The first
two months of the year in the marketing and advertising world has certain
milestones that seem to come up every year. There is all the excitement and
buzz of the Super Bowl ads each year, featuring the latest and greatest
creations and a new catch phrase or two as a result. And then there is the
annual list of store closings and contract reductions from big box national
advertisers.
I prefer the
anticipated laughter at the latest Budweiser commercial much more than the pain
of the retraction of major advertisers trying to find traction in an ever
changing retail world. Each year the impact of Amazon.com and other retailers
seems to increase, and that has certainly been the case at the start of 2018.
If you are
fortunate enough to not be feeling the sting of store closing, then you are no
doubt facing the relentless requests to reduce preprint rates, provide added
value or both. The latest store results and the latest research tells me that
it is time again for newspapers to be aggressive.
Nationwide
Sears / K-Mart made the strategic decision to cut their spending significantly.
This included the surprising decision to not have an insert on Thanksgiving. The headline on
Fortune.com's story summed up their woes, calling their performance a
"Holiday Season Bloodbath". According to the story by Phil Wahba
for Fortune.com, Sears performance was between -16% and -17% below prior year.
Overall holiday sales were up +4.9% this past year. I'm not suggesting that all
of Sears' problems are centered around their lack of newspaper ads in November
and December. But their decision to turn their backs on their core customers
who look to their inserts to make their purchasing decisions exaggerated the
impact.
Newspapers
need to stand firm on their ability to move the sales needle for their regular
advertisers. The research backs that up, showing once again that newspaper
readers have money to spend, our product and advertisements are wanted by our
customer base and newspapers provide an inviting environment for a marketing
message to be positively received by a consumer. Even in the Amazon.com world
we're living in, preprints still sell products.
The Hoosier
State Press Association readership study released last fall backs those
statements up. It is one thing for me to say it, but better when American
Opinion Research provides unbiased information with the same statements. All of
your sales reps should have this information, and I would say just as important
that your customers also need this information.
Regarding
preprint advertising and the early year fight with advertisers, make sure they
realize that 68% of people in Indiana believe newspaper circulars are an
important part of their purchase making decisions, and that number is even
stronger with females who control the majority of spending. 54% of consumers
use newspaper inserts weekly, and that translates to 48% of people making
purchases monthly as a result of newspaper advertising. That is over three
times more than radio or cable, and more than double that of local TV.
