometown

Media

LeadershipNot only is the board of directors made up of some of the sharpest and most dedicated media minds in Texas, they also take time from their very busy sched-ules to make decisions that will help your and your business.

by Bob Berting, Berting Communications

Although most of your customers prefer a media mix in their advertis-ing budgets, it is critical that you be aware of media competition, and thor-oughly understand the advantages and disadvantages of each of the competi-tion mediums. Advertising salespeople tend to get into a comfortable rut and

start taking their customers for grant-ed. This situation can open the door to competing media and a reduced ad campaign in your publication.

A constant effort has to be made to understand media competition. When you realize that competing media peo-ple are just as well groomed, articulate, aggressive, creative, and considerate continued on page 4

CounteractingMedia Competition

as you are, and they are working night and day to lure your customers away from you—you must de-velop strategy and ex-ecution that will enhance your relationship and build stronger bridges with your customers.

ADVERTISING IS WARWould a general fight a war without knowing the size, composition and disposition of the opposing forces? Victory in media warfare belongs to the creative print advertising profes-sional who can write good campaigns,

Administrative Assistant

Vickie BeldenTCNA Office

931-698-4096

ACTUAL DIRECTOR MAY DIFFER FROM

PHOTO



control budgets, develop more mean-ingful relationships, worry about the customer’s image, and constantly study competing media. Add constant preoccupation with strategy and you have a good assault concept.

COUNTERACTING MEDIA COMPETITION

Positive selling, selling your own publication instead of downgrading other salespeople and criticizing your competition, has always been a good sales rule. An advertising salesperson’s greatest commodity is time, the active selling hours. You can’t afford to waste this time in a buyer’s office attempting to degrade a competitor at the expense of failing to get a positive impression for your own publication. Also nega-tive selling carries a greater risk of of-fending the advertiser and can leave you even further away from a viable program with your publication.

There is a tendency to confuse nega-tive selling with competitive selling. In negative selling, there is an attempt to belittle the competition. In com-petitive selling you say “Here’s what you are missing in your advertising…here’s what we can do for you…here are exclusive services we can offer.” In effect, you are adding to the cus-tomer’s knowledge, which is the in-creased marketing opportunities avail-able with your publication. This is a spin-off from benefits to be gained and losses to avoid.

ADVERTISING PROSPECTS EXPECT YOU TO SELL YOUR

OWN PUBLICATIONUnderstandably enough, they do not want to appear foolish for buying competitive media. The bottom line is to present yourself and your publica-tion in such a way that you successful-ly counteract other media. Know how

your competition sell. Understand that while you may be told you are getting the business, this is the time when our competition fights hardest to knock you off. Consider on every call that your customer has a good rea-son to continue giving you their busi-ness…or take it away before you get back with them. Every call must be an important selling session to pro-tect you from competition. The bot-tom line here is “DON’T TAKE YOUR CUSTOMER FOR GRANTED.”

HELPING ADVERTISERS TO BE OBJECTIVE

I urge objectivity in dealing with com-petition. We have all had the experi-ence of being asked for opinions and recommendations regarding advertis-ing programs. Sometimes this involves using other media. To help advertis-ers become objective in their views of the different media and to accept (or reject) each on its own proven merits is part of your job. But sell positively, not negatively. You can bring out your

Competition continued from page 3publication’s strong points and the dis-advantages of the competition without demolishing them or trying to prove them worthless—which they are not.

If you are busy doing your job…think-ing through your client’s problems, offering specific, practical programs, creative ads, and always helpful coun-seling, the competitive media will nev-er see more than a minor share of your customer’s dollars.

Bob Berting, newspaper marketing con-sultant, has published his new e-book for sales professionals in the newspaper in-dustry entitled “Advanced Selling Skills For The Advertising Sales Pro”. This is a publication for beginning salespeople who can learn advanced selling techniques and experienced salespeople who can sharpen their selling skills. Salespeople can learn more about this publication by using the link www.adsalespro.com and see the table of contents as well as reading the complimentary first chapter. Payment of $19.95 to download the 34 page e-book.

