Resuscitating Real Estate
Even amidst a bad economy, newspapers will benefit in 2010 from the housing
meltdown.
By Tanya Henderson
Advertising & Membership Relations Director, SNA
Someone once said that during tough times a bar will still do business; people celebrate
when times are good and commiserate when they are bad. That’s kind of the thing
that’s happening with real estate advertising in newspapers in 2010.
As the frenzy of home buying has come to a screeching halt, newspapers will still
see a decent increase from 2009 (16%) and surprisingly, online overall will be down
4% while local online will be going up. So how is this happening?
read more
Stop Planning and Start Doing
Lessons on how to become innovative
Mark Briggs
By Deb Shaw
Editor, Suburban Publisher
If there was an overriding theme in the lessons taught by Mark Briggs at the SNA
Foundation’s first webinar of the New Year it was that, in order for innovation
to be practiced at any company, people need to stop planning and start doing.
To illustrate his point, Briggs described a friend who now works as Chief Tech Officer
at a local startup in the Seattle area but who had previously worked in a corporate
environment in which he managed hundreds. In his former corporate life, the friend
tells Briggs that he spent about 80% of his time planning and about 20% doing; in
sharp contrast, at the startup company where he now works, he spends only about
5% of his time planning and 95% doing. Marked difference. Old thinking/new thinking;
old normal/new normal; legacy company/startup company. There are lessons here folks.
read more
UPDATE: Strategic Revenue Summit — New Speakers Added
March 3-5, 2010 — Orlando, Florida
Presented by SNA & SNPA — Only $495 to Attend
Revenue hungry publishers will not be disappointed! The strategic revenue summit
is shaping up to be one of the best conferences ever. Plan now to attend.
New session descriptions/new speakers added — see below:
- Non-traditional revenue streams — a fast paced panel led by Gareth Charter.
We're talking new and innovative — things like gift card programs, premium
subscription models, online consumer stores, deal sites, event marketing and paid
content. A follow up session will include small group exercises to uncover what
conference attendees are doing to drive non-traditional revenue at their companies.
- Think classified is dying a slow death? Think again. You will leave the "Top 10
Ways to grow your Classified Marketplace" session with a renewed enthusiasm about
this category of business. The spectacular Beverly Crandon from Metroland Media
Group will lead this thought-provoking and inspiring session.
-
read more
Turn Coffee into Helicopters
By Deb Shaw
Editor, Suburban Publisher
All problems are opportunities.
The bigger the problem, the bigger the opportunity.
Never miss an opportunity to be fabulous.
1/18/2010 — What great lines and, coming from the mouth of the infectious Tina Seelig in her
talk at Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner, they make eminent sense.
This is a very bright woman who heads up Stanford’s Technology Ventures Program
and she delivered a speech about The Art of Teaching Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Despite her highfalutin pedigree of advanced degrees and professional accomplishments,
she is as down to earth and easy to identify with as you can possibly imagine.
Every newspaper manager should give a listen to her podcast. It’s about 50 minutes
long and well worth your time — I guarantee you’ll walk away uplifted and ready
for bear. And, you’ll hear how she turned coffee into a helicopter ride over Santiago,
Chile.
read more
Interactive Opportunities for Local Newspapers' Obituary Coverage
By Susan Karol, Ph.D.
Executive Director, SNA Foundation
1/11/2010 — Graduate journalism students participating in the fall Interactive Innovation Project
class at Northwestern University’s Medill School recently published a white paper regarding the current status of obituary publishing
in the face of changes in technology and audience behavior. The project’s faculty
advisers were Rich Gordon, Associate Professor and Director of Digital Innovation;
and Owen Youngman, Knight Professor of Digital Media Strategy. Legacy.com Inc., the Evanston, Illinois-based online aggregator
of newspaper death notices which partners with more than 800 newspapers, sponsored
the project.
read more
Partnerships and Pella® Windows
Nine Questions for Greg Welteroth, CEO, Gregory Welteroth Advertising
Greg Welteroth, CEO
Gregory Welteroth Advertising
By Deb Shaw
Editor, Suburban Publisher
Editor's Note: This Q&A feature continues the discussion that originally appeared
in the January 2010 issue of Suburban Publisher.
1/4/2010 — A New Year might just be the perfect time to sniff out a new opportunity and Greg
Welteroth has one for you. Welteroth proposes that every suburban and community
newspaper consider the Pay for Performance proposition that Pella® Windows is offering
via Greg Welteroth Advertising.
#1. You were on the Emerging Business Models panel at the recent SNA Fall Conference
and when you made your opening remarks, you could practically hear a pin drop because
the audience was so enraptured by your passionate comments about the local newspaper
industry. Where does that passion come from?
I started my advertising career at a newspaper called the Grit, a Sunday paper with
a 50,000 circulation. My job: sell advertising to people 35 miles away with only
4,500 circulation in their region. My challenge: get these people to pay the ad
rates of a 50,000 circulation paper. read
more
Steps to Embracing Social Media
By Ben Smith
Social Media Manager, Lawrence Journal-World / The World Company
12/28/2009 — Social media is more than an online fad. It’s changing the way we communicate with
each other and with our communities. Here at the World Company, we have a tradition
of embracing new technology, and of being leaders in news and communications. Many
people in our organization have been using Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace —
personally and professionally — since the networks were born. But we think
that everyone in our company — from the customer rep in our cable TV division
to the newspaper circulation manager — should be engaged in social media.
