Two Gannett Markets Launch CPM Banner Sales Programs Resulting in Six-Digit Growth in Local Online Sales.
Banner sales continue to do well for the Gannett markets which the Blinder Group has worked with. In the past 18 months, over 2 million dollars of new, local online revenue has been achieved with Blinder Group assistance for the Gannett Company as a whole. Recently, two new Gannett newspapers asked for online sales training assistance from the Blinder Group: The St. Cloud (MN) Times, and the Montgomery (AL) Advertiser
Three Separate Minnesota Community Newspaper Companies Achieve Over $500,000 in New Online Revenue with a New CPM Pricing Model.
It is very common to find smaller newspapers deploying an online banner sales effort that allows a single advertiser to have a fixed, small-sized ad position on their Web site pages. The reason for this is usually to make the sales process easier for the reps, as well as the advertisers. It also makes it easier for the advertiser (and the sales rep) to see the online ad itself, since it will appear "fixed" many times on the same page (or on every page of the site).
The result of this very common form of banner sales methodology usually creates the following challenges: Too many ads on the Web site pages; online ads that are too small; and very, very low rates. In reality, bigger ads and less of them on a Web page means better results for advertisers!
McClatchy and Cox Newspapers Launch Similar Online Sales Program, Targeting Local Yellow Page Advertisers, Generating Hundreds of Thousands in New Web Revenue.
Sales Managers at both the Tacoma (WA) News Tribune and Palm Beach (FL) Post had a similar desire to greatly increase their online revenue from traditional and new advertiser categories. Both newspapers also had similar desires to have most of the new revenue be generated by their traditional sales teams. In short, the goal was to get the traditional sales people to sell more online dollars for higher rates! Each newspaper sought out the Blinder Group for assistance.
Using NAA "Plan Book Methods," Janesville (WI) Gazette Deploys New Special Event "Blitz," Garnering Over $100,000 in New Online and Print Revenue, in One Week!
In times of an uncertain economy and rumors of a recession, The Janesville (WI) Gazette was looking for an opportunity to shore up new multimedia revenue opportunities from dormant newspaper advertisers, as well as, have a program that would be attractive to new advertiser categories. It was also essential that this advertising program be developed with variable "price points," so it could appeal to a wide range of advertiser categories. With these goals in mind, the Gazette blended their print and online assets into the "Special Event Sales Plan," and sought the assistance of The Blinder Group for its deployment.
Blended Search Engine Optimization Program Delivers Over $120,000 of New Online Revenue for The Savannah Morning News
How can local businesses create a presence on the World Wide Web without getting lost with the thousands of other businesses online? Paid search makes up the largest piece of the internet advertising pie, with over 40%. How can local media companies with their traditional sales reps capture a share of online advertising revenue through search? The team at the Savannah Morning News wanted to seize the opportunity, in order to find new online revenue, through the offering of a blended program that included local search. So, they sought out the experts at The Blinder Group, to help with the planning and packaging of the program; along with providing sales team training that guaranteed revenue generation.
Online Video Advertisement Offers Proven Results in Tens of Thousands of New Online Revenue for Journal Register and the West Chester (PA) Daily Local News
The research is there. Online video ads are projected to generate billions of dollars in advertising in the near future. So it is no surprise that more and more of the Web's emphasis will shift to online video in the months and years to come. But how can local media companies take advantage of this revenue potential now? The folks at Journal Register Company wanted to seize the opportunity now, in order to find new, near-term online revenue, through the offering of online video ad opportunities to their local advertisers. So, they sought out two vendors to assist them with the effort. AdFare managed the production and distribution of the local online video advertisement, while The Blinder Group assisted with the planning and packaging of the program, along with providing sales team training with guaranteed revenue generation.
Local Search and Banner Sales Result in Six-Digit Growth in Local Online Sales
Banner sales continue to do well for Gannett and the Cherry Hill (NJ) Courier-Post newspaper. And they do even better when blended with a "local search" offering. That is why the Courier Post brought the Blinder Group back into market to assist with the planning, packaging and actual sales of a new multimedia initiative focusing on combining the newspaper's new online search application supplied by Planet Discover (PlanetDiscover.com), with online banner ad positions on the local news pages of CourierPostOnline.com. "Local news pages garner great results for us," states Mike Blinder, President of the Blinder Group. "When we place appropriately designed banner ads on those specific pages of the Web site, we do very well. This is because the reader spends the most time on these
pages. Giving the advertiser's message greater impact."
Freedom Newspapers Generate Over $750,000 of New
Online Revenue with Blinder Group Assistance
Freedom Newspapers' goal was simple: Show our traditional newspaper sales
reps the best method to sell their local, online inventory at high rates,
with long-term advertiser commitments. They asked the Blinder Group to
work with nine of their local newspaper properties in Texas, Arizona, North
Carolina and Illinois. Mike Blinder of the Blinder Group worked with the
team at Freedom Interactive (the online division of Freedom Newspapers)
to craft a "blended" online offering that would attract new advertiser
categories within the local markets, as well as offer an incentive for
those advertisers to sign full-year commitments with the newspaper property.
Gannett Deploys Blinder Group to Assist the Newspaper Ad Reps in Marketing Traditional Online Banner Ads to Local Advertisers
Selling banner ads has been a mainstay of the online revenue arena since the beginning of Internet time. And while advertising on newspaper websites continues to grow (it rose 23 percent during Q3 2006), many newspapers are beginning to re-think their banner ad sales strategies and focus on new trends such as local online video and search engine maximization. Does this mean that newspaper banner ad sales are becoming an obsolete way to generate new revenue? "Revenue portfolios should always be diverse," states Mike Blinder president of The Blinder Group. "Even when it comes to online offerings, newspapers should continue to have enough of a selection of advertising opportunities on their site to attract different types of advertisers. Banner ads are not obsolete — in fact, when positioned correctly on the site and packaged correctly, banner ad sales can be some of the easiest ways for traditional sales reps to generate new money."
