By Tanya Henderson
Advertising & Membership Relations Director, SNA

SNA’s IMA webinar last week was a great primer for those interested in getting into email marketing. Mel Taylor, founder of Mel Taylor Media, a Philadelphia-based consultancy, presented a number of ideas for newspapers to consider when delving into this new revenue opportunity.

The Pros are many: It’s easy and inexpensive, you get an instant, measurable return, it allows you to drive people to your web site, it strengthens your brand, it’s customizable and email reaches virtually everyone. The Cons: Not having the resources, standards or a plan in place to make the most of your efforts.

Rule 1: You have to have a point person who will develop standards and work with department heads. This is critical because the database needs some TLC. Some of the things you have to think about — How it will be managed? How it will be cleaned/deduped? Was permission granted? How will you manage the number of emails sent? Are all the messages containing opt out opportunities to comply with SPAM laws?

Full Article | Comments (0)

National online shopping site is experiencing rapid growth; adding new features & products

By Nancy Lane
President, zip2save.com & Suburban Newspapers of America

Six months is a long time in the life of a start-up. For zip2save.com, the first six months have been incredibly exciting and lucrative. Several hundred sales reps have now been trained to sell zip2save.com and success stories are starting to pour in from the field.

In Ohio, Director of Sales & Marketing Ron Waite (Dix Communications) has used his company’s affiliation with zip2save.com to monetize the grocery category. Some of this business had shifted to Advo long ago. Now Waite and his staff have a reason to call on grocery stores with a new product offering in the digital space. The results have been spectacular with 4-6 now running regularly on the site. In one case, a $30,000 contract was signed — all new business for the newspaper.

Full Article | Comments (0)

By Deb Shaw
Editor, Suburban Publisher

This ain’t your mother’s newspaper world anymore — we are smack dab in the middle of a seismic shift in how we produce, deliver, consume, gather and create news content. The changes we are experiencing can be unsettling to a certain extent but for those who can embrace the revolutionary aspects of shifting newspapering into its next stage of life, there is probably not a more significant time to be involved in this industry since it was born many centuries ago.

We live in a world where change is constant and every day brings a different challenge. With that in mind, I asked Sarah Corbitt, Director of Online Content Development for GateHouse Media/New England, to share some thinking with regard to the mentality of embracing change, how new ideas are developed and tried, and leadership traits that aid the cause.

Full Article | Comments (0)