So, over the last few months we’ve been implementing some major changes to include
social media in our daily operations across all divisions of our organization.
A big part of social media is to be transparent and open, so here’s a behind-the-scenes
look at how we’re embracing social media.
read more
Contrarian Publishers Challenge Google
By Marc Wilson
General Manager, TownNews.com
Marc Wilson
12/21/2009 — Rupert Murdoch is in the headlines for threatening to block Google from indexing
his newspaper web sites, but community newspaper publisher Mark Roby in South Dakota
is already doing so — and has been for years.
Roby, publisher of the Public Opinion
in Watertown, S.D., is a long-time personal friend (and former
TownNews.com board member). We often talk about the impact of the Internet
on newspapers, and several years ago I told him we can block Google and other major
search engines from crawling and indexing sites. He asked that we do so.
Google, Yahoo and the other reputable search engines have honored the block. (Less
reputable Internet companies won't honor the blocks, and when we set up technical
roadblocks to stop their spiders, they will intentionally end-run our blocks.)
read more
Harvest New Ideas From Within
By Deb Shaw
Editor, Suburban Publisher
Put the power of individual thought to work for your company
12/14/2009 — Did you see the report on the news recently about the groom who had just said his
“I Do’s” and instead of leaning in to kiss his blushing bride, he pulled out his
smart phone to update his marital status on Facebook? Traditionalists were no doubt
horrified by such a social gaffe; but that singular act reflects the immediacy of conveying news
when it’s important to the person who wants to tell it. There is a lesson here folks.
read more
New SNA Foundation Research Report on User-Submitted Content
By Susan Karol, Ph.D.
Executive Director, SNA Foundation
The SNA Foundation has released the full report from its recent ground-breaking
research study examining newspaper Web site users’ views about user-submitted content
on newspaper Web sites, funded by a grant from the McCormick Foundation.
This free comprehensive report includes extensive executive summary, conclusions
and detailed findings from this large study.
Download of the free report
12/7/2009 — More than 3,000 randomly-chosen newspaper Web site users completed online surveys
regarding their opinions on whether newspaper Web sites should accept user-generated
content, what types of user submissions would be acceptable, how newspapers should
manage and regulate these contributions, whether the newspaper’s credibility or
integrity is comprised by the acceptance of this material, and more. In addition,
more than 200 community newspaper editors and publishers were surveyed to gain their
insight on these issues and add perspective to the public study.
read more
Innovation E-Learning Course is Now Available
By Deb Shaw
Editor, Suburban Publisher
Learn how to initiate new ideas and make them succeed in the latest in a series
of free e-learning courses sponsored by the Suburban Newspapers of America (SNA)
Foundation. Innovation at
Work: Making New Ideas Succeed is now available. The course is professionally
produced by Poynter Institute’s News University division.
If innovation were sold at a store, out of a catalog or on the Web, businesses would
snap it up because innovation is so difficult to define, design and, yes, divine.
The next best thing to buying this elusive process of inventing or introducing something
new is the latest in a series of e-learning modules from the SNA Foundation: Innovation
at Work: Making New Ideas Succeed. And, no purchase necessary — this 4th e-learning
course sponsored by the SNA Foundation and produced by The Poynter Institute’s NewsU
division is now ready for the taking at no charge, thanks to a generous grant from
the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
read more
SNA Contests: And the Winners are...
2009 Local Community Web Site Contest
Judges for the SNA Local Community Web Site Contest were faced with very challenging
decisions this year. This competitive contest represents the top Web initiatives
from community and suburban newspapers across North America. We're extremely proud
of all the Web sites that entered the contest and the amazingly hard work and innovation
that goes into creating a winning site.
read more
2008 Editorial Contest
The SNA 2008 Editorial Contest resulted in an extraordinary number of entries in
a total of 36 categories. These entries once again proved the outstanding editorial
content of community and suburban newspapers. read more
2008 Editor of the Year and Journalist
of the Year
They are the best of the best. Individuals who not only contribute to their newspaper
company, but to their newspaper community. read more
2008 SNA Newspaper of the Year /
General Excellence Contest
It is the most competitive contest of the year and 2008 was no exception. Hundreds
of newspapers competed. The judges labored over many worthy entries. In the end,
six newspapers stood out from the field.
read more
2008 SNA Advertising and Promotions
Contest
With over 1,200 outstanding entries, this was the most competitive contest in our
history! Competition was fierce and our judges certainly had their work cut out
for them. read more
2008 Dean S. Lesher Award
Among SNA’s highest honors is the esteemed Dean S. Lesher Award, a lifetime achievement
award recognizing outstanding leadership within the community and suburban newspaper
industry. The 2008 nominating committee has bestowed this year’s honors to Murray
Skinner. read more
Media Buyers
There’s no doubt that suburban and community newspapers offer substantial opportunity
for target marketing, and SNA makes it easier than ever to gain access to over 2,000
suburban newspapers from across North America. Our Media Buyer Resource Center will
help guide you through the buying process; providing research, testimonials and
a searchable newspaper database. read more
Conferences
SNA conferences provide members with extensive educational training and support
and just as importantly, yield outstanding networking opportunities. Our members
are consistently pleased with their conference experiences; from the innovative
industry specific sessions to the creative exchange of ideas — SNA conferences
are jam-packed with educational value, helping to raise the standards of excellence
for our suburban and community newspaper members.
read more