Check Your Headlines Twice.

When you are designing something or writing copy, you might want to have someone else take a peek. After you have stared at something for so long you tend to miss the obvious.

Seems like a typical governmental move.

And what exactly did you think you were going to find?

Good luck with that one. They may be searching for a while.

Stop drinking poison will you!

Let me know if you have seen this guy.

Some ironic justice?

Uhhh. OK.

Sounds about right coming from the Government.

Must be a GREAT camouflage job.

Now THAT was unexpected.

Come on, seriously. Is this some kind of bad joke?

Thanks again for stopping by. Have a great week everyone.

 

Chrysler's Bailout Backlash

Here's a PR move that caused some unanticipated backlash. Chrysler, the recipient of 4 BILLION DOLLARS in bailout/bridge loans, decided to thank America. A nice gesture to say the least. However, it doesn't seem that Americans were very open to the thanks.

As it turns out, Chrysler placed full page "Thank You America" ads in newspapers across the country including USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. This is where the tomato and other produce flinging begins. It seems that the forced investors tax paying Americans didn't like the expense or the delivery of the campaign.

Over at the Chrysler blog, readers are not holding anything back. Comments like, Mr. Nardelli "Your resignation and the resignations of senior executives who have mismanaged the business would have been much more appropriate." and "Mr Nardelli, Fire your PR and advertising teams and execs immediately" seem to be the norm from the readers.

To put this into perspective, a full color, full page ad in the Wall Street Journal is about $250,000. A figure that is much more than the average taxpayer's salary.

A big BOOOO goes out to Chrysler for not having a "Thank You" press conference or publishing heartfelt letters to the various media sources and blogs. Hey Chrysler, just repay your loan as quickly as you can so we can get on with our recession will ya.

My thoughts: Thumbs up for the effort. Thumbs down for the execution.

Your thoughts?

 

Rupert Murdoch - Media Needs To Reinvent Up In Here

CNET NEWS reports that Mr. Murdoch is accusing the media of digging themselves into a hole.

The media mogul accuses some traditional media leadership of "complacency and condescension." It is his opinion that newspapers are NOT going to become obsolete. Instead it's the "...editors, reporters, and proprietors who are forgetting a newspaper's most precious asset: the bond with its readers..."

With more and more content available online, I am having a hard time agreeing with his assessment but he does make some interesting arguments.

"It used to be that a handful of editors could decide what was news-and what was not. They acted as sort of demigods. If they ran a story, it became news. If they ignored an event, it never happened. Today editors are losing this power. The Internet, for example, provides access to thousands of new sources that cover things an editor might ignore. And if you aren't satisfied with that, you can start up your own blog and cover and comment on the news yourself. Journalists like to think of themselves as watchdogs, but they haven't always responded well when the public calls them to account."

He reinforced this by citing the famous Dan Rather incident when bloggers assassinated the story of Bush's National Guard service in 2004.

Rupert refers to "A recent American study reported that many editors and reporters simply do not trust their readers to make good decisions. Let's be clear about what this means. This is a polite way of saying that these editors and reporters think their readers are too stupid to think for themselves."

All that being said, I still think that even if you removed all the "offending people", we will still see declines in circulation and ad revenue. If Murdoch was sitting here in my office, I would tell him he is underestimating the power of online news and the increasing potential return for online advertising.

"Murdoch said newspapers can still count on circulation gains if papers provide readers with news they can trust." He added they will also need to embrace technology advances like RSS feeds and targeted e-mails. The challenge, according to Murdoch, will be to use a newspaper's brand while allowing readers to personalize the news for themselves-and then deliver it in the ways that they want."

RSS feeds, customized home pages, email? Hello? Is this thing on? This is already happening. This is exactly why 8-track tapes the printed form of the newspaper is soon going to be a memory.

 

It's Happening - Just Like I Said I Would

Wednesday, May 16, 2007, I wrote about how people are turning to online sources for their news.