Bob can be contacted at [email protected] or 800-536-5408. He is located at 6330 Woburn Drive, India-napolis, In 46250.

BACK TOBASICS!

PLAN NOW TO ATTEND THE COMMUNITY PAPER CONFERENCE THAT WILL IMPROVE THE WAY YOU DO BUSINESS

SEPTEMBER 24 - 26, 2015SAN ANTONIO. TEXAS

HYATT REGENCY RIVERWALK



I welcome your input and suggestions. A former art teacher, I entered the free paper publishing business in the early 80s. I write for IFPA, Community Pa-pers of Michigan, and am still learning. E-mail: [email protected] Hanrahan ©2015

Calendars OUR PAPERS HAVE A LISTING OF VARIOUS EVENTS SO THE PUBLIC KNOWS WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE COMMUNITY. THAT’S WHY WE NEED CLEAR, CONCISE, AND READABLE…

What's it all about…Our publications are more than just a vehicle to present ads— we also provide a service to keep area readers informed about our community and surrounding areas. The information for a “Community Calendar” should reflect the attention to detail that we provide. Classified ads, business listings, etc. can all be formatted, but continue to ask yourself, "How can I create the most legibility and readability"…

Final thoughts…Community Calendars are a service to your readers, but they can not be an afterthought. Make it easy to actually read the infor-mation. This example was for a calendar that spanned multiple pages. But even if you devote a half-page or page to community events, make sure they are clear, concise and organized!

I was reading a free paper… checking out the ads, when it occurred to me that there was more to the paper than just the ads. I should especially know this because I have done com-munity events, special sections and other informational ser-vices that make up the paper. Duh! Anyway, I was reading the Community Calendar in this publication and I was having a hard time understanding what belonged together. I get that these events are placed on a space available basis, but, just as in any ad, organization is key. The events run at the top of the page and continue from page to page. I am showing the start, which was on page 4, and a continuation on page 6. There were a lot more dates and events, but in order to revise the info, we will work with a small sampling.

The issues of readability

FRIDAY, FEB. 21 • WEST BENDSenior Center Chorus 10amVoices needed. Performing off site, call Senior Center for info. CONTACT: 335-4498 • COST: NoneGreed 1pmSenior Center, 401 E. Washington St. COST: $1.00 • Fun dice game, no experience needed.Wii Bowling 1pmSenior Center, 401 E. Washington St.COST: $1.00 • Join this fun group“Downton Abbey” 1:30pmEarly showing at West Bend Commun ity Library, 630 Poplar St. • The finale of “Downton Abbey” Season 4 will be shown a half week early. Arrive at 1pm for coffee and tea time. Call the upstairs reference desk to register. CONTACT: 3355151 ext. 5152Book signing by the Rev. Cal Seban 2–8pm • St. John’s Main Street, 820 S. Main • The retired St. John’s associate pastor will sign copies of “So You Think You’re a Good Person.” He will make presentations at 2:30pm, 4pm and 7pm about how the book came together. Calendar continues on page 6

Community Calendar

Choose a typeface that has a large x-height— I used Verb Compressed Ultra for the event and Verb Compressed Regular for the descriptive text. In the revised calendar below, I left-aligned all my text, to give a squared-off look. When you center text in small spaces, the “neg-ative” space can create its own shape and actu-ally distract from your text. I did not justify the text because word and letter spacing become an issue, creating “rivers” that run through the text —another distraction to the reader. It is not easy to read and comprehend the above events.

