All you need is three days in Tampa, Florida to jump-start your sales and increase revenue. Join media colleagues during this highly anticipated revenue summit taking place May 9-11. The summit, brought to you by The Blinder Group, Local Media Association and Florida Press Association is geared to showcase new and substantial revenue streams and best practices from a diverse mix of local media companies. Designed for senior level managers and executives focusing on local SMBs, you won’t be disappointed with the top level speakers and published authors/trainers at this event including:

• Mike Blinder, President of The Blinder Group and author of Survival Selling
• Jim Doyle, President of Jim Doyle and Associates and author of Just Don’t Make A Sale, Make A Difference
• Kevin L. McCrudden, President of Motivate America and author of U – Who Are U?
• Steve Waterhouse, Founder and CEO of Waterhouse Group and author of The Team Selling Solution and Ending the Blame Game: 20 Rules to Live By

Revenue sessions include:

• Turbo-Charge Your Sales Team
• The Digital Agency/360 Selling
• Evolving Opportunities with Promotions, Daily Deals, & Contests
• Streamline the Sales Process & Watch Your Revenue Grow
• SMBs - Are you Aggressively Pursuing these Local Dollars?
• Plus - Many More Revenue Generating Ideas!

Click here for more information and to register

Full Article | Comments (0)

Al Cupo, Vice President, Local Media Association

An Outsider’s View of Gannett, Now from the Inside

This morning, Maryam Banikarim, CMO, Gannett Corp Inc., shared nine rules for media in a world that has gone local:

1. News Comes from Anywhere
   Bloggers, social sites, user generated content, etc. Use all available sources when covering the local market.
2. Interns are the New Boss
   Senior executives should always be listening to new hires and interns. Gannett has seen great success with their ‘New Talent Development’ program.
3. Relevance Over Rules
   Serve your audience the way they want to be served regardless of what has been standard operating procedure in the past.
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Share the Process
   Let people know where you are when breaking a story – update frequently and be transparent throughout the process.

Full Article | Comments (0)

By Al Cupo

Deseret Digital Media:
The Anatomy of Transformation

Presented by Clark Gilbert, CEO; Chris Lee, VP, Digital Products; Mike Petroff, COO; Eric Bright, VP, E-commerce; Todd Handy, VP, New Media Sales; and Dale Darling, VP, Digital Direct Sales

In a one-hour plus presentation titled The Anatomy of Transformation, the panel of Deseret Digital Media executives discussed seven big ideas currently underway at Deseret Digital Media.

Gilbert and Lee covered the first two ideas related to content innovation: differentiate content and publish digital-only content.

Gilbert noted that in the past, publishers were comfortable providing content for everyone, but now they ask the question, "What can we be the best at in the world?" That question resulted in Deseret identifying six areas of content related to faith- and family-oriented issues that drives their editorial content. According to Lee, this approach has grown both reach and audience.

They also rely heavily on remote contributors through their Deseret Connect program. This user-generated initiative now has more than 2,000 contributors who are only paid if the story appears in print – meaning all digital content is submitted voluntarily and without compensation. Money does not drive the content contributors to submit content; instead, they appreciate the recognition and feedback they receive.

Full Article | Comments (0)

By Nancy Lane, president, Local Media Association

From Gordon Borrell's opening remarks:

• $96 billion is the forecast for local ad spending in 2012 – will be $106 billion in 2016; still not back to 2008 levels of $108 billion.
• Promotions – “that’s where the money is” – Gordon Borrell. Couponing is driving this. Online just became the # 1 source for coupons (12-14% share) in many markets.
• Media share – mobile is going to skyrocket in next 3-4 years; online is going to dip. By 2016 88% of all local online advertising will be delivered on a mobile device.
• Local online will show strong growth this year and for the next few years.
• Change in local online ad formats – targeted display will skyrocket (+800+% by 2016); streaming video will also be up. Untargeted display and paid search will be down.
• By 2013, online will become #1 category of advertising – surpassing newspapers for the first time.
• In 2011, traditional local media companies controlled 91% of all advertising, including half of all locally spent online advertising.

