Solid solutions for newspapers to sell more ads and actually make a livin’

Most of you know newspapers are experiencing extremely tough times regarding both advertising and readers. A few of you might even work for a newspaper (I have) and almost all of you supply newspapers with ads from your agency. As such we have all witnessed the decline in advertising. We’ve heard just about everybody talk about a ‘dead industry’. Here’s the deal: I think it’s not dead, it’s morphing. We can’t really see what it will become because the newspaper is still in the process of transforming. New ideas are taking shape and it will take some time (and guts) to implement them. I have just read ten excellent ideas a newspaper can implement immediately.

Here is a short list from the Cubas website:
• Change ad contracts based on inches (or millimeters) to ‘smart spending’ contracts: A universal spending based discount recognizes all of an advertiser’s spending with the newspaper, whether it’s[…] color, a classified liner, or an online banner ad. A percentage discount is assigned per spending level based on “the more you spend, the more you save”. Dump all the different prices. One contract is all you need.
• Go Modular: If you can’t increase rates and you can’t increase ad count, the last thing left is to increase ad size.
• Improve Online Self-Serve Ad Ordering: In this case, online ad ordering means using e-commerce to sell all advertising products, including
print, online, and direct, on a self-serve basis.
• Use E-Marketing to Rebuild Advertiser Relationships: This is another case of “we should started this two years ago”. An important initiative is to manage
and foster relationships with commercial advertisers, the newspaper’s most important source of revenue. A basic need is an online “Advertiser Center”, which could include rate cards, media kit, market data, tips, advertising help, etc.

Check all the recommendations in the PDF. Dowload the PDF file from Kubas Consulting right here.

Most recommendations are so obvious it makes you think if there is such a thing as Research & Development or Marketing Department at newspapers. Judging from what we’ve seen happen the last 10 (!) yeas, I guess not. In the Netherlands we’re even seeing trends for government to subsidize newspapers “so they can create a better online experience”. After you’ve read the report you’ll understand focussing on a ‘better newspaper-website’ is not the most profitable thing to do. Apart from that, I personally feel a subsidized newspaper will never ‘stay sharp’. In time the focus will change from ‘creating good news and adding more readers and advertisers’ to ‘creating news to keep the government paying us’. That will probably result in news most readers will define as ‘boring’ and ‘predictable’ because the newspaper does not want to bite the hand that feeds.

So how does this add up to more readers? Well it doesn’t. But this short video showing how design can save the newspaper does: Jacek Utko.