The Advantage News

May 2013

Advantage Newspaper Consultants Company and Customer Newsletter

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appeared in Editor Messenger Reports Over $107,000 Revenue As writer Nu Yang …. and Publisher, January 15, 2013, by For 2013 Platinum Advantage Initiative With A Fresh Perspective: How Consultants Are Reenergizing Newsrooms and Ad Sales $59,000 Increase In their January Platinum Advantage online-centered sales campaign, the Madisonville, KY publication exceeded an aggressive revenue goal of $75,000 by more than 43% with advertising revenues of over $107,000. ANC Media Analyst Betsy Maloney more than doubled a 2011 sales effort. Advertisers included beverage distributors, a local hospital, automotive businesses, banks, commercial and residential service providers and three local colleges. Program participants use Platinum Advantage as a year-round advertising program in the local market. This year's offer included exclusive online advertising, a ROP position in the Messenger as well as The Pennyrile Plus, a market-wide supplement. Madisonville's goal was to "bookend" a successful 2012 ANC TV magazine advertising sales effort which exceeded the newspaper's revenue expectations and allowed them to increase the size of the successful publication by 4 pages. The twin campaigns' revenue goals were achieved through enthusiastic joint sales calls and follow up call by the sales staff. Rick Welch Publisher, The Messenger Rick Welch, Publisher, said "for years I have been trying to figure out a way to hybrid our advertising sales with both print and online. I thought it would work, but I wasn't sure what direction to take. Tony Duffer, who heads up ANC's Platinum Advantage sales programs, and I discussed in depth about taking the play book from the TV Book and used two-person sales calls with the hybrid concept and an aggressive offer. Our salespeople easily understood the program and were surprised at the new advertising accounts we picked up using the idea. It worked and they made good bonuses from their sales efforts. What we thought would be $50,000 to $75,000 sales effort exceeded $100,000. That's not bad for a small 7,000 circ. daily." "I liked it because I think its valuable for our customers multi-media marketing efforts. The program was extremely easy to sell and an easy way to make bonus money" reported Tina Dillingham, Advertising Account Executive for The Messenger. In addition to surpassing revenue goals, ANC paid total cash bonuses of more than $2,750 to the advertising sales staff. For More Information about Platinum Advantage, contact Tony Duffer at 910-494-2626 or tony@newspaperconsutants.com. We'd like you to meet... Betsy Maloney, Media Analyst Betsy joined Advantage Newspaper Consultants in 2010 and her greatest professional satisfaction is entering a new market. Betsy aims to learn as much as she can from the ad reps and their clients about the area and the client's business. She uses the information to work with the newspaper reps to formulate a plan that enables the client to meet their needs while at the same time helping the newspaper grow the revenue stream. Betsy's favorite part of her job is assisting the ad reps meet their goal and earn the extra bonus money. It is a win—win for the reps, their clients and the newspaper. Located in Fayetteville, N.C., Advantage Newspaper Consultants (newspaperconsultants.com) offers a wide range of services including a TV magazine ad sales program; Platinum Advantage, an integrated ad sales program that packages online and print ads to boost revenue and retention; and iFolds Pro, focused on e-content, e-advertising, and e-delivery. The company was founded in 1996 and is lead by president Tim Dellinger and vice president John Jones. The company employs more than 20 full-time staff members nationwide. Core Product New Advertising Revenue Specialists May 2013 In Memory of Charlie Rogers According to Jones, more than 250 clients use the company's TV magazine program. "About three to four years ago, newspapers were cutting back, but they now realize the TV book is perfect for the newspaper," he said. Lancaster PA's The Sunday News Explained Importance of TV Week Re-Introduction The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune revamped its TribTV publication last summer. As reported in an Advantage newsletter, the weekly TV magazine generated no advertising revenue for the newspaper and was composed primarily of listing grids with little editorial content. The editorial and advertising staff at the Tribune and production team at Advantage worked together to redesign the TV magazine to provide entertainment value and an array of advertising positions in the 24-page publication. The result was $400,000 in advertising revenue, exceeding the