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I did not know how much fun the marketing departments of newspapers must have on a given week until this week when we were creating new marketing pieces for our trip to Orlando and the NAA Marketing Conference. Over the course of five days, we pieced together all new marketing materials to reflect our new redesigned print product and rebranded company.

For starters, while considering redesign options, we also decided to shorten our name to MacDonald, reflecting what many of our industry colleagues refer to us as anyhow. We also adjusted our logo for a new look and feel while maintaining the same basic shape for continuity.

As for the redesign, see for yourself: As much as we love our previous design, it doesn't seem to hold a candle to the efforts put in by our creative team over the past several months. Three important features for readers to note include an Inside MacDonald wrap, which features a preview of the issue's contents; thumbnails of stories within each section located prominently at the top; and the addition of Inside Online, a section devoted to Web and multimedia advertising that has been effectively utilized by newspapers around the world.

When asked by Patrick what we wanted to do now that we'd conquered a rebranding and redesign all in a matter of a couple short months, we replied "We're going to Disney World!"

While we did get permission to go to Orlando, it's for the Newspaper Association of America Marketing Conference instead. We have about 60 reasons to be happy to be heading to the conference, though — that's the difference in degrees between Lafayette, Ind., and Orlando, Fla., right now (not to mention the innumerable snowflakes)! I'm sure that by the time we come home Wednesday, we'll have many more reasons to share for being glad we went, including catching up with friends, meeting new people, learning new information and maybe even having some fun along the way. Stay tuned for conference updates as things progress!

Sensational SCAMA: Days 3, 4 and 5

Back in the cozy confines of the Ferry Street office here in Lafayette, I'm looking back at the final days of the 62nd annual conference of the Society of Classified Advertising Managers of America held in Dallas. Whereas the first two days of the conference focused on contact center / call center programming, the final three days were devoted to sales and marketing topics.

On Monday, February 11, Marco Marsan of Marco Polo Explorers opened the programming by encouraging attendees to use the C.O.M.B.A.T. process of creating change, one that begins with the customers' point of view and ends with the tactical innovation. He also remembered his experience ordering from Popeye's Chicken -- always receiving an extra piece of chicken in his order, but never receiving acknowledgment from employees other than a smile. This extra bonus is something that he encouraged attendees to consider: what, in other words, is the extra piece of chicken that newspapers offer?

Dave Parsons of Lee Enterprises followed with his presentation about growing marketshare by using online opportunities. Dani Torano od EW Scripps Interactive continued to discuss online immediately after lunch by encouraging managers to find the aliens in the workforce and embracing their unique points of view. These presentations will be detailed more in Inside Online.

The final presentation of day three was from Monica White of the Ventura County Star in California. She offered many suggestions about marketing including keeping things simple, helping marketing departments understand priorities and more.

Day 4 of SCAMA began with a presentation by Kathy Briscoe, broker/owner of FC Tucker REALTORS in Evansville, Ind. She described the good partnership she has built with the Evansville Courier & Press. When prompted during a Q&A session to offer examples of questions that attendees should ask their real estate clients, she advised the following: "How are your pendings? How are your days on market?" She says this will give newspaper professionals a feel about how their clients' business is doing.

Before lunch, Eloise Owens spoke with attendees about being on the edge when managing their sales teams at newspapers. From helping salespeople developing mental toughness to using visuals to communicate and much more, Owens was one of several favorites of the SCAMA attendees.

After lunch there were four roundtable sessions, each covering the major classified verticals. Because I edit Inside Real Estate at MacDonald, I stayed at the session led by Briscoe. There were many terrific ideas that came from Oklahoma City, Baton Rouge, Tyler, Columbus, Cedar Rapids, Biloxi and many other markets. I look forward to promoting the ideas and the newspapers in future issues of the publication.

Carol Richer concluded the final day of speakers with a presentation about negotiating skills. You may have read about it in a past issue of Inside Call Center. Richer also gave the attendees "an extra piece of chicken" by listing 20 things that attendees could take away from the conference and put into place immediately:

1. Private party is paid promotion.
2. Amygala -- the physiological reason for fear
3. Empathy
4. Inbound reps can be trained to be outbound reps.
5. Coaching is paramount to success.
6. Set aside block time for outbound calls.
7. Create new job descriptions to accurately describe current requirements.
8. Develop a planned training curriculum.
9. Do research before considering doing research.
10. Be truly innovative with staff structure by looking at what is best for consumers.
11. Training must be deep and ongoing.
12. Develop a needs assessment to determine where reps are.
13. Consider "the extra piece of chicken."
14. Celebrate the people on the front lines.
15. Hire aliens.
16. Sell multple products on multiple platforms; but look to change staff structure, sales process and compensation to do so.
17. Look at new ways to tell stories.
18. Advertisers want partners.
19. Managers need advanced training.
20. Negotiating skills are a core competency, not an "extra skill."