In that article I asked the question, "What do you think is going to happen when a news paper has to make a decision about spending $600,000 to fix a 40 year old press? How far would that same $600,000 go for web development and web marketing?"

We now have an answer. Well, at least we have an answer on a local level. The Waterloo Courier, the nearly 150 year old local newspaper, now owned by Lee Enterprises, has just shut down production at the local facility. The printing in now being outsourced to Color Web Printers, a Cedar Rapids based company. The closing of the production line resulted in 52 people loosing their jobs.

The Courier is promoting this as a good thing, contrary to the impact on the community. But what are you to do when circulation and readership continues to drop? You are forced to raise prices. It's just a matter of time before it all falls apart.

If you are a staunch newsprint advertiser, try pulling your ads for 1 month. Let me know what you find out. Did it impact your business in a negative way? If your target audience is 40 and under, I think that you may be surprised at the results.

So what do you think? Is newspaper dying?

 

Is Newspaper Dying?

Once again we find ourselves on the topic of newspapers and their decline. A new study from journalist Tyler Marshall and the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism brings forth new information that, well, the industry isn't doing well.

The Findings:

• Most newspapers are cutting staffing
• Large newspapers are being effected by the change more than small, local papers
• 85% of newspapers with a circulation of over 100,00 have cut newsroom staff in the last 3 years
• Newspapers across the board have reduced the amount of pages they print
  
• Over half of "large" newspapers expect to trim additional staff by the end of the year
• Newspaper employee salaries are decreasing
• Newspapers are narrowing their reach with the hopes of becoming niche reads
• 2/3 of papers have cut foreign news
• Over 1/2 of newspapers have cut national news coverage
• More than 1/3 of papers have cut business news.

With circulation and ad revenue continuing to drop, whatever is going to happen to the print makers is going to happen fast. The decline is snowballing and I don't think we can stop it. And if newsprint does wave bye-bye, what will we line the litter box with?

 

Internet Ad Spending Report

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) recently released information on Internet ad spending. Internet advertising revenues reached $5.8 billion for the first quarter of 2008. These numbers represent an 18.2 percent increase over the same period in 2007, and represent the second highest quarter ever recorded, after Q4 2007’s $5.9 billion.

“We continue to experience significant growth and vitality in interactive marketing, media and advertising,” said Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the IAB. “We expect growth to continue, as consumers spend more and more time online, and marketers find more – and more innovative – ways to reach them through digital media.”

This is what they were saying in Q1. When we take a look at the 6 month numbers they have fallen off pretty sharply. Compared to the same 6 months of 2007 we are only at about an 8% increase due to a 3.7% decrease (vs. 2007) in Q2.

But where is this money coming from? Is it magically appearing from the government printing presses? No, of course not, this isn't a corporate welfare bailout, it being diverted from other mainstream media outlets.

"Spot TV spending dropped 4.4 percent as reductions in automotive, retail and telecommunications advertising offset gains from political spending. Network TV fell 2.4 percent on weaker prime time results. Newspaper media slipped 7.4 percent and radio media decreased 6.5 percent on further slowdowns in spending from auto, financial, retail and telecom categories." via

Notice the most significant decrease. Yep, newspaper. Many of you know that for some time I have been predicting the death of newsprint as we know it. Trends like this continue to support my theories.

Bottom line? Explore how advertising online can benefit your company. The formula is simple. Plan, plan, execute and track. Soon you will realize that an reallocation of dollars from newsprint and yellow pages has not hurt your business, but helped.

 

Advertising In Things That Are Printed On Pulp

I am specifically referring to the newspaper and the yellow pages. How much do you spend on advertising in the yellow pages? Are there 2 or 3 yellow page books in your market and are you in all of them? Does the newspaper work for you?

I have published several posts about the death of newspaper and how the industry is in turmoil. Newspapers across the country have been taking hits in circulation and ad revenue for the last 10 years.

