Newspapers. The next five years.

[db7]

Daily newspapers are one of the oldest, best mass advertising options for retailers of all stripes. Where will they be in five years? All prognostications welcome.

[MediaSalesPro]

A couple thought starters:

1. Margins 5-7% lower than today
2. Increased interest from readers with print and complimentary info on newspaper website
3. Better trained sales managers and reps to cross sell far more efficiently compared to today
4. In some cases Online reps selling more dollars for the company than print
5. More public newspapers will become privately owned
6. Retailers inventory on newspaper websites ... much like car dealers today
7. To cause some heated debate how about 5 years from now newspaper companies will realize that ad content has as much value as news content

[MediaSalesPro]

This article was a link in this week's newsletter from Forbes.

The Future Of Newspapers

The Big Three U.S. auto manufacturers. Downtown department stores. Video rental stores. Minicomputer manufacturers. All fell, or are falling, in the face of competitors who used disruptive innovations to change the game. Is there reason to believe that old-school newspaper companies can survive?

After spending a year studying the problem in the course of the “Newspaper Next” project that Innosight conducted with the American Press Institute, our answer is a resounding yes.

http://www.forbes.com/leadership/200...11clayton.html

[Coach]

Originally Posted by db7

Daily newspapers are one of the oldest, best mass advertising options for retailers of all stripes. Where will they be in five years? All prognostications welcome.

Newspapers are going to continue being a mass advertising option for retailers but they do need to be careful about how times are changing. I think the next five years are crucial for newspapers to capture local news and local dollars on their websites. Newspapers are going to have to change some but I don't think we're staring at a major reconsturuction. Web site traffic and fixing declining circulation and readership are key to the success in the coming years of each newspaper.

Coach

[db7]

Advancing newspaper market share in the next five years is different than advancing market share for newspaper corporations. Does it seem to this forum that consultants today focus on value enhancing add-ons: internet, inserts, printing services, direct mail, marketing services, etc.?

While revenue from ancillary products bolsters the financial health of the newspaper corporation, is it distracting management from the important issue of advancing marketshare for the core product? Could the quick fix harm daily newspapers in the long run?

[MediaSalesPro]

db7,
I'm a "consultant" with many years of newspaper experience. Do you remember how "special sections" were labeled as quick fixes or non-core activities? Well, managed right special sections became part of the core product and a major long term source of income. Due to ever changing advertiser needs and declining circulation, don't you think newspaper companies (broadcast too) need to consider online and direct mail as extentions of the core product, not distractions?

With that said I do sense an industry movement in some cases where we seem to be raising the white flag instead of dealing with some serious core issues. I think your question is a good one and hope others respond. We're all learning.

[db7]

MediaSalesPro wrote,

Do you remember how "special sections" were labeled as quick fixes or non-core activities? Well, managed right special sections became part of the core product and a major long term source of income.

Point taken. If we consider the analogous product history of a different, mature, useful consumer product, the automobile, we see that standard features such as electric lights, starters, radios, etc. were once high-tech, expensive, luxury innovations. Today, we wouldn't purchase a daily driver without them. Today's automobile, however, still has 4 wheels and is used to convey people to places they want to go. The core product, a self-propelled box with 4 wheels, remained the center of innovation and progress.

I believe the core product of newspapers is a daily self-renewing sheet of paper that delivers relevant information to people. Eliminating the actual paper moves the product into electronic media. Cars compared to airplanes, perhaps. My point is, we need both. Newspapers should be just as committed to radically improving and innovating all aspects of the newspaper (the news print, the delivery, the editorial content, the advertising content, and "the next?" relevant content category) as they are committed to adding new ancillary products.

I was smiling when I wrote the word "consultants", by the way.

[MediaSalesPro]

db7,
You bring up some great points in your last email. btw, I agree with your comment about many consultants and one of the reasons I became one. Ha.

[db7]

They nailed it! Their advice to FishWrapAutoRep in the "Automotive Dealer Park" thread, invoked the Magic Word of Sales - Relationships!

In the next 5 years, LOCAL relationships will sustain local newspapers. Three key relationships that newspaper staffs must strengthen within their communities are,
1) Local reporters discovering important local news.
2) Local sales consultants creating advertising solutions for local retailers (or classisfied ad customers).
3) Local people delivering the newspaper reliably, on time, everyday to the homes of readers.

Certainly, quality editorial work and creative ad services enhance the value of the newspaper, but the three relationships above provide a tremendously strong advantage for local newspapers over competition from all regional, national and international news providers.

Have you ever tuned in the TV cable Weather Channel to see your local forecast? Chances are you saw instead "Storm Stories", commercials, or another region's weather, non of which helped you. Alternatively, you can access your local forecast on the Internet. It will be timely and accurate. It will not, however, tell you anything else you need, for example, if your local taxes will go up, or where you can save money on new tires for your car. Today's local weather forecast IS in your morning paper, available for you the moment you want it. The same is true for news stories and local ads.

As long as people want to know the news from their city, county and state, local newspapers will have a significant advantage. What other media has the resources to: find the LOCAL news, edit it into an interesting, entertaining, and time-savingly useful on-demand format; mix in money-saving ads from local retailers, and deliver it everyday before breakfast?

Local newspapers should capitalize on their local relationship advantage NOW to grow market share in the next 5 years. Thank you bakodub, Coach, RADIO for reminding this forum of Magic Word!

[GMB]

I think we'll still be around in five years but the question is in what form. We need to look at ourselves as mutli-media companies, not just newspapers. Selling online and print packages will be the future. We've learned when making sales calls to Detroit and New York that online is on everyone's mind. Planners who would normally only handle print are now integrating online into their RFP's. The downside is that the online budget will come at the expense of the print budget.

The key to selling online is to have the research available for our site and to make sure the long time print reps are on board with the plan.

Hopefully, our web sites will drive new readers to print which will help in stop ping our declining circulation.

GMB

[MediaSalesPro]

GMB,
You are right on pointing out we need to be multi-media marketers. What specific things are the advertiser's saying to you when you go to New York and Detroit? Do advertisers know what they want from newspapers with online applications or do they have their own thoughts? Thanks.

[GMB]

Just as all of us, the print planners at the agencies are in new territory in regards to online. In many agencies, the online wil continue to be handled by an online agency or an online division of an agency. In Detroit, online will be handled within PHD, GM Planworks etc. No one gave any specifics of what they were looking for. I feel they'll be open to any ideas we can come to the table with. This is an opportunity for us to build our online products but it will come at the expense of print.

GMB

[db7]

Can anyone spot a trend in the way newspapers are offering online applications? Is it all outsourced, or are any papers investing in building their own Internet infrastructures?

[db7]

Classified ads are a staple of newspaper revenue. In the next 5 years, more and more online- and micro-publishers will be competing for that revenue. Should mainstream newspapers trade revenue for market share by cutting prices or even offer free ads?

[asammons]

I think that newspaper will not diminish for quite a while however, nationally circulation is dropping in most newspapers. Online is the way to go. More and more people are looking to the internet for shopping and their local news source. How convenient to have "breaking news" delivered to your inbox. That is what I call Disruptive Innovation. If newspapers want to keep up with the times, they need to hop onboard, if they haven't already and get their website to be one of the best in the market.