Learn how Gannett is leveraging basic banner sales to a new level!
Three Newspaper Markets Achieve Big Wins with Online Video Offerings Thanks to Blinder Group Sales Programs
In a recent report from Borrell Associates, local online video advertising, which was worth about $161 million in 2006, is one of the fastest growing online advertising solutions for local media companies. While some may find it ironic that print companies — not TV broadcasters — are getting the lion's share of that revenue, the Blinder Group has been assisting newspapers large and small in consistently beating TV in the online game. "In my opinion," stated Mike Blinder president of the Blinder Group, "it is due to one of the most important competitive advantages which is the amount of local penetration newspapers have to advertisers. In short, newspapers have the most "feet on the street" over competing media." So, who's doing it well? The Blinder Group has been working with numerous newspapers on developing and implementing successful online video offerings for local advertisers.
New York Times' Sarasota Herald-Tribune Deploys Planet Discover's Local Search with Blinder Group Sales Help
While the main players of online search — namely Google, Yahoo! and MSN — claim to be leaders in the field, many believe that the domain of "local search" can still be won by local media like newspaper companies. Planet Discover, a leader in online technology solutions encompassing integrated local search, advertising and content creation and management, is hoping to help newspapers throughout the US not only get into the local search game, but come out as winners in their markets. The modular solutions offered by Planet Discover "provide newspapers with the versatility needed to deliver robust results, reliably, high performance and richer everyday user experiences tailored to their markets." The idea seems simple: enhance local site search and the user experience and you will gain more users — which ultimately means more revenue. Conquering the search game allows newspapers to own local search much like they own the local market. "It is really imperative that newspapers move forward with this online initiative," said Mike Blinder president of the Blinder Group."
Learn how the Sarasota (FL) Herald-Tribune is entering the "local search" with huge "out of the box" new online revenue "on the books."
Blinder Group Helps Blend Classified Sponsorships with Local Online Search for Significant New Revenue
Paid search is growing. Every study shows that to be the case. So many newspapers have created dynamic and interactive online business marketplaces for their classified advertisers. These new online platforms can be a wonderful resource for the newspapers' online users — giving them direct, searchable access to the ads within their print products. When the newspaper is able to combine the display, line ads and all listings from any classified "vertical" platform, the user is able to search in one place to find local businesses who provide goods and services. And since many of the ads include time sensitive offers and other marketing messages, the results can have more value for a local shopper, who will see with the results of their search having more information than just a list of all businesses within the area as provided by Google and the many Yellow Pages websites available online. One newspaper which built such an online "marketplace" is the Bloomington (IN) Herald-Times.
Many newspapers have created dynamic and interactive online business marketplaces for their classified advertisers. These new online platforms can be a wonderful resource for the newspapers' online users — giving them direct, searchable access to the ads within their print products. When the newspaper is able to combine the display, line ads and all listings from any classified "vertical" platform, the user is able to search in one place to find local businesses who provide goods and services. And since many of the ads include time sensitive offers and other marketing messages, the results can have more value for a local shopper, who will see with the results of their search having more information than just a list of all businesses within the area as provided by Google and the many Yellow Pages websites available online.
Blinder Group Helps Take Local Online Yellow Pages to Market for Gatehouse Newspapers in Freeport, Illinois
While newspapers have long competed against Yellow Pages in the print arena, they are now finding themselves in heated battles in the online space as well. While Internet Yellow Pages sites only make up about 34 percent of local searches users of Yellow Pages sites are getting their information more quickly and finding more desirable information in key advertising categories such as automotive, home and garden and general services. What does this mean for newspapers? "It's all about local!" said Mike Blinder president of the Blinder Group, an internationally respected multimedia sales training and consulting firm. "Newspapers already have the relationships with the local advertisers — they just need to offer them a single multimedia option to help them better target local shoppers with traditional offerings, as well as enhance their marketing exposure on search platforms such as Yahoo! and Google."
Many newspapers have created or partnered with vendors to create dynamic and interactive online business directories for their advertisers.
Learn how Gatehouse and the Freeport (IL) Standard-Journal is making new dollars in the online yellow page arena!
The Blinder Group assists the Phoenix (AZ) East Valley Tribune to become a key provider of Search Engine Optimization for "local advertisers"
The saying "It's a jungle out there" was once referenced to big cities but today this saying can also be said of the World Wide Web: "it's a cyber jungle out there." Today users are faced with embarking on a cyber safari whenever they are looking for local business in their communities. The challenge is how the local newspaper can "come to the rescue" and become the solution local advertisers look for to maximize how they will be found by local Web users, when seeking a local product or service. The EastValleyTribune.com partnered with Local Launch, a directory provider that created a perfect solution to be able to create a new online revenue source. The goal was to be able to assist advertisers in being found by local readers of the online newspaper product, as well as by those online users who searched for products and services within the already established major search platforms such Google, Yahoo, MSN, Infospace and many more. By deploying a new solution, perhaps the cyber safari will get a bit easier in Arizona for local advertisers.
The Blinder Group and HarvestINFO partner for successful launch of Colorado Springs Gazette's 24-7 Have It All Mall shopping website
As part of its strategy to gain market share amid the growing demand for local shopping information and advertising online, The Colorado Springs (CO) Gazette has launched a new local online marketplace solution at www.gazette.com. Powered by HarvestINFO's integrated search and advertising solutions, Colorado Springs Gazette's 24-7 Have It All Mall offers local businesses the opportunity to reach highly targeted consumers through local search engine marketing at the precise moment they are researching local products and services online.
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