The Indiana Publisher

November 24, 2011 War over local turf turns as media players regain ground By Diego Vasquez Media Life S pending on local online advertising is poised to soar once again in 2012 after a brief slowdown during the recession. Local web ad revenue will hit $18.5 billion next year, according to a new forecast from Borrell Associates, the Williamsburg, Va.-based local advertising tracker, up from $15.7 billion this year. Online will account for more than a fifth of all local advertising, second only to newspapers, and by 2013 the internet will surpass papers to become No. 1 in local ad revenue. That comes just two years after local web advertising hit a major slowdown, growing just 1 percent year over year in 2010. There will be several things driving this revival, including interest in mobile advertising, which is included in web esti- mates, and small businesses' desire to become active in social media advertising. Peter Conti, executive vice president at Borrell Associates, discusses tra- ditional media companies' rising share in online adver- tising, how the adoption of mobile surfing is like the transition from VCRs to DVD players, and which local mar- ket has surpassed $1 billion in online ad spending. What's the most inter- esting or most important thing in this report? Training Continued from Page 1 of newspaper ad sales: adver- tising, prospecting and con- sultative sales. The first course, Basics of Advertising, includes four videos totaling 71 minutes. It is designed for ad sales reps who need a firm understand- ing of advertising concepts and terminology. Knowing how to use com- ponents of effective advertis- ing will help reps overcome advertiser concerns about initial ad response, return on investment and need for Newspapers and TV are gain- ing on local online ad share. Traditional media compa- nies still control 92 percent of all local advertising, including more than half of all locally spent online advertising. We expect that share to actually increase in 2012 as traditional media companies continue to team up with big pureplay companies like Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and others. What's the significance of New York City passing the $1 billion mark in local online spending? Where is most of that spending going to? Will any other markets near that point in the near future? Just a milestone. The strength in ad spend is spread across all markets, even the smaller ones. You compare the transi- tion from traditional PCs to mobile devices to that of the move from VCRs to DVRs. Will this transi- tion be faster or slower? Are local advertisers pre- pared for this? If not, what do they need to keep in mind? Faster, the whole rate of transition is compressed. It is like Moore's law except for new media. Define "traditional local media companies." Why have they been so success- ful at holding such a large share of local ad dollars, and what impact are they advertising in general. Basics of Prospecting, the second course, runs for 23 minutes. It emphasizes the need for sales performers to never stop prospecting. In this session, reps learn how to recognize prospecting streams in their markets, how to sift out the best leads and tips on how to get results from time spent prospecting. The final course, Basics of Consultative Media Sales, also is 23 minutes. It details each step of the sales process, from collecting information to creating and presenting tailor- made solutions that focus on an advertiser's individual BUILD CreativeOutlet.com create & sell with efficiency Recas® drive new business Creator Professional improve your workflow 800.245.9278 create@multiad.com multiad.com having on internet pure- plays? Traditional would be news- papers, yellow pages, TV and radio. The difference is a trusted brand in the market and that they have so many feet on the street. Why will "run-of-site" banner ads decline while targeted ones increase? SMBs expect better target- ing, and they hear about it being used at the national level, and they expect this level of sophisticated adver- tising at the local level. No more shotgun advertising! [A scattered approach where money is spent indiscrimi- nately and a lot of it goes to waste.] What other online ad categories will see local growth and why? How does this compare to national? Other categories pegged for growth are paid search, up 10 percent in 2012, email, up 9 percent, and streaming video, up 18 percent. The changes in local video and paid search advertising may be deceiving. Looking out to five years, we are forecasting local paid search to decline 25 percent as advertisers migrate away from paid listings and search engine advertising in favor of search optimization and tar- geted and sexier rich-media advertising. Diego Vasquez is a staff writ er for Media Life, a resource for media planners and buyers. business needs. It also covers the steps to take to close a sale. After each module, partici- pants take a quiz and then an overall final essay exam. Members will receive more information on the program in December. For an overview, visit http://mediasalesbasics.com. Media Sales Basics was cre- ated by Sales Development Services Inc. The HSPA Foundation will offer it as a pilot program with AdMall, the first such agreement between a press association or foundation and the lead- ing advertising prospecting system. a competitive advantage with solutions for sales, design & editorial News in brief 'Tweet' scholarship opportunity During a daylong A panel of educators online celebration of First Amendment rights, high school and college stu- dents nationwide can win one of 22 $5,000 scholar- ships. The "Free to Tweet" event on Dec. 15 marks the 220th anniversary of Americans' right to free expression. Beginning at midnight on Dec. 15, students ages 14 to 22 can tweet their support for the First Amendment with the hashtag #freetotweet, which will enter them in the "Free to Tweet" schol- arship competition. The tweet can be self- contained or link to origi- nal content on a website or other social media platform. Students are encour- aged to freely express them selves in their en - tries, which can be posted on any publicly viewable social media platform, including blogs. and First Amendment experts will review the entries and award 22 $5,000 scholarships, one for every decade since the ratification of the Bill of Rights. Judging criteria and complete rules can be found at www.1forall.us/ freetotweet. The initiative is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and organized by 1 for All, an unprecedented educa- tional and public service campaign that builds understanding of the First Amendment and its five distinct freedoms: speech, press, religion, assembly and petition. The Knight Founda- tion's recently released "Future of the First Amendment" survey indi- cates that young people who use social media have a better understanding of First Amendment free- doms. Newspaper expands delivery The Journal Review (Crawfordsville) is bring- ing early-morning home delivery back in even more areas. The newspaper recently started sending newspa- per carriers in the Lake Holiday area as well as the town of New Market. Home delivery is expected to begin within a month in the towns of Darlington, Ladoga and Waynetown, according to Carla Walters, circulation department representa- tive. More than a year ago the Journal Review began converting cus- tomers within the city of Crawfordsville back to home delivery. Those customers, as well as those at Lake Holiday and New Market, now receive their newspa- per by 6:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday. They no longer have to wait for postal delivery. Customers in areas con- verted to home delivery are notified by mail prior to the change. KPC Media gets new home KPC Media Group Inc. has moved to new facili- ties in Fort Wayne. The 17,000-square-foot facility on the city's north- west side houses offices for the group's Fort Wayne-based entities and includes a new division of the company, KPC Mail Connection, a direct-mail operation that began oper- ation in July. Page 3 In honor of the event, representatives of the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce coordinated a ribbon-cut- ting ceremony attended by business leaders and KPC employees. KPC Media publishes the Greater Fort Wayne Busi ness Weekly and the Times Community Publications in Fort Wayne. Send promotions, announcements, staff changes and other corporate news to mtuley@hspa.com. SAVE THE DATE! Annual Meetings Feb. 16-17, 2012

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