Two Alaska Weeklies meet needs of the medical community and generate $63k in new revenue
The Challenge
During a market visit conducted by The Blinder Group, the staffs at the Alaska Star and the Alaska Journal of Commerce, two weekly newspapers that are part of Morris Alaska Publishing, uncovered some new advertising opportunities. The healthcare industry had not been fully explored by the newspapers and after talking with numerous advertisers, it was clear that a healthcare product would work well in their market. So, the group created two new wellness programs--Eagle River Wellness and Health In Alaska. Both programs incorporated print and online products that allowed healthcare advertisers to send their message to more people more often.
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Program Overview
Each newspaper developed a one-page medical feature that ran in their newspaper each week. The page included modular ad spaces as well as editorial space. Advertisers not only received ad space, but received editorial space as well.
The newspapers also created individual Web sites for their wellness programs. The sites had their own URLs as well as were linked from the newspapers' Web sites. The sites included the same content as the weekly pages--with the editorial on the print page being live online for eight weeks--in addition to links to health-related Web sites. All advertising that appeared in the print section also appeared on the site. The program was limited to just eight advertisers for each newspaper--all advertisers committing to 52-week contracts.
Sales Strategy
Armed with a one-page sales sheet for the site, the sales teams of The Journal and the Star hit the streets. The sales sheets were designed to show advertisers how the print and online products worked together. The Blinder Group spent two days with The Journal and two days with The Star to assist the sales teams with introducing this exciting new product to advertisers.
Advertisers were offered a bundled package that included both the print and online version of the wellness page. Advertisers that purchased a print ad in either newspaper's weekly editions also appeared online--linked from text links which appeared on each page of the site. They were able to keep their once a week ads active all week long by having them online in addition to reaching a new audience of potential customers. Advertisers buying packages with larger print ads received banner ads on the site as well.
Results
Creating the wellness program helped the weekly newspapers fill a need in their community by giving healthcare businesses the opportunity to promote their programs and services in print and online . In addition, the weeklies were able to generate a significant amount of new revenue bringing in $63,180 in new revenue in just four days of selling with The Blinder Group.
Contact Information
The Alaska Star is a 4,500 weekly located in Eagle River, Alaska.
The Alaska Journal of Commerce is a 6,500 weekly business publication located in Anchorage, Alaska.
For more information about the sales strategy of this program, contact:
Stan Pitlo, Director Newspaper Division Alaska
(907) 561-4772
gm@alaskajournal.com
Alaska Journal of Commerce
907-275-2154
barry.anderson@alaskajournal.com Tom Janz, General Manager
Alaska Star
907-694-2727
Lead Consultant for The Blinder Group:
Mike Blinder
(917) 865-4827
mike@blindergroup.com
The Blinder Group
Tampa Offices: 6139 Fjord Way
New Port Richey, FL 34652 USA
(727) 847-2464 ~ (727) 847-5959 (fax)
profit@blindergroup.com
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