More Newspapers File Chapter 11 -

Posted on 20. Jan, 2010 by in All Local Search Posts, Traditional Media


Sad, but a sign of the times as newspaper publishers continue to struggle in the Internet age -



  • MediaNews Group/Affiliated Media Inc. (owner of the San Jose Mercury News, among others)

  • Morris Publishing Group (see release)

  • Tribune Co. (owner of LA Times, Chicago Tribune; ongoing for the past year)

  • Philadelphia Media Holdings

  • Freedom Communications (Orange County Register)

Not in bankruptcy: Gannett, NY Times, News Corp., McClatchy, Hearst . . .


MoreNewspapers join the Chapter 11 club


Posted in All Local Search Posts, Traditional Media

Online Ads Replacing Newspapers for Tire Dealerships.

Posted on 10. Oct, 2009 by in All Local Search Posts, Automotive, Pay-Per-Click, Retail, Traditional Media

From TireBusiness.com: 

For the past three years, Joe Marconi has stopped advertising his auto service and tire shop in his hometown newspaper and is relying on other ways to promote his dealership.

The owner of Osceola Garage in Baldwin Place, N.Y., said he believes newspaper advertising is no longer effective in driving customer traffic to his two shops today. Consumers, he added, are overloaded with information and are conditioned to go online to find the news they want to read.

“Who has time or who really takes the time to read a newspaper cover to cover and look at all the ads or look for something?” Mr. Marconi said. “When you look for something today, you Google it.”

Beth Barron, director of business development for Morgan City, La.-based Chabill’s Tire Service L.L.C., has managed Chabill’s advertising for the past decade. She told Tire Business that she’s not a big fan of newspaper advertising even though Chabill’s still uses print media to reach its rural markets.

“I live in a very small town, and I still don’t get the newspaper,” Ms. Barron said. “It’s just to me a waste of time. I’m gonna go and look at what I want to look at online.”

Ms. Barron said the only newspaper ads Chabill’s has placed this year take up no more than an eighth of a page and are appearing in two or three markets. The dealership is using the print ads to get the word out on its tire pricing. Chabill’s has 12 stores in Louisiana, and Lafayette is its largest market.

From the WSJ: Marketing Advice for Small Businesses.

Posted on 10. Oct, 2009 by in All Local Search Posts, Home Services, Traditional Media

 

From the Wall St. Journal Small Business Report:

Q: I work for my parents in a family-owned roofing company. We want to grow our 30-year-old business, but our biggest problem is advertising. We’re listed in the yellow pages, but the cost eats into our profits. I tried services that supply leads on potential clients, but wasn’t happy. How can we get more bang for our buck? —Jeremy Roberts, Upland, Calif.

A: First off, don’t dismiss the yellow pages. Even in a time of Twitter, the old-fashioned approach can still be quite effective, especially if you are trying to reach an older or home-owning demographic.

Read the entire article here.

Real Estate Advertisers: Newpapers Score Poorly, Local Search Up.

Posted on 25. Jul, 2009 by in All Local Search Posts, Real Estate, Traditional Media

From ClickZ -

As if online newspapers didn’t already feel battered, a new real estate advertising report won’t ease the pain. The study of real estate professionals shows they’re turning their backs on local online newspaper classifieds and display advertising, and finding value in e-mail, local listings sites, search, and social media.

Over 60 percent of the 200 real estate agents studied for Advanced Interactive Media Group’s Real Estate Advertising 2009 report said they do not plan to spend any money on online newspaper ad products this year. Almost the same portion said paper sites are not effective for leads. The AIM study was conducted with support from real estate industry publication Inman News.

There are two primary factors contributing to the failure of newspaper publishers to offer value to real estate advertisers, says the report. One is bundling, the practice of selling print and online ads together as a package. For some newspapers, “The only way you can get online is to buy something in print,” explained report author and AIM principal, editorial director Jim Townsend. “It’s a model that’s eating itself.” In earlier days, newspaper sites offered online advertising as value-adds, essentially providing them for free when advertisers bought print ads.

Pricing is another contributing factor. A lot of paper publishers still set display ad prices based on their presence in their local markets, even though advertisers can buy geographically-targeted display ads for far less through national sites and networks. “They think the model they had 10 years ago or even 5 years ago is still something they can use,” suggested Townsend.

According to the study, 40 percent of real estate pros won’t buy online newspaper advertising in 2009, and 18 percent will spend less. About 12 percent will spend more, and 30 percent the same amount as last year. In comparison, 38 percent will spend more on e-mail, 35 percent will spend more on social network sites, and 28 percent more on local search.

After their own Web sites, real estate agents said e-mail, search ads and national listings sites garnered the highest ratings as lead generators. E-mail is used by almost 60 percent of respondents, according to the report. Around 45 percent use local search and about 40 percent use real estate listings sites such as Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow, and Craigslist.

When it comes to real estate listing sites, Realtor.com scored high. The site, owned by the National Association of Realtors, is used by 86 percent of survey respondents, more so than any other national listings site. And, more than any of the other listings sites, it received the highest rating in terms of value from almost 40 percent of those studied. Craigslist came in second place, garnering a top rating from 28 percent.

About 30 percent said sites like MySpace and Facebook drive quality leads, and over one-third of survey participants said they plan to spend more on social networks in 2009. Still, around one-third don’t use social sites, and the remaining third say they don’t generate good leads.

Overall, the study found that 28 percent of real estate professionals will spend more on advertising this year, 33 percent will spend less, and 38 percent will maintain 2008 spending levels.

Yellow Pages Driving Online Leads.

Posted on 18. Jul, 2009 by in All Local Search Posts, Traditional Media

I have always recommended that local business owners include their domain name across all their advertising and marketing efforts; including yellow pages, direct mail, newspaper ads, as well as their business cards, invoices, delivery vans and even store-front awnings.

The easy comparison is that it acts in the same way as a vanity or toll-free phone number; effectively branding your business and its primary contact information. Now there is research supporting the importance of this practice -unique tracking URLs along with call measurement numbers in Yellow Pages ads show a 78%  increase in overall leads. 

The six-month study tracked leads generated from 1,200 Yellow Pages advertisers. 44% of the leads came in the form of website visits, 56% via phone call. “Evaluating the impact that print advertising has on Web activity is critical. Without tracking unique URL traffic, Yellow Pages advertisers would not know the total number of leads the print product is driving, as those touch points could be attributed to on-line ad channels,” said Bill Dinan, president, Telmetrics.

The more savvey Directory Publishers are now providing their advertisers with a “URL Tracking” product to measure this responce themselves. This is a substaintial step in providing complete transparency and accountability for directory advertisers.

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