Is There a Future for the Newspaper?

Yes, there is.  I truly believe that the newspaper industry can survive.  Actually, I think that network television has a bleaker future than print media (but that’s another blog post).

Here’s what newspapers need to do…stop competing.  Stop having the online department compete with the newspaper and the weekly magazine.  Working together as a team can be grand….

What do I want as an advertiser?  I want ONE portal.  Let me go to one site where I can upload my ad and you, Mr. Newspaper, give me a menu of choices from which I choose where to send my ad.  Offer me direct mail, the local section, multiple online options – maybe even a few different discounted bundles.

I recently attempted to run an ad in one of the newspaper-owned magazines.  I went to the website, entered my information, hit “submit” and got a screen telling me I needed to call in.  So, I called.  Then, I was told that because it was a real estate ad, I would need to call my “rep” and do the ad through her.  Seems like the epitome of inefficiency to me….and no, I didn’t call my rep because I don’t have time to:

• leave a message for my rep
• wait for her to call me back
• tell her what I want over the phone
• have her relay that info. to a designer
• fax or email me a proof
• make changes to my proof
• email or fax the changes back
• etc., etc., etc.

Please, Mr. Newspaper, I don’t want to see you die.  You have writers and reporters with an incredible amount of talent.  We need them.  Why not use them to write “bloggertisements” for local businesses that you can post to your blog for a fee?  Offer small businesses in the community advertising/marketing classes without a sales pitch – they’ll most likely come to you for advertising that way…I know the rule has always been not to mix the news and advertising departments; however, when the life of the business is on the line, drastic changes are needed.

The newspaper is the heart and soul of hyper-local content.  I hope they will take the time to listen to the consumer so they can still keep providing that content for years to come.

Tagged as: advertise, advertising, future, media, newspaper, print