Everyone is encouraged to join the Borrell group on linkedin – go to Local Advertising & Marketing Trends to join.

Looking forward:

• Bloodletting is over for (most) newspapers
• Yellow pages faces slow motion demise
• Direct mail entering the “perfect storm”
• A new disruptor is about to wreak havoc (mobile)
• Medium companies are shrinking (not newspapers, radio, etc.)
• Media companies are going to morph and move forward

Be sure to check back often as Nancy Lane and Al Cupo will be providing updates from this very exciting conference.

Full Article | Comments (0)

Englewood, March 2012 – Adpay, Inc. celebrates its 10 year anniversary as the premier provider of integrated classified business and technology solutions for media organizations. Since its founding in 2002, Adpay has consistently enhanced their best-in-class product suite while delivering customized strategies proven to generate immediate profitability.

To usher in the next decade, Adpay has completed a new branding initiative to better reflect the company’s overall customer-centric personality and core values: innovation, service, and success. The Adpay logo was also refreshed, along with marketing communications and the entire website.

The company’s tagline, “Proven success, innovation, and excellence for over a decade” speaks to their vision: to collaborate with local media companies and to drive immediate results with superior technology, best practices, and exceptional customer service. “The goal of the rebranding was simply to more accurately align our messaging with everything Adpay is already known for—an always fresh approach to business. We’ve listened to our partners for over ten years, and they have helped us learn, grow and continue to evolve. We are committed to operate on the leading edge of creating disruptive technology in this space,” shared Mike Heene, President, CEO and founder of Adpay.

Full Article | Comments (0)

If you said newspapers, you are wrong. As Gordon Borrell of Borrell Associates pointed out on a recent webinar “The Quiet Revolution Reshaping Local Media” it is not newspapers or yellow pages or even television, it’s digital since all of those mediums employ digital. According to Borrell singular “medium” companies will begin to shrink in the future and media companies will morph and survive. “New media peels off growth from older media and never kills off its primary competitor.”

Newspapers do currently have the top share of advertising but that will soon change. By 2016 Borrell predicts that online will dominate with 29% share and newspapers will be second with 21%.

Full Article | Comments (0)

Local Media Association members have the opportunity to register for Friday’s webinar being conducted by The Center for Sales Strategy in conjunction with CNPA (California Newspaper Publishers Association). The webinar is 30 minutes in length and is open to the first 500 members that register from Local Media Association and CNPA.

Kurt Sima, a VP/Sr. Consultant at the Center for Sales Strategy (CSS) will host How to Build Proposals that Close. Kurt works with newspapers to increase revenue by improving salespeople’s focus and expertise.

Click here to register.

*Please note when making your time choices that the webinar is being conducted in Pacific Standard Time.

A special thanks to CNPA for making this available to Local Media Association members!

Full Article | Comments (0)

By Tanya Henderson, Advertising & Membership Relations Director, Local Media Association

As many you are springing into deals action, you may want to take note of a new strategy by GateHouse’s Canton Repository as they recently held a Demystifying Deals workshop with nearly 50 local businesses participating.

Mike Blinder of The Blinder Group stepped out of his more traditional selling role and educated business decision makers on how to get into the deals space with the local newspaper. Canton’s goal: 50 deals in two weeks. The idea is to fill the pipeline so you are always ahead of the curve by having a deal scheduled. According to Blinder the “deals process needs extra hand holding.” Chris White, General Manager of The Repository agreed. “We’re not selling anything. We’re asking for a cut on the back end” which is new for sales reps. Canton has recruited a deals specialist to work with the sales reps at closing the sales. According to White “There’s a natural close if we can engage the prospect with a concept.” Both the specialist and the sales rep are commissioned at the close of the deal.