The day concluded with a dinner to present the tearsheet award winners and induct the officers for the 2008-2009 year. Tony Marsella M.C.ed the awards presentation, poking gentle fun at a few of the ads, tabs and promotions. Next year's SCAMA officers include:

President Tangela Walton of The Atlanta (Ga.) Journal-Constitution
First Vice President Cindy Mitchell of the Houston (Texas) Chronicle
Second Vice President Pat Ranson of Winston-Salem, N.C.
Secretary/Treasurer Terry Hall of The Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch

The final day of the conference was Wednesday, February 13. Attendees had one final session to discuss business at their newspapers and solve problems. Several great ideas circulated, including how to prepare to outsource graphics workload overseas, change rate plans and much more. Again, many of these ideas will be promoted in future issues of MacDonald's print product.

Without a doubt, SCAMA is one of my favorite conferences of the year. Congratulations should go out to former president Tony Bernados, SCAMA's officers, board members and committee chairpeople.

I look forward to seeing them again in Huntsville, Alabama, in 2009.

Sensational SCAMA: Days 1 and 2

Hello from Dallas and the 62nd annual conference of the Society of Classified Advertising Managers of America. The five-day conference is divided into two parts, and I'd like to offer my thoughts of the first two days of the conference, which focused on call center / contact center business and operations.

The keynote speaker was Marco Marsan, author of Think Naked and founder of Marco Polo Explorers. The energy in the room was palpable as Marco reminded the audience that they were all creative genuises at age 4 and proceeded to encourage them to think creatively and to encourage that thinking in their everyday lives. I'm simplifying his presentation almost to a ridiculous extent, but you will read much more about it in a future issue.

Bob Davis of Robert Davis and Associates, Inc., and Surpass followed. I've had the pleasure of listening to Bob speak about practical, actionable processes that sales managers can incorporate into their existing business model. His Six C's of Management were followed by his urging for the attendees to partner with one another to encourage practical usage of his ideas. Again, this is an oversimplication but you'll learn more about Bob's presentation soon. I'm also pleased to announce that he has agreed to write columns for Lead Lines in Inside Call Center.

After lunch, which featured a delightful performance by Classy Sassy -- "Can you tell me your Your'll? You know, it's spelled U.R.L.?" -- there were concurrent breakout sessions on the topics of marketing, Web order entry and free private party ads. Great ideas came from everywhere, but Tony Bernados' idea of having a medical professional of the week feature at Augusta took top prize. Please trust that I will do all I can to promote these wonderful ideas from these wonderful newspaper executives.

And speaking of wonderful ideas, SCAMA set a record for tearsheet entries with nearly 400 this year. The value of conferences like SCAMA lie not only in the presentations but also in what attendees are willing to share with one another in terms of the tearsheet contest, the breakout sessions and in private conversations between sessions. Again, please trust that I will find the best and brightest ideas to share with you in the MacDonald print product.

The first day ended with Cindy Mitchell of Hearst Newspapers describing how she and her colleagues have managed going through different phases of bringing their call center to excellent heights. Although this topic was a cover story in the print product, Cindy shared even more current results of the Houston's success. Again, look for the information soon.

The second day began with a panel discussion of Nanette Meyer-Gibson of Dayton, Tony Marsella of Ranger Data and Marsha Sherrill of Dallas talking about the pros and cons of outsourcing call center operations.

The final presentation of the call center / contact center portion of the conference came from Mike Hovda of Hovda & Associates, Inc., who discussed how leaders can change in a fluid environment and encourage those they lead during the change. Again, there was plenty of practical information and suggestions for the attendees to follow when they return to their own properties. And, again, you'll read more about it in a future issue.

As with other conferences, many attendees have enjoyed the hospitality suite. The conversations run the course from all-business, strategy and tactics to sharing opinions about the latest in pop culture (Tina Turner wearing silver lame at the Grammys) and more. More importantly, connections were forged and reformed over the relaxed environment of the 12th floor in the Omni Dallas Hotel at Park West and at Dick's Last Resort, where a caricature artist delighted more than a few attendees.

So far: sensational, scintillating and a stupendous time at SCAMA. I look forward to reporting on the final two days and providing more in-depth reporting once I'm back in Lafayette. I hope you'll find it interesting and valuable.

Best to y'all,
Steve

Crazy Weather!

If any of you are trying to reach us by phone today, it may take a couple extra rings as most of us are enjoying a snow day. Here's an idea of what I saw when I looked out my office window this morning. As you can see, the roads were plowed by lunch but the snow kept coming and making things rather slick. Better than a few weeks ago when the whole area was flooded, though! Below is a shot of mine from the flooding as it approached the apartment complex that houses account executive Justin Rice. The sign is actually posted on a walking trail at the edge of a park by the river. Yield to ... boats?