The idea is to make the event information easy to read…and understand. Returning to previous pages to find dates, times, and places is not the most effective way to read— keep like information together. When you develop a format, make sure that the reader has access to all the info… and sometimes that means we have to repeat necessary text so the reader can understand all the particulars about the event. That’s one of the reasons that I chose to eliminate all the “West Bend” text and put it in the reverse box with the date. If there are events that take place in anoth-er town, I will repeat the date, with the name of the town above the event I also have some readability issues because parts of one event continued on a separate page, but I think that has more to do with alignment of the text. When your eye “hits the page” so to speak, it needs to find a place to focus… a starting point. Because the text is ”justified,” letter and word spacing can really get out of whack, so it's not always clear where to start reading the text. And last, “What, Where, When, Cost, Info, etc." (especially when it’s in a bolder typeface) seems to detract from the actual information. Ask yourself if this will truly help the reader better understand the information presented. Most of the time this information can be addressed by actually presenting the what, where, etc., thereby getting rid of redundant words. I might be able to put some of that space to better use.

Let's try a revisionI reduced the top samples by 50% so you could get an overview of the “calen-dar” itself. I am using the beginning of the "Community Calendar" as my sample so you can see that size and spacing remain somewhat consistent. I squared-off the "Community Calendar" heading. I don't believe it has to span all the columns, because once you create a format, you create a continuity and similarity (remem-ber Gestalt Theory?) and readability is easier. Just an aside… the legibility of the text suffers because using “justified” text in short columns creates those crazy let-ter and word spacing gaps. I chose a bold face for the event and put the time right next to the event. All the rest of the text is in a regular typeface. Again, most people want to know what the event is and when… and that's why I chose to make them the focus by making them stand out. You will also notice that we now have more events in about the same amount of space, but the calendar of events looks more cohesive because there is more unity and consistency in the event information. This was just my first try to try to bring more clarity and unity into this service for the readers. As with anything, we would need to do a larger sampling to see if this would work in most of the available space. When you format a community cal-endar with a lot of different events, you have to plan for modifications. However, most times you will be able to create a paragraph format that will make it easier.

FRIDAY, FEB. 21 • NEWBURG

…until next month!



Work Positive3 WAYS TO

REDEEM NEGATIVE

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES

Dr. Joey Faucette

A certain airline stranded me. A lot. Once for 9 hours and another

time overnight with no compensation. I told my associate, “We fly them just when they’re the only choice.”

And that was the case recently. So here I am unhappy about patronizing a poorly run company when the flight attendant asked me if I wanted some cookies.

The one thing I really like—okay love—about this airline is their cook-ies. So I said, “Yes.”

She said, “You know if you squirt a lime on them, they taste like key lime pie.”

How did she know key lime pie is one of my favorites?

“Would you like a lime?” she asked with a big smile.

I said “Yes” again. She waited for me to try it, and of course I loved it. We chatted some more and she continued to stop by for the rest of the flight and check on me.

Now I want to fly that airline.

She transformed my negative custom-er experience into a positive one…with a cookie.

Here are the 3 Ways she did it that you can implement to transform negative customer experiences to positive ones:

SHE ENGAGED MEShe asked more than, “Beverage? Pret-zels?”

She looked me in the eye and smiled. She engaged me in a conversation. She even told me how to use the cookies to make pie crust.

This level of personal engagement is rare in customer experiences today. “What do you want?” is more the norm said with an air of “You inter-rupted me.”

Treat every customer like she is a per-son first. The engaging, personal trans-action with him is Step 1 that leads to a lifetime customer relationship.

SHE WAS ENTHUSIASTICShe genuinely loves those cookies like me. She was enthusiastic about them. She met me at our point of common interest.

Be enthusiastic about every dimension of your business. Share it with every customer. Give every customer an op-portunity to experience how much you love what you do.

SHE EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONSShe gave me 2 packs of cookies with 2 lime wedges.

Often, I have to beg to get one because they’re only standard issue during cer-tain hours.

She checked back on my coffee several times.

Usually I have to ask.

Your customers’ expectations are rather meager in most cases. Mine in-volved cookies and coffee. You have an exceptional opportunity to remarkably and easily exceed those expectations.