I was thinking about how information was disseminated recently, during all the flooding. People were desperately seeking information about weather, water levels, evacuations etc. Those that could, got online to find out the latest information. They didn't wait for the newspaper or turn on the TV. Granted this was a time of crisis and people needed information rapidly. I would propose that this instant need for information is not isolated to times of crisis. After all, we are in the age of instant information and a low deferment of gratification.

If consumers have to wait for information they are going to move on to the next source as fast as they can and we all know how the Internet has, well you know, a bunch of sources (reliability to be determined). For this very reason, companies that charge more for their services and don't have an auto attendant on their phone system will often times get more business. Customers want to talk to people, and they want information now.

But what about the yellow pages? Isn't this fast enough? There is still a following for the good ole' phone directory, but do you need a $3000 per month ad? I say NO. As part of a long term plan, we have been systematically pruning back every one of our client's yellow page ads with zero effect on the amount of calls they receive from the pulpy paperback. The dollars saved from this reduction have been allocated to other forms of advertising and marketing (mainly the web) and have been more successful from an ROI standpoint.

When I need a service, if I absolutely CAN'T find it on the internet, only then do I blow the dust off my 2004 yellow pages. Most of the generation behind me also operates this way. The bottom line? Take a leap of faith and cut your half page yellow page ad to a 1/4 page and track the results. You will be pleasantly surprised. BUT, you have to be disciplined to take the dollars saved and apply them to areas that WILL get you results. The same thing goes with newspaper. Limit your display ads to event or promotion based ads and see what you end up with.

If you get nothing else from this post take this one piece of information. Track your results. When someone buys something from you, ALWAYS ask them how they heard about you. Keep a log and evaluate your most effective means of advertising on an annual basis. Be diligent about this. So many business owners set out to do this but never end up following through. They are missing some valuable information by neglecting this simple little tool.

If you have a story about your reduction in yellow page spending or how you are handling your newsprint ads, let me know about your results.

 

Online Ad Spending Is Up - No Kidding?

Is it really any shock to hear that Internet advertising is up again this year?

For the 8th consecutive year, the number of dollars spent on Internet advertising has again gone up. In fact, the amount of money that advertisers spent on Internet related ads was the leading increase with 18.9% more than any other media category increase according to Nielsen. The next closest thing to the Internet was national magazines with only a 7.6% increase.

Newspaper advertising has shown a steady decline year after year and in a post about the impact of the Internet on newspapers I wrote almost a year ago, I asked the question; "will we see the death of a media in our generation?" Again, there was a decline in newsprint ad revenue which equaled over 7.5% which is up from last year's 5% decrease.

The one big surprise for me in 2007 was the increased dollars that are being spent on outdoor advertising. Normally when I hear outdoor I immediately think of traditional billboards. Now there are these fancy new-fangled digital billboards that have the capability of switching out the message very quickly to accommodate sales or whatever may be an immediate and time sensitive call to action. I have noticed that companies are also spending more money on things like vehicle wraps. From city buses to company cars, this too can be considered outdoor advertising.

According to Forrester Research, online spending is expected to hit $204 Billion, this year. Yes I said billion. The 3 big "C's" are going to continue to dominate the online market; clothes, computers and cars. The 3 of those combined will account for over 1/3 of all online sales or $70 billion.

Here's another interesting tid-bit from the recent surveys. Free shipping, a big draw in past is garnering less interest on both the consumer and the retailer levels. With the increase in ad AND consumer spending, we may see free shipping go bye bye for a while. However, I do think that it will surface frequently. After all the .99 cents or 99 dollars on almost all consumer goods has never gone away.

One last fact about demographics and online behavior and then I will leave you to your day.

"The casual shopper goes online to look for the best price, leveraging the transparency of the Internet to save money. However, more affluent customers appreciate the convenience of shopping online and are not necessarily looking for the best deal. Retailers would be wise to recognize there are significant opportunities within both audiences and should market to them accordingly." Via Forrester

Yeah, I still think this Internet thing is a fad. You'll have to pry my CB radio from my cold dead hands.