Full Article | Comments (1)

Study tours and information sharing are the main goals

The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers is known for their high quality study tours and now Local Media Association members will be able to attend these tours for WAN-IFRA member rates. In a reciprocal agreement, WAN-IFRA members will also be invited to attend the annual Local Media Innovation Mission for the reduced rates as well.

Both organizations have also agreed to share information on current trends and hot new business models. Local Media Association president Nancy Lane and Local Media Foundation Board Chair Steve Parker will attend the upcoming 360° Advertising Sales Strategies Tour taking place in Europe this April. Lane will serve as the primary author of a report on the key findings to be shared with members of both organizations.

"Europe is ahead of us in the area of digital agency services", said Lane, "When we visited Upsala Nya Tidnings in Sweden during the 2008 Scandinavia Innovation Mission, they were just launching a full blown agency. We were extremely impressed with their plans and can't wait to revisit them during this tour to learn about their progress."

Full Article | Comments (0)

Texas daily looks to gain newsroom efficiencies; centralizes its print and digital operations on SAXOTECH's proven-built multi-channel publishing solution

Tampa, Fla. – March 5, 2012 – SAXOTECH, a leader in content management, circulation and advertising technology, today announced the Waco Tribune-Herald has selected the SAXOTECH Mediaware Center to streamline its workflow and production processes for all print and digital media products. The Tribune-Herald's move to a single content management solution provider will bring new levels of publishing flexibility and will enable the media company to maximize the use of all available resources, producing content for more channels and more market segments than ever before.

The Tribune-Herald was looking for a sophisticated multi-channel publishing tool and approach ¬– print, Web, mobile, tablets, syndication and other channels ¬– and a single interface was a key requirement. The SAXOTECH Mediaware Center will provide the media company with a full-featured multi-channel collaboration platform developed specifically for the publishing industry to support the entire news process – from the initial idea, through planning, writing, editing and publication in print or digital media.

Full Article | Comments (0)

Kent – Polly Shepherd, Regional Publisher of the Kent and Covington - Maple Valley Reporter is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Klaas as Regional Editor of the Kent Reporter and the Auburn Reporter. Mr. Klaas will assume his new editorial responsibilities as of Monday, March 5th, 2012.

Mark Klaas, editor of the Auburn Reporter, is an award-winning journalist who has worked in the newspaper industry for more than 25 years.

Full Article | Comments (0)

Enumclaw – Brennan Purtzer, Publisher of the Enumclaw and Bonney Lake/Sumner Courier-Herald is pleased to announce the appointment of Dennis Box as Editor of the Enumclaw and Bonney Lake/Sumner Courier-Herald. Mr Box will assume his new editorial responsibilities as of Monday, March 5th, 2012.

Dennis Box has been the editor of the Kent Reporter and the Covington-Maple Valley Reporter. Dennis is excited to re-join the Courier Herald, as he was an integral part of the start up team that launched the Bonney Lake Courier-Herald in 2003.

Full Article | Comments (0)

Technology supports move to centralized production desks

Tampa, Fla. — February 28, 2012 — SAXOTECH, a leader in content management, circulation and advertising technology, today announced GateHouse Media, Inc. (GateHouse Media) has selected the SAXOTECH Mediaware Center and SAXOTECH Online for greater workflow management and multi-channel publishing across its 79 dailies, 261 weeklies and more than 390 locally-focused websites.

Implementing SAXOTECH’s cloud publishing solutions will greatly enhance the efficiency of the newsroom by integrating print and digital publishing. The improved workflow and sharing of information across all GateHouse Media publications should lead to increased audience and digital offerings. SAXOTECH’s managed hosting in the cloud will power the newspapers’ websites, ensuring uninterrupted access to news and information that is published by its editorial staff. By migrating to a fully managed Web services platform, the dailies will be able to publish content remotely 24/7, creating a more mobile workforce and giving its editorial staff the freedom and flexibility to focus on content and deliver more timely news.

Full Article | Comments (0)