The Salem News is moving from Beverly and heading to a new location in Danvers. The newspaper moved into its new office suite at 300 Rosewood Drive in Danvers last week, according to Karen Andreas, regional publisher of North of Boston Media Group.
The Salem News has been located at 32 Dunham Road in Beverly since merging with the former Beverly Times in 1995. The company moved its press and printing operations out of Beverly years ago and consolidated several other business functions, such as the finance and customer service departments, in the North Andover offices of its sister paper, The Eagle-Tribune. Read more
John Foust has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals. Many ad departments are using his training videos to save time and get quick results from in-house training. E-mail him for information: john@johnfoust.com
Back in my ad agency days, I remember hearing and reading about the importance of getting prospects involved in sales presentations. At that point in my young career, I had experienced the difficulty of getting – and holding – the other person’s attention in a sales conversation. So I decided to try that strategy in an upcoming sales meeting.
The prospective client was a residential real estate development company which was considering a new logo and print brand identity. They were testing the waters to see if there were any logo ideas that were better than the design they had been using for years. I had worked with them on a few other projects, so they agreed for me to develop something.
My proposed logo featured an angled line over one of the upper-case letters in their name, with the line and the letter tailored to look like the outline of a house. Sure, it seems trite and unmemorable now, but at the time I thought it was a unique concept.
On the day of the presentation, I arrived with the finished logo, a drawing pad, and black and red markers. The finished version stayed in my briefcase, while I handed the pad and the red marker to the prospect. I provided detailed instructions on how to draw the simple letter and roof outline. Then I gave him the black marker and asked him to fill in the other letters of the company’s name. We talked for a minute or two about the simplicity of the design and how it would communicate the nature of their business at a glance.
That experience was a real wake-up call for me. From the moment I handed over the pad and the markers, he was completely involved in the process. I could tell that he had never before seen a presentation like that. By the time I pulled the completed version of the logo out of my briefcase, he understood the reasoning behind the design. After all, he had drawn it himself.
I wish I could report that my presentation convinced them to buy that new logo. But as it turned out, they kept using their old brand identity and later changed it to something which was designed by a family member. Those things happen.
Even though I lost the sale, I’ve never forgotten that day’s lesson. Those things I had heard about getting prospects involved in presentations were right. The key is to get the other person involved physically and mentally. There are a lot of possibilities. You can ask him to find his spec ad on a mocked-up newspaper page. You can ask her to look up something on her computer. Or you can ask the group at the conference table to vote on which testimonial quote to feature first.
Selling and teaching have a lot in common. It’s the old Chinese proverb in action: “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”
(c) Copyright 2020 by John Foust. All rights reserved.
Predictions are a tricky business, but there is one sure thing for 2020: local news publishers cannot depend on the old ways of doing business. The time for chain newspapers wielding a monopoly in communities is ending, and more independent and nonprofit news organizations are taking root around the country and making sure that watchdog journalism continues to thrive.
The old business model was largely dependent on print advertising and circulation revenues, and newer digital ads have been gobbled up by the voracious tech giants, Facebook and Google. That leaves local news publishers in a tough spot, but they’re increasingly finding new ways to serve the public while diversifying revenue streams. I previously highlighted “9 Great Local News Business Ideas” to show just how ingenious these publishers have become. Read more
WGBH News plans to open a news bureau in Worcester this spring, WGBH announced Tuesday.
The Worcester location will be equipped with a broadcast studio and technology to stream digital video and will create radio and digital stories for 89.7 FM and the news website.
WGBH News said it is looking to hire one full-time reporter to station at the bureau. Read more
Maggie Farley, Google News Lab, Teaching Fellow teaches journalists tech tools to help them thrive in the digital age. She was a foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times for 14 years based in Asia and then covered the U.N. in New York. She co-created Factitious, a digital game that playfully teaches how to discern factual news from misinformation. At American University, she was a professional fellow in an engagement design for journalism project, and taught writing. She is a fan of the Oxford comma, trapeze, and the snacks at Google.
Thirteen longtime Seven Days employees are now 1 percent owners of the Burlington-based media company.
The newspaper’s founders, Paula Routly and Pamela Polston, publicly announced the transition on Monday. The development is part of Seven Days‘ succession plan, which began in 2009 when three veteran staffers — Cathy Resmer, Don Eggert and Colby Roberts — were named junior partners. Routly and Polston founded the paper in 1995.
The 13 workers’ 1 percent holdings, combined with the three minority owners’ 12 percent, represent a 49 percent ownership stake in Seven Days, a company press release said. Read more
“In simple terms,” explains Styla, a Content Experience Engine, “shoppable content is any type of content (i.e. videos, articles, images, etc.) that provides a direct purchasing opportunity and allows consumers to either add products to cart directly from what they are viewing, or be taken to a product page and continue to shop from there.”
This functionality has been rapidly taking off on the major social networks, with Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat all in this mix. And, although retailers have led the way here, publishers are also exploring the potential for this type of user experience. Read more
I work on the content marketing side of the business. We are challenged by the vastness of the media landscape. Advertisers can put their dollars against campaigns on Google, Facebook, and other social platforms. Amazon is a major player. We’re still up against television, radio, and other digital media. Even print is still a thing.
If you think about formats, podcasts have emerged as an increasingly popular storytelling option, and mixed reality is edging onto people’s radars.
A lot of advertisers still think about short-term, focused campaigns. Convincing them of the effectiveness of a long-term, multi-pronged, multi-platform, multi-format strategy is a big hurdle. But it’s the approach they need to take to be successful.
Innovation inherently requires risk. In 2012, The Globe and Mail introduced its digital subscription model. Seven years ago, it was studded with risks, but over time it has become a significant revenue contributor to the business.
Data, Artificial Intelligence, and machine learning are the story of the past year. They’re going to continue to disrupt markets, economies, and jobs.
The arrival of 5G will eliminate mobile lag times and download speeds. Video and Augmented Reality, particularly on social platforms, will increase in volume and scope and become more viable. Location-based data will become more widely available and far more precise. Read more
I’m here to offer some hope, albeit from an unlikely place. While many journalists have bemoaned technology and blamed it for job losses — which, to be fair, holds some weight — the birth of AI-powered content generation technology offers a rare bright light for journalism, and other AI tools are making it easier for journalists to do a more thorough job under pressure.
Content generation software uses natural language generation (NLG) to create content to populate websites, generate product descriptions for e-commerce brands, produce social media content, generate BSS reports and fill media websites — among other uses. Here are three ways content generation software and other technology can be applied to help journalists: Read more
The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism is offering two Executive Certificates, Leading Product Strategy (April 20-24, 2020) and Leading the Audience-Centric Newsroom (March 9-13, 2020). The certificates are short, intense, small group educational experiences.
You will be learning alongside a cohort of media leaders from around the world. The certificate programs are five days long and take place at the J-School campus in midtown Manhattan.
They incorporate lectures from faculty and industry experts, workshops, fireside chats, and “behind the scenes” company visits at innovative New York-based media organizations. Read more