 

The Impact Of The Internet On Newspaper Advertising

How the Internet has hurt newspaper sales and advertising revenue continues to pepper the press. Back in May I wrote an article about the decline in newspaper advertising dollars and again just a few weeks ago I referenced the falling percentages of newspaper advertising revenue in a post called "Rate Card Woes."

A very interesting study was released this month from Harvard. Funded by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation, this new report contained information that describes the increase in website traffic for major brand newspapers and other major online news sources. The report also studies small to mid-sized city newspaper websites. Findings indicate that online news seekers are neglecting the local newspaper websites in favor of major newspaper and television websites.

Nationally known newspaper Web sites such as the New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today are attracting a larger audience. On average large newspaper site traffic increased by 10 percent over the past year. In comparison Web sites of most other newspapers of large, medium and small cities are losing their audiences. This isn't the most interesting finding though. The biggest traffic gains are being seen by non-traditional news sources. It was found that Google, Yahoo, AOL, and MSN had significant increases in traffic over the past year with social media sites and news aggregators seeing an 800% gain in site traffic.

The study also found that the Internet is a bigger threat to local news organizations because it decreases the influence of geography on user's choice of a news source.

For me, the biggest surprise in the report were the findings for commercial radio station web traffic. Large commercial radio station saw a huge increase in web traffic and mid-size radio station saw a slight increase during the term of the study.

At the bottom of the heap was national and local public radio with their stats plummeting sharply over the last year. NPR alone lost 20% or 400,000 of their unique visitor from April 2006 to April 2007.

Brand name, large market and local television websites all saw increase traffic from people seeking new during the study.

So what does this study tell us?

• First and foremost - People are seeking news on the internet
• People are seeking news on large, brand name websites
• People are getting their news from non-traditional and social media outlets

Does this mean that people are caring less about local news? Not at all. You can get your local news from an aggregated feed on Yahoo Local News can't you?

The most significant quote from the study:

"The Internet is redistributing the news audience in ways that is threatening some
traditional news organizations. Local newspapers have been the outlets that are most at risk, and they are likely to remain so. If our trend analysis is borne out, many newspapers are going to have difficulty even holding onto their online readers. Brand-name newspapers’ sites, as well as some others are growing, but a significant proportion of newspaper sites are stagnant or losing visitors. This development was perhaps inevitable. The problem of newspapers is compounded by the fact that they cannot succeed simply by replacing their hard-copy readers with online readers. On a person-by-person basis, the sale of hard-copy newspapers is vastly more profitable than drawing people to the paper’s website. It is estimated that a newspaper needs to attract two or three dozen online readers to make up for—in terms of advertising revenue—the loss of a single hard-copy reader. When people go to the Internet for news, they can just as easily navigate to a source outside their community as one within it, bypassing a local site in favor of a known site elsewhere. Therein is a primary reason why brand-name news organizations, like CNN and the New York Times, have large Web audiences."

That being said, could it be possible that we will witness the death of a media in our generation?
I still have a few 8 track tapes, I think.


Like this post? Let me know your comments. Don't miss any updates, subscribe to The Big Bald Blog TODAY!

    

 

Rate Card Woes.

David Honig, WebProNews contributor, made one the best statements I have read in a long time.

Referring to the big decline in newsprint advertising, he says; "Do not weep for the rate card, for it has enjoyed a long and prosperous life, arbitrarily plundering from advertisers without providing any meaningful value."

I have been saying this for years and it is now becoming painful to everyone including the big boys.

"The Tribune Company, owner of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, posted a 5% drop in advertising revenue in their first quarter of 2007. Gannet Company Inc., owner of USA Today, and the New York Times Company both posted a 3% drop in national advertising revenue. This is all according to the most recent quarterly reports filed with the SEC."

Long live the ink and pulp.