goal of $300,000. In September, 2012, the following editorial appeared in Lancaster PA's The Sunday News as the newspaper prepared to resume publishing TV Week after four months. Advantage Newspaper Consultants was asked to work with the Lancaster sales team to make the TV magazine profitable and facilitate the re-introduction in a new and improved format. Read what editor Marv Adams had to say to his readers …. The McAlester (Okla.) News-Capital serves a smaller market than the Tribune, but the publication, along with other papers owned by parent company Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., has been using the TV magazine for 10 years. Advantage also helps the paper put the TV magazine online as part of its electronic edition. The News-Capital has a daily circulation of 6,200 and a Sunday circulation of 7,200. TV Week's Hiatus Ends, by Marv Adams (The Sunday News, Sept. 23, 2012) Publisher Amy Johns said the TV magazine saw a huge increase in revenue and doubled the budget she had predicted. "Working with Advantage has given us a fresh attitude," she said. "Our salespeople have a hard job to do. They're used to hearing 'no' … having Advantage is like having a new member on our sales team." Emails and calls from readers upset by the cancellation of TV Week never stopped coming to this desk. When I dared leave the office or my house, I was sure to run into someone who'd tell me what a bad mistake we made in dropping the book back in June, and how badly they missed having it by their living room chair. Awhile back a reader called, wondering why I had never written a follow-up column on the complaints we received, as I had promised. "Didn't you listen to what we had to say?" he wondered. Johns said she found value in hiring a consultant. "I always have my publisher's hat on, and I look at the risks. Consultants are worth it if both the publisher and ad manager are willing to buy in … consultants are there to assist you, shed light, and build new energy, but they shouldn't be looked at as being a paper's savior. They are the icing on the cake, not the cake." Yes, sir, we listened to what you, and many, many, many others, had to say. We took your calls and emails to heart. And then we made a decision. TV Week is returning to the Sunday News next Sunday, Sept. 30. Mark your calendars. I will. Then, I will be able go out in public without fear of being treated like a leper. Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal director of sales and revenue management Kerry Coke wasn't looking for a consultant when Dellinger contacted her last year, but she was curious to hear what they had to say about their TV magazine program. Coke said the paper's weekly TV guide needed to be revitalized. After hearing Dellinger's proposal, she was skeptical because "it sounded too good to be true." We made a mistake. We admit it. You minced no words in telling us we were wrong. TV Week will return in the same format — grids, sports schedules and movie listings. Despite your anger, only a small percentage of you canceled the paper — those folks will be getting a personal call from us. But we lost a lot of good will, even with those who stuck with us, and we can't put a price on that. I never before had people beg me to keep something in the paper, or cry when I told them it was probably gone for good. At the kickoff campaign, Coke said Advantage consultants promised 30 appointments with advertisers, and they were able to deliver those 30 in less than eight minutes. Coke said she went from a skeptic to a believer when "everything (Advantage) said was going to happen, happened … I saw how they handled themselves with my sales force, and I saw that their objective was to make my business a success." Our reasoning back then— one, to save money — seemed sound. TV Week was not bringing in advertising revenue like it did in bygone days. Now, we're going to What makes Advantage stand out, Jones said is its willingness to talk about revenue. "Advertising is about revenue. Take that out of the equation, and you have a major problem. You can talk digital, mobile, apps until the cows come home, but you need them to turn into a positive revenue stream." Advantage Newspaper Consultants mourns the loss of one of our Media Analysts, Charlie Rogers of Fayetteville, NC. Charlie passed away April 19th, 2013 at the age of 59. Charlie joined our team in 2010 and loved traveling and meeting new people; both things that his job at ANC offered him plenty of. He also enjoyed music, golf and reading. Charlie was a funny man with an unmatched wit, as his 1,300+ Facebook friends can attest! His humor, kindness, warm smile and love of life will be missed by all that knew him. see if we can change that. Your strong comments — we took them down — will come in handy. We