The Indiana Publisher

Hitting the mark with targeted advertising Pete Van Baalen Fort Wayne Newspapers I had never heard of Peppa Pig when I received the announce- ment in my inbox that Peppa was coming to town. Lucky me, I had just scored the opportunity to get pre-sale tickets to the big upcoming performance in early December. The problem was I had no clue who or what Peppa was. The normally targeted email marketing messages that I receive in my email had missed the mark. I have since found out that Peppa Pig is a British animated TV show designed for pre-schoolers. I'm a frequent buyer of tickets from Ticketmaster, so I think they have a pretty good profi le on me as a consumer, and my buying habits. They are sophisti- cated enough that I think they pay attention to that information, especially based on other offers that I have received from them over the years. Aside from the laugh I had trying to determine if Peppa was some kiddie show or possibly a strange punk rock group, it was a good reminder to make sure our marketing message is the right one for the right audience. Newspaper sales reps don't always think about the audiences within the big readership numbers for their products. What is forgotten is opportunities to reach different segments of readership with the newspaper; male, female, young, old, affl uent, business owners and more. Pending on the size of your newspaper, you have different sections that offer a targeting opportunity. If not full sections, in many cases special pages with different content is available. Sales reps don't always do a good job of trying to match up the various sections of a newspaper with their customers. At most newspapers I've worked at, the reps try to jam all their ads into main news or around obituaries. Certainly there are benefi ts to those two positions, but there are many others that can be just as valuable to customers. High school football is starting up now, and reader interest is defi nitely there. Sales reps do a great job selling the preview section, but are they also tapping into the power of that audience to sell a combina- tion ad for Thursday and Saturday, the days of the game preview and recap? Many newspapers still run a syndicated weekly NASCAR page during the racing season, which goes from February until November. This is another content page that allows newspapers to offer targeted content to readers. In the case of NASCAR, while the sport has dropped a little in popularity, fans tend to be fi ercely loyal to drivers and the brands they represent which opens up ad dollar opportunities. Local business news, the weekly food page, religion page and special pages for seniors are regular content in many newspa- pers. Yet ad departments are not always seizing the opportunity to take this targeted content and turn it into dollars. It doesn't even have to be special pages to become a premium position and targeted content. I've been working recently with a customer who has to have their content either next to the weather or lottery numbers. In that customer's mind, those are high traffi c areas for the customer they are trying to reach. We are accommodating their request, and gaining revenue as a result. Beyond the weather and lottery numbers, both good spots, there are others that can be utilized. Every market has special content, including things like the police blotter, the local school lunch menu, court information especially bankruptcies and divorces. Take inventory of your content that runs daily, weekly or monthly. Determine what might be of interest to a specific segment of your readers or advertisers and see what you can generate as a result. Every newspaper has limited resources, so you need to maximize what you have, and that is especially true with content. If your readers see value in the content, then it is very likely that your advertisers will as well. Van Baalen August 2018 Marketing news & commentary Join newspaper business managers from around the state on the quarterly Indiana Newspaper Advertising Execu- tives Association conference call. The 45-60 minute calls offer an opportunity to share innovative revenue generating ideas and experiences. There is one more call this year. Final 2018 call date: Oct. 3 All calls are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. EDT. Dial 857-232-0158, enter code #599522. Page 3 Next INAEA Revenue Sharing Idea Exchange Call scheduled for Oct. 3

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