So what will you do today for your customers that will transform their negative experiences into positive ones and keep them coming back for life?

Engage them. Share your enthusiasm with them. Exceed their expectations.

They positively will want to do busi-ness with you forever.

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), Positive Suc-cess coach, & speaker who helps business professionals increase sales with greater productivity so they get out of the office earlier to do what they love with those they love. Discover more at www.GetPosi-tive.Today.



trate on two things: What’s happening now and what’s the next step to reach your overall objectives?”

LET’S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK: 1. What’s now? The beauty of this question is that it takes today as the starting point. It doesn’t rehash previ-ous meetings you’ve had or open the door to the history of past campaigns. Certainly, you can discuss relevant points from past conversations. But this question is all about the present.

What’s happening with their sales? What about inquiries from potential customers? Is the budget under con-trol? Have other media outlets made sales pitches since the campaign be-gan? If so, how were those presenta-tions received? Are staff members ex-cited about the new campaign?

2. What’s next? After the current situa-tion is thoroughly covered, it’s time to talk about the next steps. Has anything changed since the original goals were set? Has one marketing tactic outper-formed the others? How can we take advantage of that?

Nothing is carved in stone. Tweaks should be part of the conversation, be-cause little adjustments can make a big difference. When a rocket is launched to the moon, constant adjustments have to be made. I remember hearing that a trajectory which is off by one de-gree will miss the destination by one mile for every 60 miles traveled. Since the moon is an average of 238,857 miles from Earth (allowing for the el-liptical orbit), a rocket which is off by one degree would miss the moon by 3,980 miles.

This 1-in-60 rule can easily apply to a marketing campaign. Things don’t always stay the same. And marketing is not as precise as a programmable moon launch.

In addition to keeping your advertisers on course, asking “What’s now?” and “What’s next?” can help you accom-plish more in meetings.

In other words, these two questions can be booster rockets for sales.

(c) Copyright 2015 by John Foust. All rights reserved.

John Foust has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals. Many ad de-partments are using his training videos to save time and get quick results from in-house training. E-mail for informa-tion: [email protected]

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hand in terms of garnering prospects and engaging with the community.

Other location-based social media tools in-clude:

WeLink, Snaptrends, Local Meausre

SHOW OFF YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS

When you respond promptly to mentions of your company on social media, you are showing potential customers that you have great customer service skills. Individuals love to see brands engaging with custom-ers on social media. Always keep in mind when customers have something good or bad to say about your brand, their first spot to share their feelings is going to be on a social media network. A recent study showed that 35% of the participants had asked a brand a question on a social net-work before.

FIND EMPLOYEES VIA LINKEDINAnyone can put up a job ad and receive re-sponses. However, interviewing and weed-ing through the applications can be pretty

tedious. When listening in on LinkedIn you may come across the ideal employees for your team, enabling you to reach out to them directly with your job offer. LinkedIn allows you to learn more about your future employees because you can look through their recommendations and see what past employers had to say. You can also see their skills and certifications laid out in front of you.

Tip: Participating in LinkedIn discussion can be tedious. To counter that, you may utilize tools like Oktopost, a nifty tool that allows users to listen in on LinkedIn groups and discussions through an intui-tive stream.

FIND INFLUENCERS TO HELP YOU REACH A LARGER AUDIENCE

Influencers are a great way to get your name out to your targeted audience. While listening in on social media you can see who the influencers in your niche are and connect with them.

They are going to do their research on you and if they like your company, they will

continued from page 2 have no problems telling their audience about you. Influencers will get you better conversion rates because their audience is not only looking for your business but they trust that the influencer would only recommend reputable companies.

Tip: One of the easiest ways to find influ-encers is to take a peek at who your com-petitors are following on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.

IMPROVE YOUR CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY

While listening on social media you will find yourself engaging in conversations, many that lead to content. When listening to individuals across social networks, you can see what questions they have and then provide them with content that answers their questions.

