Some thoughts about newspapers and changes I have seen

One of the tasks I do daily after I have glanced at the articles in the Herald is to take a look at who is advertising and in which sections. Those that are using print are a starting point for leads for my sales team.

I noticed in the Herald business on Tuesday 8th July 2008 that there appeared to only one ad, ie a Pacific Blue ad. The rest were internal promotions for the publication. My observation over the last year or so is the "news" papers have had to change their focus. Less and less are people like me (connected to the web at home),using the paper to get news. We get the latest news via the web. I believe that this fundamentally changes the type of reader. If I am not reading the paper for "news" then what am I reading them for. Apart from leads I do read it for opinion and entertainment. What has concerned me is the quality of the opinion I read. My view is that not all reporters have the skill to produce great opinion pieces. It feels like the so called "old fashioned reporters" are a dying breed.

If I were a advertiser that uses newspapers as a medium I would be watching and seeking greater data on who reads the papers and the context in which their advert might be seen.

There is no monopoly on good ideas...

With the election ceratin before mid November it is one the best times ever to promote your ideas to those seeking to have power after the election. It is one thing to moan about what the existing government is doing or has done and another to contribute to possible solutions. We still have no idea if National have some fantastic list of policies that will turn the economy around and suddenly make NZ the most attractive place to live and do business in the world. Just because a person is an MP or wants to become one, does not mean they somehow have a connection to the collection conciousness of the universe and thus all good ideas. Send your ideas to them all. Attach no emotion to the outcome of sending them such as they will happen or be attributed to you. Just send them.

For me it's a big list but I would start with doing everything I could to reduce government spending and reduce tax rates.

When considering spending advertising dollars...

We now have four publications and have another two we are looking to launch before the end of the year. One of the tasks I do most days is flick through other publications to get a feel for which companies are doing print and in what types of publications. As an advertiser my self I also have an interest in which mediums might work for my Trade Centre business.

It's perhaps marketing 101 for those with heaps of experience but at the moment I keep coming back to three key considerations:

1. What's the reach of the medium, how many people see it - the number of eyeballs.
2. Are they the right eyeballs- that is - are they likely to buy my product or service
3. What context is my message being seen in. For me there are two parts to this. Firstly do I want my message seen in this style of medium and secondly would the reader be expecting to see and be receptive to my message in this medium.

As the economy perhaps gets a little tighter I would expect that those spending the marketing dollars will start to consider the above more closely. We should see a shift to more targeted advertising which might be slightly dearer per eyeball but in my view better value for money.

No Silver Bullet......

In many areas of both my personal and business life I see myself and others searching for the "silver bullet" solution, ie the great warrior on the white stallion coming over the hill to save the day. The politicians seem to seek that killer 'one' policy that will get them the votes and thus get them in to power. Businessess seek that one killer ad that will increase sales and then hopefully get them the bottom line the owners say they want. Even in sports we quite often hear the "one thing" the player or team needed to do better was.....!

I have a much stronger view now that we need to take the "no silver bullet" approach to improving our lifes, both personal and business. For this to happen requires that bit of effort we quite often don't have the energy to do. What is required is for us to analyse and write down the components of our business. What are the bits that make up our business. In short this might look like this for one of my magazines. Print quality, editorial, images, design, distribution, layout flow, ad placement, ad quality, website, etc. From this list I can then review each component with the view of always seeking improvement in EACH AND EVERY AREA. That's the killer, seeking improvement in each and every area. If I was to be lazy I might just say, get a better design company and then hope that was the answer. My experience to date is that this will not be the answer.

New magazine for the city centre...

In line with our other publications we are starting a new magazine for the CBD area of Auckland City. This is a magazine for those that work and live in the centre of town. I have two reasons for starting this. One is to provide great information to those of us that work in the city.Secondly, a very targeted medium/avenue for those of us that have businesses in the city. For businesses that have just a single or small number of outlets, so much of our marketing dollar is spent on our messages going into the hands of people very unlikely to buy or use our service or products. My new publictaion will only be distributed in the CBD and into the hands of those most likely to use a CBD product or service. If you live or work in the centre of town keep an eye out for "City Central". First issue should be out October/November.