can share them with prospective advertisers to show how important TV Week is to our readers. We learned TV Week has a bigger readership than we thought and that you don't want to go to a computer (even if you have one) to check our online listings. You told us cable on-screen listings just don't cut it — if you even have that cable tier. Many of you have antennas. Some of you said you dropped cable to cut costs (sometimes because of a job loss) and had gone back to antennas and you needed TV Week. What we also learned was this: TV Week is the most convenient way to find out what's on TV right now, or three days from now. It's all there, within reach, all week (note to advertisers). You told us that when it arrives you mark shows and movies you want to watch or record that week. TV Week will have one improvement. The listings, because of production deadlines, used to be nearly a week old when the book landed Sunday (or Saturday) on your driveway or porch. Now, TV Week will be current as of late Wednesday (a 48-hour gain) before the day it is delivered. That's big, particularly for sports listings. But even bigger is this: We listened to you, the reader. We intend to do a better job of that now and in the future. Now, about TV Week ... by Marv Adams (The Sunday News, Dec. 2, 2012) "Look at the core product," he said, referring to print. To read the article in its entirety, go to: http://tinyurl.com/agvkn6l Betsy has been involved in advertising within the newspaper industry for more than 30 years. Betsy was an ad rep for a paper in New York where she handled a variety of retail accounts-big and small. Betsy then went to work as an Associate Ad Director for Editor & Publisher Magazine. "I try to bring as much of my sales experience and knowledge as possible to each call so the client feels I am interested in them and want to work to help them succeed." - Betsy Maloney Advantage News When not working, Betsy enjoys golfing and spending time with her very large family in and around the Washington, DC area. 597 OLIVER STREET FAYETTEVILLE, NC 28304 910-323-0349 (PHONE) 910-323-9280 (FAX) WWW.NEWSPAPERCONSULTANTS.COM Today we're going to talk about changes coming to TV Week next Sunday. Please throughout the book. So many more that along with the new features, TV Week put down that phone and step back from the PC. No need for pitchforks and will increase from 20 to 24 pages. torches. When we canceled TV Week last summer, I noted that one of the reasons was because of a dearth of ads. TV Week wasn't paying its way. After reaping the What you will see in next week's TV Week is much the same as you're seeing in whirlwind of complaints and cancellations, we did a mea culpa and brought TV today's TV book. Some features will change locations, and I'm happy to report Week back with two intentions: Give readers what they want, and make the book there will be some additions and improvements we think you'll like. The sports pay its way. Both have happened. listings will remain on Page 2. The cover story — which only got in if space allowed — will be anchored on the top of Page 3. The week's "Best Bets" will move off the I do not sell ads. That's not my part of the business. But I know that businesses cover to Page 4, where there will be room for more of them. Cooking shows, we're buy ads hoping they will sell more product, whether it's pizza, a service or a car. told, are popular TV fare. For those with an appetite for them, we've added a feature They continue to buy ads when those ads are bringing people through their doors. about the shows and the listings for those programs on Page 12 of the book. The regular TV Week puzzle (you'll find it next week on Take a look at the TV Week ads this week and in weeks to come. Let those Page 13) will be joined by a second puzzle, called advertisers you deal with know you saw their ad and where you saw it. Look at the "Word Search," on Page 23. The grids and movie other ads, and maybe you'll find a company you didn't know about or that you want to deal with. Newspaper ads, despite inroads made by the Internet and other listings remain the same. media, produce results. You, as readers and consumers, are the biggest part of Now, for the big change. The really big change. that equation. There will be more advertisements in TV Week. You will see more ads on the cover and more We believe TV Week is a good advertising vehicle. It's a publication that many of you look at every day, and it stays around your home all week. Advantage Newspaper Consultants' TV magazine ad sales program helped The Sunday News EXCEED their sales goal by nearly 30%, give their subscribers a top-quality source for their local TV listings and generate over $320,000 in contracted, annual ad revenue.

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