For example, if you see the hashtag #Ask-aBlogger trending you could provide your audience with content that came from a blogger and gain views outside of your au-dience.

Social Media



USPS UpdateBy Donna Hanbery, Executive Director, Saturation Mailers Coalition

MAY 31, 2015 POSTAL PRICES APPROVED

On May 7, 2015, the Postal Regula-tory Commission (PRC) approved the USPS amended prices for Standard Mail, Periodicals, and Package Services to be implemented on May 31, 2015. The PRC had previously approved the January 15, 2015 filing of the USPS to adjust First Class Mail and special ser-vice prices to reflect increases in the CPI.

For the Postal Service, the third at-tempt at filing proposed Standard, Periodical, and Parcel service rates proved “the charm.” After two sepa-rate PRC orders finding legal defi-ciencies in the Postal Service filing, the PRC found the last round of rate adjustments, filed on April 16, 2015, were consistent with the law by fitting within the CPI price cap, on a class ba-sis, provided for work share discounts that did not exceed limitations on dis-counts (or fall into one of the work share discount limitations) and that proposed classification changes were consistent with applicable law and regulations.

The PRC order also approved the ap-plication of 2015 promotions as they will apply to Standard Mail. Two of the promotions, Advanced and Emerging Technologies Promotion (June 1 - No-vember 30) and Mail Drive Mobile En-gagement Promotion (July 1 - Decem-ber 31) had been approved previously for First Class Mail. The Advanced and Emerging Technologies Promo-tion had been scheduled to begin in May 2015. With the delay in obtain-ing final approval of its entire pricing proposal, the USPS postponed the im-

plementation of all rate changes from April 26, 2015 until May 31, 2015. It also pushed back the beginning and ending timetable for the Advance and Emerging Technologies Promotion to give mailers the benefit of the full six month promotion schedule.

On May 4, 2015, the USPS published its final Federal Register Rules outlin-ing changes in regulations that would accompany the pricing change. For mailers of ECR Saturation letters and flats there were not many significant changes in regulations. For mailers of Standard Mail and Periodicals, sev-eral major changes in preparation, in-cluding the creation of new regulation and pricing classification for FSS mail, and separate prices for Periodical and Standard Mail flats that are entered on 5-digit pallets of carrier route bundles, were approved.

The chart that accompanies this arti-cle, provided with thanks to PostCom and its rate and regulation expert Post-al Consulting Services, Inc., shows the current rates, the new CPI increase rates, and the percentage increase by product.

As of May 11, 2015, the Court of Ap-peals had not yet issued a decision on the exigency appeal. Under the December 24, 2013 PRC Order con-cerning the 4.3% exigency surcharge, the Postal Service must rollback its postal rates to remove the 4.3% sur-charge when it has recouped the rev-enues the PRC found the USPS lost “due to” the Great Recession. Under PRC Orders, the USPS is to begin fil-ing bi-weekly financials shortly before it has recouped the lost revenue limit so that mailers can plan for the next price change. The PRC decision, and the USPS filing, included the reduced,

rollback rates, that would go into ef-fect sometime later this summer if the DC Court Appeals upholds the PRC order. It appears this rollback could occur sometime in August or Septem-ber based on USPS financials to date.

Overall, the price changes for free pa-pers that use Saturation Mail either with the Commercial EDDM (simpli-fied) format or with an address re-mained very close, or just under, the overall CPI rate adjustment of 1.966%. The rate increase for heavier pieces, mailed at the pound rate, was closer to 1%. For EDDM Retail, the rate in-crease was higher with an increase of almost 5% bringing the single piece retail rate to 18.34.

Free PapersWorking For You

While others retreat, we are moving forward.Some publication’s numbers are falling behind. Your free community paper is moving forward. 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.

Insert Your Logo Here

Another sign we’re working for you.





Web design is BIG business



2015 June

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